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Curator’s Thoughts: Part II

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Jonquil by Cleave Gray

In 2008 The Phillips Museum of Art received an extraordinary gift — a painting by Cleve Gray titled  Jonquil.  This large, (90” x 90”) gestural, color based abstraction, was created by the artist in 1976 and was given to the Museum by the artist’s widow, noted biographer and novelist, Francine duPlessix Gray, who was married to Gray for 47 years.

Gray was born in NYC in 1918, attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University where he studied painting with James C. Davis and Far Eastern art with George Rowley.  From 1943-46, Gray served in the US Army in England, France and Germany. Afterward he studied painting with Andre Lhote and Jacques Villon (brother of Marcel DuChamp) in Paris.

The abstract expressionists were instrumental in relocating the center of the art world from Paris to New York. Inspired by them, Gray was part of the next generation — the color field painters. In time he moved to calligraphic gestures, influenced by Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy.

Gray’s monumental anti-war piece, Threnody, was created in 1972-73. (Threnody is a title derived from a form of musical composition that is a lament for the dead). Threnody is installed in a heroic space measuring 100′ x 60′ x 22′ high which was built as a cathedral room for meditation- at the Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY in Purchase, New York. The work is exhibited by the Neuberger every five years.

Said the artist, “a sense of tragedy in the sixties and seventies insisted itself upon me as the subject matter for the walls….”

Untitled Red by Cleave Gray

On December 8, 2004, on his way to the studio, Gray fell on the ice and suffered a fatal head injury.  On his easel that day was a large, red painting with calligraphic lines.  In 2008, again with generous assistance from Francine duPlessix Gray, that final painting of Gray’s, Untitled Red, (92” x 60”) became part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

This week’s blog post was written by Phillips Museum of Art, Curator of Exhibitions, Claire Giblin

Director’s Corner

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Eliza Reilly, Director

What Do Objects Want?

Last post I suggested that objects shaped and organized human lives, which leads to the idea that they have some kind of agency, or that they have power to influence our behavior and consciousness.  This is an uncomfortable idea, as it undermines confidence in our mastery over the non-human world, and challenges our assumptions about free-will and self determination.  But it is a very old notion that is gaining new ground.  For example, Michael Pollan in his book The Botany of Desire, proposed that the relationship between plants and humans is reciprocal, and they influence us every bit as much as we “domesticate” them.

One could assert that nitrogen based life forms may be one thing, but man-made objects are another.   However, the idea, or at least the conceit, that inanimate objects “want” things, that they have desires of their own, is cropping up in art historical and archeological scholarship, including James Elkin’s The Object Stares Back, and WJT Mitchell’s What do Pictures Want?  Mitchell points out that while a vast majority would agree that they do not believe that pictures have “personhood,” people still “insist on talking and behaving as if they did believe it. “  Few of us are immune to this impulse to personify images.  As Professor John Stilgoe of Harvard demonstrated in a famous psychology experiment, tell someone to take a picture of a loved one–a parent, spouse, child—and offer them ten dollars to gouge out the eyes of the picture.  Hardly anyone will take you up on the offer.

An archeologist, Chris Gosden, has framed this development in a way more directly relevant to our work at the Phillips Museum of Art, and to our course “Museum Mysteries.”  In his article “What do Objects Want,” he writes:

“A building, a pot or a metal ornament …channel human action, provide a range of sensory experiences (but exclude others) and place obligations on us in the ways we relate to objects and other people through these objects.”[i]

The students in “Museum Mysteries” can attest to the fact that objects, especially the unfamiliar and “mysterious,” channel their human action, if only by “refusing” to provide some types of information, and freely offering others.   They also sense that this sense of “obligation” towards an object has some relationship to, and can teach us something about, our human relationships and obligations. As Rob Hassler, a student in the first iteration of “Museum Mysteries” (who is now a graduate student  in museum studies), put it:

One of the things that can often be lost in today’s fast paced, technology-based society, is the inability to stop, look, and examine something. I find that the relationships between humans and objects are related to the relationships between human and human, and how we as a society can interact with one another.

[i] Gosden, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2005.

 

Curator’s Thoughts: Part I

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Angkor #71, Ta Prohm, 1994 by Kenro Izu

Kenro Izu began photographing stone ruins in 1979 after a visit to Egypt left him with a sense of both fascination and motivation. He explains that he “feel(s) that life’s source can be found in stones that have existed for hundreds of millions of years…” and while making photographs at Angkor, he “said a prayer with every exposure.” (Izu quoted by Eilkoh Hosoe, Director, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, exhibition catalog, introductory essay, Kenro Izu “Light Over Ancient Angkor” 1996.)

Kenro Izu’s platinum palladium prints of temples and carvings at Angkor are exquisite with an otherworldy quality that the artist captured in situ. He creates large format negatives that are then processed as contact prints.  This allows the original negative to be exposed without distortion and loss of resolution that can occur by enlarging the negative or manipulating the print in any way. The platinum printing process provides a tonal range of black and white that includes warm tones, reddish-brown tones and mid-tones that cannot be achieved with silver gelatin printing methods.  The final print is completely matte on its surface, revealing detail in every tone including the darkest blacks, and does not curl.  This is one reason this type of print is very valued by collectors.

Angkor #73, Bayon, 1994 by Kenro Izu

In 1992 Izu traveled to Cambodia, which was still suffering from war.  He tells us that he was “on a pilgrimage in search of something that touches my heart.” (Kenro Izu, exhibition catalog essay:  Light and Shadow of the Angkor, March 1996.)  The artist visited Angkor in 1993, ’94 and ’95.  His pilgrimage led him to the very thing he sought.  During these photography trips, which were in themselves dangerous undertakings, he met many children in Angkor who had been the victims of mines (over 40 thousand buried in Cambodia since 1940).  “Angkor Child Clinic Fund” was started when he returned and resulted in building a free children’s hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia. In New York, Izu founded a not-for-profit organization, “Friends Without a Border” and each year Izu champions a photography auction to raise funds for this relief organization.  The Angkor Hospital for Children was opened in 1999 and has treated over 650,000 children to date.  (http://www.kenroizu.com/html/profile.html )  He has sworn to contribute all of the funds from the Angkor works to this cause.

I am struck by the power of the silent imagery in Izu’s Angkor photographs. The artistry in his work is evidenced not just by his technical purity and excellence, but by his ability to suggest—and have me believe—that these stones do, indeed, contain a spiritual essence that is somehow conveyed by a photographic print on a piece of paper.  Digital reproduction can never fully convey the experience of seeing these works in person.  If you have an opportunity to see any of his works, I urge you to do so.

The exhibition “Light Over Ancient Angkor” included the artist’s newest platinum prints.  The Phillips Museum owns two of Kenro Izu’s platinum prints—Angkor #71, Ta Prohm, 1994 and Angkor #73, Bayon, 1994.  These were purchased by the Museum in 1997 and in 1998 with the approval of the Board and supported by contributions from Tom and Virginia Phillips, Carrie Nunan, Sally Gibson, Sidney Dickstein, Patricia Ross Weis, and Ellen Groff.  Following the purchase, the entire series of Angkor Wat photos were exhibited in the Dana Gallery.

 

This week’s blog post was written by Phillips Museum of Art, Curator of Exhibitions, Claire Giblin

Student Spotlight: Anthony Gruzdis

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This week’s post was written by History Major, Anthony Gruzdis ’13

Anthony Gruzdis, History Major ’13

The fact that I am presently working for an “Art Museum” hasn’t quite sunk in yet. While I would grant myself that I have a few moderately useful talents, the ability to create any meaningful representations that could generously be classified as artistic has thus far escaped me. However, nearly a month after I began working at the Phillips Museum of Art, I can honestly say that it has been one of the most unique, practical, and stimulating experiences I have had during my four years at Franklin and Marshall.

I became affiliated with the museum by way of a course entitled Museum Mysteries. As it was a 300 level history course, I admittedly opted to enroll because it fulfilled one of the final distribution requirements within my History Major. While the course was extremely refreshing – it was a novel experience to view history from a material perspective – the most memorable aspect of the course was the final project. Initially instructed to select a “mystery” object or collection from the museum vaults, we were then required to research the material and context of the objects with the ultimate goal of determining their history and significance.

After a suggestion from the instructor, I selected a collection of paintings by Henry Mylin Kieffer. These paintings depict a wide range of images, including dramatic naval engagements from the First World War, presentations of exotic locations such as the Yangtze and Nile Rivers, and landscapes of rural Pennsylvania. The only information I knew about these paintings was the artist’s name, so my task was to discover who this man was and how his artwork was connected to the college.

Map of Habitat of the Queensland Flotilla

Thus began a whirlwind of a few weeks, as I soon discovered that Kieffer and his family are uniquely linked to the history of both the United States and Franklin and Marshall. Kieffer, a graduate of the Naval Academy, served at the Battle of Veracruz prior to WWI in the Atlantic Theater, was later stationed throughout the Mediterranean, commanded destroyers during the Yangtze River Patrol in the 1920s, and ultimately supervised the Philadelphia and Baltimore Navy Yards during WWII. An amateur artist, Kieffer later worked professionally upon his retirement.

Kieffer’s family also is extremely significant, as his ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, his father fought in the Civil War (while graduating from F&M), and many others have contributed greatly to medicine, journalism, philosophy, and theology. For the past 150 years, many of them have attended F&M, including a surgeon I was lucky enough to speak to about this project. Excited, he allowed me to borrow a 1917 naval diary of Kieffer’s that corresponds to the map seen above.

The Phillips Museum has been gracious enough to allow me to continue my research this semester. While I may not have discovered any new artistic talents, I have gained an introductory understanding of how museums function and handle objects. Ultimately though, the practical experience of conducting open-ended original research has been at the highlight of my college career.

Student Spotlight: Ryan Halloran

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Ryan Halloran ’13 Philosophy and Religious Studies

This week’s blog post highlights senior Ryan Halloran and his experience working for the museum. We asked him some questions and here is what he had to say:

Who is your favorite artist and why? 
If I have to choose, I’d say Salvador Dali. His work with surrealism fits my taste for the exquisite intermingling of talented artistic imagery with an absolutely eccentric vision. Also, who doesn’t aspire to have that oh so sexy mustache?

Can you tell us more about what you do here at The Phillips Museum and what you have worked on? 
I am officially both a Docent and the Front Desk Manager for the Phillips Museum. Generally, I open the Museum for the day to the public. I also monitor the galleries, sign guests in and out, and assist Museum patrons with any questions they have about the exhibitions. And of course, I perform most any other task that is asked of me by my bosses.

What do you like most about this job?
I’d say my favorite part about the job is the people I work with day in and day out for the past almost four years. Maybe the free food at the exhibition openings coming in at a very close second.

What do you find most challenging about this job?
Without a doubt, telling the patrons to not touch or photograph the artwork. There must be something about living in the internet era where people just ignore intellectual property copyright laws.

What new skills and experiences have you developed from this job?
My job at the Art Museum specifically taught me artistic analysis that was admittedly lacking beforehand. Before this job, I was the type to just look at a picture or a painting, go “oh, ah,” and then move on without really appreciating what was in front of me. Now, I observe artwork and analyze what specifically the artist is trying to convey to his/her audience.

What do you want to do after graduation?
I am applying to graduate school to further my studies in Religious Studies. In conjunction with that, I am searching for whatever work (preferably in education) that I can find. 

How do you feel this job experience will help you after graduation?
I believe my time at the Phillips Museum will help me after graduation by assisting my future need to provide interdisciplinary relations to my aspirations as an educator. Art, in all forms, is an expression of culture in some capacity. In the realm of Religious Studies, the area I hope to teach later in life, understanding the expressions of faith, mythology, and culture of a given religiously themed art piece further enhances the comprehension of any lesson I could teach.

What was your favorite exhibition at the museum?
The Trio of Elements Exhibit that was held in early 2011. I like to feel that I was very important when we had the initial gallery opening, seeing that we had large pottery displays and I had to act as (essentially) a bouncer, only allowing a specific number of people in at a time. The little things, they make me happy.

Flat Stanley Visits the Phillips

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While recently finishing the first semester of my freshman year of college, I was more preoccupied with thinking about the exam for my economics class and the final paper for my sociology class than I was with thinking about a project I did 11 years ago in elementary school.

This all changed, however, when I saw photos of Flat Stanley visiting The Phillips Museum of Art, exploring our galleries and climbing on pieces of artwork during a recent weekend.

The children’s book Flat Stanley, written by Jeff Brown in 1964, describes the tale of Stanley Lambchop. Stanley was once an ordinary boy, until one night, a bulletin board falls on him and flattens him— now he is only half an inch thick!

But this doesn’t stop Stanley from doing amazing things. Stanley gets rolled up, mailed, and flown like a kite around the world, seeing new places, learning about different cultures and meeting new people.

In 1994 elementary school teacher Dale Hubert began the Flat Stanley Project based on the book, for which children create their own Flat Stanley paper cutouts and mail them to friends and family around the world. The recipients of the Flat Stanleys and the students that made them write journals documenting their time with Stanley. The project is intended to foster children’s literacy, and today the project is done by more than 6,000 schools in 88 countries around the world and is included in the curriculum of more than 15 percent of U.S. elementary schools.

Flat Stanley and Tedd Pettibon’s Shift

Seeing the photos of Stanley examining different parts of the Museum reminded me of my own Flat Stanley. In third grade I created a Flat Stanley who traveled to Croatia to visit a family friend. While in Croatia, Stanley visited museums, historical landmarks and ate traditional Croatian food. I learned about Croatian culture through Stanley, and he made the learning fun, and truly seem like a thrilling adventure.

Flat Stanley and John Marshall

Seeing Stanley in The Phillips Museum’s galleries reminded me of the value of the museum itself; it engages people of all ages and from all walks of life (flat or real) in the history, beauty and culture of great art.

While the idea of the project has remained the same since I made a Flat Stanley, technologically it has certainly changed— there is now a Flat Stanley Facebook page and a Flat Stanley App that allows teachers and students to track the journeys of other Flat Stanleys and his adventures around the world.

Flat Stanley and African figurines

Although it has been many years since I created my own Flat Stanley and I have done many school projects since then, the vividness with which I remember my Flat Stanley speaks to the influence of the project in engaging children and getting them excited about books and travel.

While the places Stanley visits may have changed since I participated in the project, the lessons the project teaches remain the same— adventure can be found anywhere, writing allows people to share stories across time and space, and curious travelers, real or imaginary, come in all shapes and sizes.

About the author: Julia Cinquegrani is a first year student at Franklin & Marshall College and is the social media intern for the Phillips Museum of Art.

Student Spotlight: Becca Frantz

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Becca Frantz ’13 Art History Major

Hi! My name is Becca Frantz and I am an Art History (and secret studio) major at Franklin & Marshall. I have been working as a docent at the Phillips Museum since my sophomore year. What I love about being a docent is the opportunity to watch and learn how a show takes shape as well as discover more about the meaning of the artwork. Also, one of the best aspects of being a docent is talking to the visitors and discussing the works with them. One memorable experience was when a little girl wondered in and became so enchanted with one of the pieces that she pulled her parents into the museum while shouting “This is awesome!”

Working at the Phillips Museum has also allowed me to explore the possibilities of what I can do with my degree. Being immersed in the artwork helps inspire my own projects as well. As an artist who uses numerous mediums (I am now just starting to explore video art), I have mainly focused on found art by looking to artists such as Edward Kienholz for his installations. Additionally, the recently concluded exhibition Uncommon Denominator: James Nestor and His Former Students, one of my favorite shows to date, opened my mind to new ideas on how I can integrate found material into sculptures and installations. In the portfolio I am creating for my application to graduate school in sculpture or new media, I will be taking ideas and inspiration I have had at the museum to continue to explore the ghosts that linger onto these cast away objects and therefore create new meanings for them.

Fostering 21st Century Skills at The Phillips Museum

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This year’s curatorial seminar class is taking an innovative approach to learning by utilizing skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking and applying them to a digitally curated exhibition using Historypin. The seminar is run by professor of Art History, Linda Aleci and is titled, Curating the City. Students researched themes such as breweries, cemeteries, brothels, and architectural ornaments. Working closely with the Lancaster Historical Society, the class dug deep into Lancaster’s history to recover stories that might have once been lost or forgotten. They will be sharing these stories on Historypin, a website that enables users to upload historical photographs in addition to audio and video content. The site allows other users to add to a story, allowing for collaboration and participation. Select members of the Phillips Museum staff were asked to consult on the class to help with technology issues as well as provide a supportive role as museum educators.

From the beginning, the class worked as a team to define what Lancaster means to them, and to the community in an attempt to create a conversation around these historical sites. Participating in a peer based learning activity, students were forced to think critically about how they would convey these images to their audience. They assumed a shared responsibility for collaborative work while articulating thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts. Taking a multimedia approach to learning, the students were introduced to new technologies where they were challenged to determine how to effectively communicate the content as it applied to their individual themes.

The skills mentioned are commonly referred to as the skills of the 21st century and are becoming increasingly essential to the way students are learning in the classroom today.
Research from the Institute for Museums and Library Services on 21st century skills state that museums can harness these skills as they have long been a place for education and learning. Museums are sources of knowledge with the ability to create powerful experiences. As an institution we can evolve to meet the learning needs of our younger audience by combining the skills of the 21st century and new media in order to better prepare them for their futures in an increasingly technological society.

There are nearly 197,000 photos, videos, and audio clips uploaded from around the world to Historypin’s website. Prior to the start of the class, Lancaster City was nearly deficient of any content on the site and with the completion of the class project by the end of the fall semester, 50 or more pins will be created on Historypin for Lancaster providing an opportunity for sharing and exploration that did not exist before. There is anticipation that the community will continue to add to the map over time encouraging the exploration of the rich history that Lancaster has to offer.

If you have an iPhone, download the app for free and begin exploring or participating in the project by uploading a modern replica of a photo and sharing your story.

 

Resources
Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework
Museums, Libraries and 21st Century Skills

Ben Cunningham: Contemporary Stained Glass Windows 2012

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Contemporary Stained Glass Windows (detail), 2012 by Ben Cunningham

A native Californian, Ben was born and raised in Laguna Beach. After high school, he moved to La Coruna Spain where he taught English as a second language. After completing his terminal degree at Rhode Island School of Design he blew glass full time at Corning Glass Museum in Corning, New York. In 1996, he was recruited by Penn State University to teach 3D Design, Jewelry, and light metals courses. In 2004, Ben accepted his current position at Millersville University as Head of Freshman Foundations. He instructs 2D Design, 3D Design, Drawing I, Drawing II, Senior Seminar and Public Art, Public Space. His favorite course to teach is Public Art, Public Space because it allows him to reconnect with his former students and witness how much they have grown. Ben has an active international, national, and regional exhibition schedule and is in the permanent collection of several museums in the United States as well as Europe. His last exhibition was in Schrattenburg, Austria. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe as well as Northern Africa. In his spare time he races his Porsche.

Listen to the interview conducted by Collections Assistant, Brittany Baksa with Ben as he discusses his piece, Contemporary Stained Glass Windows.

http://www.divshare.com/download/20670130-814

Student Spotlight: Marissa Sobel

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Marissa Sobel, '13, History Major and Art History Minor

Hi! My name is Marissa Sobel and I am a Senior majoring in History and minoring in Art History. This is my first year working at the Phillips Museum and I am working with cataloging and researching the coins and medals collection. My favorite artist would have to be Claude Monet because of his use of color and of the way he incorporated light into his paintings.

My favorite part about this job is getting to know the collection and learning more about each object through research. The hardest part about the job so far was figuring out how to work the camera, to take photos of pieces we have in the Museum. I am not the most technologically savvy person. My idea of learning the camera functions was by pushing buttons and figuring out what each one did.  I just learned how to catalog the objects in the collection and so far I like the process of numbering the object and placing a nice, detailed photograph along with the number. The camera has been very useful because it helps me see miniscule writing of the maker’s mark and the tiny details of each part of the relief. It really makes you wonder how someone could be talented enough to engrave such tiny, elaborate details on a surface as small as a coin or medal.

After graduation, I hope to find a job working in a museum so I can learn more about different types of objects and gain experience in the museum field. I eventually want to go to graduate school and get my Masters Degree in Museum Education so I can teach people of all ages about the interesting objects found in a museum.  My favorite aspect of The Phillips Museum would have to be the diversity of the exhibits.  So far, my favorite exhibit would have to be Prequels, Sequels, and Remakes exhibition from last year because I loved the idea behind it. The artist would sit in front of a television and trace the characters from the screen for the full length of the show, including commercials. The drawings ended up looking like scribbles, but the concept of drawing a subject (the characters in the show) that was constantly moving was very interesting.

This school year, I am very excited to experience as much of Franklin & Marshall and of Lancaster that I possibly can because I want to make the most of senior year. I want no regrets.