ARTSblog

Sally Gaskill

Yesterday morning I happened to walk down the hall and saw a sign for a “Higher Education Peer Group” session. I am an arts administrator who works in higher education, so I hoped the session would be open to anyone, and I was in luck. I immediately recognized the person in charge: the bow-tied Ron Jones, newly appointed president of the Memphis College of Art.

In Ron’s previous position as Dean of the Arts at the University of South Florida, he had spoken out about the need for data on the people who graduate with arts degrees from our colleges and universities. He had, in fact, become a poster child for the research project I manage at Indiana University – the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project – and is quoted on the SNAAP brochure as follows:  “Accountability is our future, and SNAAP is providing data that heretofore we made up or assumed.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Graham Dunstan

This is my 13th Americans for the Arts Annual Convention—that’s if you count me crashing the closing reception at the World of Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta in 1999 even though I wasn’t a registered attendee. (That took effort, so I count it).

I spent some time yesterday thinking about what Convention offers me and if I rely on it now for different things than I did earlier in my career. When I was working at the Fulton County Arts Council in Atlanta from 1999 to 2004, Convention for me was all about helping grow the fledgling emerging leaders program and gaining the tools I needed as a new arts administration professional.

And I’ll tell you, I looked forward to Convention all year long. When I arrived on site I’d absorb the information from the program book—circling sessions I wanted to attend and creating a complicated schedule with different colored highlighters so I best take advantage of every session and networking opportunity that interested me.  Read the rest of this entry »

Rich Mintz

I’m in San Diego this week for the Americans for the Arts Convention, which kicked off at noon today with a welcome by president Bob Lynch and a keynote address by California social-activist legend Bobby Shriver.

This is my fourth Americans for the Arts event in two years. Heading for my first (the 2009 National Arts Marketing Project conference in Providence), I was afraid I’d feel out of place. If you know me, you know I’m not exactly shy, but I’ve always been a little scared of arts people. They tend to be so sure of themselves, and bubbling over with ideas, and I’m just, you know, a businessman—on the creative end of the spectrum for a businessman, to be sure, but nevertheless…But I had no reason to worry.

One thing about arts people is that they love talking about ideas. And the ideas that might help them get more people to experience and enjoy art, or advocate for arts funding and education, or donate to support the arts in their own communities—well, those are the ideas they love talking about most of all. And it just so happens that those are the kinds of ideas we at Blue State Digital trade in, so everything worked out fine.  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s hard to believe, but another Americans for the Arts Annual Convention is about to begin.

A portion of our staff has been on the ground in San Diego for the past few days, while others (like me) will be heading out bright an early tomorrow morning. (Well, it’s not that bright at 6:00 a.m., but it will definitely be morning.)

While we still have another 1,000 or so attendees joining us at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and the surrounding area from Wednesday through Saturday, you can still participate from your own offices and/or living rooms throughout the country (or even come down and register on site).

Here are just some of the many ways you can participate:

• ARTSblog – We have a number of staff members, presenters, and attendees lined up to write posts during and after the Convention. They will be writing about sessions, meetings, networking events, and our host city. Read the rest of this entry »

Victoria Plettner-Saunders

Just as I’m preparing for a convention session about how attendees can create their own local arts education advocacy networks based on a model we’ve been using in San Diego and throughout California, I get word from a key district decision maker about their need for some information that may help them take some critical steps to avoid big cuts to the visual and performing arts department budget.

This is a milestone for our newly formed San Diego Alliance for Arts Education. We are being recognized by district decision makers for our ability to help them make more informed decisions to keep arts education in San Diego schools. While we’re not out of the woods yet, I certainly feel a victory for the role that the Alliance’s carefully planned advocacy is playing. Read the rest of this entry »

Liesel Fenner

It has been a whole week of public art blogging from 19 PAN peeps!

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and keep the Tweets, Facebook shares, comments, etc. coming.

Topics ran the gamut, from Leo Berk’s ‘non-typical’ artist residency working with the King Country (WA) bridge division, to Katherine Sweetman’s (first and final) blog–as-art-intervention for the San Diego Union Tribune.

As we noted, many of the bloggers will be presenting at the Public Art Preconference, June 15-16 in sunny San Diego. (Re-click on the link: the site is updated every day).  Read the rest of this entry »

Madame Curie

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has commissioned Jennifer Steinkamp to create a new work for MCASD Downtown’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building.

Entitled Madame Curie, this new commission is inspired by Steinkamp’s recent research into atomic energy, atomic explosions, and the effects of these forces on nature.

Marie Curie was the recipient of two Nobel Prizes for creating the theory of radioactivity, and discovering radium and polonium.   Read the rest of this entry »

Cathy Breslaw

As a contemporary visual artist working and living in San Diego county, I am always contemplating where and how my work can be exhibited.

Over the last several years I have had opportunities to be part of temporary public art exhibitions in downtown commercial buildings, private companies, restaurants, and the San Diego International Airport.

While these exhibits have provided good places to be seen in the area, I never really thought about these exhibitions as “public art.”

I pretty much took these shows for granted and in many ways, I may have been blinded by the traditional notions that “good art” should be seen in other venues like contemporary galleries, college and university galleries, museums, and hip nonprofit spaces.

I didn’t evaluate exhibition opportunities in the broadest sense and now that I have had time to reflect upon the past, I have learned some things.

One thing that has opened my eyes to the expansiveness of public art is the book I read called The Artists Guide to Public Art by Lynn Basa.   Read the rest of this entry »

Sarah Conley

Interest in copyright issues has changed dramatically in the last 10 years due to more awareness of the potential value in intellectual property.

No doubt much of the new focus has trickled down from the digital development of corporate entities better able to direct resources to intellectual property protection than the average artist.

The rise in popularity of hedge funds collecting fine art also contributed to the growing consciousness of the value of protecting creative works.

Certainly, some creative works serve the artistic and scientific community better if they are freely available for use and part of the public domain. And those who wish to purposely place their work into the public domain regardless of the communal value should be free to do so.

However, intellectual property ownership is often one of the few things artists can use as currency in negotiating compensation for projects. Thus, it is imperative that artists do what they can to maintain ownership of as much of their intellectual property as possible.   Read the rest of this entry »

A production of "Macbeth" at The Old Globe in San Diego.

Not only does San Diego provide a laid back attitude, beaches, and fantastic weather, but according to Mayor Jerry Sanders, its investment in the arts is paying off.

Last week, Mayor Sanders announced that the city’s $6.4 million investment of room tax dollars in the arts and culture of the city generated a return of $173 million spent by the organizations, including providing 7,000 jobs and $98.8 million in salaries. He also vowed to keep that funding dedicated to the arts in his next budget.

But, if a mayor that supports the arts isn’t reason enough (although it should be) to come to our 2011 Annual Convention in San Diego, here are some reasons provided to us by locals in the know:

• Great Theater – The Old Globe’s outdoor festival stage ranks as one of NTC Foundation Executive Director Alan Ziter’s favorite arts experiences, while San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture Public Relations and Communications Consultant Toni Robin loves to see shows before they reach Broadway, often during trials there and at the excellent La Jolla Playhouse.
• Fantastic Food – Las Cuatros Milpas is real San Diego. In Barrio Logan, very close to the convention hotel, you can stand in line to buy the most authentic Mexican food in the city, and then eat at the nearby picnic tables.   Read the rest of this entry »

What has been realized?…What has been dreamt and yet still a reality in the eye of the artist? In a true honouring of the precedent of the original Paris – Salon, 133 artists have been accepted into the Salon des Refuses – Sights Unseen, from 4 continents, 11 countries, ranging from well established artists; Janet Echleman, Mierle Laderman Ukeles to Vito Acconi and Buster Simpson  -  to emerging artists and newly minted unknowns engaging the sphere of public art with strong aesthetics of performance, process and thinking that represents a new dynamic in to address art in public space.

After reviewing ALL of the submissions and reading the narratives provided, my only question is this: What is the future of public art when great ideas are not realized? Can temporary site interventions now take a forefront to spur change and build a dialogue about art with communities? How can artists and vision be supported in new ways that might catapult the aesthetics of art in public space and help the jury process/curatorial choices become about amazing art? What about video and new media…not so new – yet, we are all new to the experience, and the viewers in all communities and neighborhoods value the same thing, to be thought of with a meaningful dialogue.  Read the rest of this entry »

Collecting short lists of memorable public art projects from a range of colleagues has been revealing about the ways that public art functions in our life and memories. Here’s what Lili Ott, the Director of the Concord Art Association has to say:

Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” in Millenium Park in Chicago just blew me away.  I’d seen lots of images of it, so I didn’t expect such a gut reaction to it, but no picture had prepared me for the way it reflected not only the clouds and skyscrapers, but also all the people under it, around it, beside it. It was like the vitality of Chicago and all the Carl Sandburg poetry I ever read and all the history of Chicago was summed up in sitting and watching that sculpture reflect all the natural and man-made life around it. Very powerful

The Gateway Arch in St, Louis designed by Eoro Saarinen, which could be classed either as architecture or giant sculpture I think, was also amazing. I loved the way it reminded people that St. Louis was the gateway to the West, all the Lewis and Clark history, all the hopes for a shining future, and then its bold clean design. And it looks so modern but it’s older than I am and the little tram seats can’t hold as many of us big fat Americans as Saarinen designed it for in the 40′s.  That really brings home how much we’ve changed.

In Minneapolis, Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claus Oldenberg and Coosje Van Bruggen, made me realize that playful public art can be just as effective and iconic as “serious” art. Made me look at the art I show in a whole new way.

Fun to think about — and I’m interested myself that the three that came into my head at first were all from trips I’ve taken in the last decade– not from all the art I see every day at work or up and down the East Coast where I’ve lived. Hmmm.  I bet you’ll get an interesting selection of answers.

Share your three personally pivotal public art project with me, either here, or via email at jjmcgregor@verizon.net.

American Style Magazine goes ga-ga about Baltimore in its May issue listing favorite picks. The Americans for the Arts staff and colleagues in the region have put together some of their Baltimore favorites too–to help attendees at this year’s Annual Convention. This first blog post covers Cultural Activities in Baltimore:

• Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum and a pint for history’s sake at Annabelle Lee Tavern, shrine to all things Edgar Allen Poe
  –Kate Gibney, Americans for the Arts

• Visiting the Baltimore Museum of Art or attending the city’s Artscape
  –Sara Hisamoto, Visit Baltimore
  

• Touring the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica. It’s considered the masterpiece of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the “Father of American Architecture.”
  –Theresa Cameron, Americans for the Arts
  

• Get there early on a Saturday you can see a show in the center of the Harbor. Normally magic, clowns and singers.
  –Angel Baker, Americans for the Arts
  

• Walter’s Art Museum (one of the best decorative arts collections in the world)
  –Karen Newell, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Read the rest of this entry »

My assignment – to present 50 projects from the last 50 years for 50 minutes at lunch on Sunday at the Convention – has been a fascinating way to put my own career and observations about public art in perspective. I entered the field making flags for the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, visiting Art on the Beach and working for the Public Art Fund while Agnes Denes was planting wheat in the Battery Park landfill. When I started at NYC Percent for Art in 1983, Tilted Arch was recently installed downtown and the selections of artists for the Battery Park City design teams were just getting off the ground in a trailer onsite.  Now there are fabulous books and websites that document the accomplishments of programs throughout the country. Read the rest of this entry »