Spotlight on the Arts Festival Begins at the University of Georgia

Today marks the start of a 10-day festival at the University of Georgia celebrating the visual, literary and performing arts. In its seventh year, Spotlight on the Arts features dozens of events, exhibitions and more all across the university. Tonight’s kick-off event, “Kaleidoscope: Spotlight on the Arts Opening Celebration,” begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center and will showcase performances in dance, music, theater and creative writing.

The Georgia Museum of Art is proud to participate in this festival, and there are several events scheduled at the museum from now through November 11. Some of these events include:

Family Day: Transforming Metal

Saturday, November 3, 10 a.m.–noon

Explore the impressive sculptures and linear prints by the legendary Richard Hunt, a contemporary African American artist, at this free, drop-in program that is part of the campus-wide Spotlight on the Arts Family Day. After drawing inspiration from gallery activities and the exhibition “Richard Hunt: Synthesis,” create your own metal sculpture in the Michael and Mary Erlanger Studio Classroom. 

Music of Appalachia

Sunday, November 4, 2 p.m.

The Athens Chamber Singers will present a special program of choral and instrumental pieces from Appalachia, including folksongs, spirituals, blues and coal mining songs. Stick around after the music for a special tour of "Vernacular Modernism: The Photography of Doris Ulmann" led by curator of American art Sarah Kate Gillespie. 

Lecture: Elizabeth Catte

Thursday, November 8, 5 p.m.

In her talk entitled “Seeing Appalachia,” writer and public historian Elizabeth Catte will take a critical look at representations of the region in contemporary writing, photography and reporting, underscoring how the visual archive of Appalachia often renders a diverse and complicated place into a series of problems that threaten the nation's progress. Sponsored in part by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.

Student Night: Found Forest

Thursday, November 8, 6:30 p.m.

Join the Student Association of the Georgia Museum of Art to celebrate the exhibition “Richard Hunt: Synthesis.” There will be contests with prizes, button making, food, music and of course ART. Come check out the galleries and enjoy a fun-filled evening at the museum.

For a full list of museum events both during and after the Spotlight on the Arts festival, visit our website. More information on the festival, including a schedule of events, can be found at arts.uga.edu.

Georgia Museum of Art Prepares for Richard Hunt Exhibition with Related Programming

Richard Hunt

Richard Hunt’s career has spanned six decades, and although the artist is now in his 80s, he continues to create large-scale public commissions. The sculptor’s work will be on view at the Georgia Museum of Art from October 20 through February 3 in the exhibition “Richard Hunt: Synthesis.” The show, which was organized by Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art Shawnya Harris, draws from public and private collections all over the country. It will feature several sculptures and works on paper that trace the various phases of Hunt’s career, including welded and cast sculpture dating from the 1950s to the present and models he made after his transition to large-scale public commissions in the late 1960s.

Hunt’s earliest work is tied to his time at the Junior School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and later the Art Institute. The Museum of Modern Art in New York played a role too, when it presented a retrospective exhibition of his career in 1971 and purchased some of his early work. Of particular interest for Georgians are “Wisdom Bridge,” which Hunt created for the downtown branch of the Atlanta Public Library and a pair of sculptures (“Tower of Aspirations” and “And They Went Down Both into the Water”) for Augusta’s Springfield Park.

“Richard Hunt: Synthesis” will be accompanied by a number of related events throughout the fall at the Georgia Museum of Art. The exhibition will also serve as the focus of the museum’s 5th-grade tours as part of Experience UGA this year, allowing all 5th-grade students in the Clarke County School District to experience the works of a pioneering African American sculptor.

Other related programming for this exhibition includes:

·      a public conversation with Hunt on October 19 at 4:30 p.m. (in the museum’s M. Smith Griffith Auditorium)

·      90 Carlton: Autumn, the museum’s quarterly reception (free for museum members, $5 non-members) on October 19 at 5:30 p.m.

·      a public tour with Harris on October 31 at 2 p.m.

·      a Family Day as part of UGA’s 2019 Spotlight on the Arts festival on November 3 from 10 a.m. to noon

·      a Toddler Tuesday on November 13 at 10 a.m. (register via sagekincaid@uga.edu or 706.542.0448)

·      a screening of Charlie Ahearn’s documentary “Richard Hunt: Sculptor” on November 29 at 7 p.m.

·      an Artful Conversation on December 5 at 2 p.m.

·      and a Teen Studio on January 17 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. (email sagekincaid@uga.edu or call 706.542.8863 to reserve a spot).

All programs are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated.

Annual Smitty Award Presented to Cyndy Harbold

Cyndy Harbold was the recipient of this year's Smitty Award

August 16 brought the Annual Meeting and Reception of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, which highlighted the group’s activities from the past year and featured the presentation of the annual M. Smith Griffith Volunteer of the Year Award. First given in 1998, the “Smitty” award seeks to honor the many enthusiastic volunteers who have given their time and talents to the museum over the years. It is named for Smitty Griffith, a founder of the Friends and one of the museum’s most dedicated and generous patrons. Griffith was the first recipient, and the award has since been presented to more than 20 volunteers nominated by the staff of the museum.

This year’s Smitty Award was presented to Cyndy Harbold, a past president of the Friends and of the museum’s docents. She has given countless tours to a wide variety of audiences since joining the docents in 2009. As president of the Friends, she was instrumental in a complete review of the organization’s gift and income reporting, helping very much to ease the way into the new reporting structure of the UGA Foundation. Her understanding of accounting and her perseverance were essential to getting these seemingly mundane, but very important documents and procedures in place.

Harbold has also volunteered to help organize the Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts, a truly monumental undertaking and one in which her assistance was most welcome. She exemplifies the best of what our volunteers can be.

While accepting the award, Harbold said, “When we talk about membership, I think we need to keep in mind that you not only ask someone to join but you take their hand and find something that you know is their spot in this place.” We couldn’t have said it better.

Past recipients of the award include Mae Castenell, Linda Chesnut and Berkeley Minor, as well as many other volunteers who have given selflessly to our organization. The Georgia Museum of Art could not succeed without the work of volunteers like Harbold, and we sincerely thank everyone who has ever donated time or resources to help us provide the best experience possible to the community.

Family Day at the Georgia Museum of Art

A family shows off their works of art at Family Day

On Saturday July 14, a family of three enters the foyer of the Georgia Museum of Art. Associate curator of education Sage Kincaid immediately greets them, giving them a gallery guide. Upon seeing the little girl’s interest, she squats down and directs the information directly to her. The little girl listens attentively, nodding from time to time with a serious finger on her mouth. When all is understood, the family thanks Kincaid, and the little girl rushes toward the steps up to the galleries.

These are some of the first visitors to Family Day – an event the museum hosts for the benefit of children and their families around Athens. July’s focus was the exhibition “Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection.” Families had free run of the galleries to explore and experience, then went down to the Michael and Mary Erlanger Studio Classroom to paint their own masterpieces on canvas. As always, there was a green-screen backdrop hung up and a volunteer photographer on hand to take pictures of families with their art. A piece of art from the exhibition will later be inserted into the background, and the photos are made available on the museum’s Flickr and Facebook pages for free use by the families.

Family Day is hosted monthly by the museum and is themed around a current exhibition or a focus within the permanent collection. Admission is always free and includes a hands-on art activity completed with the help of the education department staff and interns. These activities give children and parents alike the chance to put their own spin on an object related to what they’ve seen in the galleries and have included personalizing red paper lanterns, hanging tapestries, mandalas and oceans in jars. Participatory activities are also often included: there was a floor loom demonstration during “The Material of Craft”; a 3D printer in action for “The Science of Art”; and the “Mindfulness and Mandalas” Family Day featured a yoga class taught by the Athens business YogaSprouts. Using these tools and many more, the program has been nurturing community interactions since its inception more than 30 years ago, revealing the museum’s curatorial breadth, the indispensability of community sponsors and the rigor of the education department in maintaining a strong relationship between the museum and the community on a broad and individual level.

Local families can look forward to next month’s Family Day, “One Heart, One Way,” inspired by an exhibition of Russian fine and decorative arts from the Belosselsky-Belozersky Collection. Children will be able to learn about the objects before creating their own “full dress helmet inspired by those worn by Her Majesty’s Horse Guards in 19th-century Russia.” The event will take place on August 18 from 10 a.m. to noon, and you can check in on Facebook here.

Take a look below for the full list of dates and themes for future Family Day events.

August 18, 2018 – One Heart, One Way

September 8, 2018 – Portraits and Photography

October 20, 2018 – WWI Posters from Around the World

November 3, 2018 – Transforming Metal

December 1, 2018 – Geometric Holiday

January 12, 2019 – Russian Embroidery

February 9, 2019 – African American Artists

March 9, 2019 – Life, Love and Marriage Chests

April 13, 2019 – Maiolica Pottery

May 18, 2019 – Spring Landscapes

June 22, 2019 – The American West

July 20, 2019 – Color, Form and Light

--

Penski McCormack

Intern, Department of Communications