Artist Howard Ben Tré stands among his new series of sculptures, entitled Kira's Benches, that now graces the Hood's galleries. The sculptures' debut coincided with a public lecture by the artist on April 20. Ben Tré was commissioned to create this series by the Hood in 2005 in honor of the late Kira Fournier, a sculptor who worked in glass, bronze, and ceramics. The benches will also serve as additional seating in the galleries and were designed by the artist after a visit to the museum in 2004.
Lesley Wellman, Curator of Education at the Hood Museum of Art, has been named Director of the Museum Division of the National Art Education Association (NAEA), one the most prestigious positions in the realm of art education. Wellman will serve a four-year term, beginning immediately, from spring 2007 to spring 2011. For the first two years, she will serve as Director-Elect. One of her key responsibilities during this time will be to organize day-long division conferences before the next two annual NAEA conventions. For the second two years she will serve as Director and be the spokesperson for the entire national Museum Division. In addition, she will provide leadership for the division’s Development Committee and serve on the Board of NAEA.
The current and most recent Directors of the Museum Division hail from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the First Center for the Visual Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the MOCA, Los Angeles. Wellman notes, "I am very excited to assume this position, both to give back to NAEA a portion of the incredible professional enrichment it has afforded me, and to represent the Hood in a prominent way in the national arena." Brian Kennedy, Director of the Hood Museum of Art, says: "My colleagues at the Hood join me in congratulating Lesley Wellman on the recognition she has received from her fellow American art educators. She has developed many educational programs at the Hood, all based on her heartfelt belief in the importance of teaching through direct contact with works of art. We are certain that Lesley will bring to her new role the perspectives and experiences of college and university museums where so much original research and experimental practice takes place."
Previously, Wellman served on the NAEA’s Development Committee for four years as the Eastern Region representative, from 1997 to 2001, and was the recipient of the Outstanding Museum Educator of the Year Award in 1996 for the Eastern Region of the country. Marla Shoemaker, Senior Curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and former director of NAEA notes, "Lesley has a tremendous intellectual curiosity and understanding of both art history and educational theory. She has a strong interest in trying to understand all the ways audiences can connect with works of art, a belief in the consensus process, and a genuine sense of value of each person's point of view, all combining to make her an ideal and important leader of this Division."
National Art Education Association
In February, members of the Friends of Hopkins Center and Hood Museum of Art gathered at the museum for an intriguing and eventful fundraiser aptly titled Arctic Adventure. Attendees journeyed through the Hood’s permanent collections and special exhibition Thin Ice on a treasure hunt. After an extremely successful auction, it was announced that part of the funds raised will go toward the purchase of a print by Inuit artist Simon Tookoome. The remaining funds will support the many engaging educational programs at the Hopkins Center and Hood Museum of Art.
Sharon Greene joined the Hood staff in January in the position of Development Officer. She brings to the Hood extensive knowledge from her seven years of work as the Assistant to the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College and her earlier position as Assistant Collections Manager and Curatorial Research Associate at the Shelburne Museum. We welcome her to the Hood team!
Barbara Thompson, Curator African, Oceanic, and Native American Collections, recently published an article on Tanzanian potter Namsifueli Nyeki in African Arts (Spring 2007).
Bart Thurber, Curator of European Art, delivered a paper in December at an international conference on late Renaissance art and architecture in Bologna, Italy, in conjunction with the exhibition on Annibale Carracci at the Museo Civico Archeologico.
Kris Bergquist, School and Family Programs Coordinator, presented in a session titled "Finding Common Ground: Serving Diversity and Community Audiences” at the National Art Education Association conference in New York in March.
Juliette Bianco, Assistant Director, will chair two sessions at the American Association of Museums annual conference in May: "Measuring the Mission: Is Your Museum Making a Difference?" and "Partnerships That Matter: Presenting the Art of Indigenous Cultures in Art Museums."
This spring, the following works from the Hood’s collection of 65,000 objects are on view around the country.
Saint Agnes Manderson, S.D. Pine Ridge Rez by Arthur Amiotte is featured at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as part of their exhibition Arthur Amiotte: Collages, 1988-2006, on view through April 20, 2007.
Visitors to the New Hampshire Museum of History in Concord can see Gateway of Crawford Notch, White Mountains by Jean-Paul Selinger as part of Consuming Views: Art and Tourism in the White Mountains, on view through May 6, 2007.
The Rancher, by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is on loan to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, as part of their exhibition Intersections: Native American Art in a New Light, on view through May 2007.
Last year, the Hood Museum of Art staff spent five months collecting 430 pounds of human hair from local salons and two publicly advertised "hair drives"--the result of an estimated 42,350 haircuts. All of this hair will return to us in the form of the green house, a major site-specific installation by Chinese avant-garde artist Wenda Gu. By virtue of a unique partnership, the work will be installed in Dartmouth’s Baker-Berry library. We hope it will inspire dialogue about visual art and its place in education and society. Two large (40 x 13 foot) hair panels featuring neon-green letters will run straight down the center of Baker Library's main hall. More than five miles of neon-dyed braided hair will transform Dartmouth's high-tech Berry Library into a space for artistic exploration. A companion exhibition of Wenda Gu's recent works on paper entitled Retranslation and Rewriting Tang Dynasty Poetry will be presented concurrently in the Hood’s galleries. The site-specific work is part of Wenda Gu's united nations series, which has been featured in galleries and museums around the world. The Dartmouth installation, however, will be the first of Wenda Gu's hair sculptures to be mounted in a library and in such close association with an institution of higher learning.
United nations: the green house represents a bold new direction for Dartmouth and its relationship to works of art. Fittingly, the Wenda Gu installation will be located one floor above Dartmouth's last major avant-garde commission, The Epic of American Civilization (1932-34) by Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco. Like the Orozco murals, the green house is meant to be provocative and inspiring. The college's administration supported the commission based on the belief that institutions of higher education must play a major role in promoting and supporting contemporary art in public spaces.
The installation will open on June 6 and remain on view through the fall.
Time is running out to experience the awe-inspiring metal tapestries and other sculptures created by Nigerian artist El Anatsui and installed in the Hood for his exhibition GAWU. Made from recycled materials, these works are not only physical transformations of trash but resources for learning about West African culture and global consumerism and waste. The three images to the right show the final touches on construction in the Hood of the artist's Crumbling Wall, a massive 3-D structure made from third-generation metal sheets.
Donald Hansen, a prominent scholar of Near Eastern art and archaeology and professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, died on February 15, 2007. Professor Hansen graduated from Dartmouth College in 1953 and worked with John Stearns on the Assyrian reliefs in the college's collection. A statement was issued by the institute in honor of Professor Hansen.
Hood Displays Exciting Loans from the Currier Museum of Art
