From the Blue Star Museums website:

If you are active duty military personnel and/or an immediate family member, all you need to do is show either a Geneva Conventions CAC ID or a DD Form 1173 ID card at the museum admissions desk. Immediate family members under the age of 10 must be accompanied by an appropriate ID holder.

Here is the current list of Texas museums participating in the Blue Star Museum program:

• Amon Carter Museum
  Fort Worth, TX
• Art Museum of South Texas
  Corpus Christi, TX
• Austin Museum of Art
  Austin, TX
• Brownsville Historical Association
  Brownsville, TX
• Buddy Holly Center
  Lubbock, TX
• Children’s Discovery Museum of the Golden Crescent
  Victoria, TX
• Dallas Heritage Village
  Dallas, TX
• Dallas Museum of Art
  Dallas, TX
• El Paso Museum of Art
  El Paso, TX
• Ellen Noel Art Museum
  Odessa, TX
• Fort Sam Houston Museum
  Ft. Sam Houston, TX
• Frontier Times Museum
  Bandera, TX
• George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
  College Station, TX
• McFaddin-Ward House
  Beaumont, TX
• McNay Art Museum
  San Antonio, TX
• Meadows Museum
  Dallas, TX
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
  Houston, TX
• Museum of Geometric and MADI Art
  Dallas, TX
• Museum of Texas Tech University
  Lubbock, TX
• Museum of the American Railroad
  Dallas, TX
• Museum of the Plains
  Perryton, TX
• Museum of the Southwest
  Midland, TX
• Museum of Western Art
  Kerrville, TX
• Nasher Sculpture Center
  Dallas, TX
• National Museum of the Pacific War
  Fredericksburg, TX
• National Scouting Museum
  Irving, TX
• Neill-Cochran House Museum
  Austin, TX
• Ocean Star Offshore Rig Museum
  Galveston, TX
• Pearce Museum
  Corsicana, TX
• Railroad and Heritage Museum
  Temple, TX
• Red River Historical Museum
  Sherman, TX
• Scurry County Museum
  Snyder, TX
• Silent Wings Museum
  Lubbock, TX
• Star of the Republic Museum
  Washington, TX
• Stark Museum of Art
  Orange, TX
• Texas Historical Commission
  Austin, TX
• The Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley
  Bryan, TX
• The Grace Museum
  Abilene, TX
• The Health Museum
  Houston, TX
• The Woodlands Children’s Museum
  The Woodlands, TX
• Tyler Museum of Art
  Tyler, TX
• Umlauf Scupture Garden & Museum
  Austin, TX

Check the Blue Star Museum website for an updated list.

The Call of the Law by Charles M. Russell, 1911

The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Painting and Sculpture
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
June 6 through August 29, 2010

Exhibition Presents Some 60 Major Oil and Bronze Works Portraying the American West, Concludes U.S. Tour

The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Painting and Sculpture will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in June 2010, presenting more than 60 major works in oil, bronze, and mixed media by the renowned “cowboy artist” Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), as well as a selection of personal objects that portray the artist in his own words and images. Virtually self-taught, Russell began to paint early in his career as a cowboy, after he left his privileged St. Louis family at sixteen to work as a night wrangler on a ranch in the Montana Territory. Later on, his iconic images would help define the American West in the popular imagination. With first-hand knowledge of cowboys and outlaws, Native Americans, trappers and hunters, and Western wildlife and wilderness, Russell presented an unparalleled view of a bygone American culture, rich in authentic detail and infused with personal passion. By the time of his death, in 1926, Russell had seen the western culture that he loved radically change. Through his animated artworks, however, he became a western legend in his own right and provided endless inspiration to Hollywood’s first filmmakers. Despite being one of the best-known names in American art, this exhibition is the first major retrospective featuring both Russell’s painting and sculptural work.

The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell will be on view at the MFAH from June 6 to August 29, 2010. Houston is the final venue for the American tour, following presentations at the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art and the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Barrymore Laurence Scherer, of The Wall Street Journal, wrote that the Denver presentation of The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell “may just inspire a new appreciation for Western art as a whole.”

“From his legendary paintings of cowboys and Native Americans in rough country to his iconic bronze sculptures of men on horseback, Russell’s gift for storytelling brings our nation’s cultural past to life,‖ said Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. ―With its unparalleled holdings of artworks by Frederic Remington, who preceded Russell as the chronicler of the American West, the MFAH is a fitting venue for this dramatic presentation of cowboy and Plains Indian life, and the western landscape.”

“For fans of the country’s western spaces and the dramatic events that have taken place there, this exhibition presents all of the iconic scenes: clashes between outlaws and lawmen, Native Americans on the Plains, buffalo hunts, and the cowboy experience—all set against starkly beautiful western landscapes,” said Dr. Emily Ballew Neff, MFAH curator of American Painting and Sculpture. “More than that,” she added, “visitors will see that Russell was much more than a cowboy artist, but also a profound and witty interpreter of a life he knew well.”

The exhibition opens with the dynamic cowboy paintings for which Russell is best known, and concludes with his dramatic portrayals of wildlife in pristine western settings undisturbed by man. The narrative of the exhibition mirrors Russell’s increasing alienation from modern urban life and growing devotion to pure nature, as Russell saw his beloved frontier transform from an open range into an urbanized and industrialized landscape. It features sections on cowboys, outlaws and lawmen; cultural collisions between Native Americans and whites in the West; Native American life in all its aspects; trappers and hunters; and wildlife and wilderness.

Both the variety of Russell’s subjects and the range of his expression are among the revelations of this exhibition. Russell was known for his detailed depictions of minute elements of cowboy gear and accurate representations of the cowboys’ particular maneuvers, but his concern over the destruction of the people and landscape of the Northern Plains and his tolerance for human differences are untold hallmarks of his work. Russell viewed Native Americans as holding the only truly authentic claim to the American West, and protested the U.S. government’s injustices and public’s indifference to their removal from their ancestral homelands. He visited the reservations often and made friends with members of the tribes, and Russell used his gift for storytelling to document the Native American lifestyle with dignity, from portrayals of strong, capable Native American women inside the camp to mounted warriors moving across the plains. Although he is best known for his cowboys, depictions of Native Americans dominate Russell’s work.

About the Artist

Born in 1864 and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, by a well-to-do family (his father was the owner of Oak Hill Firebrick and Tile Works), as a child Russell enjoyed sketching and modeling animal figurines in wax and clay. He tended to identify with his pioneer relatives – including an uncle who established a major trading post on the Santa Fe Trail and married a Cheyenne woman – rather than the high-society inclinations of his immediate family. He left home with his parents’ reluctant blessing at age sixteen to live in what was then the Montana Territory and work on a sheep ranch. He eventually took a job as a cow hand. While still herding cattle he enjoyed his first taste of fame: for the small, allegorical watercolor Waiting for a Chinook (1886). Painted in response to a cattle owner’s query about how his herd had weathered the devastating winter of 1886-87, Russell expressed his devastation at losing 5,000 steer with an image of an emaciated cow encircled by wolves. The acquaintance shared the postcard with his friends and business associates before displaying it in a shop window, and Russell became an artist in demand soon after. A reprised version of the painting, Last of Five Thousand (Waiting for a Chinook) (1903), will be on view in the exhibition.

Russell’s work dovetailed with a time in American history when all things Western were being consumed in many forms, including magazine articles, novels and Western films that eventually became a movie genre of their own. With no formal artistic training, Russell relied on his powers of observation, discipline and commitment, drawing inspiration from magazine illustrations as well as the work of earlier Western artists, including George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and his contemporary, Frederic Remington.

In 1896 Russell married Nancy Cooper, an ambitious younger woman who enthusiastically publicized his work, and shortly thereafter moved to a larger city–Great Falls, Montana– where he painted and sculpted in a log cabin next to their house. The couple also adopted a son, Jack, in 1916. Nancy arranged exhibitions for Charles throughout the states and in London, and at home enforced working hours and a two-drink-a-day limit. As nostalgia for the Wild West reached a frenzy, appearing everywhere from dime novels to the new, silent films, Russell’s work was popularly received and collectors included Hollywood directors and stars like Harry Carey, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart, and Will Rogers. Russell completed approximately 4,000 artworks during his lifetime, and passed away in his Montana home.

Exhibition Catalogue

In addition to revising the concept of Russell as strictly a cowboy artist, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue will invite a close look at his development as a painter and sculptor. The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture is edited by exhibition curator Joan Carpenter Troccoli, with a foreword by Denver Art Museum Director Lewis Sharp and Gilcrease Museum Executive Director Duane King.

Public Programs

A cell phone audio tour will be available throughout the exhibition, as well as programs for adults and children. Highlights include:

• Family activities offered throughout the day on Sunday, June 20 and Sunday, July 18, including a Creation Station, Sketching in the Galleries, and a Family Tour.
• A Target Free First Sunday on August 1, Giddy Up! Art of the American West, features the artwork of Charles Russell and offers an assortment of fun activities, from making art and hearing a story to watching performances and family flicks.
• Gallery Conversations offered during the exhibition run. These talks are open to the public, held on Saturday afternoons, and will present an opportunity to expand dialogues, consider different perspectives regarding the art on view in the exhibition, and build relationships with individuals and organizations throughout the Houston community.

For details and additional activities, please visit www.mfah.org.

Organization and Sponsorship

The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture is organized collaboratively by the Denver Art Museum and Gilcrease Museum.

Significant support for the exhibition is provided by the Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation. Additional support is provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Petrie, and Fine Arts Foundation

In Houston, lead underwriting is provided by: The Hamill Foundation. The exhibition receives additional generous funding from: Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. McNair; Mr. and Mrs. James C. Flores; Mrs. Jeanie S. Kilroy; Mr. and Mrs. T. R. Reckling III; Carol and Michael C. Linn; and Mr. Lewis M. Linn/Linn Thurber LLP.

Added support is provided by the MFAH Benefactors of American Art: Cornelia and Meredith Long; Bobbie and John Nau; Fayez Sarofim; and Ann Gordon Trammell.

Upcoming Exhibitions at the MFAH

• Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture, The Photography of Ishimoto Yasuhiro, June 20—September 12, 2010
• German Impressionist Landscape Painting, Liebermann—Corinth—Slevogt, September 12—December 5, 2010
• Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria September 19, 2010—January 9, 2011
• Houston Collects Latin American Art October 24, 2010—February 6, 2011

Group Tours

Custom exhibition tour packages for groups of 10 or more may be requested with three weeks advance reservations. Contact the Group Sales Department, (713)639-7878, for information on group admission discounts and tour topics. Group leaders receive free admission.

MFAH Collections

Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers nearly 60,000 works and embraces the art
of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van Rijn’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W. Turner, Albert Bierstadt’s Indians Spear Fishing (1862), distinguished work by the leading 20th- and 21st-century Latin American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.

MFAH Hours and Admission

Hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:15–7 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday, except for holidays. Admission to this exhibition is included with general admission to the museum. General admission is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 6-18, students, and senior adults (65+); admission is free for children 5 and under. Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation. Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday for children 18 and under with a Houston Public Library Power Card or any other library card.

The Camp Cook's Troubles by Charles M. Russell, 1912

The Call of the Law by Charles M. Russell, 1911

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, announced today that it will offer free admission on Tuesday, May 18, as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) celebration of International Museum Day. Participation by AAMD member museums will focus attention on the important roles that art museums serve in their communities, further showcase collections and exhibitions, and increase opportunities for audiences to engage with the many educational programs art museums offer.

“International Museum Day has been celebrated for over 30 years, and the MFAH is pleased to join museums in over 100 countries around the world in offering free admission and educational programs on May 18,” said Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. “The 2010 theme, Museums for Social Harmony, celebrates cultural diversity, and MFAH guests are invited to visit the newly opened Light of the Sufis exhibition—the latest effort of the MFAH to bring the Arts of the Islamic World to Houston.”

In addition to free admission, guests are invited to participate in a number of activities planned at the MFAH around the 2010 International Museum Day theme, Museums for Social Harmony. MFAH visitors may enjoy the museum’s Discovery Cart—where an MFAH educator will be stationed to share activities and materials, creating an interactive and hands-on experience for families with children ages four and up—from 10 a.m. to noon in the Nidhika and Pershant Mehta Arts of India Gallery, the only space in Houston devoted to Indian arts and culture. Visitors can also join a Gallery Talk at noon, Highlights of the MFAH, which begins in the Law Building lobby. During this 45-minute talk, visitors can explore some of the best-known and most beloved works of art in the MFAH’s permanent collection.

The featured International Museum Day 2010 exhibition is Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam. Sufism is practiced in Syria and the Iranian world, as well as regions in Egypt, North Africa, Spain, Central Asia, China, India, and Southeast Asia; Sufis seek union with God through a path of enlightenment that includes prayer and meditation. Organized by the Brooklyn Museum, Light of the Sufis will be shown in Houston in an expanded version, displaying some 50 contemporary and ancient artworks.

AAMD member museums—located across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—include smaller regional museums as well as large international institutions. International Museum Day is organized annually around the world by the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

“We believe that art museums are crucial to our understanding of world history and cultures, and provide a unique and irreplaceable public service,” said Michael Conforti,
president of AAMD and director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. “AAMD is committed to exploring new ways to underscore the value of the visual arts in civic society, and we are excited that the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is joining with us and the global community of museums to focus on this message of public service.”

A comprehensive list of participating AAMD member art museums will be available in the newsroom of the AAMD website (http://www.aamd.org/newsroom/). Note that while ICOM’s International Museum Day is formally held each year on May 18th, some institutions shift their celebrations to adjacent dates. More information about ICOM’s International Museum Day can be found here: http://icom.museum/imd.html

MFAH Collections

Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers nearly 60,000 works and embraces the art of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van Rijn’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W. Turner, distinguished work by the leading 20th- and 21st-century Latin American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.

MFAH Hours and Admission

Admission to the MFAH on Tuesday, May 18 is free; hours of operation are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission to Light of the Sufis and all programs is included with general admission to the msueum.

Steel Lounge Underground is back as a special summer series! Presented with Derek Jones and Josh Zulu, this music event showcases Houston’s diversity and talent by bringing together musical artists representing a variety of genres. During the event, the audience is free to explore the exhibitions on view while enjoying the music. This month’s talented lineup: DJ Melodic, Andrew Karnavas & Bart Maloney, DJ Little Martin,and Fly Nice featuring Karina Nistal & Fly Girl T. There is no charge for admission; cash bar and gourmet food by Houston’s latest food sensation, the Fusion Taco Truck. Steel Lounge Underground will be held 8-11pm the last Fridays of May-August: May 28, June 25, July 30, and August 27. Don’t miss this exciting combination of art and local music.

About the Musical Artists

The DJ collective Soular Grooves creates amazing beats for the people of Houston, and none are more radical than the sounds put down by member DJ Melodic. His friends, like fellow DJ Chicken George, call him an “extremely talented DJ, producer, and music connoisseur with a gentle soul and a passion and dedication for music like no other.” With a style like that, his playlist might be the most inspiring in town.

Both Houston-based musicians, with a flair for the musical styles of yesteryear, Andrew Karnavasand Bart Maloney will be bringing their sound to CAMH, blending rock, blues, folk, rockabilly, and other influences. Karnavas and Maloney will be contributing their individual styles, but blended together, there will be musical magic in the air. With Karnavas’s storytelling music and natural connection to the audience, and Maloney’s accompaniment on the pedal steel guitar, you won’t want to miss this duo.

Post-Punk, Pre-Nirvana, Post-Disco, Pre-House, with his beginnings in Manchester, England in 1983, Little Martin has ridden many waves and trends and created a few of his own. With 24 years experience and vast musical knowledge-House, Dance, Disco, Pop, Punk, R&B, Latin-you will likely not hear the same beat from him more than once all night long.

Blending Latin tones with DJ beats, the Fly Nice pairing of Karina Nistal and Fly Girl T proves that the ladies can bring Hip Hop, and can still be “fly” and “nice” in the process. While you can catch Nistal and her band playing all over the country, Fly Girl T can be heard mixing beats on the Soular Grooves radio show on KPFT 90.1. Together they create an extraordinary blend of attitude and style that insists you get on your feet and stay there.

About Fusion Taco

New this year: Fusion Taco, a booming taco truck business brought to you by Julia Sharaby, a locally grown “food-artist” of sorts. Her innovations to the run of the mill taco truck are outstanding, giving all those taco trucks out there a run for their money, complete with short rib tacos, Asian cole slaw and Indian flatbread. We’re not using the word “fusion” lightly here!

About the Exhibitions

San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz believes he may have missed his calling. “I should’ve been a honky-tonk singer,” he says. But because he can’t croon like a Conjunto or Country music star, Ortiz more than compensates by deploying a broad range of media-prints, paintings, sculptures, video, installation, and performance-to speak about life, love, and the struggle for equality. Among the humorous, oftentimes rattletrap devices Ortiz uses to enable the Spaztek-his post-Chicano, post-punk antihero alter ego-to express human yearnings for companionship and communal action are “balladic broadsides, transient architecture, life-size flying contraptions, megaphones, pushcarts, rockets, maps, banners and flags, and siege machines.” In Perspectives 170: Cruz Ortiz, the artist’s first in-depth museum exhibition and catalogue, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present a selection of works from these categories. On view through July 11, 2010.

Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft is a dynamic group exhibition that explores the innovative means by which artists continue to expand the traditional boundaries of art and craft. Through the integration of performance, the artists featured in this exhibition have broadened the context of craft in contemporary art. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present sculptural objects, environments, and site-specific installations along with photography and video documenting performances, as well as a series of live performance events. Featured artists include the collaborative group B Team, Conrad Bakker, Nick Cave, Cat Chow, Sonya Clark, Gabriel Craig, Theaster Gates, Cynthia Giachetti, Ryan Gothrup, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Lauren Kalman, Christy Matson, James Melchert, Yuka Otani, Sheila Pepe, Michael Rea, Anne Wilson, Saya Woolfalk, and Bohyun Yoon. On view through July 25, 2010.

Steel Lounge Underground Support

Steel Lounge Underground would like to especially thank Derek Jones and Josh Zulu of Soular Grooves (www.soulargrooves.com). Listen to Soular Grooves every Saturday night from 9:30pm to midnight on KPFT 90.1 FM.

Thank you to 29-95.com, AURA Systems, Fusion Taco, and Zulu Creative for their support.

General Support

The Museum’s operations and programs are made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s trustees, patrons, members and donors. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston receives partial operating support from the Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Continental Airlines is the official airline of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

CAMH Mission

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is an idea and a place shaped by the present moment. The Museum exemplifies the dynamic relationship between contemporary art and contemporary society through its exhibitions, public and educational programs, and publications. The CAMH provides the physical and intellectual framework essential to the presentation, interpretation, and advancement of contemporary art; it is a vibrant forum for artists and all audiences, and for critical, scholarly, and public discourse.

Always Fresh, Always Free.

General Information

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is located at 5216 Montrose Boulevard, at the corner of Montrose and Bissonnet, in the heart of Houston’s Museum District. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, Thursdays to 9pm, and Sundays noon to 5pm. Admission is always free. For more information, visit www.camh.org or call (713) 284-8250.

Two films about Palestine by noted artist Suha Shoman deal with critical issues concerning the Israeli occupation of her homeland.

Charif Benhelima’s photographic project, Welcome to Belgium, illuminates the plight of Arab immigrants in Europe. An essay by noted Belgium painter, Luc Tuymans, describes Charif’s project as “a testimony, beginning at the beginning and covering a research period lasting nine years.”

Santiago Forero presents a singularly perceptive perspective on life in the United States through his cryptic photographs. Santiago is a graduate student from Colombia attending the University of Texas.

Saluto Romano by Czech artist Martin Zet is a series of photographs portraying himself as an object within various environments. This is his ongoing attempt to find freedom and his true identity in a post-communist world.

Houston artist Ed Wilson’s steel sculptures are based on photographs that he took of concentration camps in Germany. They convey moral outrage at the same time as they represent his powerful sculptural identity. His photographs will be exhibited along with his sculptures.

The Station Museum is also presenting a group of mystical paintings by Elliot Wolfson who, in addition to being an artist, is one of the world’s most important authorities on the Kabbalah, understood as esoteric teachings concerning about mysticism and nature of the universe.

These exhibitions will be on view: March 13, 2010 – May 30, 2010

The Station Museum is located in Midtown on the corner of Alabama and La Branch. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Admission is free. For more information or to schedule a tour, please call: 713.529.6900

Triple Self-Portrait by Nate Bramble

Dallas Art News is starting a webcomic section that will feature a new art related webcomic each week. We are inviting all established webcomic artists to participate via our Guest Webcomic Artist Program.

Dallas Art News received the most web traffic for a single post for Special Feature: Webcomics Imitating Art, which featured nineteen talented artists. This tell us that our readers like looking at pictures.

Here are some of the specifics for the Guest Webcomic Artist Program:

• Each guest webcomic artist will product 4 to 5 web comics which will be displayed one per week for a designated month
• Webcomic artist can use their current webcomic characters or create a totally new comic
• Subject of the webcomic has to be art related (art history, art education, museums, galleries, art mediums, auctions, etc.)
• Subject matter has to be suitable for a general audience
• Webcomics created for Dallas Art News cannot be displayed anywhere on the Internet until that comic has been displayed on Dallas Art News
• Webcomic artists will retain all rights to their work
• Dallas Art News is considering compensation for each webcomic

We would like to start the Guest Webcomic Artist Program when Dallas Art News turns one year old in April. If all goes well, we would like to compile all 52 weeks of webcomics into a book.

The Guest Webcomic Artist Program is still a relatively new idea. We are still working out some of the details.

All interested webcomic artists should contact Dallas Art News at comics@dallasartnews.com.

Here are some of the webcomics already interested in our Guest Webcomic Artist Program:

• 1977 the Comic by Byron Wilkins *
• Addanac City by George Ford
• The Adventures of Lewis & Cluck: Exploring Chickens by Bill Riling
• Bug Pudding by J.P. Keslensky
• Don’t Feed the Geek by Barry Buchanan
• Life’s a Witch by Samantha Wikan *
• WirePop by J.L. Haram

* Webcomic artist who participated in Special Feature: Webcomics Imitating Art.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How many webcomics will I need to produce?

A. You will need to produce 4 to 5 web comics depending upon how many weeks there are in your assigned month.

Q. Will I be compensated for my webcomics?

A. Yes, Dallas Art News is considering payment to each webcomic artist based on the number of webcomics produces. There will also be compensation if a book is produced. We might even do t-shirts. Who knows?

Q. What signifies an established webcomic artist?

A. An established webcomic artist will have at least three months of comics that were published two or more times a week and they must own their own website. Well established webcomic artists also print their work in magazine or book form.

Q. Can I show the webcomics I created for Dallas Art News on my site?

A. Yes, you can show each webcomic you produced for Dallas Art News on your site after they have been published on Dallas Art News first.

Q. What size should my webcomic be?

A. We will be accepting strips from one to four panels. We are considering a specially formatted page for our webcomics. The actual size in pixels of the submitted webcomics will be determined later.

Q. Who do I contact about participating?

A. Send an email to Dallas Art News at comics@dallasartnews.com.

Q. Were you really asked these questions or did you just make them up?

A. Good question. Yes.

Beginning March 7, 2010, 30 contemporary metal works will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in Liquid Lines: Exploring the Language of Contemporary Metal. Organized by Cindi Strauss, MFAH curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design, the exhibition explores the varied ways that contemporary artists have manipulated metal to highlight the fluid properties of the material. Works on view range from furniture and vases to avant-garde jewelry and sculptural installations, all from the museum’s permanent collection.

“The MFAH’s modern and contemporary collections lend themselves beautifully to inter-departmental exhibitions,” said Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. “Liquid Lines celebrates the depth and range of vision achieved by artists, craftsmen, and designers working with metal.”

“The strength and value of metal has inspired artists for centuries, and in recent decades, contemporary artists have continued to investigate new ways to work with the material,” said curator Cindi Strauss. “Liquid Lines showcases exciting works, created between 1969 and 2008, that have emerged on the international, modern market. Whether ornamental, sculptural, or functional, all the objects on view demonstrate innovative aesthetic principles.”

To create the objects included in the show, the artists have applied diverse techniques—such as casting, constructing, forging, and hand-raising—to a variety of metals, including bronze, iron, silver, steel, wire, or found objects. The exhibition includes works by Ron Arad, Chunghi Choo, Georg Dobler, Arline Fisch, Gego, Joseph Havel, Bruce Metcalf, Albert Paley, Hiroshi Suzuki, Tone Vigeland, and Jonathan Wahl.

One of the smallest works on view is by a renowned master of contemporary jewelry, Swiss artist Max Fröhlich. His silver Ring (1992) relates to geometric abstraction, a concept that he began exploring during his education at the Zurich art school Kunstgewerbeschule. Placing an emphasis on unadorned form, the ring features a swirled and bent circular structure, remarkable for its pure, geometric shape. Fröhlich’s ring will be shown with other international jewelry from the MFAH’s Helen Williams Drutt Collection as well as with gifts from other donors.

German artist Georg Dobler’s “Atomic Energy” Brooch (1988) is one of many works that emerged from a fifteen-year period in which the artist created jewelry by soldering steel wire together. The artist’s original intent was to create symbol-less structures of intersecting lines, but this later work—which resembles a spun-together ball—reflects how the artist’s concentration evolved towards natural, organic shapes.

Other highlights on view include the electro-formed silver Vase (1985) by Korean-American artist Chunghi Choo; the captivating Narrow Paparadelle Chair (designed 1992, made 1994) by Israeli designer Ron Arad, which resembles unraveling ribbon tumbling to the floor, but functions as a chair with ‘carpet’-footrest; and the sculpture Reticulárea (1975), an interwoven web of wires by Venezuelan sculptor and architect Gego.

Upcoming Exhibitions at the MFAH

• Sargent and the Sea February 14 – May 23, 2010
• Houston’s Sargents February 14 – May 9, 2010
• Prendergast in Italy February 14 – May 9, 2010
• Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made After 1960 from the MFAH Collection February 21—May 9, 2010
• 2010 Core Exhibition March 5—April 16, 2010 (Glassell School of Art)
• Liquid Lines: Exploring the Language of Contemporary Metal March 7—July 18, 2010
• Alice Neel: Painted Truths March 21 – June 13, 2010
• Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam May 16—August 8, 2010
• Charles M. Russell: The Masterworks in Oil and Bronze June 6 – August 29, 2010
• Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture, The Photography of Ishimoto Yasuhiro, June 20—September 12, 2010

Group Tours

Custom exhibition tour packages for groups of 10 or more may be requested with three weeks advance reservations. Contact the Group Sales Department, (713)639-7878, for information on group admission discounts and tour topics. Group leaders receive free admission.

MFAH Collections

Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers nearly 60,000 works and embraces the art of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van Rijn’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W. Turner, Albert Bierstadt’s Indians Spear Fishing (1862), distinguished work by the leading 20th- and 21st-century Latin American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.

MFAH Hours and Admission

Hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:15–7 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday, except for holidays. Admission to this exhibition is included with general admission to the museum. General admission is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 6-18, students, and senior adults (65+); admission is free for children 5 and under. Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation. Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday for children 18 and under with a Houston Public Library Power Card or any other library card.

King Tut at the Dallas Museum of Art (photo by Mr. Holga)

Are you ready for your first assignment? Great!

As a reader, follower and / or friend of Dallas Art News, we would like to enlist your help. Dallas Art News is expanding our list of museums to include more venues in and around Texas. For each museum listed we would like to have an original photograph of the museum. Your assignment is to photograph one of the museums on our list and send it to Dallas Art News.

Rules

I know. Why ruin a really fun assignment with rules.

First, the photograph you take must be your photograph. Do not send in another person’s work. The same fingers used to email us the digital image file must have been used to release the shutter on your camera. I know this sounds redundant, but photographers have feelings too, and some have lawyers. We only want to post images we have permission to use from the actual owner.

Second, the photograph must be good, creative, interesting, current, colorful, mysterious, unique, monochromatic, etc. We would love to see museums at first daylight, high noon or with star trails.Take your photograph with latest professional digital SLR or a pinhole camera. The only catch is that the museum must be recognizable in your photograph.

Third, digital image files must be received by Sunday, February 14, 2010.

Prize

Prize? What prize?

Really, there is no prize. But you do get your name and web site listed with your photograph on our museum page. And you get the glory of saying, “My photograph is posted on Dallas Art News!” This might not sound like a big deal, but consider how many digital image files we are going to receive for the Dallas Museum of Art. And only one will win.

Enter Your Photograph

Enter your photograph by sending a digital image file to assignment@dallasartnews.com. Image files should be in JPEG format and not bigger than 1 MB.  Send you digital image file by Sunday, February 14, 2010.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Will I get paid if my photograph is selected?

A. No. The only payment received will be our warmest appreciation.

Q. What if my digital image file is over 1 MB?

A. We will print your image and then shred it. Don’t make us waste the ink and paper.

Q. What sizes do you recommend for my photograph?

A. Scale your image so that the longest side is only 1000 pixels. We will scale it down from there.

Q. Where do I send my digital image file?

A. Please email your digital image file to assignment@dallasartnews.com.

Q. When does this assignment end?

A. This assignment ends on Sunday, February 14, 2010. Send us your digital image file on or before this date.

Q. Can I send you more than one digital image file for consideration?

A. Yes and No. Yes, you can send us more than one digital image file for consideration but the additional photographs cannot be of the same museum. You must select your best shot of each museum you photographed.

Q. Who will judge the winner for each museum?

A. If we only get one photograph per museum, then no judging will be needed. For only a handful of images, then Mr. Holga will judge. If we receive a lot of really creative images, then maybe we will put it up for a vote.

Q. How frequently are you asked questions?

A. All the time. I talk to myself.

Pinhole Photograph of Sculpture Garden at DMA by Mr. Holga, 2009

Grumbacher Partners with Large Retailer to Bring Fine Art to Everyone

Grumbacher art supplies is excited to partner with a prominent retailer to offer fine art workshops in retail stores. These workshops will consist of two hours of instruction, during which time students will complete an acrylic painting. There are four curricula in the current line of acrylic workshops, including floral, still life, landscape, and seascape.

Scheduling of workshops will start in March 2010, and continue indefinitely. Traditional florals will be first in the rotation of curricula. Director of Education Sasha DeMarino says, “This is an exciting opportunity on many levels.” It benefits both new and veteran artists. For instructors, it presents an opportunity for steady income. “We are helping provide jobs to art instructors across Texas during a down economy.”

For the students, the beginners’ workshops are designed for the new artist to try their hand at painting, or for the veteran looking to brush up on their skills. They will provide a creative outlet for those wishing to learn to paint in a comfortable environment. “We are able to expose a whole new market of beginners to quality products in a non-intimidating environment, allowing their creativity to blossom,” DeMarino explains. Grumbacher is pleased to be able to both provide jobs and introduce new artists to painting with one program. “The combination of both helps the entire art industry grow and develop for the enjoyment of artists now and in the future,” says DeMarino.

Grumbacher is a brand of Chartpak, Inc. and has been serving the artists’ community for over a century. The Grumbacher brand of art materials has been developed by generations of artists and chemists who have mastered the techniques that produce one of a kind, high quality products. Some of Grumbacher’s most popular lines include Pre-tested® Oils, Max® Water-miscible Oils, and Finest® Watercolors.

To join the Grumbacher team of workshop artists, please contact Educational Coordinator Katie Blanchard.

Contact: Katie Blanchard
Phone: 1-800-628-1910 ext. 282
Email: kblanchard@chartpak.com

Triple Self-Portrait by Nate Bramble

Dallas Art News invited webcomic artists from the Dallas Webcomics Expo (DWEX) to participate in a special feature, Webcomics Imitating Art. The idea was for each webcomic artist to use their characters and style to recreate a famous work of art. We only expected to get about six works, but we lucked out and got nineteen webcomic artists to participate.

“The very first webcomic artist I contacted was Nate Bramble, who draws Hermit Hill. I suggested to Nate that he draw his main character, Walter, as Norman Rockwell’s Triple Self-Portrait. I received Nate’s art a week later and was blown away by how good it was,” said Michael Roman, Dallas Art News Managing Editor.

Webcomics Imitating Art was supposed to coincide with the Dallas Art News Museum Express Tour. Unfortunately, the tour did not get enough registrations and we decided to postpone the tour till spring 2010. Even though the tour was postponed, more and more webcomic artists signed-up for the feature and the art kept on coming.

Some of the famous artists include Grant Wood, Auguste Rodin, John Singer Sargent, Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse. The most popular artist was Michelangelo, who has three works in Webcomics Imitating Art.

“We tried really hard not to get a dozen Mona Lisas, which was not selected. Somehow we did get two versions of Marilyn by Andy Warhol,” said Mr. Roman.

Dallas Art News hopes our readers will enjoy Webcomics Imitating Art and take the time to check out the sites of each webcomic artist.

Webcomics and Artists

Click on any of the small images below to open the slideshow gallery. Cheers!

1977 the Comic by Byron Wilkins

Link: www.1977thecomic.com

Summary: “1977″ is the story of Bud, Jeff, Lorraine and Robyn, four friends trying to become rock and roll stars in the late 70s, but somehow always missing their target. Tag along as they find out how to take life one toke at a time.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … working at Denny’s.

After Lily by Hannah Scott

Link: www.afterlily.com

Summary: A cheerful assistant Grim Reaper and her ultra-depressed worker collect the souls of the recently deceased and bring them to the afterlife.

Since: 2008

Brax the Alien Rocker by Philip Vecchio

Link: www.braxcomics.com

Summary: Brax the Alien Rocker is about an aspiring musician from a planet far away. He has come to Earth to make his mark on the music industry. Brax is joined by Manny, Rosy and Bots.

Since: 2009

Cloud Hopper by Geoff Sebesta

Link: www.unnecessaryg.com

Summary: A guy falls off a building and wakes up on cloud. And then all sorts of stuff happens.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … protesting the School of Americas in between hugging trees and socializing medicine.

The Devon Legacy by Keith Taylor

Link: www.justnopoint.com

Summary: Earth’s fate is in the hands of two alien races! Luckily, one of them isn’t so bad. Attempting to stop a vicious horde can two specially gifted humans (Fenny & Sally) actually turn the tables of balance on this war?

And after you finish reading the 6 issue completed Prologue stick around in January of 2010 as the story continues on!

Since: 2006

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … chiseled like stone and ruler of some small Ethiopean villiage I guess. Or I’d be doing something just as nonproductive.

The Drunken Fools by Antoine Gagnon

Link: www.thedrunkenfools.com

Summary: When it comes to party and alcohol, some guys never grow up. In the case of Spike and Billy, the main characters of The Drunken Fools, that is so true! Always putting themselves in trouble, they are protected by Stubby, the Skunk Guardian Angel.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … sitting every night in a bar thinking of a web project that would fail a month later.

Hermit Hill by Nate Bramble

Link: www.hermithillcomic.com

Summary: Hermit Hill is the ongoing story of a lonely hill and it’s equally lonely inhabitant, Walter. Although he tries hard to keep the world at bay, life always encroaches on Walter’s solitude.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … working on print comics. I need to draw no matter what. The web affords me the widest possible audience for the least amount of investment, but without it I’d stick with paper and ink.

L.O.S.T. by Keith Smith

Link: www.karmicdebt.net/lost

Summary: This is the semi-autobiographical tale of one cartoonist journey through told through metaphors and other obfuscations to protect the innocent, or at least to hide how guilty the actually are.

Since: 2006

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … ruling the world from mountain-top fortress! Or possible just drawing comics and leaving them in odd random places for people to find.

Life’s a Witch by Samantha Wikan

Link: www.witchytech.com/lifesawitch (A SpiderForest Comic! – www.spiderforest.com)

Summary: Zelda is a housewife and witch struggling with dieting, housework and the occasional monster in the spare bedroom. She knows there are no magical solutions for life’s ups and downs, but that doesn’t stop her from trying anyway. Thankfully, her husband Bill, their two children and her best friend (the local tooth fairy) keep Zelda from doing too much damage. And that’s the REAL magic–the love and friendship that holds them all together.

Since: 2006

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … drawing mustaches on pictures all over town, doodling little pictures on receipts, bills, phone books, notepads, bathroom walls, important documents, etc.

Li’l Nyet: The Red Menace by Bengo & Pug

Link: www.lilnyet.com

Summary: Humor-drama set in the former Soviet Union. Colorful characters struggle between ideology and nature. An often subtle commentary on the human predicament. Especially popular in post-communist Eastern Europe.

Bengo & Pug are a husband and wife team using their childhood nicknames professionally.

Since: 2008

If we weren’t doing web comics we would be … drawing comics for each other’s amusement.

Liltoon by Brian Powers

Link: www.liltoon.com/tv

Summary: Liltoon is a whimsical look at the behind the scenes of a dysfunctional Saturday morning television program. Sometimes it is funny.

Since: 2009

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … singing in a Las Vegas lounge act.

Lint by Colby Purcell

Link: www.purnicellin.com/lint

Summary: Lint is a nearly completed tongue-in-cheek fantasy tale about Sangwine Schloeffel, the epitome of an exiled elven prince, and the epic overhaul it takes for those around him to restore his kingdom.

Since: 2001

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … a lousy artist. This comic taught me how to draw! Don’t believe me? Check out my archives.

Mint Condition by John Harmon

Link: mintcondition.comicgenesis.com

Summary: Mint Condition is the story of John, a struggling cartoonist, dealing with his
career, friends, and life in general. Amongst his group of friends things like comics, action figures, and movies are considered serious topics. The world of Mint Condition is one which often draws from real life experiences only put through the heavy pop culture filter which is John’s mind. Hilariousness ensues. Sometimes.

Since: 2007

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … only preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

PC Weenies by Krishna Sadasivam

Link: www.pcweenies.com

Summary: Meet Bob – certified techie and all-round computer weenie – as he tries to compute his way through geek culture, family life, and unemployment. Does Bob have enough gigahertz to stay in the game? Or is he just an 8-bit relic trapped in a 2-bit world?

Since: 1998

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … animating!

Quazar 451 by Sydney Winchester

Link: www.quazar451.com

Summary: The adventures of an alien on earth and across the galaxy.

Since: 2006

Rick the Stick by Ken Drab

Link: www.rickthestick.com

Summary: The classic saga of an extraordinary stickman living in an ordinary cartoon world.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … a butcher, but I don’t have the stomach for it. My next ambition was to be a meter maid, but I don’t have the legs for it. Then I thought of being a lumberjack, but I don’t like the outdoors. Comics are one of the few careers that don’t require a stomach, legs or being outside. That being said, if I don’t succeed in web comics I’ll have to look into being a coat rack.

Salt the Holly by Jessica Riojas

Link: www.salttheholly.com

Summary: Salt the Holly is about dating, couples, a roommate who dreams of becoming a pirate, and other adventures.

Since: 2007

Super Siblings by Patrick Scullin

Link: www.supersiblingscomics.com

Summary: Super Siblings is an all-ages comic strip for geeks with kids. The Clark children have super powers. Conrad uses his powers for good and his sister Courtney uses hers for bad. Neither knows the other’s secret identity so not only rivals at home they have unwittingly become super enemies.

Since: 2008

If I wasn’t doing web comics I would be … gainfully employed.

The Wannabe Pirates by Mark Largent

Link: www.thewannabepirates.com

Summary: The misadventures of Captain Errol Flemm and his crew of Wannabe Pirates as they search for treasure, fight off villains and monkeys, and strive to finally earn their parrots and become real pirates!

Since: 2008

Calling all Web Comic artists! Dallas Art News would like to highlight established Web Comics in a future article. The theme of the article will be “comics imitating art”, where artists re-create well known works of art using their Web Comic character(s) and style. The article, which will mostly be the images created by the comic artists and links to their sites, will appear during the first week of December 2009.

Dallas Art News would like to feature at least a dozen Web Comic artists. The only limitations will be space (limited to one square) and content (must be suitable for all audiences). Otherwise, we just want to see some great comics representing famous works of art.

The simplest example would be a comic character as Leonardo da Vinci’s  Mona Lisa or Vincent van Gogh with bandaged ear. Contemporary art could also be used. The sky’s the limit.

An even better art work selection could be an iconic work from one of the museums currently covered by Dallas Art News.

Web Comic Artist

The following Web Comic artist are already on board:

• 1977 the Comic* by Byron Wilkins
• After Lily by Hannah Scott
• Brax the Alien Rocker by Philip Vecchio
• Cloud Hopper by Geoff Sebesta
• The Drunken Fools by Antoine Gagnon
• Hermit Hill by Nate Bramble
• Just No Point by Keith Taylor
• Last Stop by Bobby Blakey
• Life’s a Witch by Samantha Wikan
• Liltoon by Brian Powers
• Lint by Colby Purcell
• L.O.S.T. Karmic Debt Comics by Keith Smith
• Mint Condition by John Harmon
• PC Weenies by Krishna Sadasivam
• Quazar451 by Sydney Winchester
• Rick the Stick by Ken Drab
• Salt the Holly by Jessica Riojas
• Super Siblings by Patrick Scullin
• Super Zeros by Will Terrell
• The Wannabe Pirates by Mark R. Largent

* Some Web Comics may not be suitable for younger audiences.

Questions and Answers

Q. Will I be getting paid for my “comics imitating art” work?

A. No, the purpose of the article is to bring attention to the vast amount of talent in the Web Comic world. Each work submitted will include a link directly to the artist’s Web Comic site.

Q. I just started a Web Comic. Can I participate?

A. Dallas Art News is currently only interested in established Web Comic. Your Web Comic site should be more than three months old with a lot of content to view.

Q. Will Dallas Art News own the submitted comic?

A. No, Dallas Art News is only posting your work for the article. We will no more own your work than that of the art images we are granted permission to use on our site.

Q. What is happening the first week of December 2009?

A. Dallas Art News will be doing the Museum Express Tour. This will be a great time for our viewers to see new and interesting content. We want your Web Comic to be a part of it.

Q. What is the deadline for submission?

A. All art work must be received via electronic media by Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009. The article will be posted Friday, Dec. 3, 2009.

Q. Is Dallas Art News looking for a featured Web Comic for this site?

A. Yes, Dallas Art News would like to start a featured comic section on our site. We would like to have four or more Web Comic artists providing at least one comic each per month to create this section. Unfortunately, Dallas Art News Web Comic artist is an unpaid position until we start generating revenue.

Please contact Dallas Art News at comics@dallasartnews.com for more information or to participate.

The grand scheme of our bad ideas is to bring Dallas Art News viewers and artists together to comment and discuss these wicked thoughts.

Dallas Art News does not encourage anyone to carry out any of our bad ideas or the related comments and discussions. You should not do anything that is illegal or harmful to yourself, other persons, businesses or property. Just say no.

This is not the best bad idea we have ever had at Dallas Art News. That would be the Dallas Art News Museum Express Tour, which will be announced later this week. This bad idea is a starter idea to get the ball rolling.

Bad Idea

Have you ever wanted your art displayed in a major museum? Did you ever consider displaying it yourself?

Here’s the idea.

First, you should start with a little reconnaissance. Visit a major museum and determine the color of their walls. Are they white? Maybe they are beige or an even darker color. Take a look at the identification tags. What kind of font are they using? What color are most of the frames? What color jackets are the guards wearing? Do the guards look like they have a sense of humor?

Second, you create a small work of art (drawing, print, painting or photograph) that is no wider than your chest. Actually, it should be smaller than the width of your chest to allow for matting and framing. Next, create an identification tag for your art with: title, artist’s name (your name), media, size, and year completed. Remember to use the correct font type.

Third, it’s time to find the right clothes. If the museum walls were all white, then you are probably in luck. Find yourself an all white outfit from your hat to your shoes. A white jacket would be even better. The goal here is to blend in to the museum. No, you won’t be invisible.

Lastly, you put this bad idea to good use. Dress in your one color outfit. Take your art and tag to the museum with a friend. Find a nice empty wall to stand in front of with your art hanging from your neck with the tag pinned to your shoulder. Your friend, who could be wearing the same color jacket as museum security, should take pictures for your portfolio and also tell people not to touch the art.

Honestly, this idea is not that bad. As a matter of fact, some museums might welcome a little odd behavior. But what if a few dozen artists all decided to show their are at the same time? Then it is not a single work of art, but an exhibit; an unplanned exhibit.

Tell us what you think about this bad idea in the Share Your Voice section below.

The Glassell School of Art’s Core Exhibition Program presents the most recent body of work by Los Angeles-based artist Jennifer Pastor. Opening on December 11 with a lecture and reception, the exhibition Dead Landscape is an installation of some 40 drawings and photographs that juxtaposes archival materials from wars involving the U.S. with Pastor’s drawings and photographs of culturally sanctioned, organized fights (from cage fighting and gladiator events to the Ultimate Fighting Heavy Weight Championship). Exhibited at Greengrassi in London earlier this year, the Houston showing will be the first presentation of Dead Landscape in the United States. An additional element to the exhibition—a large-scale sculpture titled Endless Arena and inspired by the same line of inquiry as the Dead Landscape installation—will be shown later this year across the street from the Glassell School, in the MFAH’s Caroline Wiess Law Building.

“Jennifer Pastor has been exhibiting her work at national and international venues since the early 1990s, including showings at the 2003 Venice Biennale and a 2004 solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art,” said Glassell School of Art director Joseph Havel. “She has been working on Dead Landscape for several years, and the show at the Glassell School this winter will be the first time that this new body of work has been exhibited in the United States.”

“Jennifer Pastor has been a great inspiration to the current group of Core Fellows, and the exhibition and Pastor’s visit to Houston really originated from their efforts and interests,” said Mary Leclère, associate director of the Glassell Core Program and organizer of the Houston showing of Dead Landscape. “During a number of informal meetings, Pastor’s name kept coming up in conversations about research-based sculptural practices and the re-emergence of ‘the object’ in art. We decided that Pastor ought to be involved in the conversation, and are delighted that the artist will exhibit and lecture here in Houston.”

The project Dead Landscape emerged from Pastor’s research interviewing veteran combat artists from various campaigns, including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Occupation of Iraq. During this time, Pastor also sought to find “on the spot” sketches of action during battle or (in the artist’s words) “first impressions . . . before the artist/soldier has had a chance to order his experience (although this type of drawing is quite rare).” To this end, Pastor gained access to archival drawings and photographs belonging to veteran combat artists, as well as collections belonging to the National Military Archives of the Navy, Army, and Marines in Quantico, VA and Washington, D.C. Many of the archived drawings had never been on view before, and Pastor photographed and drew the archived objects.

While researching soldier-artists’ portrayals of war, Pastor also began attending local and national organized fights, creating her own “on the spot” drawings and photographs documenting what she saw. Within the installation, the artist’s documentation of archival photographs and drawings are paired with the artist’s own “on the spot” drawing and photographs, creating interesting juxtapositions.

A sculpture, titled Endless Arena, also emerged from Pastor’s line of inquiry regarding impressions of war. Made of fiber enforced cement and approximately 15 feet long and 12 feet wide, Endless Arena is composed of a hexagonal fighting arena and bleachers (both hovering six inches off the ground), with large figurative drawings flanking each side of the hexagon. The work will be installed later this spring in Cullinan Hall (Caroline Wiess Law Building). The artist describes the sculpture as “an agitation of unfinished business [from Dead Landscape]. . . A bit of fantasy hybrid, constructed from some of the most peculiar situations, loose memories and perceptions, and the more ‘impossible’ drawings from those events.”

About the Core Exhibition Program

The Core Exhibition Program is comprised of three annual exhibitions. The first exhibition is curated in the fall by the associate director of the Glassell Core Program, Mary Leclere, and features work by a contemporary artist. In the winter, a critical studies resident proposes an exhibition of their own; and the program concludes in the spring, when the current Core residents exhibit their own work.

About Core

The highly competitive Core program awards one- and two-year residencies to visual artists and art scholars who have completed their undergraduate or graduate training but have not yet fully developed a professional career.

Core residents are given private studio space or an office, 24-hour access to school facilities and equipment, privileges at the museum’s Hirsch Library and the Fondren Library at nearby Rice University, and a $10,000 annual stipend.

Core Lecture Schedule

• Artist Jennifer Pastor, 6 p.m. Friday, December 11, Freed Auditorium, Glassell
• Curator Mark Godfrey, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 18, Freed Auditorium, Glassell
• Artist Julie Mehretu, TBA, Brown Auditorium, MFAH
• Making a Case: Two Curators on Contemporary Curatorial Practice, curators Lauri Firstenberg and Laura Hoptman, 2 p.m. Saturday, March 27, Freed Audiorium, Glassell
• Critic Michael Ned Holte, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 15, Freed Auditorium, Glassell

The Glassell School of Art

The Glassell School of Art is the teaching wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Established in 1927, it was renamed in honor of Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., in 1979. The school has a reputation for outstanding training in the fine arts, and offers the nationally acclaimed Core Residency Program for postgraduate study as well as a wide variety of programs and classes for adults and children through its Studio School and Junior School. The Glassell Community Outreach Program serves more than 5,500 individuals, including hospitalized children, and hearing and visually impaired people.

The Glassell School of Art is located at 5101 Montrose Boulevard, and is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Upcoming Exhibitions at the MFAH

• Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea November 21, 2009—February 14, 2010
• Dead Landscape December 11, 2009—February, 2010
• Eye on Third Ward: Jack Yates High School Photography February 7, 2010—May 23, 2010
• Prendergast in Italy February 14—May 9, 2010
• Sargent and the Sea February 14 – May 23, 2010
• Houston’s Sargents February 14—May 9, 2010
• Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made After 1960 from the MFAH Collection February 21—May 9, 2010
• 2010 Core Exhibition March 5—April 16, 2010 (Glassell School of Art)
• Liquid Lines: Exploring the Language of Contemporary Metal March 7—July 18, 2010
• Alice Neel: Painted Truths March 21 – June 13, 2010
• Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam May 16—August 8, 2010
• Charles M. Russell: The Masterworks in Oil and Bronze June 6 – August 29, 2010

Fallen Star 1/5 by Do Ho Suh, 2008

Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Nov. 22, 2009 – Feb. 14, 2010

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), presents the critically-acclaimed exhibition Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea, the first major museum exhibition in the continental United States in almost two decades to focus on contemporary art from South Korea. The exhibition is co-organized by the MFAH and LACMA, and was on view in Los Angeles until September 20, 2009. Houston is the second and final venue on the tour. Your Bright Future (a deliberately ambiguous title taken from a sculpture by Bahc Yiso) represents each of the twelve Korean artists in the show through a large-scale installation or substantial body of work, including site-specific installations, video art, computer animation, and sculpture. The exhibition is on view at the MFAH November 22, 2009 through February 14, 2010.

Exhibition highlights include a live-stream feed of the Houston sky, shot from four cameras on the roof of a museum building and projected into the gallery; indoor and outdoor installations made with plastic materials bought in 99-cent stores or found in Houston; and a fantastic architectural fusion: models of a 18th-century scholar’s house from Seoul, and a 19th-century American apartment building, collided into each other. Every component is completely handmade and exactly one-fifth actual size, from the bricks on the walls to furniture and appliances.

Peter C. Marzio, director of the MFAH, commented, “This landmark presentation continues the MFAH’s commitment to expand its representation of Asian art, with Korean art a major focus. Following the opening of a permanent Arts of Korea gallery in December 2007 and the January 2008 showing of Korean ink painter Suh Se-ok’s work, curators Christine Starkman and Lynn Zelevansky open an entirely new perspective on extraordinary art being made by modern Korean artists in Your Bright Future.”

“Korea has a vibrant and sophisticated contemporary art scene that is still relatively unknown in the United States,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “LACMA is thrilled to partner with the MFAH to bring this insightful exhibition to the United States.”

Your Bright Future features a generation of artists who have emerged since the mid-1980s—some well-known and others on the brink of such recognition—all of whom work on the cutting-edge of international art trends and within a distinctly Korean context: Bahc Yiso, Choi Jeong-Hwa, Gimhongsok, Jeon Joonho, Kim Beom, Kimsooja, Koo Jeong-A, Minouk Lim, Jooyeon Park, Do Ho Suh, Haegue Yang and the collaborative, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (family names are in bold).

The contemporary art scene in Korea has remained relatively unexplored in the West despite its vibrancy during the last two decades. Throughout the 1980s, Korean artists became increasingly exposed to international art trends. With the proliferation of world-wide exhibitions and biennials in the 1990s, they increasingly began to travel, live, and exhibit abroad. While learning to communicate deftly in an international visual language, Korean artists also respond to their own personal experiences and their work reflects the culture out of which they emerged. The artists in Your Bright Future came of age amid political turmoil and increased freedoms in their small but increasingly prosperous country. Their experience has produced work that focuses, often humorously, on the ephemeral nature of life, time, and identity, as well as on the limitations of communication across languages, cultures, and generations.

Gimhongsok and Jeon Joonho address South Korea’s place in the world, as well as the complex relationship among the U.S., North Korea, and South Korea. Gimhongsok’s video projection G5 (2004), features five Koreans singing a heartfelt rendition of the national anthem of one of the G5 countries (U.S., United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany) in Korean. Though an initial response may be amusement at the discordance of hearing familiar, patriotic tunes sung in a foreign language, the question arises whether the singers are somehow subservient to the powerful nations whose songs they sing. In White House (2004), Jeon focuses on an American iconic image, the twenty dollar bill, to comment on the continued power and influence of the United States to the changing social, economic and political environment in Korea.

Other artists in the exhibition examine the sociological effects of Korea’s rapid modernization. In his most recent work, Do Ho Suh uses the elements of architecture as a metaphor for his art practice. In 1994, Suh began making “fabric architecture,” using filmy, translucent textiles like silk and nylon to create ghostly and fragile renderings of his childhood home that evoke homesickness and the sense of loss. These works, often large-scale installations, meld seeming opposites, like the notions of inside and outside, personal and public, past and present. In Fallen Star, 1/5 (2008), Suh shows a violent collision between a traditional Korean house and a Providence apartment, where the artist lived during his graduate student days at Rhode Island School of Design. Fallen Star is part of a thirteen chapter autobiographical narrative that Suh has written about his departure from Korea, displacement and discovery of home that he carries where ever he goes.

Kim Beom questions Korean mass media in Untitled (News) (2002), for which he edited together numerous television news broadcasts in clips short enough to alter what the reporters were saying. Instead of reporting on events of the day, these familiar figures spout statements that vacillate between the inane and poignant. Using humor, the work questions whether the actual words of such television personalities are more enlightening than the ones that Kim has put in their mouths. Minouk Lim’s three-channel DVD projection Wrong Question (2006) records an anonymous taxi driver who does not understand the progressive elements of South Korean society, and conflates pro-democracy and pro-communist factions. On the adjacent screen is Lim’s young daughter, who dreams of her mother staying home instead of leaving to work. Her grandfather instructs her instead to say, “I’ll be a great painter like Mom.” “What’s a painter?” the child asks. The two seem to be participating in different conversations—the products of radically divergent life experiences.

Kimsooja reflects upon the inter-dependency and and inter-connection of people. In the six channel video, Needle Woman (2005-2006), Kimsooja stands in the middle of the screen with her back to the audience and crowds of people walk in and around her from different parts of the world, making us aware of the differences among cultures but also what connects us all, our desires and hopes as human beings.

The works of Haegue Yang, Koo Jeong-A, and Jeong-Hwa Choi address what lies on the periphery of everyday experience, impermanent traces of human existence, and the hidden or ephemeral. Yang’s Storage Piece (2004), is composed of crated and wrapped works by the artist. Unsold, the pieces were returned to her after an exhibition; with a show coming up and no space to store her old pieces, she decided to exhibit them wrapped. The work is amusing, but also rooted in a genuine complaint regarding the accumulation of artwork, which artists frequently cannot afford to store. Too often it takes over their studios—a reminder of the failure to sell. Yang’s Storage Piece is a comment on the belief and emotions attached to the permanence of things. Like Yang, Koo Jeong-A is concerned with easily overlooked objects and situations, frequently photographing mundane environments; creating drawings that are so minimal in their physicality that they become elusive; and installing tiny sculptures high on a wall or low in a corner. Jeong-Hwa Choi also explores the disregarded elements of human life, gathering eclectic materials and found objects (including “trash”) to create site-specific installations. For the Los Angeles installment of Your Bright Future, Choi selected plastic containers discovered in a Mexican neighborhood in Los Angeles to create indoor and outdoor installations. In Houston, Choi will collect his material from the neighborhood markets and will create a new, site-specific work for the Museum.

In Suckerdom (2009), web-based artists Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, uses Flash animation to deliver their message to the world. In their work, Young Hae Chang and Marc Voge are acutely aware of the power and limitation of language. Suckerdom expresses their daily frustrations, struggles and triumph as artists living in 21st century.

Jooyeon Park uses written words, as well as performance, video, photography, found objects, and sculpture to stress the fragility of existence. She is also interested in the materiality of language and how language can affect the way we interact with each other. In her new work Eclectic Rhetoric, a beautiful film about the old Seoul Station, Park has discovered the cause and effect of historic events—what the artist calls the “migration of power and spirit.”

Curators

Featuring thirty-four major works and installations, Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea is curated by Christine Starkman, MFAH Curator of Asian Art; Lynn Zelevansky, LACMA’s Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art; and Sunjung Kim, Director of Samuso: Space for Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; with Hyonjeong Kim-Han, LACMA Associate Curator of Korean Art, acting as consulting curator.

Catalogue

Your Bright Future is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog containing essays by Korean and U.S. specialists. Included are interviews with each of the artists, and a chronology that examines in depth developments in the South Korean art world from 1945 to the present, capturing a portion of art history that has never before been recorded in such detail. The catalog will be available for purchase at the MFAH shop, 713-639-7360.

Credit

This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Programming

A range of programs are planned throughout the run of the exhibition, including tours for children and adults. Please visit www.mfah.org for details. A few highlights include:

• Conversation with the Artists and Gallery Performance, Saturday, November 21, 2009. Christine Starkman, Curator of Asian Art at the MFAH, will lead a conversation with the artists about their work, practices, and issues of current interest. The conversation will be followed by a gallery performance of Haegue Yang’s Storage Piece. The museum will provide translation.
• Creation Station, Sketching in the Galleries, and a Family Tour, Sunday, December 13, 2009.
• Target Free First Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, January 3. Families can discover art through an assortment of fun activities: exploring and making art, hearing a story, watching a performance or Family Flick, and more.

Asian Art at the MFAH

The MFAH announced its plan to bring new emphasis to its Asian art collections in 2007. The Arts of Korea and Indonesian Gold galleries opened in December 2007 and December 2008, respectively, with gallery openings planned for the Arts of India in May 2009; and China in spring 2010 and Japan in fall 2010. The five new gallery spaces, totaling about 12,000 square feet, surround Cullinan Hall on the first floor of the Caroline Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet Street. The new galleries present ancient artifacts side-by-side with contemporary artworks, and maps and other interpretive materials enable visitors to learn more about the various influences that inform the art. Educational programs will be developed to promote cultural understanding among visitors.

MFAH Collections

Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers more than 57,000 works and embraces the art of antiquity to the present. Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art, and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections include Rembrandt van Rijn’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare, second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon/Antigonos Doson, major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W. Turner, distinguished work by the leading 20th- and 21st-century Latin American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art.

MFAH Hours and Admission

Hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:15–7 p.m. The museum is closed on Monday, except for holidays. Admission to this exhibition is included with general admission to the museum. General admission is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 6-18, students, and senior adults (65+); admission is free for children 5 and under. Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation. Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday for children 18 and under with a Houston Public Library Power Card or any other library card.

Fallen Star 1/5 by Do Ho Suh, 2008

The ideal reporter would be an aspiring writer. Someone who enjoys attending exhibits and documenting the experience. A reporter can be a freelancer, a college or high school student, stay-at-home mom or senior citizen. Anyone in high school or above can apply.

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Interested reporters should contact Dallas Art News at reporters@dallasartnews.com. Please send links to examples of your work.

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