Grandma Moses on tour

LRMA's Grandma Moses painting, The Daughter's Homecoming, has been on tour for a while, and is currently on exhibit at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC. For more information, click here.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith video

Our pal and video-master, Kevin J, has posted a video on his Myspace page that features artworks currently on display at LRMA.

Check it out.

my daily dose of art news

Arts Journal online

If you're looking for a good daily roundup of arts news (visual, literary, and performing), Arts Journal is my recommendation. There are also literate, professional critics blogging about their specialties. I'm fond of Artopia by John Perreault, and CultureGrrl by Lee Rosenbaum

partial gallery closing

On Wednesday, March 28th, one side of the Lower Level Galleries will be closed for meetings. This constitutes approximately 1/3 of the exhibition Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Made in America, so if you are coming for this show, you may want to come another day so you can see the whole thing.

Spring Break Art Break 2007

The theme for this year's Spring Break Art Break was "Self-Portraits." Students made self-portraits in collage, ceramic, and other media. They also made a "symbolic self portrait," using abstract imagery. We had a lot of kids in the morning, a more intimate class in the afternoon, and gorgeous weather most of the week.

*And in case you were wondering, the boy in the middle picture's Red Devil is Stringer's mascot.

LRMA on the radio

LRMA on the radio

Scroll down to the February 1 show for a radio feature on LRMA's collections and exhibitions.

*thanks to Larry Morrissey at the Mississippi Arts Commission for the interview and the podcast.

Baskets on tour!

The traveling version of our exhibition, "By Native Hands: Woven Treasures from the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art" will be opening soon in Portsmouth, Virginia. Here at the museum we have about 225 baskets on display; the traveling show consists of 60 baskets from all regions of North America. For more information, visit the Portsmouth Museums website and scroll down the exhibitions page.

new blog feature

The Google Calendar feature is new, and I haven't got all events added yet, but it is usable. Click on the "Google Calendar" link to the right, and you can find out what events are coming up at the Museum. I'll be working on adding events and dates, and you can always check our main website as well: LRMA Programs.

interviews with artists

I just found this on the Mississippi Arts Commission website:

Interviews


Here you can find archived radio interviews with artists, musicians, storytellers, and more from around the state of Mississippi.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Made in America

We have had a great week here, unpacking and hanging Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Made in America, which is our next exhibition. The work is terrific, it looks great, it's humorous, it has pointed political commentary, references to spirituality, history, pop culture. I'm really looking forward to spending even more time in the gallery than I have already.

We have two events scheduled for this show:

The Opening Reception is Thursday, February 8 (that's a week from today) from 5:30 - 7 pm.

Even more exciting is a lecture by the artist herself on Wednesday, March 7, at 1:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to see an internationally renowned artist speak about her work, and that of other contemporary Native American artists.

Both of these events are free & open to the public.

Garden Lecture tomorrow!

We still have a few tickets available for our annual Garden Lecture tomorrow (Friday, February 2), featuring Mary Palmer Dargan:

Mary Palmer Dargan is author of The Early English Kitchen Garden: Medieval Period to 1800. She has served on the National Advisory Committee of the Garden Conservancy and is a former garden editor of Charleston Magazine. The Dargans first received national attention in the mid-1980s for their re-creations of 18th and 19th century gardens in Charleston, South Carolina. Their projects, as well as their own garden in Atlanta, Georgia, have been featured on CNN and Home & Garden Television and in several prestigious publications, including the New York Times.

The lecture begins at 10:30 am, with a luncheon afterwards at the Rogers-Green House. Tickets are $45. Call our front desk for more information: 601-649-6374

Art Talk last week

We had a great crowd for the first Art Talk of 2007. Since our current exhibition, Views from the Vault, includes a number of works by Gulf Coast modernist Dusti Bongé (1903-1993), we invited David Houston to come tell us about her life and work. David is curator of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Julian Brunt, director of the Dusti Bongé Foundation in Biloxi, brought a selection of artworks owned by the estate to show the audience.

Here's David (who is actually flanked by two Maltby Sykes prints):



And here's Julian showing us a rarely-seen work from the foundation's collection:



David also updated us on the ongoing recovery efforts at the Ogden and in the New Orleans art community in general. The Ogden is open three days a week, is within walking distance of the World War II Museum (the former D-Day Museum), and well worth the trip.

Views from the Vault

We are holding over "Views from the Vault" for a few days; you can still come see it on Tuesday, January 23.

Mississippi Arts Commission town hall meetings

SAVE THE DATE!

The Mississippi Arts Commission is coming to your community!

We hope you will join us to share your thoughts and ideas as we plan for the future. These valuable public networking opportunities will help improve the services offered by the Commission.

We are still in the planning phase, but we want you to mark your calendars now

To participate in one of these "town hall" meetings call 601/359-6030 or email info@arts.state.ms.us. There is no charge to attend and lunch will be served.

January 12 – Laurel ( Facilitators: Kim Whitt (Leader), Judi Holifield, Diane Williams)
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, 5th Avenue at 7th Street


January 23 – Brookhaven (Facilitators: Allison Winstead (Leader), Kim Whitt)

January 26 – Booneville (Facilitators: Kim Whitt (Leader), Malcolm White, Judi Holifield)

January 30 – Clinton (Facilitators: Lee Ann Powell (Leader), Judi Cleary, Maureen Donelly)

February 5 – Cleveland (Facilitators: Judi Cleary (Leader), Diane Williams, Kim Whitt)

February 6 – Oxford (Facilitators: Diane Williams (Leader), Judi Cleary, Judi Holifield, Morrie Warshawski)

February 6 - Louisville (Facilitators: Larry Morrisey (Leader), Kim Whitt, Judi Cleary, Morrie Warshawski)

All meetings will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with the exception of the Louisville meeting. It will take place between 6-8 p.m. Meeting locations are still being established, but please feel free to contact any one of our program directors/leading facilitators for more information.

Morrie Warshawski is the consultant that is working with the Mississippi Arts Commission and the townhall meetings. Arts Commission board members will also be in attendance.



For more information, contact:

Diane Williams
Arts Industry Program Director - Accessibility Coordinator
Mississippi Arts Commission
501 North West Street
Woolfolk Building - 701B
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 359-6529
(601) 359-6008

baskets on tour!

A selection of our Native American baskets are now on display at the Booth Western Museum in Cartersville, Georgia (north of Atlanta). I'll be speaking about the collection & the baskets on Saturday night at the members' opening.

Click here for more info.

HOLIDAY HOURS

The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art will be closed for the holidays on:

December 24
December 25
December 31
January 1

Otherwise, our regular schedule remains the same:

Tuesday - Saturday 10 am to 4:45 pm
Sunday 1 pm to 4 pm

Happy holidays!

I can't wait to read this!

Rescuing da Vinci

The link goes to an article about a new book about the "Monuments Men" (which included some women, of course)... these are the people who helped recover art from Nazi strongholds after World War II. This book will make an excellent companion to the other two great books on the topic of Nazi-era art thefts, The Rape of Europa and The Lost Museum

For information on how Nazi-era art thefts affect museums today, including the Lauren Rogers Museum, click here

Christmas class!

Last week we had a holiday art class for kids aged 6-12, and they had some fun:





The kids got into the holiday spirit as they made gingerbread men, silly Santas, and artsy angels.

Art Historians' Guide to the Movies

Art Historians' Guide to the Movies

Ever wondered what those paintings are at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Where Jason and the Argonauts was filmed? Is that really Robert Rauschenberg in Vanilla Sky? This website is the definitive guide to art in the movies; it's constantly being updated by the website owner and his many contributors.

U B U W E B :: Film & Video

U B U W E B :: Film & Video

Artier and Weirder than YouTube: UBU's archive of film and video of and by some of the most important artists of the century. Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Kiki Smith, and dozens more. If you've got broadband and some spare time, this is the place to see video you'll never find at your local rental place. Richard Serra! Vito Acconci! Rachel Whiteread! Seriously, check this website out.