LEFT Katie McCabe '21 recreated Atsuko Tanaka's Work (1966) with plates, mugs, bowls, bottle caps, and wire.
2019–20 Annual Report: External Relations
Across a fiscal year that encompassed the huge latter half of our first year reopened (July through December 2019), our first full term of new exhibitions (winter term 2020), and our mid-March and spring term shutdown, along with the whole campus, due to the pandemic, the Hood Museum's external relations efforts remained vigorous, creative, engaging, and responsive to the heady times. Our brand was never stronger as we shared our purpose, priorities, and activity across robust digital and print platforms including our redesigned and rebranded website, our flagship museum quarterly magazine, and our campus-focused social media campaigns. We were often in the media and aligned with campus and community as never before. The second full year of the Museum Club, as well, brought with it the invaluable contribution of undergraduate stakeholders in our programming and campus engagement.
ABOVE Digital Content Manager Alison Palizzolo uses proofs from the printer to color correct Colleen Randall's paintings for the exhibition catalogue.
Publications
It was a busy year for the publishing arm of the museum. The publications team coordinated three catalogues, seven A Space for Dialogue brochures, three printed Quarterly newsletters, multiple gallery booklets and activity cards, an updated Museum Guide rack brochure, and an e-publication.
In October 2019 the museum published The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, which was produced in conjunction with our reopening year and in celebration of Dartmouth's 250th anniversary in 2019. The publication considers the role and impact(s) of a thriving museum on a college campus, addressing the purpose, program, and place that together comprise the Hood Museum of Art. The volume also includes 153 plates featuring collection highlights and most-taught-with objects.
In December 2019 the exhibition catalogue for Dartmouth Professor of Studio Art Colleen Randall's show In the Midst of Something Splendid: Recent Painting by Colleen Randall came out in advance of the exhibition's January opening date. The 72-page catalogue contains 18 full-page plates, an introduction by Director John Stomberg and Senior Curator of Collections and Curator of Academic Programming Katherine Hart, an essay by Associate Director of the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking Celia Bland, and an essay by independent curator Sarah G. Powers, as well as an interview with the artist.
The museum also published an exhibition catalogue for Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics in March 2020. The publications team worked with the design and production firm Lucia | Marquand to produce Form and Relation and contracted for distribution with the University of Washington Press. The 103-page catalogue begins with a director's foreword by John Stomberg, as well as acknowledgments and an introduction by Associate Curator of Native American Art and exhibition co-curator Jami Powell. Contributors to the catalogue include DAMLI Native American Art Fellow and exhibition co-curator Morgan E. Freeman, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art Curator Sequoia Miller, artist Courtney M. Leonard, University of Arizona Assistant Professor of Art History Anya Montiel, artist Rose B. Simpson, and artist Roxanne Swentzell.
Due to the pandemic, work on the exhibition catalogue for A Legacy of Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein Collection was halted in March right before color proofing was scheduled to begin. (Work on the publication resumed in late September.) Similarly, articles that were written for the 2020 summer and fall Hood Quarterly were published online but not in print.
ABOVE Cover of the 2020 winter "Hood Quarterly".
2019–20 Publications
The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth
In the Midst of Something Splendid: Recent Paintings by Colleen Randall
Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics
Family activity card for CIPX Dartmouth
Family activity card for Form and Relation
Family activity card for In the Midst of Something Splendid
2018–19 Annual Report e-publication
A Space for Dialogue #97 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #98 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #99 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #100 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #101 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #102 exhibition brochure
A Space for Dialogue #103 exhibition brochure
ABOVE Dean of Libraries Sue Mehrer and John Stomberg, the Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director of the Hood Museum of Art, are the principal investigators on the Mellon Foundation grant. (Photo by Eli Burakian '00)
Public Relations: Print, Online, and Social Media
In January 2020 the galleries began to change over, and new special exhibitions opened, bringing with them a flurry of press attention. The first two exhibitions to open were School Photos and Their Afterlives and In the Midst of Something Splendid: Recent Paintings by Colleen Randall. School Photos was reviewed by Artscope magazine, featured in The Brooklyn Rail's "Artseen," and reviewed by The Dartmouth newspaper. In the Midst of Something Splendid opened at the same time as School Photos and was well received by local and regional press. Art New England reviewed the exhibition and interviewed Randall for their January/February issue. Freelance Valley News writer Nicola Smith also interviewed Randall and reviewed the exhibition for the January 29, 2020, issue.
The exhibition CIPX Dartmouth with Kali Spitzer and Will Wilson also opened in January 2020. The artist residency and exhibition that followed were covered by the Valley News, Vermont Standard, Dartmouth News, and New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). The NHPR story release was delayed due to the pandemic and early gallery closure, but it hopes to publish the piece once the galleries reopen to the public. Similarly, the Valley News and Boston Globe both began the process of reviewing Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics but are currently on hold because of the pandemic.
Other topics covered in the press included the Mellon Grant to advance cross-institutional collaboration, the 2019 fall symposium showcasing Dartmouth alumni in the arts, Jami Powell's arts leadership award, Juliette Bianco's departure for the directorship at the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, and upcoming student-curated A Space for Dialogue exhibitions.
The Hood Museum's efforts to continue to engage its audiences during the COVID-19 closure was highlighted by the Union Leader, Artful, The Dartmouth, and Dartmouth News.
Press Coverage
"Trips Program Enacted Changes to Training, Programming at Lodge," The Dartmouth, September 20, 2019
"A Seat at the Table," The Dartmouth, October 2, 2019
"The Politics of Pink Explores Notions of Femininity, Fragility," October 3, 2019, The Dartmouth
"U Chicago Professor Speaks at Hood on Intersection of Art and Race," The Dartmouth, October 8, 2019
"A New App Augments Art at Dartmouth," Dartmouth News, October 9, 2019
"Hood Museum Becomes Source of Experiential Learning in Classrooms," The Dartmouth, October 11, 2019
"Hood Hosts Symposium on the Future of Museums," Dartmouth News, October 22, 2019
"Q&A with Hood Museum Director John Stomberg," October 24, 2019
"Symposium at the Hood Showcases the Dynamic Museum Field," The Dartmouth, October 29, 2019
"Hood Deputy Director Juliette Bianco to Receive NEMA Award," The Dartmouth, November 8, 2020
"A Class Reunion: School Photos a Surprising Display at the Hood," Artscope, January / February 2020
"Profile: Colleen Randall," Art New England, January / February 2020
"Captured Moments," Valley News, January 12, 2020
"New Hood Exhibit Sheds Light on Mixed History of School Photos," The Dartmouth, January 14, 2020
"At the Hood: Sitting (Very Still) for Tintype Portraits," Dartmouth News, January 16, 2020
"Hood Exhibit Spotlights Marginalized Narratives through Art," The Dartmouth, January 21, 2020
"Rise Together! Events at College Honor MLK," The Dartmouth, January 21, 2020
"Painter Colleen Randall Connects with the Energy of Abstraction," Valley News, January 29, 2020
"Mellon Grant To Advance Cross-Institutional Collaboration," Dartmouth News, January 29, 2020
"The Hood's Jami Powell to Receive Arts Leadership Award," Dartmouth News, February 3, 2020
"New Hood Museum Exhibit Excites Imaginations of Viewers," The Dartmouth, February 4, 2020
"Newly Renovated Building Honors Anonymous Donors to Dartmouth," The Dartmouth, February 18, 2020
"CIPX Project Expresses Native American Identity and History," The Dartmouth, Februrary 18, 2020
"Spotlight: Christina Seely Addresses Climate Crisis in New Exhibit," The Dartmouth, February 21, 2020
"Grant to Help Dartmouth Museum, Libraries Better Explore Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples," Union Leader, February 23, 2020
"Students Flock to Club's "After 5" Series at the Hood," Dartmouth News, March 10, 2020
"Open Letter Cutting Session," Dartmouth News, March 10, 2020
"Majority of Arts and Music Classes Moving On Despite Difficulties," The Dartmouth, April 2, 2020
"Hood Museum Experiments with Virtual Learning," The Dartmouth, April 13, 2020
"Hood Museum Bites into Viral Art Challenge," Union Leader, April 16, 2020
"Arts in the Time of COVID-19," Dartmouth News, April 17, 2020
"Juliette Bianco '94 to Lead Weatherspoon Art Museum," Dartmouth News, April 30, 2020
"The Hood Can't Go Dark. And So It Hasn't." Artful, May 4, 2020
"Hood Museum's Virtual Gallery Talk Explores Limitations of the Virtual Artistic Experience," The Dartmouth, May 4, 2020
"Annual Arts Awards Ceremony Highlights Student Achievements in Music, Theater, Studio Art and Film," The Dartmouth, May 28, 2020
"Museum Collecting 101 Offers Students a Hands-On Experience with Art Acquisition," The Dartmouth, June 1, 2020
"Four Years of Campus News Seen by the Class of 2020," The Dartmouth, June 14, 2020
"Student-Curated Exhibit Portrays Movements through an Artistic Lens," The Dartmouth, June 26, 2020
"Wide Babelki Bowl," Artful, September 1, 2020
Website
Between June 30, 2019, and July 1, 2020, there were 140,906 user sessions on the Hood Museum's website. At the beginning of the fall term, on September 16, 2019, an astounding 1,676 users visited the museum's website. Due to last year's spike in activity, we decided to be particularly strategic about website content and information for students on the homepage for their arrival this year.
We continued to optimize and clean up the site and make it more robust. As part of this effort, during the first six months of 2020, we worked to further finetune the searchability of the museum's "Stories and News" section. There is now a dropdown menu for both categories and tags, which enables a much better experience for the user. We also dedicated a page to accessibility information.
In the spring and early summer of 2020, the museum launched an official Hood Museum of Art YouTube channel. We are no longer just a playlist within Dartmouth's channel. Work to organize and polish the final site is ongoing. We plan to announce the new channel on our website and social channels in the fall of 2020. Also, in the near future, we envision a video of the director introducing the museum to our audiences on the channel's homepage.
Social Media
The Hood Museum continues to grow its social media presence and following. Two campaigns are worth noting in particular, the first being a trivia series focused on the museum and its collections. Following the #TuesdayTrivia trend, #HMATrivia began on Twitter before expanding to Instagram through the Stories feature. This collaborative effort involves writing by student employees, interns, curators, and other museum staff who want to share interesting information and knowledge relating to the museum's history and its wide-ranging collection.
Another successful campaign was titled Recreate the #HoodMuseumFromHome. Launched in the spring of 2020 (in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis), the campaign encouraged museum followers of all ages to recreate a work of art in our collection in a creative way. Some "recreations" were made using found objects, others using costumes or art materials. Over 40 received submissions were shared via our social media channels, including a student recreation of Atsuko Tanaka's Work and a local family's recreation of George Cochran Lambdin's In the Beech Wood.
All social media channels grew in number of followers, with Instagram (33%) and LinkedIn (58%) seeing the largest increases. Over 800 posts were published across four social media channels, totally over 1.3 million impressions.
Furthermore, we saw this public post by the Sarah Meister (@ thesarahmeister), a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, in which the museum was tagged:
Blown away this afternoon @hoodmuseum Their commitment to great art and ethics and awareness of place conveyed through multiple voices with clarity and conviction—including clear-eyed reflections on the Hood's and Dartmouth's own histories—was truly inspiring.
Other than the brilliant #reconstitutionby @jessica.s.hong my favorite exhibition—When Art Intersects History—was organized by a Dartmouth undergrad (!) and included the first two images by George Tooker and the Guerilla Girls (not sure which Allison Carey to tag on Instagram but she deserves it! Her wall label for the Tooker included this: "By portraying both brown and white eggs in the same container Tooker seems to suggest that equality should be considered as commonplace as eggs in a carton").
"I loved the way they featured the paintings of a longtime faculty member Colleen Randall and encouraged my unending obsession with #schoolphotos of course my beloved #francesbenjaminjohnston seen through the eyes of #carriemaeweemsbut also, next to a group of (very white) Dartmouth students in 1888, images of June Jordan speaking at an Alternative Commencement in 1987 about which the curators wrote that it 'pays tribute to progressive student activism and its ideals at Dartmouth and beyond.'"
"On top of it all, they brought treasures of the collection into dialogue with new acquisitions such as the gorgeous jug by David Drake from 1825-40 about which Michael Chaney, Associate Professor of English wrote: "That this visible signature belongs to an enslaved African American man, whose access to literacy was legally prohibited at the time, makes its appearance on an everyday storage vessel an audacious act." If you've read this far, thank you. I wish I could write more. #dartmouth #hoodmuseum#students #artists #curators#professors all working together #congratulations and I'm sorry I don't have Instagram handles for the many amazing people referenced here... please share if you know them!"