Old Athens Cemetery Restoration

Brave the heat this Sunday to learn about the restoration efforts taking place in the Old Athens Cemetery on Jackson Street. The beautiful, historic burial ground hosts the final resting places of the earliest residents of Athens. Bought in 1801 by Governor John Milledge for the University, people were allowed to be buried there for free. Many interesting people rest there, from Revolutionary soldiers to Dr. Moses Waddell, president of UGA from 1819-1829. The large trees and serene atmosphere make it a place to reflect on history and nature.

Janine Duncan, a campus planning coordinator for the UGA grounds department, will lead the discussion and walking tour following. Discoveries, clean up, and restoration will be discussed in room 116 of the Visual Arts building (the old Lamar Dodd building), directly to the north (towards Downtown). This will be an informative and interesting event to attend if you are curious about the state of the cemetery and its restoration.

The event is sponsored by the Athens Historical Society and the Georgia Museum of Art. Please meet in room 116 at 3:00 p.m. this Sunday, June 20. For more information on the cemetery, go to http://bit.ly/9ei5rG.

Recession Impacts Commissioned Artwork

With corporations pinching their pockets in the wake of the economic recession of 2009, it stands to reason that commissioning expensive works of art would be the furthest thing from corporate minds. But the demand for highly specialized, one-of-a-kind commissioned artwork has actually increased, and experts think they know why.

According to an article by Christopher Michaud, a unique work of art can serve as a brand-building technique for an organization, used to set itself apart from competitors. Previously seen as a charitable act and a civic duty, the commissioning of unique artwork is now seen as a marketing strategy and a way for a corporation to build its public image.

According to Amy Cappellazzo, Christie's' international co-head of post-war and contemporary art, businesses like hotels and restaurants are particularly interested in the commercial gain associated with commissioned art. For example, the hotel chain Sage Hospitality is filling its guest rooms with the work of local artists in an effort to “tie [art] into their style and interior designs.”

Corporations are also starting to pay closer attention to the payoff of commissioned works, which can be significant. Two years ago, the New York Public Art fund commissioned a project called “Waterfalls,” a $15 million project in which man-made waterfalls were installed in the East River for four months. At the conclusion of the project, experts estimated that it had brought $70 million to the local economy— more than four times its original cost.

However, despite the new interest from corporations in highly specialized works, there may be hard times to come for artists who rely on these commissions.

As Michaud writes, “A more far-reaching impact of the recession is likely to be felt on U.S. art commissions in the years ahead, experts note, because a commissioned piece can take years to complete after money is allocated. A lack of funding now may mean less art later.”

For the rest of this article, click here.

Art Antiques London

Art Antiques London, a new art and antiques fair, took place from June 10 through June 16. The fair took place in Kensington Gardens and incorporated the 29th year of the International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

The fair brought in International dealers, curators and collectors. Pieces from the 18th century to the present were at the fair and were all “examined and vetted for quality and authenticity,” according to the Arts Antiques London website. Most exhibitors were from the UK, but others were from France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Art Antiques London took place in a custom-built pavilion in Kensington Gardens, near Royal Albert Hall and close to the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851. In addition to the fair, Art Antiques London included a collectors’ dinner and various lectures. The fair had its own restaurant open for reservations called “1851,” catered by the Admirable Crichton.

Click here for more information.

When Gold Blossoms

Image from Michael C. Carlos Museum website

When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection is on view at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta. The exhibition has more than 150 pieces from 2,000 years and “celebrates the dazzling beauty and awe-inspiring technical craftsmanship of Indian jewelry.”

Much of the jewelry in When Gold Blossoms is from South India, where gold is the preferred metal for jewelry making. The title also reflects the influence of nature on jewelry design. The exhibition includes rings, anklets, earrings, hair pendants and more. In addition to the jewelry itself, photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries will be displayed so that viewers can see how the pieces are worn and used.

In India, jewelry is worn not only for ornamental reasons, but also because of its symbolism. Both men and women wear jewelry from head to toe for its beauty and the belief that it offers protection and prosperity. Materials in the jewelry are also said to have certain powers, including purification (gold) or channeling energy (gems). There is much to learn about Indian jewelry and its meaning, so click here to read more.

The exhibition runs through July 11. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Click here for an article about the exhibition in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (prices also included at the end of the article).

Behind the Scenes at GMOA

Education intern Sarah Quinn paints faces at a GMOA Family Day event

One of the primary goals of the Georgia Museum of Art is to promote learning, and this past semester, two interns from our education department have been doing just that. Meet Christina Westpheling and Sarah Quinn, two UGA students on a mission to bring art into classrooms across Georgia.

Christina is about to enter her senior year at the University as a double major in Art History and Classical Culture. During her time interning with GMOA this past semester, she developed the idea for a project called a “Traveling Trunk,” a hands–on teaching packet for 8th grade social studies classrooms. This Traveling Trunk relates works of art from GMOA’s permanent collection to events in Georgia history, and includes cross-curricular activities applying art to history, language arts, music and even math.

“This project has been my own from start to finish, which is a rare opportunity for most interns,” Christina said. “I got to select the works of art I wanted to include, which was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.”

When the program is launched next year, there will be six “editions” of Christina’s Traveling Trunk in various classrooms across the state. Christina hopes that her hard work will prove inspirational:

“I only hope that when it is used, the Trunk can provide at least a few kids with that spark of understanding that I once received, making art and history truly come alive for them.”

Sarah Quinn is a rising senior as well, majoring in Art History and Studio Art. She was also the recipient of GMOA’s Louis T. Griffith Student of the Year award two years ago. This past semester, she took on the project of developing a “backpack tour” for the museum.

“Essentially, this program is designed to engage students and families visiting the museum with works of art from the permanent selection,” Sarah said.

Sarah began this project by researching backpack tours at other museums to determine what aspects of their programs received the most positive feedback. She then developed GMOA’s backpack around five artists: Georgia O’Keefe, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton and Jacob Lawrence. The backpacks will include biographical information, worksheets, hands-on activities, and follow-up activities.

After all of the hard work these two interns have put in over the past several months, GMOA is excited to launch these two projects next year with the reopening of the museum.

Monumental sculpture moving to Naples, Florida

Dawn Forest in the lobby of the Georgia-Pacific Center

Atlanta is losing an important piece of art to the Naples Museum of Art in Florida. The large, multipart installation Dawn Forest by Louise Nevelson has been in the lobby of the Georgia-Pacific Center since 1986. With the company planning on renovating the space, they considered the space with and without the piece, opting for more retail space over the monumental artwork. Promoting Dawn Forest under the stipulation that it must be displayed in one piece, the company fielded inquiries from several Atlanta locations, including the High and the Carlos Museum. However, both declined the opportunity because of space issues. This was not an easy decision for the directors, according to Carlos museum director Bonnie Speed. "That’s well and good for Naples; it’s a loss for Atlanta. It’s distressing to hear it’s leaving Atlanta. It’s unfortunate that we were unable to keep this iconic piece of public art."

Nevelson was an influential female artist in the world of contemporary sculpture and installation art. She often pieced together found wood into compositions connected by the color, either whites or blacks. Dawn Forest is the largest of Nevelson’s art. “Composed of standing columns, some as tall as 25 feet, and vertical hanging pieces, which punctuate the long lobby, as well as an 11-by-26-foot wall relief on the mezzanine,” it has quite a presence in its current location.

When director and founder Myra Daniels of the museum in Naples heard about the availability of Nevelson’s piece, she came to Atlanta right away to see it. “I committed to it on the spot,” Daniels said. “Our collection’s strength is in American modernism, and Nevelson was at the top of our wish list. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The museum is making space in the reception area to accommodate the sculpture, including moving a Dale Chihuly chandelier. Needless to say, the Naples Museum of Art is very excited about the donation from Georgia-Pacific and MetLife.

(http://bit.ly/bqm4t2)

Parisian Art Heist Shocks World

Police inspect the frames of the stolen paintings

The recent Parisian art heist is said to be the greatest in history due to the stolen paintings’ value as well as the museum’s location. On May 20, 2010, five paintings with an estimated worth of approximately $123 million (100 million Euros) were stealthily taken from the Paris Museum of Modern Art. The bounty included work by Fernand Leger, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse and possibly the most famous artist in the world, Pablo Picasso. Thought to be the work of an individual, the work disappeared overnight while three armed guards were on duty. This tragedy raises the questions of why and how the work was stolen and if it will ever be recovered.

With every art collector, museum director and police officer on high alert, the paintings will have no chance of being sold on the open market without notice. However, if taken to the black market, the paintings could be used as collateral by Colombian drug dealers or as ransom for an insurance payout. More than likely, if sold on the black market, the art will not end up in the hands of an art enthusiast. Some officials speculate it will be sold to wealthy individuals in countries like Russia or China who likely would not check the background of the works.

According to an article in the New York Times, “police and museum officials said little about the security failure, particularly about whether the alarm system had malfunctioned or had been disabled.” The museum’s management had been aware of a problem with the security system since March, even though in 2004 the museum closed for two years to upgrade the system at the cost of $19 million. That the thief could have known about a possible flaw in the security system suggests the possibility of inside help. The black-clad burglar worked swiftly and effectively. Instead of cutting the works out of the frames, they were carefully removed, leaving the frames behind for the police to inspect. The guards discovered the paintings missing around 7 a.m., and the museum has been closed ever since to try and follow the clues. Mayor Bertrand Delanoë of Paris wants an internal investigation to take place, as this is not the first time artwork has been stolen from a Parisian museum. “Last summer, a thief snatched a red sketchbook of 33 Picasso drawings from the Picasso Museum while it was undergoing renovations. Security alarms did not sound in that case, either” (http://nyti.ms/alM0Ku).

Hopes of recovering the stolen art are slim, as it could take decades and most will not be found. “The Art Loss Register, the world’s largest database of lost and stolen art, puts that figure [chances of recovering the artwork] at 12 to 15 percent” (http://bit.ly/9FakA1). Action has to be taken quickly as clues will become more indistinct in a short time.

Salvador Dalí

This August, the High Museum will present Salvador Dalí: The Late Work, the first major exhibition to reevaluate the last half of Dalí’s life following his conversion to Catholicism and his development of the concept of nuclear mysticism—blending faith and religious tradition with his interest in modern science and atomic physics.

Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain, and is remembered as one of the most controversial artists of the twentieth century. He was a leading figure of the Surrealist movement.

In 1941, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held Dalí’s first retrospective exhibition. In 1942 he published his autobiography “The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí.” In 1974 he opened the Teatro-Museo in Figueres before a major retrospective debuted at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and then in London that same decade. He died in Figueres in 1989.

In a span of 60 years, the artist created more than 1,200 oil paintings, numerous drawings, sculptures, theatre and fashion designs, illustrations and writings.

With more than 40 paintings and a group of drawings, prints and other ephemera, the exhibition will explore Dalí’s fascination with science, optical effects and illusionism as well as his connections to celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning and Alice Cooper.

The exhibition will run August 7, 2010 through Jan 9, 2011.

For more information please visit: http://bit.ly/9eXIFT

Also, stay tuned for Dalí Illustrates Dante’s Divine Comedy, on view at the Georgia Museum of Art from April 10 to June 19, 2011. The exhibition will feature Dalí’s visual interpretations of Dante’s literary masterpiece.

For more information please visit: http://bit.ly/c4g2Xb

Construction Updates from Holder

Here are the construction updates from Holder through Friday, June 11.

Current week - Activities/Issues:

New Gallery / Connector

• Building removable walls

• Installing wood bases

• Trim out of light fixtures

Existing Building Renovations

• Installing 1st floor lobby ceiling

• Installing millwork / shelving

• MEP final trim out

• Installing doors and hardware

Storage Bar

• Installing punch window opening on third floor

• Continue MEP trim out

Site / Sculpture Garden

• Poured stairs, ramps, and walk pads and continued installing planting beds

• Backfilling cistern tanks

Next week - Activities/Issues:

New Gallery / Connector

• Complete removable walls

• Complete stair handrails

• Installing millwork

Existing Building Renovations

• Continue HCC Completion List

• Finishes in 1st floor lobby

Storage Bar

• Final paint

Site / Sculpture Garden

• Back filling cistern/piping

• Continue to install plants

Parking Garage Roof Installation Progress

Removable Walls Construction

Landing and Stairwell Railing Installation

Invitation to the Ballet

The Royal Opera House and The Lowry will host Invitation to the Ballet: Ninette de Valois and the Story of The Royal Ballet, an exhibition that will tell the story of The Royal Ballet and pay tribute to its founder, Ninette de Valois. This unique, comprehensive exhibition will begin in October at The Lowry in Salford, England.

Invitation to the Ballet will create “a truly 360-degree view of the glorious history of The Royal Ballet.” The exhibition will showcase materials from ballets choreographed by de Valois, rarely seen sketches from LS Lowry and a recreation of the dressing room of Dame Margot Fonteyn (former prima ballerina). Set and costume designs by such artists as Picasso, Edward Burra and William Chappel will also be included. In addition, the exhibition will incorporate letters, press clips, music manuscripts, dance notation scores and memorabilia.

Educational events, interactive exhibitions and specially commissioned films will accompany the exhibition. Monica Mason, director of The Royal Ballet, comments on Invitation to the Ballet:

I am thrilled that we are able to collaborate with The Lowry on such a large-scale exhibition, one that not only explores the remarkable achievements and legacy of Ninette de Valois but also illustrates the work of The Royal Ballet through the eight decades of its existence. This partnership with The Lowry enables us to bring the Company and its history to Salford and Manchester where we have so many connections.

A Portrait of Detroit

Andrew Moore, Rolling hall, Ford Motor Company, River Rouge Complex, Dearborn, 2008, digital chromogenic print scanned from film negative, 62 x 78 in., Collection of Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell.

Detroit, the collapsed city that once served as the heart of the automotive industry, has captured the attention of American artist Andrew Moore. And he has in turn attempted to capture the majesty and tragedy of Detroit through photography. Organized by the Akron Art Museum, the exhibition Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore consists of 30 pieces featuring various structures around the city, from the humblest of houses to the most elaborate of public buildings.

Once the fourth largest city in the nation, Detroit now has more abandoned property than any American city, with the exception of post-Katrina New Orleans. Moore’s photographs, taken between 2008 and 2009, reflect the decline the city has suffered over the past 50 years. The images, printed in the scale of epic history paintings, depict skeletal houses, empty factories and collapsed churches. However, his images also portray the ways in which the city’s dilapidated state has also lead to a revival of nature, and therefore his message can be interpreted as one of rebirth and redemption.

Director of Curatorial Affairs Barbara Tannenbaum comments on Moore’s work:

“Moore’s photographs of the Motor City are sublime— beautiful, operatic in scale and drama, tragic yet offering a glimmer of hope. Although it is hard to believe that his post-apocalyptic scenes reflect present day America, the artist has been scrupulously honest.”

Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore will be on display in the Akron Art Museum until October 10, 2010. For more information, click here.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Displays Student Work

This summer, 70 New York City public school students will get to see their own work on display in one of the world’s largest art galleries. For the third consecutive year, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is displaying exceptional works of art by students ages four through 20 in the juried exhibition P.S. Art 2010: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids.

P.S. Art is a collaborative program formed by the New York City Department of Education and Studio in a School Association, Inc. The program hosts a competition every year in search of exceptional works of art from students from all walks of life. The 70 pieces were selected from 800 submissions citywide, and include works from students with special needs, those in advanced placement art courses and everything in between.

Museum Director Thomas P. Campbell comments on the museums participation in the project.

"We are very pleased to play a role in bringing student achievement into public view through P.S. Art 2010 and supporting the continuity of artistic creativity, from the earliest objects in our own collections to works produced today, such as those now on view by these young New York City public school students.”

The exhibit opened on June 8 and will remain on view until August 8. For more information, click here.

"Priceless"

Robert K. Wittman, former FBI agent and skilled detective, tells his experiences of working undercover to take back stolen works of art and history in his autobiography Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures. Coincidentally, the Parisian art heist happened just a few weeks before the release of the novel. Wittman’s career took him to many different cities and countries, including Madrid, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. He often posed as a shady art collector or a millionaire in order to gain leads on where the stolen pieces could be. His work helped recover numerous items estimated at a total of $225 million such as “works by Goya, Rodin and Rembrandt, along with Geronimo’s eagle-feather war bonnet [and]…one of the 14 original copies of the Bill of Rights” (http://nyti.ms/aoQ6az). But the worth does not matter to Wittman. “After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into [a Civil War] battle? They're both priceless,” states an article on artdaily.org (http://bit.ly/934YA7).

Through his work with the FBI, he was able to take the fledging art crime department and transform it into the Art Crime Team, which runs art theft investigations. As an art enthusiast, Wittman believes “art thieves steal more than beautiful objects; they steal memories and identity. They steal history.” This viewpoint reinforces his passion for museum security and making sure items are returned to the proper owner. He feels the most at ease in the MET, mostly due to his long-standing relationship with the security chief there. In a recent trip to Constanta, Romania, where he helped assess the museum’s security, he said, “the place is a crime waiting to happen,” based on the lack of personnel and how the work was displayed. So even though he has retired from hunting down prized pieces, he continues to think in that mindset. He is thankful however to not be in high-stress situations anymore. In the book, he does impart some wisdom to potential thieves, stating, “famous paintings are exceedingly dumb things to steal because they are nearly impossible to sell.”

Priceless, released by Crown Publishers, is available at bookstores nationwide and at amazon.com.

"Newspeak: British Art Now" Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery

Barry Reigate's Real Special Very Painting

The Saatchi Gallery in London is one of the world’s premier art spaces, showcasing up and coming contemporary artists. Charles Saatchi, art collector and global advertising mogul, opened the gallery in 1985 in North London. Currently, the art house is located in Chelsea in the Duke of York's HQ building. Saatchi’s history features artists from different areas, including US minimalists, Young British Artists (YBA) and contemporary artists from the United States, Britain and China. Many artists who show at the gallery often use the publicity to jump start their careers. On June 2, the largest show since moving to the current location opened with many exciting but still mostly unknown artists from Britain.

Called “Newspeak: British Art Now,” the show predicts what future art in Britain will be. The term “newspeak” comes from George Orwell’s chilling novel 1984, in which the language gets simplified and smaller constantly in order to create a utopian, equal society. The exhibit takes the idea of newspeak and does the exact opposite: the artists are showing how visual language can multiply and be invented by them to “explore issues such as class, consumerism and the phenomenon of instant success culture, often with a distinctly British dry wit” (http://bit.ly/a9bJR6). Artists in the first set of Newspeak include Barry Reigate, Pablo Bronstein and many others.

The Saatchi Gallery strives to reach the largest audience possible, and in the first year of being open in the Chelsea location, over 1.2 million people came to see the progressive shows. The free admission and prime location also help draw the crowds.

If you find yourself in London this summer, be sure to visit the Saatchi Gallery for really exciting and fresh art. For more information on the gallery, please go to http://bit.ly/3OifW.

Relocation of the Barnes Foundation

Inside a gallery at the Barnes Foundation. Photo: JH, New York Social Diary.

The Barnes Foundation has a renowned private collection of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings by such artists as Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse, among others. It is now located in Merion, Pennsylvania, at the former estate of its founder, Dr. Albert Barnes.

The collection, worth more than $25 billion, will relocate in 2012 from Merion to downtown Philadelphia. Dr. Barnes had planned to keep the collection in its original location; however, the Foundation is not in the financial position to stay in Merion.

The relocation has been quite controversial. Opponents say that Dr. Barnes’ will contains instructions stating that the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed. The proponents for relocation have financial interests and also state that moving the collection will give more people the opportunity to see the collection (scroll down to where it says, "Two weekends ago..." to read from this link).

A documentary, “The Art of the Steal,” chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation. The Collectors of GMOA will present the documentary at Ciné on Thursday, July 1, at 6:30 p.m. The event will include dinner catered by The National in addition to the film. Cost is $60 per Collector and $65 for the general public. Call 706.542.0437 for more information or click here.

Artists' Commune

Since March of this year, 24 visual artists and 4 performing groups have made New York Harbor’s Governor’s Island their workstation.

This change in scenery is an initiative of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, a nonprofit organization that has worked to sustain the arts in New York City following the events of 9/11.

They selected two groups of artists to receive four-month residencies in Building 110, a former munitions warehouse, on the island. Originally built in the 1870s, it was renovated in 2009 to include an arts center with studio areas, two performance spaces and a gallery for exhibitions.

Functioning somewhat like a distant artists’ commune—geared toward nurturing the creative genius—transportation is provided by a ferry to and from Manhattan at 6:45am and 5:00pm. Although a café will open soon, as of now, aside from a coffee truck, there are no food services on the island. Also, with the exception of the three weekends following July 23 and Oct 8, the island is closed to the public.

The current group of artists is scheduled to move out on July 29 with the second moving in on August 9.

Like many of the artists on the island, Rachel Bacon has been inspired by her environment and has created a paper model of a damaged canoe and birch tree saying, “First the Indians were here and then the Dutch. . . . It’s a piece about the transformations that have taken place and how fragile everything is.”

Speaking on her short-term residency she added, “I’ll be really sorry to see it end.”