Greetings to all past and present VCAM members
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My Southern Swing
As I left Detroit heading first for Knoxville, Tennessee, on Saturday June 27, I admit that I felt a slight pang as Lydia (my GPS) announced in her best machine voice “continue on the I-75 freeway for 456 miles.”
Tennessee is the furthest south of the states in VCAM Region 5. I am committed to visiting as many museums as I can during my three years period as Co-Director of Region 5. So far the count is thirty-two. I have driven from the northern most one point, the Dennos in Traverse City, to the most southern tip of the region. This trip took in Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville and Louisville.
The first stop was the Knoxville Museum of Art and after several hours on the road I finally arrived. The museum is located on the site of the Worlds’ Fair, which was held there in 1982. I was met by KMA staffers Wendy Noe and Jonathan Hash. Jonathon gave me an excellent tour of the galleries and special exhibits including “Higher Ground A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee,” “Made in Hollywood Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation” and “Arms, Legs, Feet, Heart & Soul The Cumberland Furniture Guild.” It was interesting to see those works from of different artists from East Tennessee. Later I spent a time on near the Tennessee River and ate Southern style food at a well known restaurant.
The next stop at the opposite end of Tennessee was the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis. A wonderful museum featuring at the time I was there Jacob Lawrence. It has beautifully staged art throughout, a marvelous floor plan and complimented by exquisite wooden seats place around the museum. There I also found artist Carl Gutherz, whose work I found his work evocative especially that he attributed to the Civil War era. He is definitely an artist who deserves a second look. The Brooks is nestled in a beautiful part of Memphis and has the charm of the Deep South.
Next I drove back to the middle to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville Tennessee. This heavenly building started life as a Post Office and its building precedents are lovingly maintained inside and out. The Art deco foyers were just exquisite and the galleries I found to be most expansive. Of course I would be remiss if I do mention the wonderful “Museums in the 21st Century Concepts, Projects, and Buildings” May 29–August 23, 2009. This exhibition explores important trends in contemporary museum architecture, I was most impressed. In the learning center I found a place where people could express themselves creating interpretations of their visions and the area felt alive with artistic creativity.
Due North to my final stop was the Speed Art Museum in Louisville Kentucky. Most probably the most intimate place of the trip, the visitor feels; well in my case as if they have entered a sanctuary. The galleries are nicely installed and I was lucky to coincide with the “Beyond the Log Cabin Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln” installation. I ate lunch there a saw what appeared to be the mingling of staff and volunteers in animated, happy conversations. I reflected on my trip on the individual branding of the four museums. How each had a strong sense of identity that came across to the visitor and left good memories to share. The trip totaled just over 1600 miles I saw Tennessee East to West, Southern Kentucky and was most privileged to visit all four of the wonderful places.
Buildings as “Works of Architecture.”
Modern Museums
A McGraw Hill publication affiliated with the American Institute of Architects, the Architectural Record, devoted much of its November 2005 issue to museums. They commissioned Martin Filler, probably our best architectural critic, to examine this phenomenon as a manifestation of “Patron Power” under the title “Museums and the Maecenas” touch. In Europe museums have historically been funded by the state; in America, they have tended to be backed by private collectors. What has caused the museum mania? Conventional wisdom suggests that the Guggenheim’s decision to build Frank Gehry’s Bilbao structure started it all. There is no question it created a sensation when it opened, as did his Art Gallery of Ontario,in Totonto, but the phenomenon is more complex than that. Museums, like concert halls, opera houses, and theaters, are multi faceted structures. Directors and donors tend to go with proven track-records when selecting their architects. The reign of the museum as the signal building type in recent American architecture is best explained by the promise of increased prosperity and heightened prestige through spectacular design.
Therefore, I set out three years ago to enjoy the experiences they have created. Visiting two outstanding creations on the west coast, the Seattle Art Museum by Robert Venturi and the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco by Herzog and DeMeuron, which I found to be as advertised, “a work of art itself” and “a seamless joy to explore.” The Akron Art Museum by Coop Himmelb(l) is truly surreal as it bursts out of the surrounding spaces. Toronto has two such edifices, the Royal Ontario Museum by Daniel Libeskind which excites you as you walk towards it and Frank Gehry’s AGO with its magical staircase. On a personal level, I found the Bloch Building by Steven Hull at the Nelson-Atkins, in Kansas City quite emotionally evocative, especially at night lit from inside.
Coop Himmelb(l)
Frank Gehry
Daniel Libeskind
Steven Hull
Kulapat Yantrasast
An open letter to volunteers and art museum staff
WHY DO WE NEED TO ATTEND CONFERENCES?
Volunteer Committee of Art Museums triennial conferences are designed for visual art museum volunteers and staff. They afford an opportunity to show off volunteer and staff expertise in various subject areas, meet old acquaintances, to make new friends, to eat wonderful foods, and keep learning and engaged.
So every three years around 120 volunteers and museum staff from around North America participate in the V ○ C ○ A ○ M. It is a time of learning and reflection, a refuge if you will from the busy lives we all lead. Each triennial is hosted by a museum from one of the 10 V C A M regions. Each has its own unique flavor reflecting the local culture. The next triennial is this October hosted by the Nelson-Atkins Kansas City, Missouri, see the spectacular Bloch Building.
I have attended three triennials so far Detroit, Toronto and San Francisco each had its own special surprise and they were just a delight to participate in.
Triennials are the cachet of V C A M, known for excellent keynote speakers, high quality and participatory educational sessions. Attendees will also benefit by way of networking with other volunteers, leadership and museum professionals alike.
Come and enjoy this experience… You give so much…Here’s a place to replenish and refresh……
Reflect……
Listen and Learn…..
Have your critical thinking reenergized……
Develop synergies’ with people from other locations with similar goals……
Have Fun!!!
You deserve all these things! Treat yourself to a wonderful experience!
Enjoy a V C A M triennial conference, register today!
Crooked Tree Arts Center – Petoskey Michigan
From Wendy Evans, past Chairman of the DIA Volunteer Council
“I’m just back lecturing in Petoskey where there is an exhibition of 30 paintings from the Manoogian collection, most of which are fairly new to the collection. If any volunteers are going up there before August 8, I recommend going to the Crooked Tree Arts Center.”
Andy Warhol’s MARILYN X 100
100 members of the Womens Council from the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) very cleverly recreated Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn X 100 complete with three Andys. What a wonderful idea and perfectly presented by this dynamic group.
Marching on the Circle
Least we forget the original.
The original
Performance Art lives in Cleveland.
WOW!
U-M Museum Of Art
The University Of Michigan Museum Of Art opened its landmark $41.9 million expansion and restoration to the public on March 28, 2009.
Reaching for the sky
Principal architect Brad Cloepfil and his team at Allied Works Architecture designed UMMA’s landmark 53,000-square-foot expansion and renovated its historic home, the 41,000-square-foot Alumni Memorial Hall. The transformation more than doubles the space available for display of collections, temporary exhibitions, and programs and educational exploration. It also fulfills the Museum’s mission to bridge visual art and contemporary culture, scholarship and accessibility, tradition and innovation.
An old friend
Coming in through the Alumni Memorial Hall’s original entrance visitors will find a u-shaped gallery whose vista is lit from above by diffused natural light discovered during the renovation. The museum offers tours on Sundays led by knowledgeable Docents, who provide an interesting journey through the old building in addition to the new wing giving wonderful insight and tidbits to those on the tour. The Museum is featuring in the newly installed collection of galleries works drawn from the Museum’s own collections of more than 18,000 works. Special Exhibits that day included: Expressions of Vienna: Master Drawings by Klimt (a personal favorite), along with Egon Schiele’s masterpieces from the Pulgram-McSparran Collection, highlighting an extraordinary recent gift of artwork by two iconic masters of Austrian Expressionism from two professors at the University.
Beautiful diffused light
As we crossed to the new wing I was impressed by the juxtaposition of architectural precedents with the natural stone facings on the original and new spaces. The floor to ceiling windows on its corners drew my focus to the surrounding architectures of this splendid site. In a nutshell, I thought Cloepfil has conveyed, with his use of scale and balance architecture that does not intrude on the art at all but gives the viewer a sense of intimacy to the pieces on display. I never felt lost or overwhelmed by the building throughout the tour.
Stairs to where?
Currently the museum is featuring “Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture” from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University May 23 through August 16, 2009. The exhibition consists of twenty-two rarely displayed stone sculptures ranging in date from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220) through the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The Sackler Collections were given by Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and his family in a period from the 1960s to the 1970s and total over 3000 pieces, of which 500 are Chinese and of those 80 are stone sculpture.
Such scale
I strongly recommend a visit to this wonderful museum which is part of the thriving art landscape in Michigan.
Dazzling reflections for our last look back
VCAM Region 5 Newsletter
Hello all with a cover letter from Co Region 5 Director Linda McGinty this newsletter relays the story of my road trip to the Holland Museum, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Grand Rapids Art Museum and finally the Krasl Art Center. Each had its own sparkling identity; I am sure that if you visited them you would be as charmed as I was.
VCAM Region 5 Newsletter summer 2009
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VOLUNTEER NOW – VCAM 2009 Triennial Conference
VOLUNTEER NOW
You are invited to the Volunteer Committees of Art Museums 20 th Triennial conference in Kansas City in, Missouri October 8-10, 2009. The Volunteer Council of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is proud to host this special event
Steven Hulls magnificant Bloch Building at dusk
The Nelson-Atkins contains a nationally recognized encyclopedic collection and has long been known for its outstanding Chinese collection. The have been some exciting changes in recent years, the primary one being the fabulous new addition (seen above reproduced with permission). The Bloch Building which opened in 2007, was voted the #1 Architectural Marvel of 2007.
The conference will offer a wide array of breakout sessions and guest speakers the will explore the “VOLUNTEER NOW” theme. Check www.vcam.org for more details follow the image below.
Cover of registration booklet