ASSOCIATION OF ART MUSEUM CURATORS & AAMC FOUNDATION 2015 ANNUAL CONFERENCE & MEETING ITINERARY MAY 9 – 12, 2015 LOCATIONS: Bard Graduate Center Brooklyn Museum The Bronx Museum of the Arts The Cloisters Museum and Gardens The Highline Newark Museum SculptureCenter Queens Museum Please note, directions to each location are provided in a separate document, please visit here. for more information. No transportation is provided, except where noted, and participants are encouraged to use public transportation. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by AAMC and the AAMC Foundation. AAMC and the AAMC Foundation assume no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document. In no event shall AAMC and the AAMC Foundation be liable for incidental or consequential damages arising from use of this document or other conference related material. This document and parts thereof must not be reproduced or copied without AAMC and the AAMC Foundation providing written permission, and contents thereof must not be imparted to a third party nor be used for any unauthorized purpose. 1 SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 Option 1 1:00 PM Onwards Tour of Bard Graduate Center and The Cloisters Maximum number of participants: 20 Details Venue: Bard Graduate Center Time: 1:00 PM Tour of Bard Graduate Center (ends by 2:15pm) Address: 18 West 86th Street, NYC. Meeting location: Meet in lobby, Bard Graduate Center. Description/On view: Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette Often through extraordinary means and ever in the name of fashion, women and men shape their figures into distinctive silhouettes. This exhibition presents the many devices and materials that have altered natural body forms from the seventeenth century to today. Also featured are rare period garments and specially crafted mannequins wearing mechanized reconstructions, which show how the undergarments functioned and transformed the human body. This exhibition was organized by Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and curated by Denis Bruna, Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Musée des Arts décoratifs and professor at the École du Louvre. The Interface Experience: Forty Years of Personal Computing Computer technology provides us with constant opportunities to try new things, and with each new device we get a peek at what the future has in store. But the history of that technology is just as important as the future. This BGC Focus Gallery exhibition, curated by Kimon Keramidas, BGC Assistant Professor and Director of the Digital Media Lab, tells the story of that past through tactile and interactive displays that will stimulate new questions about how we interact with and use personal computers. Tour leader: MARIANNE LAMONACA, Chief Curator / Associate Director of the Gallery, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture; AAMC VP, COMMUNICATIONS Venue: The Cloisters Museum and Gardens Time: 3:30 PM Tour of the Cloisters Address: 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, New York, New York 10040 Meeting location: The Cloisters Main Entrance Hall Description/On view: The Cloisters museum and gardens, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, was assembled from architectural elements, both domestic and religious, that largely date from the twelfth through the fifteenth century. The building and its cloistered gardens—located in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan—are treasures in themselves, effectively part of the collection housed 2 there. The Cloisters' collection comprises approximately two thousand works of art, and the gardens will be in full bloom by the time of the conference. Tour leader: C. Griffith Mann, Ph.D., Michel David-‐Weill Curator in Charge, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; AAMC Conference Committee Co-‐Chair OPTION 2 1:00 PM onwards Tour of SculptureCenter and Queens Museum Maximum number of participants: 20 Details Venue: SculptureCenter Time: 1:00 PM Tour of SculptureCenter (ends by 2:00 PM) Address: 44-‐19 Purves Street, Long Island City, NY 11101 Meeting location: Lobby Description/On View: Magali Reus, Michael E. Smith and Erika Verzutti each have solo exhibitions on view. Founded by artists in 1928, SculptureCenter is a not-‐for-‐profit arts institution dedicated to experimental and innovative developments in contemporary sculpture. SculptureCenter commissions new work and presents exhibits by emerging and established, national and international artists. Tour Leader: Ruba Katrib, Curator Venue: Queens Museum Time: 3:00 PM Tour of Queens Museum Address: New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens NY 11368 Meeting location: Front desk Description: The Queens Museum presents artistic and educational programs and exhibitions that directly relate to the contemporary urban life of its constituents. Located in a historic pavilion built for the 1939 World’s Fair, the museum also contains the Panorama of the City of New York, an accurate scale model of the city built for the 1964 Fair. Exhibitions on view in Spring 2015 include After Midnight, a survey of modern and contemporary art from India, and the Queens Museum Studio Program exhibition. Tour Leader: Larissa Harris, Curator, Queens Museum 3 SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2015 10:00 AM Mentorship Program Annual Reception BY INVITATION ONLY –Brunch details pending-‐-‐BY INVITATION ONLY For additional information, please contact [email protected] 11:00 AM Meet Ups: Organized by AAMC member(s) for additional ‘by field or focus of career’ networking. If you are interested in attending a Meet Up, please contact the appropriate individual(s) listed below. Independent Curator Meet Up Brunch: To attend this event and/or for more information, please contact Jennifer Scanlan [email protected]. The location will be near The High Line and Whitney Museum of American Art. 1:00 PM Tour of The Highline Maximum number of participants: 20 Venue: The High Line Address: The High Line Gansevoort Street entrance. Meeting location: The High Line Gansevoort Street entrance. (note: the tour will end at the Rail Yards, 34th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues) Description: The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues. Presented by Friends of the High Line, High Line Art commissions and produces public art projects on and around the High Line. Founded in 2009, High Line Art presents a wide array of artwork including side-‐specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. High Line Art invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the uniqueness of the architecture, history, and design of the High Line and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape. Tour led by: MELANIE KRESS, High Line Art Curatorial Fellow & RACHEL ADAMS, Associate Curator, UB Art Galleries, Buffalo, NY 1:00 PM AAMC BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING BY INVITATION ONLY -‐-‐Details pending-‐-‐BY INVITATION ONLY Newark Museum, Newark, NJ 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM SOTHEBY’S SPONSORED RECEPTION HOSTED AT THE NEWARK MUSEUM Newark Museum, Newark, NJ Please note no transportation to Newark will be provided. However, AAMC will provide a shuttle bus to/from Newark, NJ Penn Station (note, not NYC Penn) and the Museum. 4 4:00 PM WELCOME Steven Kern was appointed seventh director of the Newark Museum in 2013. The Museum is nationally recognized for its collections, architecture, and historic commitment to education and access. Before joining the Newark Museum, Kern served as executive director of the Everson Museum since 2008 where he initiated and led a successful campaign for the museum’s community engagement that is responsive to the community’s needs. Under his leadership, the museum developed innovative film programs, collaborative efforts with Syracuse University, historical associations and heritage organizations among others. He also was active in the regional and state arts organizations with special attention to advocacy, STEM and STEAM education. Prior to joining Everson, Kern was Director of The William Benton Museum of Art, Connecticut State Art Museum, University of Connecticut. He has also served as Curator of European Art at the San Diego Museum of Art; Curator of Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.; and Curator of European Art and Exhibitions, and Acting Director, Museum of Fine Arts and George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Mass. Kern holds a Master of Arts Degree in the History of Art from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and two Bachelor of Arts Degrees in French Language and Literature, and Art History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 5 MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015 BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, BROOKLYN, NY Sessions will take place in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium Special exhibition galleries (4 & 5) will be open from 12:00 PM-‐1:00 PM & 5:00 PM -‐7:00 PM. 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM COFFEE RECEPTION Beaux-‐Arts Court 9:00 AM WELCOME ARNOLD LEHMAN, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum Arnold Lehman has served as Director of the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest fine arts collections in the nation, since 1997. His first official act as Director was to march in Brooklyn's West Indian Labor Day Parade. Since then, he has prioritized both the individual visitor's experience and the community’s engagement with the Museum (and the Museum's relevance to the community) through the presentation of innovative exhibitions and reinstallations of the permanent collection; highly successful public programs that address the diversity of the collection and the community; active support for and participation of Brooklyn-‐
based artists; and an ongoing major capital program that has greatly enhanced the accessibility of the Museum and the preservation of its collections. Prior to his leadership in Brooklyn, Dr. Lehman (Ph.D, M.Phil., Yale University) was Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art for almost two decades, and Adjunct Professor of the History of Art at Johns Hopkins University. He has served as the President of the Association of Art Museum Directors and, from 2008 to 2011, was the Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) of New York City, representing 33 major cultural institutions. He has since been reelected to the CIG position. In addition, he now serves as Co-‐Chair of the Arts and Culture Transition Committee for New York’s new Mayor. 9:30 AM AAMC WELCOME & KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION EMILY BALLEW NEFF; AAMC President 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM KEYNOTE ADDRESS TOM FINKELPEARL, Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Tom Finkelpearl is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In this role he oversees city funding for nonprofit arts organizations across the five boroughs and directs the cultural policy for the City of New York. Prior to his appointment by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Commissioner Finkelpearl served as Executive Director of the Queens Museum for 6 twelve years starting in 2002, overseeing an expansion that doubled the museum’s size and positioning the organization as a vibrant center for social engagement in nearby communities. He also held positions at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, working on the organization’s merger with the Museum of Modern Art, and served as Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program. Based on his public art experience and additional research, he published a book, Dialogues in Public Art (MIT Press), in 2000. His second book, What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation (Duke University Press, 2013) examines the activist, participatory, coauthored aesthetic experiences being created in contemporary art. He received a B.A. from Princeton University (1979) and an MFA from Hunter College (1983). 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PANEL: SHAPING COLLECTIONS: ACQUISITIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITIES Shaping collections is one of the great challenges and rewards of curatorial work. Increasingly, curators are charged with giving acquisitions a strategic focus and directing acquisitions towards broader institutional goals. Developing resources, building donor and trustee support, defining the relationship between acquisitions and existing collections, assessing markets and opportunities, and considering the connection between acquisitions and audiences are only some of the issues involved with the development of collections. Spanning a wide range of organizations, fields, and approaches, this session will invite members to consider models that embrace the idea that institutional collections should be shaped towards specific initiatives, even in some cases towards specific communities. The issues involved will engage curators with collection-‐development responsibilities on a variety of scales and in any field. In discussing their initiatives and projects, panelists will address the relationship between acquisitions and broader institutional activities. The questions raised have wide application: How can strategic acquisitions reintroduce and revitalize long-‐standing institutional priorities? Can the introduction of a new emphasis on acquisition works by global, emerging, or racially and ethnically diverse artists have an impact on the expansion and diversification of audience? How can income from judicious deaccessions be used successfully to redirect collecting priorities? How can cross-‐collection/collaborative acquisition initiatives heighten the visibility of institution-‐wide collecting goals? Can the acquisition of individual destination objects have an impact on programmatic goals? When, why and how should institutions consider the redirection of their collecting priorities? Organizer TERESA A. CARBONE, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art and Managing Curator, Arts of the Americas and Europe, Brooklyn Museum; AAMC Conference Committee The holder of a doctorate from CUNY’s Graduate Center, Teresa A. Carbone joined the Brooklyn Museum in 1985 and since 2005 has overseen the American art holdings as the Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art. She was co-‐curator of Eastman Johnson: Painting America (1999), and was awarded the Henry Allen Moe Prize for the accompanying catalogue. Dr. Carbone served as project director for American Identities: A New Look (2001), an innovative reinstallation of the Museum’s American art galleries. As principal author of the two-‐volume American Paintings in the Brooklyn Museum: Artists Born by 1876, she was awarded the College Art Association’s 2006 Alfred H. Barr Prize, and a publication prize from the Association of Art 7 Museum Curators. Dr. Carbone curated the major exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties (2011), and won The Alice, the inaugural publication prize awarded by Furthermore for the accompanying catalogue. She co-‐curated John Singer Sargent Watercolors (2013), and is currently the co-‐curator of Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. In 2014, Dr. Carbone was the recipient of the prestigious Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art, presented by the Smithsonian Institution’s Archive of American Art. Moderator & Panelist RICHARD ASTE, Curator of European Art, Brooklyn Museum
Richard Aste is the Brooklyn Museum Curator of European Art. As the former Associate Curator of European Art at Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, he organized El Greco to Goya: Masterpieces of Spanish Painting from the Prado, The Journey to Impressionism, Masterpieces of European Painting from Museo de Arte de Ponce, and The Age of Rodin. At the Brooklyn Museum, he has organized Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492–1898 and is currently organizing Impressionism and the Caribbean: Francisco Oller and His Transatlantic World, which opens at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, TX, in June 2015. He has contributed to Giulio Romano: Master Designer (Hunter College Art Gallery, New York) and Venus and Love: Michelangelo and the New Ideal of Beauty (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence), among others. Aste received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, his M.A. from Hunter College, and his M.Phil. from the CUNY Graduate Center. Panelists JANET BLYBERG, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Research & Publishing, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Janet Blyberg is Assistant Curator for Exhibitions, Research and Publishing at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, and is currently working on two upcoming exhibitions: American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood (2015), and Asia in Amsterdam (2016). She has served as manager for a grant-‐based project to process and catalogue the Veldman-‐Eecen Collection of historic Indian-‐export textiles recently acquired by PEM. Before joining the PEM in 2012, Blyberg worked as research associate at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, where over the course of her fifteen-‐year tenure she worked in several departments, including the Publishing Office, the Department of Photographs, and Special Projects in Modern Art. She assisted with a number of major exhibitions, and contributed to several important publication projects, including Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set (2002); My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz (2011); and the forthcoming catalogue raisonné, Mark Rothko: The Works on Paper. Blyberg holds a B.A. in history and fine arts from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and received her M.A. in museum studies from the George Washington University, Washington, DC. WENDY KAPLAN, Department Head and Curator, Decorative Arts and Design Los Angeles County Museum of Art Wendy Kaplan has been at LACMA since 2001. Previously, she held curatorial positions at the Wolfsonian-‐Florida International University in Miami, Glasgow Museums in Scotland, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A leading expert on late nineteenth-‐ to mid-‐twentieth-‐century 8 design, she has authored, co-‐authored, or edited many books on the subject such as California Design, 1930-‐1965: “Living in a Modern Way” (2011), The Arts & Crafts Movement in Europe and America: Design for the Modern World (2004), Leading "The Simple Life": The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain (1999), Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1996), Designing Modernity: The Arts of Reform and Persuasion, 1885-‐1945 (1995), The Arts and Crafts Movement (1991; French edition 1999), and "The Art that is Life”: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America (1987; reprint 1998), as well as organized major exhibitions on these subjects. Together with LACMA Director Michael Govan, she was co-‐curator for the 2013 exhibition The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA. The recipient of many fellowships, most notably the Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, she has also twice received the prize for the year’s most outstanding publication given by the Art Libraries Society of North America. RICHARD B. WOODWARD, Curator of African Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richard Woodward is the founding curator of the African art collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Since its inception in1977, he has guided the development of the collection which now includes more than 1,000 works of art. A VMFA staff member since 1975, Mr. Woodward has held senior administrative positions in the museum for more than 30 years. In 2000 he served as Interim Director, and then as Senior Deputy Director for Architecture and Design, for overseeing planning and construction of the VMFA’s award winning expansion and sculpture garden that substantially increased gallery space for the collections and exhibitions. Woodward earned a B.A. degree in art history at Rutgers University, where he concentrated on Early Christian, Byzantine, and Medieval Art, and a M.A. degree in art history from the University of Virginia, with a focus on 19th and 20th century art. 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM LUNCHEON SUPPORTED BY KEYTOURS INTERNATIONAL Beaux-‐Arts Court Lunch will be informal, and allow for time to enjoy the company of your fellow attendees. During this lunch, AAMC will have tables designated for first time Conference attendees & emerging curators to encourage networking amongst these groups. 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE PRESENTATION MICHELLE HARGRAVE, Curator of Exhibitions, American Federation of Arts; AAMC Board of Trustees & Prize Committee Michelle Hargrave is a Curator of Exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts where she works with internationally renowned collections, institutions, and curators in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia to initiate, develop, and implement traveling art exhibitions. She manages all curatorial aspects of domestic and international multi-‐venue exhibitions, and her current projects cover fine arts, design, and decorative arts over the past five hundred years, ranging from Old Master paintings to Export Chinese porcelain to modern design to fashion. She also spearheads the AFA’s China Initiative, working with museums in the U.S. and China, the Chinese Association of Museums, and the American Alliance of Museums to foster Sino-‐U.S. exhibition collaborations. Prior to joining the AFA in 2011, as associate curator at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City, she worked on exhibitions such as William Kent: Designing 9 Georgian Britain; James Athenian Stuart: the Rediscovery of Antiquity; Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties; and Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelry. She has an M.A. from the Bard Graduate Center in the history of decorative arts, design, and culture. 2:45 PM -‐ 4:15 PM CASE STUDY: CURATORS & TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES Technology is a common presence in museums today, and museums regularly put resources behind developing digital engagement tools to enhance the visitor experience. Such initiatives often have strong support from many parties, and in particular through Bloomberg Philanthropies and their Bloomberg Connects digital engagement initiative, which supports “the development of state-‐of-‐the-‐art technology, from mobile applications to immersive galleries and other dynamic tools, designed to transform the visitor experience, encouraging interaction and exploration of cultural institutions on and offsite.” Benefitting from this program are several New York City institutions, with each developing a project that speaks to the unique needs of their audiences. The session will tackle the motivation behind Bloomberg’s initiative and the importance of technology as they view it; provide case studies from museum representatives at three grantee institutions—Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Hewitt, and the American Museum of Natural History; and conclude with an open discussion on these projects and the curatorial role in developing technology initiatives. Organizer SHARON MATT ATKINS, Vice Director for Exhibitions and Collections Management, Brooklyn Museum; AAMC Markeitng & Communications Committee Moderator & Panelist KEVIN STAYTON, Chief Curator, Brooklyn Museum Since Kevin Stayton joined the Brooklyn Museum in 1980, he has held a number of positions, including Chair of the Department of Decorative Arts, and has organized a number of major exhibitions. Appointed Chief Curator in 2001, he supervises all curatorial activities and programming. Considered one of the leading scholars in the field of Decorative Arts, Stayton is a graduate of Ohio State University and was awarded an M.A. in Art History and an M. Phil. from Yale University, where he was a research and exhibitions assistant at the Yale University Art Gallery. Stayton was an adjunct professor at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. He has also been a member of the faculty committee of Sotheby’s Works of Art program and has taught at Columbia University and in the Cooper-‐Hewitt/Parsons Master’s Program. He has contributed catalogue essays and authored scholarly articles, and he is the author of Dutch by Design: Tradition and Change in Two Historic Brooklyn Houses. Panelists SAM BRENNER, Interactive Media Developer, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Sam Brenner joined the Cooper Hewitt in 2014 as the fifth member of Cooper Hewitt Labs, the museum’s in-‐house digital strategy and software development team. As the Interactive Media Developer, Sam designs interfaces and writes code to make the museum’s collection easily available over the internet through user-‐friendly web pages and a developer-‐friendly API. These 10 interfaces power the museum’s new in-‐gallery interactive experiences, including multitouch collection-‐browsing tables and a room-‐sized wallpaper visualizer. Sam received his M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University and B.F.A. in New Media Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology. RUTH COHEN, Senior Director, Education Strategic Initiatives, Director, Center for Lifelong Learning, American Museum of Natural History Ruth Cohen, Senior Director of Education Strategic Initiatives, Director, Center for Lifelong Learning. As Senior Director, Cohen is responsible for the co-‐development and management of the Museum’s education division a $20 million division with almost 100 staff, and as Director, responsible for all of the Museum’s out-‐of-‐school education, pre-‐K-‐undergraduate, and adult lifelong learning programs. Cohen is the former president of PENCIL, a New York City based non-‐profit that improves the resources of public schools through civic involvement and private support, and has twenty-‐five years of management experience in the non-‐profit sector in education and the arts at such institutions as the Sundance Institute and Playwrights Horizons. Cohen holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, and has completed executive education at the Harvard Business School of Social Enterprise. She has presented on AMNH’s programs and strategies at numerous annual convenings including the American Association of Museums, the Visitors Studies Association, NYCMER, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, among others. She has served as a Mentor for the National Council for Research on Women Young Leadership Initiative, and is on the Board of One Story literary journal and the How I Decide Foundation. CATHERINE DEVINE, Chief Digital Officer, American Museum of Natural History Catherine joined the American Museum of Natural History in 2012 as Chief Digital Officer. She is responsible for the Museum’s digital strategy, which is focused on driving transformation of the visitor experience, onsite and online. Catherine’s role builds on a long career in digital and technology strategy and delivery, including significant staff and consulting roles at America Online (AOL), eBay, and PBS. To date, the Museum has implemented and launched an enterprise content management system, responsive website, personalization, ticketing and constituent relationship management systems, and a number of apps, including its flagship app, Explorer, sponsored by Bloomberg Connects. Version 2 of Explorer will launch in December 2015. SARA DEVINE, Manager of Audience Engagement & Interpretive Materials, Brooklyn Museum Sara Devine is the Manager of Audience Engagement and Interpretive Materials at the Brooklyn Museum. She is co-‐leading the Museum’s Bloomberg Connects visitor experience initiative, which will provide visitors access to museum staff via mobile technology. A vocal visitor advocate, her expertise lies in crafting accessible and engaging visitor experiences. She works with curators, designers, educators, technologists, and visitor services staff on all aspects of interpretation and engagement. Sara received her M.A. in Museum Studies from The George Washington University and B.A. in Classical Civilization from Emory University. Sara was previously a Senior Content Developer and Project Manager at Hilferty, a museum planning and 11 exhibition design firm in Ohio, where she developed comprehensive interpretive plans and exhibitions for a wide variety of museums. She has also worked as the Assistant Curator, Special Exhibitions at Monticello and as a Curatorial Assistant at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. GREG HERRINGSHAW, Assistant Curator in charge of Wallcoverings, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Gregory Herringshaw is the Assistant Curator in charge of the Wallcoverings Department at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. This is the largest collection of wallcoverings in the United States, numbering over 10,000 pieces, which date from the late 17th century to the present. He has been working at the museum for over twenty years and is responsible for the continued growth and preservation of the collection, ongoing research, and making the collection accessible to staff and scholars. He has curated two exhibitions at the Cooper Hewitt including Wall Stories: Children’s Wallpaper and Books and Artist-‐Designed Wallpapers and has a special interest in early twentieth century American wallpaper. He received an MA in Museum Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, New York, 1991 and a BFA in Studio Arts from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 1987. MALIA SIMONDS, Arts Program Manager, Bloomberg Philanthropies Malia Simonds manages grant programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies that support arts and culture. As part of the Arts team, she is responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating initiatives like Bloomberg Connects, a global commitment that provides funding for the development of technology to increase access to cultural institutions and enrich the visitor experience. Malia began her career at the Public Art Fund, an organization that presents temporary exhibitions of contemporary art in public spaces in New York City, where she gained experience in non-‐profit management, fundraising and events. In addition, Malia’s interest in using technology to provide access to art was developed here as she created the organization’s first website in 1999 and oversaw the digitization of 30 years of project archives. In 2005, she joined Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration as Deputy Director of Special Projects and Community Events where she led a team to produce mayoral and citywide events and manage projects for the First Deputy Mayor. She has also held positions at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA with a BA in Art History and spent her junior year at the Universite de la Bourgogne studying French in Dijon, France. 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM MEMBERS’ MEETING & BOARD ELECTIONS EMILY BALLEW NEFF, President, AAMC JUDITH PINEIRO, Executive Director, AAMC 5:00 PM END OF SESSIONS 12 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA FOUNDATION SPONSORED MEMBERS’ RECEPTION MARTHA A. AND ROBERT S. RUBIN PAVILION AND LOBBY 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM Circle Patron Dinner BY INVITATION ONLY For additional information, please contact [email protected] 7:00 PM onwards Meet Ups: Organized by AAMC member(s) for additional ‘by field or focus of career’ networking. If you are interested in attending a Meet Up, please contact the appropriate individual(s) listed below. Organized by AAMC member(s) for additional ‘by field or focus of career’ networking. Decorative Arts Meet Up: To attend this event and/or for more information, please contact Staci Steinberger, Assistant Curator, Decorative Arts and Design, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, [email protected]. 13 TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 THE BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, Bronx, NY Sessions will take place in the Lower Gallery Galleries will be open from 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM 8:45 AM -‐ 9:15 AM BONHAMS SPONSORED COFFEE RECEPTION South Wing Atrium 9:30 AM WELCOME ALLISON CHERNOW, Director of External Affairs, The Bronx Museum of the Arts Allison Chernow is the Director of External Affairs at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, overseeing the Development and Communications departments. Previously, as Director of Development at the Katonah Museum of Art for seven years, she supervised fundraising, membership, marketing, and PR as well as special events and public programs. In her twelve years as Executive Producer of Cultural Programs at WNYC AM & FM, Chernow oversaw over 100 national and local broadcasts annually and was the principal liaison with major NYC cultural institutions. While at WNYC, she was awarded an Armstrong Radio Award, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Arts and Humanities Award, and an American Women in Radio and Television Pinnacle Award. She received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from New York University. Chernow is currently on the Board of Directors for Rehabilitation Through the Arts, an innovative arts program working in five major prisons in New York State. 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PANEL: IS MOVING OUTSIDE OF THE MUSEUM WALLS THE 21ST CENTURY SCULPTURE PARK? Lately, more and more museums are reimagining their ideas of a sculpture park. In fact, they are reimagining what it means to be a public museum and this leads into showcasing works beyond the museum walls. “Engaging the community” and “audience building” are phrases constantly rolling off the tongues of museum directors, curators and educators. How do we meet the challenge of engaging a community? Enter: the 21st Century sculpture park. Or should I say, exit the museum, please, and enter the sculpture park. Or, today it can be a park, university campus, or one can just drive-‐by a billboard. These are places where play is appropriate, touching is sometimes encouraged, and where “plop-‐art” is found but is perhaps rarer and much different than it once was. Organizer & Moderator RACHEL ADAMS, Associate Curator, UB Art Galleries, Buffalo, NY Rachel Adams is the newly appointed Associate Curator at the UB Art Galleries in Buffalo, NY. She graduated with an MA in Exhibition and Museum Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2010 and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. As Associate 14 Curator of Exhibitions and Public Programs at The Contemporary Austin from 2011-‐2013, she curated several exhibitions by international artists including Amie Siegel, Seher Shah, Ragnar Kjartansson, Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, and Devon Dikeou. She was the 2014-‐
2015 Curator-‐in-‐Residence at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center in Portland, Oregon where she curated four exhibitions relating to the crossover between art and architecture. She has independently curated exhibitions at The Contemporary Austin, testsite in Austin, Greene Exhibitions in Los Angeles, David Cunningham Projects and Queens Nails Projects, both in San Francisco. From 2006-‐2008, she was the co-‐director of Lloyd Dobler Gallery in Chicago with Patricia Courson. Panelists ANDRÉE BOBER, Director, Landmarks, University of Texas at Austin Andrée Bober is the founding director of Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin. At Landmarks, she introduced a collection of public works by artists that include Mark Di Suvero, David Ellis, Ben Rubin, Monika Bravo, Sol LeWitt, James Turrell, Casey Reas, Nancy Rubins and Marc Quinn. She also established and curates Landmarks Video, an ongoing series of video art that has featured a different artist every month since 2010. Prior to Landmarks, Bober led the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, through the successful completion of its Zaha Hadid-‐designed facility, for which the architect won the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize. As deputy and then acting director, she curated the exhibitions SPRAWL (2002) and Susan Unterberg: A Retrospective (2004). Bober studied art history and museology at The University of Texas at Austin, practiced painting conservation in Vienna, Austria, and earned a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Columbia University, Teacher’s College in New York. She has led curatorial and administrative projects for institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Cooper-‐Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and the Bard Graduate Center for the Study of Decorative Arts. NORA LAWRENCE, Curator, Storm King Art Center Nora Lawrence is curator at Storm King Art Center. She has organized and co-‐organized exhibitions for Storm King, including Zhang Huan: Evoking Tradition (2014); Outlooks: Virginia Overton (2014), Thomas Houseago: As I Went Out One Morning (2013), David Brooks (2013), and Storm King’s 2012 exhibition, Light and Landscape, which was a finalist for the International Association of Art Critics award for Best Project in a Public Space. She is co-‐organizing Storm King’s 2015 exhibitions: Lynda Benglis: Water Sources and Outlooks: Luke Stettner. Prior to joining Storm King, Ms. Lawrence was a curatorial assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, where she worked on a number of exhibitions, including Ernesto Neto: Navedenga (2010), which she co-‐curated, Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today (2008), and Focus: Picasso Sculpture (2008) among others. Ms. Lawrence has co-‐authored several publications, including a forthcoming monograph on Mark di Suvero (2015), Zhang Huan: Evoking Tradition (2014), Monet’s Water Lilies (2009), Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today (2008), and Armando Reverón (2007), and contributed an essay to the award-‐winning MoMA volume The Modern Woman (2010). She has taught courses at MoMA; the School of Visual Arts; and the University of Southern California. A graduate of Pomona College, Nora Lawrence received her MA in art history from the University 15 of Southern California, and a Master of Philosophy degree from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. GORDON MONTGOMERY, Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs Art Institute of Chicago Gordon is the Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago. There he leads museum teams that encompass marketing, PR, membership, annual fund, communications, graphics, and digital. He is charged with increasing overall museum attendance, introducing new audiences, promoting exhibitions and developing a deeper engagement with the museum that leads to lasting relationships. He spent most of his career at the global advertising agency, Leo Burnett, where he worked on and led some of the world’s most iconic brands (including Procter & Gamble, Sony, Motorola, the United States Postal Service, Gateway and Maytag). He then shifted gears and worked for two start-‐ups in the high tech and retail restaurant spaces. In moving to the Art Institute, he’s been able to combine his background in classic branding and, more recently, fast-‐paced, low budget creativity. Gordon received his B.A. in History and Political Science from Amherst College and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management’s KMI program. AARON OTT, Public Art Curator, Albright Knox Art Gallery Aaron Ott joined the Albright-‐Knox in April 2014 as Curator of Public Art where he spearheads the AK Public Art Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to create spaces of dialogue where diverse communities have the ability to socially engage and cooperatively produce great public art capable of empowering individuals, generating stronger neighborhoods, and establishing Western New York as a critical cultural center. Ott’s curatorial philosophy is grounded in the notion that the shared landscape of our lives is abundant with the opportunity to create, experience, and talk about notions of beauty, culture, originality, and innovation. He is committed to art that is generous in spirit, conceptually affirmative, and participatory in format. Before joining the Albright-‐Knox, Ott worked as an independent curator on such projects as Inside the Outside at the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) in Chicago and a consultant on projects including Social Paper at Columbia College Chicago. Formerly, Ott was a Curator of the Collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Interim Exhibitions Director at HPAC, Curator at the Elmhurst Art Museum, and Director of the David Weinberg Gallery in Chicago. He received his M.A. from UIC and his undergraduate from the University of Cincinnati. 11:30 AM -‐ 12:00 PM CURATORIAL SLAM To be announced. 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM MENTORSHIP PROGRAM PRESENTATION ANDALEEB BADIEE BANTA, Curator of European and American Art, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College; AAMC Career Support Committee, Co-‐Chair 16 Dr. Banta is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque art of Europe, with a focus on old master drawings. Prior to her appointment at Oberlin, Dr. Banta was Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Art, and has held positions at the Morgan Library & Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Banta received her PhD from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and received her B.A. from Vassar College. 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM LUNCH & COMMITTEE MEETINGS South Wing Atrium and Lower Gallery 2:15 PM – 3:45 PM PANEL: CURATORIAL PRACTICE AND THE EDUCATIONAL TURN Recent museological trends over the past decade or so have seen a move towards audience participation in meaning construction as part of a broader educational turn in curation. Many museums are now shifting from the traditional model of the museum as primarily a place of interpretive display and stewards of collections to accommodate social interaction and showcase diverse forms of creativity. In some cases, the boundaries between the historically distinct professions of curator and educator have blurred; an especially apt example of this can be seen with the rise of the curator of public engagement. This panel will explore the relationship between curating and education today, considering compelling examples of constructive practices from a range of museums. How is the curatorial role shifting or evolving in the education turn? What are constructive models for collaboration between curatorial and education in engaging audiences? How does interest in visitor experience and participatory projects impact the curatorial profession? How does the position of Engagement curator operate in an in-‐between state between curatorial, education, and audience? Museum professionals from diverse backgrounds will offer a range of approaches and perspectives on the subject. Organizer & Moderator CHRISTA CLARKE, Senior Curator, Arts of Global Africa, The Newark Museum; AAMC Vice President, Programs Christa Clarke is Senior Curator, Arts of Global Africa at the Newark Museum. Prior to her appointment at Newark in 2002, she served as the first Curator of African Art at the Neuberger Museum of Art. A specialist in historic and contemporary African art, Clarke has organized numerous exhibitions ranging from men’s fashion in Africa to Nigerian modernism. In addition to her curatorial positions, Clarke has been a fellow at the Clark Art Institute and held teaching appointments at the NYU Abu Dhabi, University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, Rutgers University, Purchase College, and Drew University. Clarke’s publications include Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display (co-‐edited with Kathleen Berzock; 2010), which examines the impact of museum practice on the formation of meaning and public perception of African art, and African Art in the Barnes Foundation: The Triumph of l’Art Nègre and the Harlem Renaissance (2015). 17 She is currently a Vice President of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and was a 2012 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Panelists ALLISON AGSTEN, Curator of Public Engagement, Hammer Museum Allison Agsten was appointed Curator of Public Engagement at the Hammer Museum in 2010 to lead a new curatorial program focused on creating an exchange between visitors and the museum through works of art. Public Engagement launched with an intensive, yearlong residency with Machine Project that included twenty onsite projects and culminated in a widely recognized summary report as well the acquisition of a sound piece made within the program. In addition to curating many other projects of a variety of genres, Agsten oversees a Hammer board comprised of artists. She is presently organizing the museum’s first Public Engagement Partnership with Art + Practice, a new art and social services non-‐profit in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Through the partnership, the Hammer will curate offsite exhibitions until fall of 2016 while also providing mentorship to the emerging organization, which was established by artist Mark Bradford and co-‐founders Allan DiCastro and Eileen Harris Norton. Previously, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Agsten spearheaded a number of projects related to accessibility including Reading Room, a first-‐of-‐its kind program to make rare LACMA publications available for free online. She also developed the museum world’s first bilingual (Spanish and English) Twitter accounts. Prior to joining LACMA, Agsten covered the visual and performing arts in CNN’s Los Angeles bureau. NANCY BLOMBERG, Chief Curator and Curator of Native Arts, Denver Art Museum Nancy Blomberg is Chief Curator and Curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum-‐-‐which includes the arts of Native America, Africa and Oceania. Prior to coming to Denver she worked at museums in Los Angeles and Anchorage , Alaska. She has received numerous grants for research, exhibitions, conservation and collections management from the NEA, NEH, the National Science Foundation, Henry B. Luce Foundation, IMLS and the National Park Service. She has served as a panelist and reviewer for numerous organizations including the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the NEA, AAM and the NSF. Her research specialties include North American Indian arts and cultures-‐-‐
most notably Navajo textiles. She recently directly the complete re-‐installation of the American Indian art galleries at the Denver Art Museum and received the first place award for best permanent gallery from the AAMC. DR. XERXES MAZDA, Deputy Director, Engagement, Royal Ontario Museum As Deputy Director, Engagement, Xerxes oversees all elements of the ROM's visitor experience, including galleries and exhibitions, school visits, digital, publications, design, front of house, visitor research, diversity, marketing, membership, volunteers and programming for all audiences. This new role is tasked with putting visitors at the heart of all the Museum’s activities and increasing the visibility of the Museum’s research and collections Prior to this he was at the British Museum for nine years (2005-‐2013) as Head of Learning, Volunteers and Audiences. In this role he ran a department responsible for the public 18 programme, web, volunteers and interpretation. Between 1992-‐2005 he worked at the Science Museum, London in various roles, including curating the Communications collections, looking after stored collections and working on exhibitions and galleries. 3:45 PM – 4:15 PM CURATORIAL SLAM To be announced. 4:15 PM CLOSING REMARKS & THANK YOU 4:30 PM END 19