I recently attended my first National Art Educators’ Association Conference—NAEA 2012 in NYC. It was mindblowing, a real eye-opening experience.    
      First, considering how marginalized arts education has fought not to be, the community within as well as its advocates is tremendous. We truly have a wealth of support and systems of information at our fingertips.
   Next, it was important to see, via many presentations and discussions with peers and colleagues, how long term educational goals were implemented and met (KUDOS!)
     Lastly, my seemingly tiny, focus area in art museum education seemed worlds’ larger at the conference.
There were so many fantastic presentations!

     My two favorite presentations: One featured the efforts of the Education Department from Phoenix Art Museum; the other presentation highlighted the topic of Interdisciplinary programs for adult art museum visitors, presented by Mr. Bautista of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Ms. Garza of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA.

National Art Educators Association

artphotocollector:

Last Saturday February 4th, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC opened a fascinating exhibit “Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard”  which, in light of the demise of Kodak, is especially timely in reminding us how photography has served artists.

Kodak invented the handheld camera in 1888, an auspicious time in painting given the rise of Post-Impressionism in Europe.  This invention provided artists an exciting (and portable) new means to go out and document their world.  Whether shooting images of the city, the country or their models, artists could now experiment with imagery in a way that was never before possible.

While focusing primarily on seven artists, including Bonnard, Breitner and Vuillard, this new show features over 200 photographs with some 70 paintings, prints, and drawings from various international collections.

• According to Chief Curator Eliza Rathbone: “The images in the exhibition reveal not only the influence of photography on painting, but also the impact of the painter’s eye on photography.”  

True, we often forget the power photography has in shaping the way we interpret our world, and more importantly, its affect on artists.  Just imagine a life without photography, where you trust only your memory or a sketch book to document, and you get the picture. :-) Lane Nevares

dcdocent:

30 Americans at the Corcoran is a beautiful, emotional, overwhelming and highly satisfying exhibit. Last night’s opening was also one of the best I’ve ever been to at the Corcoran. The crowd was also more ethnically and racially diverse than I’ve ever seen at a Corcoran party. Coincidence?

I think that the positive energy that the Rubells emit is part of it, but it’s also the artists’ work and the story it tells about America and who we are today. The demographic changes of the last decades and those yet to come, don’t always square with what we see reflected in the traditional/institutional art world be it artists, gallery and museum professionals, art historians and critics, collectors and others.

To see 60-plus works from 31 African-American artists that span several generations drives home the sense that we need more shows like 30 Americans and we need to support ways for paths to those possibilities to be created, navigated and supported for all artists who don’t have access to them because of race, ethnicity, class, or economic status.

30 Americans at the Corcoran Gallery of Art opens to the public on October 1st and runs through February 2012.