Dario Robleto at the Nasher

24 Mar 2009, Posted by Jessie Tang in Art, Playground, 0 Comments

This Wednesday at 7 p.m., renowned American conceptual artist Dario Robleto will be coming to Nasher Museum of Art to discuss his work and upcoming involvment in the museum’s upcoming exhibit, The Record. Robleto’s work has been featured at galleries such as Whitney Museum in New York. The talk is presented by the Barbra and Andrew Rothschild Lecture series.

A reception will follow the lecture. Seating is limited, and reservations can be made here.

First Thursday and Movie Screening @ Nasher

05 Mar 2009, Posted by Jessie Tang in Art, Playground, 0 Comments

On March 5 (tonight), join the Nasher Museum for two events a part of the gallery’s ongoing series:

First Thursday Gallery Talk with Judith Ruderman // 6 p.m.
Duke’s Vice Provost for Academic and Administrative Services will speak on Bloomsbury group members D.H. Lawrence and Duncan Grant.

Bloomsbury Film Series, Mrs. Dalloway // 7 p.m.
This 1997 film based on the book by Virginia Woolf is about a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. Co-sponsored by Duke’s Film/Video/Digital Program

Both events are free and open to the public.

Nasher Puts Illuminated Manuscripts on Display

29 Jan 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Art, Playground, 0 Comments

The Nasher is already flowing with energy from their new exhibits Escultura Social and A Room of Their Own. But they’ve also thrown in a dash of especially historic art into the museums gallery with some illuminate manuscripts. “Sacred Beauty: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Collection of Robert J. Parsons” is a set of religious manuscripts mostly from the 1600s and 1700s. According to the press release, the manuscripts, collected by Parsons (English PhD ‘80) are set against religous works from the same period. From the press release:

“These important centuries-old manuscript pages are of an extraordinary quality and make for a jewel box of an installation,” said Kimerly Rorschach, Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum. “I hope visitors will enjoy making connections between the exquisite scenes in the manuscripts and popular works in our permanent collection.” 

The manuscripts debuted today and will be on display until May 10.

Brandeis closes art museum

27 Jan 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Art, Playground, 1 Comments

A few weeks ago, the Nasher Museum Blog posted an Art Net story concerning art museums slashing their budgets in response to the economic slump. From the story:

A sampling of U.S. institutions by the Art Newspaper found that most had lost at least 20 percent of the value of their endowments. Though such losses are felt only incrementally, most are bracing for the worst.

But who knew the worst would come so soon. According to Inside Higher Ed, Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum is auctioning all 6,000 works in its collection to bolster the University’s finances. This is a move that reflects the true severity of the economic crisis and makes anyone question how art will whether this new period. From the report:

“This puts all of our roles at our institutions in jeopardy,” said David A. Robertson, president of the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries and director of Northwestern University’s art museum. “And it puts in jeopardy our relationships with our donors with whom we have built our collections,” he said. The ethics codes cited by Robertson are vital, museum officials say, because donors will not make gifts to university collections if they believe that their donations could end up in an auction house sometime in the future.

With the Nasher drawing in high profile exhibitions like the recent “El Greco to Velazquez,” it seems it should weather these tough times, but I am not aware of the Museum’s finances. Nor am I aware of how well UNC’s Ackland Museum of Art or local galleries are doing. Maybe this decision by Brandeis shows that Obama–and America–need an art secretary to keep things afloat.

'Everyone is an artist'

23 Jan 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Art, Playground, 0 Comments

Following the opening of “Escultura Social” and the Nasher’s family day, this post appeared on the Nasher’s blog.

Complete this sentence:

Everyone is a(n) _______________ .When we asked visitors to fill in the blank at the Nasher on Sunday, Jan. 18, during Family Day, we got some great answers.  Some examples:

…

Everyone is an artist, even bears.

We used the statement “Everyone an artist.” from artist Joseph Beuys as the jumping off point.  This idea serves as a backdrop for the current exhibition Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City.

It’s interesting that children and curators share this idea. Compared to typical museum and gallery art, it’s a contrary notion to think everyone is an artist. What appears in museums and galleries is typically there because, for whatever reason, it is exceptional. Part of the reason I admire art is because it’s something I could never do. It’s a talent and thought process so foreign yet so fascinating to me I can’t help but be transfixed.

So when I walked into the Nasher to see “Escultura Social” Friday, I thought this notion was interesting. It wasn’t until later that day when I met one of the artists featured in the show, Abraham Cruzvillegas, that I really believed it. He too was saying that everyone is an artist. And then I remembered the Anton Ego character from Ratatouille and his end-of-film revelation:

But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

But then again, we can’t all be Brad Bird either.