Subscribe: RSS
2008-9 Hood interns from left to right: Kathleen Rice, The Kathryn and Caroline Conroy Intern; Sarah Crnkovich; Gilbert Littlewolf, The Mellon Special Project Intern; Kimia Shahi, The Levinson Intern; Marki Grimsley, The Homma Family Intern; Alex Vespoli, The Class of 1954 Intern. Not pictured: Marina Agapakis.
Now in its eighth year, A Space for Dialogue: Fresh Perspectives on the Permanent Collection from Dartmouth’s Students affords Hood Museum interns the opportunity to curate a small exhibition centered on a theme with objects from the permanent collection. The Hood Museum of Art’s internship program provides opportunities for Dartmouth seniors from all disciplines to engage with museum work in various professional capacities.The 2008–9 Hood Senior Interns include Sarah Crnkovich and Kathleen Rice working in interpretation and programming, Kimia Shahi in public relations, Marki Grimsley, Alex Vespoli, and Gilbert Littlewolf in curatorial, and Marina Agapakis conducting a special project internship in public relations during the spring term. In addition to projects in their individual area of concentration, each intern curates A Space for Dialogue installation in the museum’s entryway. Working with Hood staff, interns determine a theme and identify objects in the collection to display, design the installation, write labels and a brochure, and deliver a public gallery talk.
A Space for Dialogue 52
When Men and Mountains Meet: Artists Celebrating the White Mountains
Kathleen Rice '09, The Kathryn and Caroline Conroy Intern
Artists were drawn to the White Mountains in the nineteenth century for many reasons, and several returned year after year to capture their own perfect view of nature. This installation includes paintings from the permanent collection by Frank Henry Shapleigh, William F. Paskell, Jean-Paul Selinger, and Edward Hill. The glory days of the White Mountains School have passed, yet artists and tourists continue to flock to the region every year to experience what the granite of New Hampshire has to offer in views and adventure. Read the Press Release
A Space for Dialogue 51
The Quest for Printed Tone: The Origins of Mezzotint in the Seventeenth Century
Alex Vespoli, Class of 1954 Senior Curatorial Intern
Mezzotint is sometimes called the "black art," which refers to the fact that the artist begins with a completely dark image and makes changes to the plate to add the lighter areas. The burnishing process that the artist uses to lighten the plate leads to the creation of the smooth and velvty tones for which mezzotints are famous. Invented in the 1640s by Ludwig von Siegen (1609-1680), mezzotint was the first print-making process that allowed the artist to create true tonal nuances, rather than cross-hatching of various densities.
A Space for Dialogue 50
America: In Black and White?
Sarah Crnkovich, Interpretation and Programming Intern
The photographs in this exhibition each capture the complexities of a range of scenes from mid-twentieth-century America; as the exhibition title suggests, a superficial reading is not the whole story. These photographs portray scenes steeped in issues of race and class, and, in conversation with each other, they raise a multitude of questions. We cannot answer these questions by simply looking at these photographs, but it is nevertheless important that we ask them. The drawing of historical and political meaning out of works of art has been the goal of this exhibition. This collection of photographs can be seen as a statement about the inequalities of the past and a call to action to better prevent such issues in the future.
A Space for Dialogue 49
Confronting Class: Four Depictions of Women in Mid-Twentieth-Century American Art
Marki Grimsley, The Homma Family Intern
The mid-twentieth-century artists selected for this exhibition share a compelling trait: they were all spectators of emerging American city life with a particular affinity for representation of urban women. The dialogue among these four works concerns the visual cues that mark the social status of the American female at this time, and her degree of sexual availability. In essence, the social class of the female subjects is largely communicated through the types of figures and objects associated with them. The four artists in this exhibition open up interesting dialogues about class in the lives of American women.
A Space for Dialogue 48
Discomfort Zone: Fluxus and Performance Art from the 1960s and 1970s
Kimia Shahi, Levinson Public Relations Intern
What is art? If most of us were asked whether it is a painting in a museum or the television set in our living rooms, the answer would be obvious. What if, however, the television were placed in the museum, right next to the painting, and credited to a wellknown artist? How might we then look at it, talk about it, and understand it? As viewers of art, our experiences necessarily place us in dialogue with what we are looking at. In this Space for Dialogue, the selected works are concerned with the use of new and different media and their recontextualization as art. They also explore how our perceptions of and reactions to these works serve to define their meaning.
Click here to listen to this presentation.
Special Event: A Space for Dialogue 47
Bearing Witness: The Abu Ghraib Project by Daniel Heyman
The photographs taken by soldiers of detainees they abused at Abu Ghraib prison prove the power of the image to transcend meaning, association, and intention. Made public in 2004, they have been widely disseminated through news media and Internet sources, continuing this humiliation of the victims while engraining the images in the minds of viewers around the world. Without replicating the photographic scenes of torture, Daneil Heyman depicts these prisoners in street clothes, metaphorically removing the hoods from their heads. The prints, made with the consent of the sitters, give each victim a voice and a chance to tell his story. John Mathias, a member of the Dartmouth Class of 2011 with an interest in the history of the Middle East, posed questions to Daniel Heyman, Dartmouth Class of 1985, on the subject of his Abu Ghraib portraits. Full Interview
A Space for Dialogue, founded with support from the Class of 1948, is made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. '66, and Pamela J. Joyner '79.
