from the editor
Ever since the June 1 New Yorker arrived in my mailbox, I’ve been thinking about health care and the economic cultures of cities. Required reading in the White House, Atul Gawande’s “The Cost Conundrum” makes a provocative case for the vast differences in health care costs across the country. Gawande suggests that a few key figures in a community can set a tone that may take root within the community and then intensify with time. Thus one or two hospital directors might instigate a profit-driven culture in one city, while an alliance of private practice doctors might trigger a patient-driven culture in another. The rule of thumb Gawande uses here is common sense, and seems applicable to local art scenes—one or two big players can deeply affect the character of the communities in which we live.
Gawande uses sociologist Woody Powell’s anchor-tenant theory of economic development to back up his claim. Why, Powell asked, does the biotechnology industry flourish in cities like Boston and San Francisco, and not in similar cities like Los Angeles and Philadelphia? The difference among these cities, Powell argued, is in the presence of a particular type of “anchor tenant” in certain cities: M.I.T. in Boston and Genentech in San Francisco. As Gawande puts it, “The anchor tenants that set norms encouraging the free flow of ideas and collaboration, even with competitors, produced enduringly successful communities, while those that mainly sought to dominate did not.”
I’d like to see a similar study of art communities in cities with comparable resources. Of course, living in Austin, I’m less interested in the Los Angeleses and the New Yorks of the world than in the Kansas Cities, Portlands and Atlantas. Who are the anchor tenants in these communities, what kinds of norms are they setting, and what types of ecologies are growing? In Austin, I’d venture that Arthouse, with its collaboration-minded curator Elizabeth Dunbar and its exciting building plans, is poised to become one.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the responsibility for maintaining a vibrant art scene here falls entirely to our large institutions. Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of the “tipping point” offers a way to look more closely at the anchor-tenant phenomenon on the level of the individual. Gladwell argues that ideas and behaviors spread like viruses: when a few people change their behavior, the behavior can spread until it reaches a “tipping point,” changing the entire culture. (The danger of the “tipping point” theory is that we measure our success against whether or not we’ve reached it. When Gladwell spoke here in 2005, before I had arrived in Austin, I’ve heard the general consensus was that the Austin art world hadn’t.)
Gladwell identifies three types of people who contribute most to spread of an idea or behavior: Connectors (who are sociable), Mavens (who are knowledgeable) and Salesmen (who are persuasive). If Austin’s is any indication, I’d guess that the greatest shortfalls in mid-sized U.S. art communities are in Salesmen. I can think of quite a few Connectors and Mavens among our artists, arts professionals and collectors, but I’m at a loss for Salesmen. We need more people skilled in bringing the uninitiated into the fold—charismatic and persuasive types who make excellent Executive Directors and development professionals. Just my hunch.
Claire Ruud is Editor of ...might be good.
reviews
I Am Not So Different
Art Palace, Austin
Through August 5
By Sean Ripple
Augusta Wood, moving on the edges of things, 2005, C-print, 49 x 49 inches. Courtesy Cherry & Martin.
Let’s get this out of the way right at the front: a photograph doesn’t lie, unless of course the photographer is looking to tell a fib. Just as the page is to the author, the camera is subject to the perspective and intentions of the photographer. Lured by the notion of objectivity, it seems we are constantly trying to deny that the reality depicted in a photograph is inseparable from the mind that has called the image into being. I suspect we desire that the camera speak objectively about our world because we are survival-driven creatures; we possess an insatiable appetite for the life-fortifying quality found in the world of fact… but even facts have their authors.
I Am Not So Different, a photography show in the Project Room at Art Palace curated by Austin’s Rachel Cook, features the work of five U.S. and one London-based artist. Each of the pieces in the exhibit highlights the idea that the appearance of reality plucked from our world using a camera is but one surface result sculpted from many possible outcomes. In particular, these image-makers are concerned with studying the space between the abstract and concrete. Augusta Wood’s stunning photograph on the back wall, moving on the edges of things (2005), speaks to this point elegantly. Here, an upside down perspective of trees against an overcast sky reflected onto a pool of water dominates the image. The title for the work comes from a phrase neatly handwritten in black paint on the light blue wall sitting just above the water line of the swimming pool that contains the water. This playful flip of up/down orientation within the picture plane, coupled with the perfect bit of didacticism (our visual and philosophical anchor), reminds you that seeing is merely surface, while meaning is created through thinking and feeling about what is being observed. The world in the photograph is simultaneously impossible and common, and it never succumbs to the gravity of either trait, but asks irrationality and plausibility to meet on that narrow strip of text above the surface of the water, fusing and fixing them to one another.
Anna Krachey, Jesus Campfire Stick, 2009.
Spiritual turmoil is the subject of Anna Krachey’s photo Jesus Campfire Stick (2009). Here, a found block of wood with a handwritten prayer conversation about a person’s psychic struggle with masturbation is on display, defying its fiery burnt offering destiny. Again, text brings us to a place that image often has hard time getting to. The prayer, so grammatically awkward and pubescent in its admission of failure and longing for spiritual purity, is a peak into a diary of the most pathetic sort. The sadness and humor found in the piece isn’t of the contemptuously mocking while finger-pointing variety; it’s closer to the humor found in a comedy of errors and evokes compassion for common human failings. Not quite a portrait of an object or person, what is remarkable about Krachey’s photo is that it captures the transference of guilt from person to object, like a document of transubstantiation.
Erin Shirreff’s 8 hour video piece, Day is Long, Night is Longer, and Nothing is Longest (2006) located in the center of the room, bridging what I saw to be a stronger body of work on the left side of the room with the less interesting right side, works as a conventionally composed still life set in motion, yet the motion portrayed never truly brings the image out of the realm of the still life. In the video, an open Mac laptop sits atop a wooden table, its turned-off screen staring blankly at the viewer, while a candle burns and a hunk of clay continually rotates, changing its abstract shape in accordance with the whim of an unseen sculptive force. The clay never becomes a concretely recognizable shape and is our stand in for nothing—day is the candle and the screen is our night. This piece, with its lovely blurring of distinction between the moving picture and the still, attempts to nail the viewer to an eight-hour time commitment so that one can truly contemplate a still life, yet it knows this attempt to nail the viewer down will not succeed; even if a viewer wanted to sit with the piece for eight hours during the exhibition run, Art Palace’s viewing hours prevent it. I found the piece to be a palpable example of critical theorist Frederic Jameson’s highfalutin estimation that video is a preeminent medium of our point in history because it sits precisely at the seam between space and time.
A number of the photographs in the show (Jessica Mallios’ in particular) failed to captivate, but I wouldn’t say that this was an error of selection on Cook’s part. To me, the photos worked as punctuation marks for the sentences formed by Wood, Krachey and Shirreff. Given more exhibition space, I’m sure the problem would become an asset (the best sentiments still need their commas and periods), but in the small project room the photos felt unnecessary.
According to the media release on Art Palace’s website, the selected images featured in the show are largely abstract, yet are positioned within our experience of reality. And this is a fine way to think the work featured in I Am Not So Different. Each of the artists in the exhibition is a city, if not a universe, of subjectivity, inventively using the object of the photo to frame an ever-emerging world of shared experience.
Sean Ripple is a multimedia artist and writer based in Austin.
Esther Pearl Watson
Domy Books, Austin
Through July 23
By Claire Ruud
Esther Pearl Watson, comanche rodeo, 2009, 8x10 inches, Framed with recycled barn wood frame. Courtesy the artist and Domy Books.
Esther Pearl Watson’s awkwardly drafted comic (Tammy Brown is) Unlovable and her intentionally folksy paintings of rural scenes and flying saucers are two sides of the same coin: a pair of windows onto the outsider. Serialized in Bust magazine and available in book form, Unlovable documents life in small-town America from the point of view of Tammy, a gawky teenage girl. Painfully funny, each clumsily drafted frame acts like a page from a diary, relating a story of insecurity, self-consciousness and inexpert adolescent sexuality. Unlovable narrates an experience of feeling like the odd-one-out with which many of us can identify. Meanwhile, Watson’s paintings—and her persona as an artist—negotiate another outsider experience through the figure of Watson's father Gene. Like Tammy, Gene Watson is an outsider in a small town in Texas: he devoted his life to the construction of flying saucers. In Watson's work, both Tammy and Gene are proxies for the artist, who self-consciously fashions her persona in relationship to theirs.
In Texas Instruments, a series of twelve small paintings now on the walls of Domy Books, Watson builds upon her earlier body of work featuring Gene Watson and landscapes dotted with pink UFOs. In the paintings at Domy, Watson continues to depict the romantic side of rural life—barrel rides at homecoming, the starry night over a fairground or a lonesome carousel off Highway 67. Gene is absent, but the presence of his saucers (no pink ones this time) stands in for his outsider status. With a generous dose of pink and dash of glitter here and there, the fantasy of rural life seems sweet. But for all their romance, Watson’s paintings, like her comic, betray a desolate side to this fairytale. In Small Town Beauty Queens at the Gustine Homecoming (2009), girls with manes of long blonde hair stand on a float waving and throwing candy while the old pickup pulling them belches billows of smog, a thunderstorm threatens in the distance. And that carousel off Highway 67? Two big blue port-a-potties right out front mar the idyllic scene.
Esther Pearl Watson, secret design, 2009.
In these paintings, gone is the sweet escape of the pretty pink flying saucers so iconic of Watson’s earlier works. The Saucer Caught the Field on Fire (2009) even suggests the flying machine’s demise, as scribbles of smoke rise from jarring red flames on either side of an inert, ground-ridden, grey saucer. Yet the magic remains. In one of the show’s highlights, Comanche Youth Rodeo (2009), a bucking bull sparkles with a halo of iridescent pink glitter as aspiring cowboys flee. Moreover, there is yet hope for the flying saucer. In Secret Design (2009), a saucer-shaped chasm in among the twinkling stars suggests an escape into the night sky. In these paintings the enchantment of small town life, and of being an outsider within it, continues to struggle against the pathetic, the forlorn and the ugly.
Here, as in earlier work, Watson deliberately constructs her artistic persona to correspond with that of the eccentric outsider father whose presence looms in her paintings. Whether it’s true or not, the story of her childhood with him gets a lot of play in reviews of Watson’s work. But living in Los Angeles, publishing in Bust and teaching illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Watson isn’t really an outsider. At the same time, the description “faux naïve,” which writers have bestowed upon her work, suggests phoniness is completely inappropriate, too. Ultimtately, Watson’s work complicates these traditional distinctions between outsider and insider, between genuine naïveté and just faking it. She reflects our own perceptions of the visionary/outsider/self-taught artist back at us, exposing the assumptions upon which these categories rest.
Claire Ruud is Editor of ...might be good.
Jonathan Monk
ArtPace, San Antonio
Through September 6, 2009
By Laura Lindenberger Wellen
Jonathan Monk, Rew-Shay Hood Project XV, 2008/09, Airbrush paint, 1982 Chevrolet Camaro hood, 61 x 64 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York.
Jonathan Monk’s Rew-Shay Hood Project Part II at Artpace offers some glossy Americana as a cool reprieve from this summer’s wilting heat. Thirteen vintage car hoods airbrushed with enlarged reproductions from Ed Ruscha’s book, Twenty-six Gasoline Stations (1963), hang, softly curving, from the walls. Light glints off their shiny, black and white surfaces; Ruscha’s desolate gas stations have never looked as appealing as they do on the hoods of a ’67 Chevy Chevelle or a ’69 Ford Mustang.
Drawn by the sexy black chrome of a 1963 Plymouth Fury and 1967 Pontiac Firebird, I wanted to like Monk’s two nightscapes best, numbers XVII and XVIII, respectively. In them, the inky black night hangs over the bright glow of electric lights. The blaring contrasts between black and white blot out the text of the stations and break the soft romance of the road trip, which is the real charm of some of the other works in the show. XVII and XVIII aren’t quite romantic, yet aren’t enticingly creepy or disconcerting either. The road trip here is almost mundane—continuing into the dark night, one is reminded of the feeling of endless highway to go and the boredom of driving.
More appealing are the day scenes, where, for instance, on a 1982 Chevrolet Camaro hood, puffy, almost cartoonish clouds seem to bop along over a gas station which advertises gas for 26.9 cents per gallon. Here, on XV, the handmade touch of the clouds is playful, softening the hard metals of the car hood and its subject. In XV, I am transported to the diesel station where my grandfather and I would place bets on how much gas would fill the irrigation system’s engine. The heat, the smell of gasoline, and the flatness of the landscape all come rushing back. I remember the soft, cotton-candy clouds from the summer sky on the farm, yet Monk’s depictions of them are unrealistic enough to remind me: my memory is tinged with nostalgia. His painterly car hoods are best when they allow for this wistfulness.
A pair of 1974 Chevrolet Nova hoods decorated with one continuous image of a Stop and Save station read like a double-page spread, but the book allusion here is truncated: the Ruscha text on which Monk is riffing was not on view. The translation from highway scenery to photograph to book to painting on sculpture could have been playfully engaged by the book’s inclusion; its absence was distracting and left the show feeling incomplete.
Jonathan Monk, Rew-Shay Hood Project XVIII, 2008/09.
Rew Shay Hood Project Part II is as delightfully superficial and lustrous as Monk’s car hood surfaces. But it is also an enigmatic, coolly reflective show. The thirteen hoods feel almost like pauses in a religious procession, perhaps a shrine to a mode of travel that is increasingly fraught with guilt and expense. And, here is the heart of the show: while Monk could have given us an edgy commentary on the crumbling auto industry and a critical epitaph for the great American road trip, he instead offers a gently escapist reminder of that driving-into-the-sunset mythos we are all so fond of in the summer.
Laura Lindenberger Wellen is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently writing about Southern artistic debates and communities during the 1930s.
...mbg recommends
It's hot out, but it's worth it
By Lauren Adams
Jenn Figg, Deadfall (canopy gap), 2008, cardboard, printed vinyl, adhesive, 84 x 84 x 72 inches. Courtesy the artist and Arthouse.
Picks from New American Talent 24
Arthouse, through August 23
If you ever found yourself wondering if picturesque landscapes, cutesy, yet highly mutated porcelain figurines and Hannah Montana clones could happily co-exist together in one exhibition, the answer is within your reach. New American Talent, juried this year by Hamza Walker, includes the work of 26 emerging artist from around the country, and while the work is highly varied, there are a few gems in the show.
Deadfall, a near life-sized, 3D landscape by Jenn Figg of Richmond, Virginia offers a poignant tableau of today’s environmental crisis. Using vinyl, Figg produces somewhat realistic, yet highly artificial, impressions of bark, leaves, vines, and grass, while utilizing the natural texture, appearance, and color of cardboard to recreate the rough innards and rings of a tree. It is yet another take on the age old question: If a (cardboard) tree falls in gallery does it make a sound?
The tiny porcelain creations of Debra Broz of Austin (Polycephelus, Kitty Deity, and Serpentine Geese) evoke the small collectables cherished by many a grandmother as well as the miniature religious statues that have been kept in homes throughout time. The figurines— a two-headed lamb, a six-armed cat, and two geese with elongated, intertwining necks—successfully combine the terrors of Greek mythology and Eastern religion with the adorability of Precious Moments Figures.
Stephanie Bernstein of Tucson, Arizona graces the exhibition with The King of Hearts, a Tim Burton-inspired, friendly nightmare made of masking tape, paper, clay, Beanie Babies, plaster, found objects, resin and acrylic paint. The King himself rides dejected and backwards on his steed (in this case a giant blue fox) grasping his bouquet of captured hearts. As they ride away the creature delicately steps over a crumpled, broken figure laying between its spindly legs, the latest victim of the King of Hearts.
Cruz Ortiz: Ice Cold
Art Palace, through August 5
Inside the walls of Art Palace lies another universe created by Cruz Ortiz. Within the blue, star-studded walls are a web of words, a haphazard shifting of Spanish and English which leaves one spinning through space. Confusing at first, the images leave the viewer wandering from wall to wall, from room to room, unable to decipher the meaning of the words. When the confusion has passed, you realize the exhibition elicits the bewilderment experienced by a visitor in a foreign land, echoing the feelings of Ortiz’s intergalactic character Spaztek, newly arrived on Earth.
Also at Art Palace: double your fun with the photo show in the Project Room, I am not so Different, reviewed in this week’s issue.
Colby Bird: Cold End
Okay Mountain, Opening Reception July 11, 7-10pm
Trained photographer, hip-hop aficionado and emerging sculptor Colby Bird opens his solo exhibition, Cold End this week at OK Mountain. Bird is known for examining the different social spheres that both surround and entrap society. In Cold End, Bird combines pristine photographs, paintings, and sculpture to explore the theme of “honest work” and “situating oneself on the continumm of global commerce and class.”
Lauren Adams is an intern at Fluent~Collaborative.
announcements: exhibitions
Austin Openings
Colby Bird
Okay Mountain
Opening Reception July 11, 7-10pm
Colby Bird is recommended in this issue.
Mark-Making: Dots, Lines and Curves
Lora Reynolds Gallery
July 11-September 5, 2009
This group exhibition explores the most basic component of art: The marks made by the artist’s hand. These elements are represented in a variety of media, ranging from drawing, sculpture, video and cut paper to painted wood. By examining the fundamentals of these pieces some light is shed on how these artists, literally and figuratively, make their mark.
Austin on View
Cruz Ortiz
Art Palace
Through August 5
Cruz Ortiz is recommended in this issue.
I Am Not So Different
Art Palace
Through August 5
See the review of I Am Not So Different in this issue.
Jim Drain
Through November 1
Two weeks ago, Okay Mountain hosted Jim Drain's crazy Pig Pen Party (everyone dressed as pigs and drank a lot), where the artist filmed footage for his installation in the Blanton's WorkSpace Gallery. Oink oink.
Francisco Matto
Blanton Museum of Art
Through September 27
The Blanton continues to lead the charge on Latin American art with the first comprehensive exhibition in the United States of the work of Francisco Matto, a student of the legendary Joaquín Torres-Garcia.
Austin Closings
Esther Pearl Watson
Domy Books
Closing July 23
See our review of Esther Pearl Watson in this issue.
Dallas on View
Daniel Mirer: In Finest Tradition
Light & Sie, Dallas
Through July 25, 2009
In this series, Daniel Mirer applies the structural principles of his architectural images to portraiture. The subjects become extensions of the space itself, lending a specific geometry to the finished work. Meanwhile, the subjects represent male archetypes, exploring what it is to be a man in today's society. (from the press release)
Houston Openings
Brent Steen: Still Lifes: Seeing Violet
Jim Richard: Let's Stay Inside
Inman Gallery, Houston
Through August 1, 2009
Still Lifes: Seeing Violet by Brent Steen in the Main Gallery and Let's Stay Inside by Jim Richard in the North Gallery take separate looks at the domestic spaces we inhabit and the potential for the surprising, unfamiliar and mysterious therein. (From the press release)
San Antonio Openings
Kristy Perez: all that stands between us
Sala Diaz, San Antonio
July 10 – August 16, 2009
Kristy Perez writes of her work, "The search is an endless self…or shelf….
It seems necessary to explore the notion of infinite human need and want toward consumption, the act and will(determination) of us all…as in subject/object/SELF. This has become a reoccurring theme in my work lately. I toy with the idea of suspension and pull as it relates to desire. I think this is critical. We are all pounding away in our post/plural reality. It’s an absurdity when everything is measured the same. What does that say about sensation? …Where does beauty lie in relation to volatility? Who are we? what do we value? (true love or stuff ?) Have we already arrived at ecstasy?"(from the press release)
Meg Langhorne, Animal
Cactus Bra Space
July 2 - July 31, 2009
Meg Langhorne would like the world to be a peaceable kingdom. In these new gouache paintings she romanticizes prey and adds a risqué twist, so it makes you wonder if she really would like the lion to lie down with the lamb, and just who is the animal? (from the press release)
Leigh Anne Lester
The Institute of Texan Cultures
July 18 – October 25, 2009
Leigh Anne Lester's work addresses the place between the genesis of genetic modification and its aftereffects. Lester’s drawings are composed of multiple layers of Mylar with historical botanicals drawn or cut onto each layer. The transparency of the Mylar allows the line of each botanical to optically blend with the next layer. (from the press release)
Jason Jay Stevens: Eleven Strata and the Planetary Boundary
Joan Grona Gallery
July 2 - August 2, 2009
Jason Jay Stevens offers the audience a unique, virtual tour of eleven strata of atmosphere and ocean, on either side of the planetary boundary. Featuring sculptures, a pair of paintings, and a pair of photographs, the centerpiece of the exhibition is two sound compositions, one each for atmosphere and ocean. These musical works are essentially performed by an ensemble made up of sculptures in the gallery, generating a planetary rhythm and harmony. The sonic landscape varies dramatically throughout the space, but at any point can be contemplated as one work. (from the press release)
Alejandro Diaz, Kristy Perez, Gary Sweeney: Let This Be a Sign
Unit B Gallery
July 17 – September 5, 2009
Let This Be a Sign addresses the “sign” in contemporary art. The artists in the show find their sources in language that comments on pop culture, politics, and beauty. By executing works with the focus on the perception of the sign, these works stimulate the viewer to become a questioner by inviting reflection on the intentions and meanings. Alejandro Diaz displays a selection of handmade cardboard signs from his Mexican Wallpaper series, Kristy Perez creates a site-specific installation, and Gary Sweeney exhibits several large-scale signs that quote a conversation from the movie Sunset Boulevard. (from the press release)
announcements: events
Dallas Events
And/Or Gallery and The House of Dang Present: DANCE!
And/Or Gallery
Friday July 24, 2009. 7pm-?
A final music installation and dance party to celebrate And/Or Gallery's move to NYC (Fall 2009), The House of Dang's relocation to a design studio in Oakcliff and their new clothing line to open with Launch, at the Galleria (Fall 2009). While we don't usually announce parties in ...might be good, but we're really going to miss And/Or. The party will simulate a rave, and will include videos by Kevin Bewersdorf, Paul Slocum, Guthrie Lonergan, Tom Moody, Marcin Ramocki, Kristin Lucas, Michael Bell-Smith, and Travis Hallenbeck. The playlist will include remixes and new material by Tree Wave. It's the LAST DANCE! (from the press release, mostly).
announcements: opportunities
Call for Artists
2nd Street District Streetscape Improvement Project: Sidewalk Enhancements
City of Austin in Public Places
July 17, 2009 5:00pm
The City of Austin’s Art in Public Places (AIPP) program of the Cultural Arts Division, Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office seeks to commission 3 artists/design professionals who live or work in Austin or the surrounding area within a 100 mile radius to create sidewalk enhancement works of art to be integrated into the 2nd Street District at the northwest corner intersections of San Antonio, Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets.
In response to the streets intersecting 2nd Street having been named after Texas rivers, the overall design intent of the streetscape improvements is to focus on the natural or cultural history of each river and to celebrate one of Austin’s greatest resources, its natural springs and water resources. Selected artists will be asked to research the history and life of their assigned river, which shall inform the design, and to consider conditions and context of the site during design development. The AIPP program is looking for unique, innovative, cutting-edge and contemporary perspectives on altering the streetscape experience through works of art.
The budget for each of the three public art projects is $20,000 ($60,000 total), inclusive of all aspects of design, construction, installation and related fees.
courtesy of the City of Austin
Austin Art in Public Places: McBeth Recreation Center
Austin Art in Public Places
August 7, 2009; 5:00pm
The City of Austin Art in Public Places (AIPP) program of the Cultural Arts Division, Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office seeks to commission an artist/design professional to design and construct a work of art that will contribute to the Danny G. McBeth Recreation Center located in Zilker Park. The public artwork created for the McBeth Recreation Center is intended to define the entryway to the site and be accessible to members of the public with differing abilities. The scope of the work will include either reuse or removal of an existing concrete sculpture base.
The City of Austin requests conceptual proposals from visual artists/design professionals who live or work in Austin or the surrounding area within a 100 mile radius.
courtesy of the City of Austin
Artpace: 2011 Open Call for Texas Artists
Artpace, San Antonio
Due by September 4, 2009; 5:00pm
Artpace San Antonio announces the 2011 Open Call for Texas Artists. Artist submissions to the Texas Open Call are considered for a shortlist of Texas artists whose work will be reviewed by three guest curators selecting artists for Artpace's 2011 International Artist-in-Residence Program.
To download the application to your desktop, please visit www.artpace.org. Please note that you must be a Texas resident to apply, and that applications will only be accepted through artpace.org. No FAX, e-mail, courier, mail, or other delivery methods will be accepted.
7th Mercosul Biennial, 2009
Deadline: 10 July 2009
Artists from around the world are invited to present projects for the exhibition Projetáveis [Projectables], one of the seven exhibitions of the 7th Mercosur Biennial.
Call for Entries
Balmoral Castle Scholarships 2010
Deadline: July 18, 2009
Artists' residence Künstlerhaus Schloß Balmoral in Bad Ems, Foundation for Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate, which was founded in 1995, is a place of reflection, artistic production, discussion and meeting. It supports visual artists from all over the world by awarding artists-in-Residence scholarships. Balmoral awards six 6-month residential scholarships to international fine artists.
Orient Global Freedom to Create Prize
Deadline: August 14, 2009
The Prize honors artists on the frontlines who promote social justice, build foundations for open societies and inspire the human spirit.
Job Opportunity
Lora Reynolds Gallery: Sales Manager
Lory Reynolds Gallery, Austin
Posted June 26, 2009
Lora Reynolds Gallery in Austin seeks to fill a Sales Position. Duties are varied, with a primary focus on sales, client communications and client relationships. Additional responsibilities include writing press releases, interacting with the public, giving gallery tours/talks, community and press outreach, and traveling for art fairs. Total required hours averages 27-30 weekly, but will require more during exhibition openings and special events. Flexibility of schedule is a requirement. Requirements include: 1 years experience in an equivalent capacity at a contemporary art gallery, broad base of knowledge of contemporary art world, artists and collectors, knowledge of Mac-based computer systems.
Austin Monthly Magazine: Art Director/Designer
Austin Monthly Magazine, San Antonio
Posted July 6, 2009
San Antonio Magazine has an immediate opening for a creative Art Director for our custom editorial magazine. The right person will be able to be a one-man show in a small office. Responsibilities will include but are not limited to: Conception, designing and layout of magazine departmental sections and features from beginning through pre-press. Acquiring images; this includes creating illustrations and imagery when none are provided, acquiring photography from outside sources, art directing photographers and producing/organizing photo shoots. Ideal candidate must be a self starter who can work well in a close team environment under tight deadlines. This candidate must be extremely proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and In Design. A strong understanding of current trends in publication design, typography and photography is required. Bachelor degree in graphic design needed. Some management experience helpful.
Walker Art Center: Assistant Curator, Visual Arts department
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
posted 07/01/2009
The Walker seeks an Assistant Curator who, under the direction of the Chief Curator, will be responsible for assisting, conceptualizing, and organizing exhibitions of contemporary art and attendant publications that present the work of both international and national artists, thereby advancing the Walker’s global mission. The Assistant Curator will also research and recommend works for acquisition within his or her specialization and supervise 2 Curatorial Fellows during their 2-year fellowships. A solid knowledge of contemporary art with particular emphasis on emergent artists surfacing across the globe is required, as is a willingness and availability to travel internationally. Successful candidates will have an M.A.degree in art history, cultural studies, museum studies or other related disciplines. 2+ years of active curatorial experience leading to the development of singular exhibitions and a thorough knowledge of standard curatorial practices, collection management policies and 20th/21st century art history with an emphasis in multidisciplinary contemporary art, the contemporary art market, galleries, and museums.
Walker Art Center: Curatorial Assistant, Visual Arts Department
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
posted 07/01/2009
Walker Art Center is seeking applications for a Curatorial Assistant position. The Curatorial Assistant will assist in the research, planning, and production of both borrowed and in-house exhibitions, and frequently acts as a liaison with artists, collectors, dealers, lenders, and staff involved in exhibition production. The Curatorial Assistant will also be engaged in supporting the art acquisition process and acts as a primary contact for those who wish to view or research the collection. Qualifications include an M.A. in art history or related field. 1+ years modern/contemporary museum experience or completion of an internship or fellowship in a cultural/museum environment required. Must possess strong writing skills, and have the ability to communicate on the major developments of 20th and 21st century art. Well organized, excellent planning and implementation skills with a high level of engagement in the artistic mission of the Walker are essential.
Houston Center for Photography: Executive Director
Houston Center for Photography, Houst
Posted July 7, 2009
The Houston Center for Photography seeks a dynamic and experienced Executive Director to provide leadership, vision, strategy and management for the programs and operations of this vibrant contemporary photography organization. Responsibilities include, Collaboration with the Board of Directors to advance the mission of the organization; Maintenance and expansion of sustainable funding streams; Oversight of day-to-day operations of the organization including strategic planning, program and financial management, hiring, and management of the HCP staff; Development of professional relationships within the local, national, and international photographic community. The successful candidate for this position will have a minimum of three years' management experience, excellent interpersonal and managerial skills, a passion for the photographic arts, and knowledge of best nonprofit practices, as well as experience with fundraising and financial management of an organization.
Art League Houston: Part-time Instructor in Healing Arts Program
Art League Houston, Houston
Posted July 8, 2009
Art League Houston (ALH) is looking for an experienced part-time instructor for its Healing Art program. Specifically, ALH is looking for an art instructor to work with its Healing Art group which consists of adults living with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and/or physical disabilities. The ideal candidate is energetic, patient, creative, and an experienced teaching artist. Greater consideration will be given to candidates who have taught in programs similar to ALH’s Healing Art program. This position is contractual and part-time.
Amon Carter Museum: Public Programs Manager
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth
closing date: July 20, 2009
The Amon Carter Museum is seeking a Public Programs Manager to develop and implement a broad range of public programs and resources designed to assist visitors of all ages and abilities, including adults, children, and families, to experience and understand the Carter’s collections and special exhibitions. Programs and resources should effectively serve the Carter’s existing visitors and seek to bring in new audiences. Qualifications include BA in Art Education, Art History, Art, or related field, minimum two years of public program work experience with a record of successfully executing programs for a variety of museum audiences, and excellent writing and public speaking skills for audiences of all ages and abilities.
Ellen Noel Museum: Executive Director
Ellen Noel Museum, Odessa
Closing September 1, 2009
AAM accredited Art Museum in West Texas seeks energetic experienced museum administrator to work with Board of Trustees, a dedicated staff, and enthusiastic volunteers. The successful candidate should have at least 5 years of Museum experience and preferably have an MFA degree or Master’s Degree in art history or museum studies. The Director has oversight responsibility for the Museum’s programming and resources which include: sophisticated facility, an expanding collection of American Art, an active exhibit schedule, and strong educational programs for all ages. The Search Committee is looking for a person with excellent administrative skills and knowledge in finance, development, and fund raising.
