Summer 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMER 2009
EDITOR
Hillary Brown
ASSISTANT EDITOR Mary Koon
PUBLICATIONS INTERN John Keith
DESIGN
Kudzu Graphics Georgia Museum of Art University of Georgia 90 Carlton Street Athens, GA 30602 706.542.GMOA • FAX: 706.542.1051 Exhibition Line: 706.542.3254 www.uga.edu/gamuseum
3
From the Director
4-5 Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection
6-7
Traveling Exhibitions
8
Event Photos
9
Calendar of Events
10
Museum Notes
11
Gifts
BOARD OF ADVISORS Mr. B. Heyward Allen Jr. Dr. Amalia K. Amaki Turner I. Ball, M.D. Mr. Fred D. Bentley Sr. Mr. Richard E. Berkowitz Mrs. Devereux C. Burch Mr. Robert E. Burton Mrs. Debbie C. Callaway Mr. Randolph W. Camp Mrs. Shannon I. Candler, past chair Mrs. Faye S. Chambers Mr. Harvey J. Coleman Mrs. Martha T. Dinos Mrs. Annie Laurie Dodd Ms. Sally Dorsey Professor Marvin Eisenberg Ms. Carlyn F. Fisher Mr. James B. Fleece Mr. Edgar J. Forio Jr. Mr. Harry L. Gilham Jr. Mr. John M. Greene Mrs. M. Smith Griffith Mrs. Marion E. Jarrell Mr. Paul R. Jones Professor John D. Kehoe Mrs. George-Ann Knox Mrs. Shell H. Knox Mrs. Helen P. McConnell Mrs. Marilyn McMullan Mrs. Marilyn D. McNeely Mrs. Berkeley S. Minor Mr. C.L. Morehead Jr. Ms. Jane C. Mullins Mr. Carl W. Mullis III, chair
Mr. Donald G. Myers Mrs. Betty R. Myrtle Dr. John Nickerson Mrs. Deborah L. O’Kain Ms. Kathy B. Prescott Dr. William F. Prokasy IV Mr. Rowland A. Radford Jr. Ms. Margaret A. Rolando Mr. Alan F. Rothschild Jr. Mrs. Dorothy A. Roush Mrs. Sarah P. Sams Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. Mrs. Helen H. Scheidt Mr. Henry C. Schwob Ms. Cathy Selig-Kuranoff Mr. S. Stephen Selig III Mrs. Dudley R. Stevens Mrs. Carolyn W. Tanner Mrs. Barbara Auxier Turner Mr. C. Noel Wadsworth Ms. Kathleen E. Walker Mr. G. Vincent West
Ex-officio Dr. Paige Carmichael Mrs. Linda C. Chesnut Dr. William U. Eiland Mr. Tom Landrum Dr. Arnett C. Mace Jr.
page 2 • GMOA SUMMER 2009
ON THE COVER: R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) Abraham Lincoln, n.d. Enamel paint on tin Approx. 28 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
FROM THE DIRECTOR
From the Director During this time of global financial crisis, when some college administrators are using museum objects as commodities rather than educational treasures, collections in academic museums are at risk. If these collections, which are at the core of our service to the university community and the general public, are under threat, it is no wonder that a colleague of mine recently expressed worry about her K–12 outreach programs being eliminated. As we continue to assert our key values as an art museum (GMOA is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, which has stringent policies against deaccessioning objects to cover operating costs), it is important that we reemphasize why K–12 programs at the Georgia Museum of Art are essential. Therefore, I asked my staff to make a list of reasons why such programs are a central part of our mission, and these are just a few of many points with which they answered my request: 1. While the Georgia Museum of Art is a university museum, it is also the official state museum of art and, thus, serves all citizens of Georgia, regardless of age. 2. Quality children’s programming falls under the American Association of Museums’ four accreditation program standards, which state that an accreditable museum: a. Strives to be a good neighbor in its geographic area. b. Strives to be inclusive and offers opportunities for diverse participation. c. Asserts its public service role and places education at the center of that role. d. Demonstrates a commitment to providing the public with physical and intellectual access to the museum and its resources. 3. Children’s programming, which not only helps create an educated citizenry at large but also shapes young minds in an inquisitive direction for the future, meets UGA’s teaching goal. The university specifies nowhere in its mission statement that it only functions to teach those of a certain age. 4. Children’s programming fulfills UGA’s commitment to outreach and public service, important components of a state land-grant university that distinguish it from private institutions. 5. The concluding lines of UGA’s mission statement read, “As it has been historically, UGA is responsive to the evolution of the state’s educational, social and economic needs. It aspires through its strategic planning to even closer contact and interaction with public and private institutions throughout the state as well as with the citizens it serves.” Not only should the university not eliminate children’s programming at the museum, but, according to this statement, it should expand it!
“As we continue to assert our key values as an art museum . . . it is important that we re-emphasize why K–12 programs at the Georgia Museum of Art are essential.”
William Underwood Eiland, Director
Mission Statement The Georgia Museum of Art shares the mission of the University of Georgia to support and to promote teaching, research and service. Specifically, as a repository and educational instrument of the visual arts, the museum exists to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret significant works of art. GMOA SUMMER 2009 • page 3
EXHIBITIONS
Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection
August 8–October 24, 2009 Lyndon House Arts Center, 293 Hoyt St., Athens, Ga.
B
R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) Blow Oskar Was My Cousin, n.d. Enamel paint on particle board Approx. 67 3/8 x 46 1/2 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
orn in 1912 in Rabbittown, just outside of Gainesville, Ga., Reuben “R.A.” Miller spent most of his life working in cotton mills and preaching as an itinerant Free Will Baptist minister. After retiring due to a back injury and glaucoma in the late 1970s, Miller realized his calling and began creating art full time. Inspired by nature, popular culture and his personal life, Miller’s works take as their subjects animals and other “critters,” angels, devils and members of his family. By the mid-1980s, Miller’s lawn was completely decorated with hundreds of his whirligigs and other works. In 1984, Athens-based rock group R.E.M., along with filmmaker Jim Herbert, chose Miller’s home as the setting for their “Left of Reckoning” video. Although Miller considered his work “junk” instead of art, his popularity continued to increase. Since his death in 2006, Miller has been recognized as one of the great self-taught artists of the South. Organized by the Georgia Museum of Art, Lord Love You will feature 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs. Some of Miller’s more personal works of art and more controversial images will also be on display. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held at the Lyndon House on August 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. A companion full-color exhibition catalogue will be on sale at the Lyndon House and online in our Web shop, which can be accessed from our Web site, www.uga. edu/gamuseum. The exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
The Georgia Museum of Art is grateful to Carl Mullis for sharing his private collection of works by R.A. Miller with the citizens of Athens. The museum is also grateful to the Lyndon House Arts Center and Athens-Clarke County Department of Leisure Services for hosting the exhibition as part of GMOA on the Move. The exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
page 4 • GMOA SUMMER 2009
EXHIBITIONS R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) I Love My Wife, n.d. Enamel paint on tin Approx. 26 3/4 x 39 x 1/2 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) Green Dinosaur whirligig, n.d. Enamel paint on tin and wood with bicycle tire rim Approx. 30 1/2 x 35 3/4 x 30 1/2 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
The museum is asking anyone who owns one of Miller’s works to contribute to an online gallery. If you would like to send a photo of your R.A. Miller, please email digital files to gmoapr@yahoo.com or send prints c/o Jenny Williams, Georgia Museum of Art, 90 Carlton St., Athens, GA 30602. Photos and stories will be collected on the museum’s Flickr page at www.flickr.com/gmoa.
R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) Miller Family American Flag, n.d. Enamel paint on tin Approx. 26 3/8 x 32 1/4 x 1/2 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
GMOA SUMMER 2009 • page 5
T R AV E L I N G E X H I B I T I O N S
James E. Routh Jr. (American, b. 1918) Dixie Steel, 1940 Lithograph 9 3/4 x 11 5/8 inches (image) 11 1/2 x 16 inches (sheet) Collection of the artist
The South in Black and White: The Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939–1946 Although the Georgia Museum of Art officially closed to the public for renovation and expansion on March 3, 2009, the museum’s local, state- and nationwide initiative of offsite exhibitions and programming, GMOA on the Move, is in full swing. Highlights from GMOA on the Move will be covered quarterly in this newsletter. For a schedule of GMOA on the Move events, see page 9 in this newsletter or visit our web site, www.uga.edu/gamuseum.
page 6 • GMOA SUMMER 2009
July 20–October 2, 2009 Robert C. Williams Paper Museum Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga. http://ipst.gatech.edu/amp/
J
ames E. Routh Jr. was born in New Orleans in 1918 but grew up in Atlanta. He graduated from Oglethorpe College, now Oglethorpe University, and then studied at the Art Students League in New York. Organized by guest curator Stephen Goldfarb, this landmark exhibition of Routh’s work contains prints and drawings of images gathered on his travels throughout the South during the Depression. Endowed with a Rosenwald fellowship, Routh planned to gather information for a series of prints, stating that he wanted to “paint a number of pictures concerned simply with scenes of everyday life in the South.” From 1940 to 1941, Routh traveled through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana making sketches from which he later created prints and paintings. Routh retired in 1983 to Waynesville, N.C., where he lives today. A reception for the artist will be held on September 17 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum. The catalogue of the exhibition will be available online in our Web shop, which can be accessed from our Web site, www. uga.edu/gamuseum. The exhibition is generously sponsored by BNY Mellon Wealth Management, D. Jack Sawyer Jr. and William E. Torres, M.D., the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
T R AV E L I N G E X H I B I T I O N S
James Turnbull (American, 1909–1976) Chain Gang, 1940 Lithograph 11 3/4 x 17 1/4 inches Private collection
Imprinting the South: Works on Paper from the Collection of Lynn Barstis Williams and Stephen J. Goldfarb September 19, 2009–January 2, 2010 Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum University of Louisiana, Lafayette, La. http://museum.louisiana.edu/
T
he works in this exhibition represent a panorama of the South’s social, economic, cultural and topographical identities. The selections include images of southern landmarks, of the region’s more picturesque cities and commentaries or descriptions of its people and their ways of life. Because most of these prints are from the early to mid-20th century, those depicting the South’s labor and economy picture cotton and tobacco farming, logging and the steel and iron industry. Religion and recreation also served as subjects for these artists, and their works contain biting views on the race relations, Jim Crow laws and lynchings that, unfortunately, also defined a South resistant to change.
DON’T MISS
The American Scene on Paper: Prints and Drawings from the Schoen Collection July 19–September 27, 2009 Columbus Museum, Columbus, Ga.
Scripture for the Eyes: Bible Illustration in Netherlandish Prints of the 16th Century June 4–September 27, 2009 Museum of Biblical Art, New York, N.Y.
Features two works from the Georgia Museum of Art’s permanent collection: the Nailing to the Cross (1565) and the Crucifixion (1565), by Herman Janz. Muller.
GMOA SUMMER 2009 • page 7
E V E N T P H OTO S
Phase II Groundbreaking Ceremony 1. Shannon Candler, chair of the GMOA board of advisors, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony.
GMOA Events
Photo courtesy UGA Office of Public Affairs
2. Director Bill Eiland and executive members of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art ceremonially shovel dirt in anticipation of the new wing. Photo courtesy UGA Office of Public Affairs
GMOA on the Move Kickoff Party 3. Museum patron C.L. Morehead Jr. celebrates GMOA on the Move.
1
2
4. GMOA media relations interns get the party started. 5. Patrons enjoy pomegranate champagne cocktails provided by The National.
4
The Art of: Brew event at Terrapin Brewery 6. Everyone wore green to the museum’s first The Art of: event, which coincided with St. Patrick’s Day. 7. Event coordinator Lauren Cook sells GMOA on the Move T-shirts. 3
5
6
7
8
9
Family Day: Self-Portrait Puppets 8. Kids of all ages showed up to make self-portrait puppets. 9. Family Days are on the move, this time to one of the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s education classrooms.
page 8 • GMOA SUMMER 2009
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
JULY Summer Film Series: Bergman “Winter Light” Wednesday, July 1, 7 p.m. Lamar Dodd School of Art, Rm. 151. Introduction by Janice Simon, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in Art In Ingmar Bergman’s “Winter Light,” the minister of a small church is troubled in both faith and love, one problem perhaps exacerbated by the other. Tomas trusts neither the affections offered him by Marta, a local schoolteacher, nor the reliability of God. Swedish with English subtitles. (1962, 81 minutes)
Summer Film Series: Bergman “The Silence” Wednesday, July 8, 7 p.m. Lamar Dodd School of Art, Rm. 151. Introduction by Janice Simon, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in Art In the third and final film of Bergman’s trilogy, Sisters Ester, who is older and dying, and Anna, who is young and beautiful, stop in at a European hotel. Ester’s profession, literary translation, speaks to the ironic and, at times, all too common lack of communication between family members. Swedish, English, German and French with English subtitles. (1964, 96 minutes)
Summer Film Series: Bergman “The Seventh Seal” Wednesday, July 15, 7 p.m. Lamar Dodd School of Art, Rm. 151. Introduction by Janice Simon, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in Art This film, which takes its title from the book of Revelation, follows a medieval knight as he makes his way through the Swedish countryside, which has been ravaged by plague. Winner of the 1957 Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Swedish and Latin with English subtitles. (1957, 96 minutes)
Opening Reception for Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection Saturday, August 15, 6–8 p.m. Lyndon House Arts Center Lord Love You, a special exhibition organized by the Georgia Museum of Art for the Lyndon House Arts
Center as part of GMOA on the Move, will feature approximately 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs created by the Georgia self-taught artist Reuben Aaron “R.A.” Miller. This event is free and open to the public.
Family Day: Colors of Summer Saturday, July 18, 10 a.m.–noon State Botanical Garden of Georgia Families will use photographs from the gardens and an assortment of colorful paper to assemble their own collages inspired by colors, shapes and textures. The Art of: Cinema Tuesday, July 21, 6 p.m. Ciné Examine the art of cinema as we view and discuss a specially selected movie. $15 Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, $20 nonmembers. RSVP to 706.542.0830.
AUGUST
Evening for Educators Wednesday, August 19, 4–6 p.m. Lyndon House Arts Center Educators for grades K–12 are invited to join colleagues for a wine and cheese reception and view the Georgia Museum of Art’s exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A.
Miller from the Mullis Collection with curators and docents. Attendees will also have the chance to sign up for the new teaching packet in conjunction with the exhibition. Co-sponsored by the Lyndon House Arts Center.
Family Day: Whirligigs Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m.–noon Lyndon House Arts Center Complete a gallery activity in conjunction with the exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection. Then, create your own spinning whirligigs. Co-sponsored by the Lyndon House Arts Center.
Artist’s Reception for The South in Black and White: The Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939–1946 Thursday, September 17, 5–7:30 p.m. Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, Atlanta. This landmark exhibition of Routh’s work will feature Depression-era prints and drawings of the South.
SEPTEMBER
Public Tour of Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection Thursday, September 10, 2 p.m. Lyndon House Arts Center Paul Manoguerra, curator of American art, will give a gallery talk about the exhibition.
The Collectors Visit Thursday, September 10, 6–8 p.m. The Collectors will visit the home of Valerie Aldridge to view the photography collection of the late Donald Keyes. $40 per person. Call 706.542.0437 for more information or 706.542.0830 to RSVP.
Through July 17 Art Adventures: Folk Art The Georgia Museum of Art continues its third annual community-wide outreach program. These one-hour workshops are held at community organizations in and around Athens-Clarke County for organized groups and are based on folk art from the museum’s collection. Children learn about the subjects, techniques and materials folk artists use and create their own art inspired by the works they see. For more information, please call 706.542.4662, or visit our website at www.uga.edu/ gamuseum. Sponsored by the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation. GMOA SUMMER 2009 • page 9
M U S E U M N OT E S
Museum Notes
A
Louis T. Griffith Student of the Year Sarah Quinn (second from left) with award judges Dr. Martha Harris, Jane Mullins and Edna Lanier (left to right).
Kate Howell (1922–2009) was one of the initiators of the museum’s docent program in the mid-1970s and volunteered in the museum’s library until her untimely death in 2009.
page 10 • GMOA SUMMER 2009
rt Rosenbaum, professor emeritus of drawing and painting at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, won a Grammy award for “The Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years Of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum” in the best historical album category. Rosenbaum’s first major retrospective, Weaving His Art on Golden Looms: Paintings and Drawings by Art Rosenbaum, was on view at GMOA in late 2006. The full-color catalogue of the exhibition is available in our new Web shop, which you can access from our Web site, www.uga.edu/gamuseum. Jenny Gunn, curatorial assistant, defended her thesis, “Hope for Salvation and Salvation Granted: The Burial Chapel and Reburial Ceremony of Pope Sixtus V in Santa Maria Maggiore” and graduated from UGA in May with a master’s degree in art history. Gunn also received a travel grant from the Association of Art Museum Curators to attend the AAMC annual meeting in New York in May. Carissa DiCindio, associate curator of education, recently attended the National Art Education Association conference in Minneapolis, where she presented “Understanding Experiences of Young Visitors in Art Museums: A Review of Empirical Research.” To read about DiCindio’s time at the conference, visit our blog at www.gmoa.blogspot.com. Congratulations to Sarah Quinn, recipient of this year’s Louis T. Griffith Student of the Year Award. Sarah, an intern in the department of education and an art history major at UGA, has been volunteering at GMOA education events since 2006. We would like to thank Sarah, and all of our interns, for a job well done. The handsome brochure Devotional Prints from Germany and the Netherlands received an honorable mention for supplementary materials in the American Association of Museums’ 2009 Publications Design Competition. Past Daura curator Giancarlo Fiorenza organized the exhibition, and Scott Sosebee of Sosebee Design designed the winning piece. All winners were featured in the July/August issue of Museum and at AAM’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. See the online version of the brochure on our blog at www.gmoa.blogspot.com. In other good news, Lynn Edward Boland was recently hired as Pierre Daura Curator of European Art. Boland specializes in 19th- and 20th-century European art, with a secondary focus in American contemporary art, and wrote his dissertation on the connections between modern European art and modern European music. He will receive his PhD in art history from the University of Texas at Austin this fall. While an undergraduate at UGA, Boland interned at GMOA in numerous departments. The GMOA community was shocked by the loss of Kathryn N. “Kate” Howell, beloved GMOA docent and library lady, who died unexpectedly at her home on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. The winter 2009 GMOA newsletter featured Howell in its volunteer spotlight, written by publications intern Stephanie Kingsley. Stephanie’s tribute is posted on our blog at www.gmoa.blogspot.com.
GIFTS
Friends of the Museum The following gifts were made to the Georgia Museum of Art between January 20 and April 20, 2009: Alfred Heber Holbrook Society Audrey Love Charitable Foundation Ms. Martha Thompson Dinos Mr. and Mrs. Boone A. Knox Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Knox Jr. Patron’s Level Mr. and Mrs. B. Heyward Allen Jr. Director’s Circle Dr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Carleton Dr. Patricia Deitz ExxonMobil Foundation Mr. and Mrs. James B. Fleece Friends of Georgia Coastal History
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Greene Mr. and Mrs. Alan Rothschild Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Ian Walker Drs. Norman J. and Mary M. Wood The following gifts were made to the Georgia Museum of Art between February 1 and April 30, 2009:
In memory of Mary L. Betts by M. Smith Griffith
In memory of Kathryn N. Howell by Cece Hinton and Bonnie Ramsey
In memory of Frederick J. Loef by M. Smith Griffith
In memory of Mildred Nungester Wolfe by William U. Eiland In honor of Martha and Stan Henderson on their 50th wedding anniversary by Garland Henderson and family
In honor of C.L. Morehead Jr. by the Silver Angels of the University of Georgia Catholic Center
In honor of Sarah Quinn, winner of the 2009 Louis T. Griffith Student of the Year Award, by the family of Louis T. Griffith
In memory of Joan Haddad Saliba by Bill and Jana McGee
The Smitty: An Award and a Work of Art
T
he most distinguished demonstration of the museum staff’s appreciation of our volunteers is the annual presentation of the Smitty, or the M. Smith Griffith Volunteer of the Year Award. The bronze award, designed by Jack Kehoe, was given to this year’s winner, Ann Scoggins, at the Friends’ annual meeting on May 29. Professor emeritus at the Lamar Dodd School of Art in sculpture and a member of the museum’s board of advisors, Kehoe redesigned the award two years ago. He sketched numerous iterations of the tabletop sculpture, modeled it in clay before pulling a mold and casting it in plaster, then cast it in bronze. Kehoe’s creation stands for not only the assistance its recipient provides the museum, but also for the visitor who, upon entering the museum, “will rise up through art to see a different dimension of life,” he said.
Family Day programs are sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota and the Friends of the Museum and are free and open to the public.
Films are generously sponsored by the UGA Parents & Families Association.
This newsletter is printed on Mohawk Via 30% PC Bright White, which is made with 30% process chlorine-free post-consumer recycled fiber with the balance comprised of elemental chlorine-free virgin fiber. Mohawk Fine Papers purchases enough Green-e certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) to match 100% of the electricity used in their operations. This paper is also certified by Green Seal.
GMOA SUMMER 2009 • page 11
non-profit org. u.s. postage paid athens, ga permit no. 49
Georgia museum of art university of georgia 90 carlton street athens, ga 30602 - 1419 www.uga.edu/gamuseum address service requested
The Georgia Museum of Art Shop is now online! he Museum Shop has always offered unique gifts and home décor for all ages. Now you can browse our selection of art-related items online. The GMOA Web shop offers our most popular items, including books and exhibition catalogues, stationery, fine and costume jewelry, decorative objects, creative toys and books for children, totes and handbags and other fun gifts. Enjoy the convenience of online shopping while supporting the state’s official museum of art.
Visit www.uga.edu/gamuseum and click on the gift bag. Partial support for the exhibitions and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation, the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, and the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Individuals, foundations, and corporations provide additional support through their gifts to the Arch Foundation and the University of Georgia Foundation. The Georgia Museum of Art is ADA compliant; the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium is equipped for the hearing-impaired.