Art for Sale Page 2

While all artists create their own works of art, Cuban American artist José Bedia is making the jump from artist to curator at the UCLA Fowler Museum.

Bedia will be curating “Bedia Selects,” an exhibition at the Fowler consisting of more than 30 pieces, selected by Bedia himself from the museum’s collection.

“Bedia Selects” also accompanies “Transcultural Pilgrim,” another exhibition at the Fowler Museum which showcases Bedia’s own original works of art.

“The idea was that he would be not only the artist featured in the big gallery, but he would be curating a smaller show in a smaller space,” said Judith Bettelheim, curator of “Transcultural Pilgrim.”

With this vision in mind, other curators simply facilitated Bedia’s selection of art objects from the Fowler’s permanent collection, according to Patrick A. Polk, curator of Latin American and Caribbean popular arts at the Fowler.

“We just served as liaisons to pick up and bring to fruition his selections. It was his vision,” Polk said. “The main thing was to give José (Bedia) access to our collection to bring things out that we had either never shown or would not have the opportunity to display. He was like a kid in a candy store.”

According to Gemma Rodrigues, curator of African arts at the Fowler, the pieces chosen by Bedia are primarily works of art from Central Africa, a region that is of great personal significance to him.

“It is not just arbitrary that he was keen on exploring the Central African collection,” Rodrigues said. “He wound up in that very part of Africa as a Cuban soldier fighting in Angola’s civil war. That was the moment when he really encountered these arts directly.”

Polk said that this experience led Bedia to examine elements of power associated with various art objects.

“Something that resonates with him is the function of power and how people are affected by power, both positively and negatively,” he said.

Rodrigues said that these objects are also visually connected to Bedia’s own works, which have formal connections to the pieces he chose as a curator.

Some pieces, such as a rare Sala Mpasu dance platform, speak to Bedia’s deeper knowledge of the role that art objects play in African society, according to Rodrigues.

“He is thinking about how artists are manipulating color and structural form to really communicate certain kinds of ideas,” she said. “The dance platform was reserved for an elite and ferocious warrior society, which is another thematic connection.”

Bettelheim said that those who visit this exhibition will find that the selections deviate from stereotypical notions of African art.

“He deliberately avoided and did not want to show what people would expect, which would be small, figurative sculpture or mass. He wanted to open people’s eyes to a huge variety of art that is unexpected,” Bettelheim said.

“Bedia Selects” is also an opportunity for students to become better acquainted with another culture and to broaden their view of such visually attractive African art, according to Bettelheim.

“As an artist, his primary reaction was aesthetics,” Bettelheim said. “When you see the shields with lots of surface decorations, it is almost like an abstract painting.”

According to Polk, “Bedia Selects” will give people a chance to expand their views of art and another culture.

“It is part of a larger process of being in the world as opposed to being parochial and having narrow visions and understandings of the world,” Polk said. “It is a way to have a closer connection.”

The inaugural Houston Fine Art Fair reported robust sales for its exceptional roster of prominent exhibitors including galleries from 13 European and Latin American countries. Fair officials estimated sales at approximately $6 million and total attendance at the George R. Brown, Sept. 15 – 18, for the inaugural fair was 10,500 with 3,000 attending opening night.

Strong sales were reported from scores of galleries including Anya Tish Gallery, Art Nouveau Gallery, Cernuda Arte, Frey Norris Contemporary & Modern, Hiram Butler Gallery, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, Margaret Thatcher Projects, now contemporary art and Moody Gallery.

“This year’s fair established a powerful foundation on which to build,” said Fran Kaufman, Director, Houston Fine Art Fair. “It is our goal to develop this event into one of the most respected fine art fairs in America.”

Artists whose works sold during the fair included: Adela Andea, Rafael Barrios, Fernando Botero, Chul-Hyan, Ahn, Leon Ferrari, Sarah Frost, Jasper Johns, Kim Joon, Jun Kaneko, Donald Lipski, Kenneth Noland, Chuck Ramirez, Robert Rauschenberg, Sebastiao Salgado, Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, and Dan Tague.

“We succeeded in our goal in identifying and attracting new tiers of art lovers,” said Rick Friedman, President of the Hamptons Expo Group, the organizer of the Houston Fine Art. “Many were inspired by what they saw, and many will eventually become passionate art collectors.”

Cultural partners supporting the city’s first international fine art fair include The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston Arts Alliance, Fotofest International, Houston Center for Photography, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, DiverseWorks, Project Row Houses, Art League Houston, Houston Museum of African American Culture, The Orange Show for Visionary Art, the McNay Art Museum and Artpace San Antonio.

The fair is organized by Hamptons Expo Group Management, which also produces the annual art fairs ArtHamptons, ArtAspen, the San Francisco Fine Art Fair and the upcoming Palm Springs Fine art Fair February 16-19, 2012.

For more information contact, www.houstonfineartfair.com or info@houstonfineartfair.com.

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On a once-overlooked corner in Raleigh’s Depot Historic District, a stony Zen-like garden flanks the entrance to a new vision for the city’s arts scene. A museum has opened in a former warehouse, and with new high-rise condos and a bustling restaurant district nearby, it’s designed to add a new dimension to this city’s sense of self while fleshing out the state’s growing constellation of major museums.

Raleigh’s latest addition to North Carolina’s exploding art scene is the new Contemporary Art Museum – also known as CAM Raleigh – which opened in April under the guidance of one of contemporary art’s emerging young stars, Elysia Borowy-Reeder.

Borowy-Reeder was imported to North Carolina a year ago after completing impressive tours of duty building contemporary art programs in major museums in Milwaukee and Chicago, including a leadership role on the team that opened the new modern wing at the Art Institute of Chicago.

From the 20-foot ceilings to the Spartan display floors, CAM is a breathtakingly spacious place to showcase edgy, emerging or undiscovered art forms through a continual stream of new shows designed to spark introspection, ignite discourse, and as they say in the brochure, “explore what’s now and nearing.”

An idea in the making for over 20 years, CAM became real this summer with a lavish gala and an inaugural exhibit by Washington D.C., artist Dan Steinhilber titled “Hold On, Loosely.” Characterized by giant works designed to reflect the human drive to “contain the perishable,” this first exhibit summed up CAM’s role as a museum where new art is a movable feast. A gargantuan structure made from cardboard; a massive, inflated sculpture you can enter; shipping pallets swaddled – or were they strangled? – in plastic. This first show closed in August, underscoring CAM’s unique role as a museum where new artists are seen today, then gone (perhaps to the Mint or the Louvre) tomorrow.

“We are not showing Andy Warhol here,” Borowy-Reeder says during a stroll through CAM’s 10,000 square feet of installation space. “We are here to show the Andy Warhols of tomorrow.”

Education and community relevance are also essential missions at CAM. The museum’s Third Friday soirees – monthly Friday night parties open to the general public – have become a popular weekend kickoff for the Triangle’s growing tribe of hip, young professionals. CAM Raleigh also offers free admission and community workshops during its First Friday evening events every month. And a packed summer arts camp for middle and high school students was launched this summer with long waiting lists. CAM will also introduce three major exhibits each year in the Main Gallery, plus other exhibits in its Lower Level galleries.

A major design show opening September 24 and running through January 2 reflects CAM’s perspective that art is a dynamic force, ever changing and evolving. Called “Deep Surface: Contemporary Ornament and Pattern,” this exhibit showcases contemporary designers from around the world working in architecture, product design, graphic arts, fashion and digital media design, and examines the role that ornament, pattern and design play in our culture.

The exhibit has six thematic sections and features 72 works from 42 international designers and artists, including such seminal works as Marcel Wanders’ Knotted Chair and wallpaper by Paul Noble and Vik Muniz for Maharam Digital Projects. “Deep Surface” also highlights the fact that CAM is a partnership with North Carolina State University’s School of Design. The show is co-curated by professors at N.C. State and Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, and Borowy-Reeder is employed by N.C. State.

Of greater significance, “Deep Surface” reflects CAM’s ambition to be known as a major international contemporary art museum. Despite the economy and even the vagaries of Washington politics, five major art museums have opened or expanded over the past two years in Charlotte and Raleigh. Last year, the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh unveiled a vast new addition to house its permanent collection. And within the past two years, Charlotte has seen an explosion in the arts, with the addition of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Mint Museum Uptown and the Gantt Center for African-American Art + Culture, all located at the Levine Center for the Arts in uptown. The CAM adds to this renaissance, CAM filling a niche not fully met by the state’s other art museums.

Unlike its larger sisters, CAM was not established to house permanent collections. It will offer an ever-changing experience that reflects the dynamic, constantly evolving definitions of art. “We aren’t here to preserve the past,” Borowy-Reeder says. “We may reference it. But we are here to look forward.” In other words, she says, when visiting CAM, be prepared to experience the unexpected.

‘Time to look and explore’

During the years of planning, one of CAM’s strongest advocates has been Dr. Larry Wheeler, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art.

“It is great to see this come together,” says Wheeler. “CAM has an exciting program and is in the position to do the type of work that a contemporary urban art museum can and should do,” by showcasing emerging art and new, little-known artists. “CAM and the Nasher at Duke University are both important complements to what we do at NCMA,” he added, which like most large urban art museums, involves collecting and showing major masterworks. Together, the three museums offer ample reason for Charlotteans to make a road trip to the Triangle this fall for a tour de force of visual arts.

This fall, NCMA continues its mission of bringing the world’s greatest art to the state with “Rembrandt in America,” the largest exhibition of authentic Rembrandt paintings ever held in the United States, and an exciting new Rodin exhibit. “Rembrandt in America” includes 50 works, with paintings by Rembrandt as well as others thought to be by the master when they entered American collections.

Opening October 30 and running through January 22, 2012, “Rembrandt in America” will explore the collecting history of Rembrandt paintings in the United States and offer the public a rare opportunity to visualize the evolving opinions of scholars and collectors regarding what constituted an autographed Rembrandt.

And on Sept 2, NCMA will expand its world-renowned Rodin collection with the addition of 10 more Rodin sculptures, all on loan from the private collection of Iris Cantor. The sculptures will be displayed alongside the other works by Rodin in the museum’s collection. Two of the works will be installed outdoors in the museum’s new Rodin Garden and eight will be on view in the Rodin Court. David Steel, NCMA curator of European Art, who selected the loans, noted that the new sculptures “represent some of Rodin’s most important and beautiful works,” and are beautiful complements to the museum’s 30 other Rodin sculptures, which were given to the museum by the Cantor Foundation and installed in April 2010.

Meanwhile, the Nasher Museum at Duke University will unveil its own exciting collection of fall exhibits including “Becoming: Photographs From The Wedge Collection” with 110 works by more than 60 artists from Canada, the United States, Africa and throughout the African Diaspora that explore how new configurations of identity have been shaped by the photographic portrait within the last century. This show runs through January 8. And through December 4, the Nasher will feature an installation from its permanent collection of works by groundbreaking women artists including Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman and Kara Walker.

Whichever museum you chose to visit, you’ll undoubtedly find many surprises. This is an era of wellspring for the arts in the state’s two largest cities. Says Wheeler: “It’s exciting. We hope the public will take the time to look and explore.”

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But Goldman, a scrappy civil rights and anti-Vietnam Waractivist who went back to school in her mid-30s, refused to consider a more mainstream topic. Describing herself years later as a person who was “born on the margins, lived on the margins and … always sympathized with the margins,” she bided her time for several years until a more open-minded professor arrived who was willing to supervise her research.She not only published her dissertation as a book, “Contemporary Mexican Painting in a Time of Change” (1981), but went on to become a seminal figure in the rise of Latin American and Chicano art history as legitimate fields of study.Goldman died Sept. 11 in Los Angeles from Alzheimer’s disease, said her son, Eric Garcia. She was 85.Calling herself an activist art historian, Goldman was an early champion of Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros and persisted for decades to preserve his last public work in the United States: the“América Tropical” mural at Olvera Street. The Getty Conservation Institute is collaborating with the city of Los Angeles to rescue the rare mural.“There was no one like Shifra,” said artist and Cal State Northridge professor Yreina D. Cervantez. “She was an advocate and a scholar on Chicano and Chicana art long before it was recognized and … she put it in the context of the larger art world. Her commitment was unmovable and constant.”Goldman “was an intellectual pioneer with strong social convictions,” said Chon Noriega, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center where Goldman was a research associate in the mid-1990s. Noriega described one of her books — “Arte Chicano,” a comprehensive 1985 bibliography co-written with Tomás Ybarra-Frausto — as “the bible for Chicano art history.”“We really have to rewrite the history of modern art,” Goldman told The Times in 1992. “That’s the tall order that many of us have set for ourselves. You have to insert the modern art of Asia, Africa and Latin America.”Born Shifra Meyerowitz on July 18, 1926, she grew up in New York steeped in the leftist politics of her parents, Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland. She attended the city’s High School of Music and Art before moving to Los Angeles in the 1940s.A studio art major at UCLA, she joined a student boycott of Westwood barbers who refused haircuts to African American veterans of World War II attending UCLA on the GI Bill. She left UCLA before earning her degree and immersed herself in the nascent Mexican American civil rights movement led by activist Bert Corona. She learned Spanish living in East Los Angeles and in 1952 married John Garcia.The marriage ended after a few years, and a second marriage also ended in divorce. She is survived by her son and a grandson.“She said she was a women’s libber before it existed,” her son, Eric, said last week. “She had a hard time with men. They didn’t want this intellectual powerhouse. She was a very intense woman.”During the 1950s Goldman worked in a factory assembling refrigerators and stoves; later she was a bookkeeper. She remained active in radical causes, which in 1959 led to a subpoena to appear before a panel of the House Un-American Activities Committee. She refused to answer questions.Unsatisfied with her life, she returned to UCLA, completing her bachelor’s degree in art in 1963. She earned a master’s from Cal State L.A in 1966 and a doctorate from UCLA in 1977, both in art history.She taught at a number of colleges in Southern California, including Santa Ana College, until 1992, when she retired from full-time teaching.In 2008 she donated her meticulously organized collections of correspondence, articles, books, museum catalogs, gallery announcements and art slides — many showing works that have disappeared — to the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives at UC Santa Barbara.“Anybody who was seriously involved in Latino/Chicano art has visited Shifra at home and gone through her collection. She was the archivist of the field,” Noriega said.Her archive includes material about Siqueiros’ “América Tropical,” which was badly deteriorated after decades of neglect when Goldman discovered it in 1968. Olvera Street merchants had painted over the mural soon after its completion in 1932 because of its controversial depiction of a Mexican Indian crucified on a double cross under an American eagle. An Aztec and a Mexican revolutionary are pointing rifles at the eagle.“It was Shifra who really spearheaded the very first effort to preserve the Siqueiros mural,” said filmmaker Jesus Treviño, who worked with her to make a 1971 KCET documentary about it. “There were artists who said to her, ‘Let me repaint it,’ but she said, ‘If the Mona Lisa fades you don’t have someone come in to repaint it for Da Vinci.’ She was adamant that this was by a great artist and the original work should be preserved.”The Getty and the city expect to unveil the mural and a new interpretive center next year.“It is the last Siqueiros mural to remain in its original site in the U.S.,” said Leslie Rainer, the Getty mural specialist who is overseeing the conservation project. “Shifra understood its importance.”A memorial will be held at 2 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Professional Musicians Local 47, 817 Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90038.

Could a painting on a dope dealer’s storefront be the last work of Jean-Michel Basquiat?

On a Saturday morning in the early summer of 1988, Jean-Michel Basquiat stepped through the doorway of a bodega on South 4th Street in Williamsburg. It was a tough neighborhood back then, before the condos and restaurants arrived, and the store was a drug front. Basquiat had been hitting it up every couple of days, likely because his Manhattan source had dried up. Word on the street was that if you knew where to go, the drugs were better in Brooklyn, and rock stars and other wealthier users were starting to make the quick trip over the bridge.

Nobody there knew who Basquiat was, but, at 27, he was as famous as he’d ever be during his lifetime. His paintings had reached a then-astronomical $50,000 apiece. The Whitney and MoMA had showed him. Celebrities like Paul Simon had bought his work. In person, though, he looked ragged. He was skinny and had open sores and swollen pimples on his face. He had about $300 in his hand, and he spoke softly when he asked for his usual: “Two bundles,” or twenty bags. The first few times, he’d sniffed the goods. When he’d introduced himself as “Michel,” the dealer told him he’d get his ass kicked with a girl’s name and said he’d call him “Mike.”

As he became a regular, he’d hang around and smoke a joint with the workers in the little backyard—though the dealer, then just 18, remembers not wanting to “share saliva” because he looked so far gone. On this day, “Mike” eyed some cans of paint lying around the storefront and asked if he might do something on the steel front door. “Do whatever you want,” the dealer said. “Just make sure you lock the door when you leave.” Basquiat rather quickly painted a lone figure with devil’s horns on the door and then left. “Mike” would return a few more times that summer, then disappear for a couple of months, and then come back one last time near the end of the summer, buying significantly less than usual.

On August 12, 1988, Jean-Michel Basquiat was found dead in his loft on Great Jones Street in Manhattan, overdosed on heroin. He’d just returned from Maui, where he’d gone cold turkey, and most of his friends believed that he (like many relapsing addicts) had lost his tolerance, turning his customary dose lethal.

The door remained on the Brooklyn storefront, and passersby now and then offered the owner money for it—once $4,000, another time $7,000—to his confusion. Eventually, around 1999, someone showed him a photograph of Basquiat in an art book. “I seen his picture, I said, Yeah, I used to sell heroin to this guy,” he remembers. “I said, This is fuckin’ Mike.” He removed the door and put it in storage.

T

hat’s the story, anyway. It comes from the former dealer, who will go only by his first name, Alex, fearing implications in the artist’s death.

Alex is now in his forties with kids, living an ordinary life. I heard about him in March 2009, when I met a woman named Anastasia at an art opening. Alex was an old friend of her father’s, and she had seen the door in storage. She’d talked to the owner of 2B, the minuscule gallery–hair salon where we met, and they led me to Alex. It took well over a year’s negotiation before he agreed to tell his story for publication.

Later in 2009, they had the door photographed and submitted it to the authentication committee for Basquiat’s estate, which is run by the artist’s septuagenarian Haitian-born father, Gerard. He is an unlikely art-world power, an accountant who never quite embraced his son’s career in life but now manages it in death.

Two slides of the artwork, along with its backstory, went off to the committee by mail. An authentication like this is a one-step process: The submission is considered, and a verdict is handed down. An enormous sum was riding on the ruling. A Basquiat painting from 1981 had recently sold for $14.6 million. Julian Schnabel’s 1996 Basquiat biopic starring Jeffrey Wright, the Reebok tribute collection of sneakers, a reference in a Jay-Z lyric: They all continue to boost his mystique and his prices. Michael ­Chisolm, a specialist in African, African-American, and Haitian art—but, he hastens to add, not a Basquiat expert—explains the estate’s power thus: “It’s a huge responsibility, because there’s no recourse after that. If they say no, then it’s a no.”

The committee’s members and advisers vary depending on who is available when a piece is being authenticated, but they have included the curators and gallerists Diego Cortez, Jeffrey Deitch, John Cheim, Richard Marshall, Fred Hoffman, and Annina Nosei (the artist’s first art dealer), along with Gerard Basquiat.

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But the MFA has long been criticized for neglecting the art and artists of today. With that in mind I visited the new wing as it was in the throws of being installed, where I spoke with museum director Malcolm Rogers.

“I believe you can’t be fully relevant to the life of a contemporary city without having contemporary art,” he told me when I asked why this transformation is necessary. The new galleries are located in the museum’s west wing, originally designed by architect I.M. Pei in 1981. It used to house the entrance where visitors streamed in to purchase their tickets. Gone are the pair of escalators that once rose behind those countertops. They’ve been replaced by a gleaming staircase leading up to the second floor space that, for years, was dedicated to temporary exhibitions of both new and old art.

“People feel they know these galleries well,” Rogers mused, adding, “I think they’re going to be astonished when they come in here and find a completely new world.”

In front of us this “new world” was being delicately unpacked, cleaned, measured, and hung in the spacious, boxy galleries. Keith Crippen, head of design at the MFA, worked with an installation team, raising a heavy object three inches into the perfect place on a wall.

“It’s been very busy,” Crippen admitted. “There was no real break between the American wing and this, but it’s exciting because this presented completely different challenges and conditions that had to be met. This is a space the design department is used to working with over and over because it used to be our special exhibition space. So now to give it this facelift and make it more sympathetic to contemporary art is satisfying.”

There are works by a slew of well-known contemporary artists — Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Mark Bradford, Sol LeWitt — and a new show of wooden sculptures by Ellsworth Kelly.

There’s also Cambridge artist Wendy Jacob. She was on site at the top of the staircase installing an interactive piece involving sound and touch. Surrounded by transducers, wires and amplifiers, Jacob said she’s thrilled to be part of this moment at the MFA. When she was a kid she took painting classes here with her sisters.

But Jacob’s inclusion in the new wing’s opening addresses a familiar criticism of the MFA — that it doesn’t pay enough attention to contemporary New England artists. Jacob is the 2011 winner of the museum’s annual Maud Morgan Award, which was first granted in 1993 to highlight standout women working in the region. But it hadn’t been given to anyone for three years before Jacob, since 2006. MFA Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Jen Mergel put explained that it was crucial to highlight this year’s winner, and the award’s re-instatement, as part of the inauguration.

“And in terms of Boston artists represented,” she continued, “we have about 10 on view, and out 240 works in this wing. It’s pretty significant to us that we’re able to represent Boston proudly and strongly,” Mergel said.

Mergel has been instrumental in the making of the Linde Wing. The museum hired her in February 2010 to re-imagine the MFA’s role in presenting contemporary art to its audiences.

The Art of the Americas Wing took 10 years to build — and its completion last November freed up staff and space to re-purpose this 80,000 square-foot plot of real estate. But it’s been a race since then to get it completed. She and more than a dozen people will be working right up to the opening this weekend, making sure the galleries tell the story of contemporary art from the MFA’s unique perspective.

“We do have some unexpected choices in the contemporary galleries that give somebody a sense that practices we might call contemporary have maybe been going on for centuries,” Mergel said. “They’re not being installed like an art history book or lesson.

“And so because we have rich collections here at the museum, going back millennia, we can actually draw on our collections and juxtapose things in the contemporary galleries in ways most museums can’t.”

For example, a huge photograph of Cindy Sherman dressed up as Medusa from classical mythology hangs on a wall facing Monet’s iconic painting of his wife dressed in a Japanese Kimono. The pairing illustrates a continuum, Mergel said, and this makes the MFA’s contemporary art story unique.

There is some cross over, though, in the collection on display here and some of the holdings at the Institute of Contemporary Art on the waterfront. Does Jill Medvedow, Director at the ICA, see the MFA’s new addition as competition?

“There’s not great value to any of us, I think, to try to see this as an either/or situation,” she explained, making it clear that she has not seen the MFA’s new wing yet but looks forward to visiting in the coming weeks. “I feel great about having opened the doors for contemporary art in Boston,” Medvedow continued, “and I think that that credit really belongs with the ICA. But we could use all the help we can get in making this part of people’s habit and every day life. This is a great moment, it’s a great renaissance for the arts in Boston. And we want more.”

Rogers at the MFA wants more, too, and evoked the old saying that all boats rise on the same tide. But it’s also a matter of his 19th century institution’s survival, he said — not just so the MFA can stay relevant in a contemporary city, but also so it can grow and thrive in the future.

“A museum like this is so dependent on the people in the city who collect giving us art. We aren’t rich enough to buy ourselves the greatness in this area, so I hope the wing will encourage collecting of contemporary in town, and encourage contemporary collectors support the museum to create the culture of contemporary philanthropy.”

As they prepare for the weekend, Rogers and Mergel both anticipate the inevitable criticisms that will come with new contemporary wing’s opening, but for the moment the contemporary art curator said she feels pretty Zen about it.

“I know what great work has been done,” she said, “I know where we started and how far we’ve come, and I do feel that this is just the beginning. Regardless of what skeptics may say, this is a starting point with room to grow and room to grow strong.”

The new contemporary wing opens to the public on Sunday, but there are events all weekend. A 24-hour party kicks off on Saturday night at 7 pm to honor Christian Marclay’s, “The Clock,” a 24-hour video project recently acquired by the MFA. Of course Rogers will be there, and I had to ask him if the all-night rave was possibly a bid to make the Museum of Fine Art more “hip.”

“Hip?” he repeated with a laugh. “I can’t comment on that. I’m just a museum director in a suit, you know.”

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The following is from the Aaron Douglas Art Fair:
More than 40 Kansas artists, musicians, and performance artists will gather at the Aaron Douglas Art Park at 10am next Saturday, September 24th to honor the life and works of Topeka-born artist Aaron Douglas. Organized by the Central Topeka Turnaround Team, the 6th Annual Aaron Douglas Art Fair will celebrate Douglas’s legacy as “the father of African American art” and showcase diverse and emerging artists from the Topeka area.

The day-long event will include live entertainment, concessions, hands-on art exhibits, FREE children’s activities and the return of the Legacy Stage. Cyrene Holt and Mariama Hodari, nieces of Aaron Douglas, will also be available to speak with fair-goers.

This year’s featured artists will be The Craftivists, a Topeka-based group that raises awareness of social, environmental and political issues through handmade, recycled art. Other featured artists include Lisa Adame, Kevin Brown, Zachary Clement, Staci Dawn, Eclective Artists, Brittany Eilert, Laura Engelhardt, Stephanie Foster, Shanon Fouquet, Nancy Goodall, Kymm Hughes, Rachel Ledbetter, Kristine Luber, Justin and Bailey Marable, Paula Marker, Angie McFarland, Bill Neff, Rachel and Marlene Pantos, Vanessa Piper, Marie Plinsky and Pam Somerville, Mark Ralston, Darlene Regnier, Tony Rogers, Donald Shea, Jennifer Somers, Issac Stallbaumer, Mandy Stos, Billy Tomlin, the Topeka Art Guild, Julius Trotter, Stacey Utech, Ronnie Warman, WASA, OC Williams, Albert Woods, and Cameron Wright.

Musical performances by Good Ambition, Slow Ya Roll, and Brail are also scheduled for the Main Stage.

The Aaron Douglas Art Park is located at the southwest corner of 12th Street and Lane in Topeka’s Tennessee Town neighborhood. Bicycle, drop-off, and handicap parking will be available on-site. Satellite parking, with limo and van service, will also be available.

Born in Topeka, Kan., Aaron Douglas was an artist, scholar and leading educator of African American art. His work has been featured in Harper’s and Vanity Fair, as well as the Harmon Foundation in New York, the Brooklyn Museum and New York’s Gallery of Modern Art, among others. A recreation of Douglas’s famed “Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction,” anchors the Topeka Aaron Douglas Art Park.

WHAT: 6th Annual Aaron Douglas Art Fair
WHO: More than 40 local artists, musicians and performance artists, including featured artists The Craftivists
WHEN: Saturday, September 24th, 2011 from 10am to 5pm
WHERE: Aaron Douglas Art Park, 12th Street and Lane

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The theme of the afternoon, “Community & Creativity,” stemmed from the organization’s ‘Call & Response: Community and Creativity’ plan that centers on artistic innovation seen within everyday neighborhoods.

While the numbers are still coming in, the event is believed to be the most successful to date, says public affairs specialist Marcia Baird Burns.

Camille Giraud Akeju, director of the museum, felt that the event was a “true reflection” of the museum’s mission- “to challenge perceptions, generate new knowledge, and deepen understanding about the ever-changing concepts and realities of ‘community.’”

“[The] event was an occasion to honor those individuals who hear the call and readily respond to furthering the creative vibrance that holds communities together,” she says, commenting that the museum’s interactions with the community and dedication to historical preservation “…has set the standard for community museology.”

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A new US$47.5m (£30m, EUR34m) national attraction examining the heritage of African American music is being planned for Nashville, US, with a proposed opening date of 2013.

The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) is to focus on the impact of African Americans on contemporary music in the US, with roots in around 50 genres.

It had been proposed that the attraction would also cover art and culture under the banner of the Museum of African American Art, Music and Culture, but its focus has been redefined.

NMAAM will provide 16,000sq ft (1,486sq m) of floorspace for temporary and permanent exhibits; a 215-seat performance hall; a reading room; and community classrooms.

Other planned features include a 64ft (19.5m) Tower of Impact to symbolise the National Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as a museum shop and boutique café.

NMAAM executive director Paul Roberts said: “NMAAM will encompass musical distinctions that reinforce the impact of African Americans across the country and around the world.”

There is no work by Ed Paschke.

In “Re: Chicago,” the debut exhibit at DePaul University’s new art museum, movers and shakers in the local art world were asked to nominate a Chicago artist who is famous, ought to be famous or used to be famous.

“I like to think of it as the democratizing of the curatorial process,” said Louise Lincoln, the museum’s director.

The result is a diverse display of all kinds of different art from different artists, all except the one who may arguably be the best known: Paschke.

“There were some surprises,” Lincoln said of Paschke’s exclusion. “I think everybody else thought somebody else nominated him.”

“Re: Chicago” showcases 41 Chicago artists, past and present, showing off the new space DePaul constructed to display the university’s art collection and special exhibitions. Free and open to the public, the new museum also houses classroom space for students and faculty to get an up-close and personal look at fine art.

“Visual arts have something to say about all aspects of daily life and art,” Lincoln said. “This is much more visible to the outside audience. This is a window to what the university is about.”

DePaul’s art collection was never meant only for art students and faculty.

Since 1985, it was tucked away in the Lincoln Park campus’ library building, a location that made it difficult for many to know what treasures were stored within. Inside, there was limited space to display the university’s growing collection of about 2,000 objects, dating from 300 B.C.

That all changes this weekend as the university opens its gleaming, 15,200-square-foot, $7.8 million museum at 935 W. Fullerton, just east of the entrance to the Fullerton L station. The museum is part of a university effort to expand all types of art programs. It’s also a way to display more exhibitions and the school’s own works.

“The museum was expanding, and was expanding rapidly,” in part through gifts of art, Lincoln said.

Last year, 20 donors gave 407 pieces to the museum.

“For the museum’s sake, it was getting more crowded and difficult,” she said.

One tradition that transferred from the old building to the new one is a Chicago-based show in the fall to celebrate the university’s link to the city. This year, that show is “Re: Chicago,” which runs through March 4.

While there is no Paschke piece to celebrate the museum’s opening, Lincoln said curators at DePaul decided to let the process play itself out, not injecting themselves or their ideas about who should or should not be included.

The result is an appealing and accessible mix of different types of art meant to spark conversation.

“It was a chance to show our collection, other collections locally and some from Los Angeles and New York,” Lincoln said. She and her staff spent a year and a half tracking down nominated works. Those who did the nominating explain their choice in labels next to the artwork.

The art forms vary and span about 150 years. The oldest piece is “Portrait-Bust of a Man, 1865” by painter George Healy. Lincoln described Healy as the “Annie Leibovitz of his day,” an in-demand portrait artist of the 19th century. Healy traveled more than 30 times to Europe to paint celebrities in his lifetime.

Also featured is Henry Darger, who lived about two blocks from DePaul in Lincoln Park until his death in 1973. A janitor by day, Darger left more than 15,000 pages of illustrations and stories about an adventurous tribe of little girls.

“It was a whole universe for him,” Lincoln said. “He had an incredible fantasy life.”

His work, like the watercolor and collage piece on display, has become highly valued for art collectors, she said.

On display is a Nick Cave “soundsuit,” a sack of small twigs hung on a mannequin, and “Peace” by Margaret Burroughs, the late founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History. Artist Juan Chavez, in “No Campground Just Water,” built a large installation of what appears to be a round underwater camping shack, decorated with lace curtains and placed atop a plush orange fish.

Lincoln said this isn’t the first show about Chicago, but it may be one of the most eclectic.

“It’s usually a single artist or image or WPA work,” she said.

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The Jewish Museum will present Ezra Jack Keats: A Creative Response, on Thursday, October 17 at 11:30 am. In this lecture, Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Jerry Pinkney shares his reflections on Ezra Jack Keats‘s work and the role of diversity in children’s literature. This lecture is presented in conjunction with the Museum’s new exhibition, The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats, on view at the Museum from September 9, 2011 through January 29, 2012.

Pinkney has written, “[Keats’s] role in giving an African-American a central part in the story was a benchmark in mainstream publishing. Using his skill as a painter and his compassion as a humanist, he enthralled, entertained, and educated children as well as adults.” When creating illustrations for the book John Henry, written in collaboration with Julius Lester, Pinkney turned to Keats’s John Henry: An American Legend for inspiration.

Tickets for this program are $15 for the general public; $12 for students and seniors; and $10 for Jewish Museum members. For further information regarding programs at The Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3337, or visit the Museum’s website at www.TheJewishMuseum.org.
A native of Philadelphia, Jerry Pinkney has been illustrating children’s books since 1964, illustrating over one hundred titles, and is the recipient of five Caldecott Honor Medals, a Caldecott Medal, five Coretta Scott King Awards, and four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards.

His books have been translated into sixteen languages and published in fourteen countries. In addition to his work in children’s books, Pinkney has had over thirty, one-man exhibitions, at venues such as the Art Institute of Chicago; the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; the Brandywine River Art Museum, Chadds Ford, PA; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY; and The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. He has held several professorships and taught at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; the University of Delaware, Newark, DE; and the University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. He lives with his wife in Westchester County.

The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats is the first major United States exhibition to pay tribute to award-winning author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983), whose beloved children’s books include Whistle for Willie (1964), Peter’s Chair (1967), and The Snowy Day (1962). Published at the height of the American civil-rights movement and winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal, The Snowy Day became a milestone, featuring the first African-American protagonist in a full-color picture book. The Snowy Day went on to become an inspiration for generations of readers, and paved the way for multiracial representation in American children’s literature. The dilapidated urban settings of Keats’s stories are also pioneering – picture books had rarely featured such gritty landscapes before. The author and illustrator was born Jacob (Jack) Ezra Katz in Brooklyn. His parents were Eastern European Jewish immigrants and very poor. Primarily self-taught, he drew upon memories of growing up in East New York, one of the most deprived neighborhoods in New York City. Yet his work transcends the personal and reflects the universal concerns of children. Keats used lush color in his paintings and collages and strove for simplicity in his texts. The exhibition features over 80 original works by the artist, from preliminary sketches and dummy books, to final paintings and collages, including examples of Keats’s most introspective but less-known output inspired by Asian art and haiku poetry.Documentary material and photographs will also be on view. Following its New York City showing at The Jewish Museum, The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats will travel to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA (June 26-October 14, 2012); the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA (November 15, 2012-February 24, 2013); and the Akron Art Museum (March-June 2013). The Jewish Museum exhibition is part of a wide-scale celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Snowy Day.

An infrared assistive listening system for the hearing impaired is available for programs in the Museum’s S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Auditorium.

Public Programs at The Jewish Museum are supported, in part, by public funds from by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Major annual support is provided by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. The stage lighting has been funded by the Office of Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. The audio-visual system has been funded by New York State Assembly Member Jonathan Bing.

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The 20/21 British Art Fair at the Royal College of Art opens the new sales season after a summer of discontent.

Back in 1955, the travelogue series, “Guided Tour,” came to Richmond to film an episode about the city.

The short film, shot in black and white, explains that Richmond is home to 365,000 people, with major highways like U.S. Route 1 and Route 60 running through town.

The narration highlights the “world famous shrines” to Civil War heroes like Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue and boasts that the art collection at theVirginia Museum is “valued at more than $5 million.

“Showing a picture of a freight train moving through town, it proudly states that the city is a hub of industry and commerce—”first among them tobacco, where more than 110 billion cigarettes are produced each year.

“There is one black person shown in the entire film, a caretaker. Playing in the background are well-known Southern melodies including “Dixie” and “Swanee River.”

My, how things have changed.

You don’t have to go back 50 years—try 30, or 10. Or last spring.

A bustling, new-world metropolis Richmond now has 200,000 people, but roughly a million residents live in the greater metro area. Interstate roadways form a high-speed asphalt ring around it, connecting every square mile of former farmland-turned-suburb to the city.

A statue of African-American tennis great Arthur Ashe, a native son, now sits at the entrance to Monument Avenue’s stone parade of Confederate heroes.

By law, all Virginia restaurants, including those in Richmond, the former tobacco capital of the world, are now smoke-free.

And the soundtrack to the story of the city is not a twangy, old-timey melody, but a modern symphony: The buzz of 32,000 college students from all walks of life, amid the bang of construction crews erecting another building downtown on the ever-expanding campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

The neighborhood chatter of the Saturday morning farmers market at Forest Hill Park, and a cul-de-sac cocktail hour in a Chesterfield subdivision.

The cheers echoing off the rafters of renovated downtown performance spaces after concerts—not just by the Richmond Symphony—but Noah-O. The bustle of eager art lovers crowded into a Picasso exhibit at the VirginiaMuseum of Fine Arts and along Broad Street storefront galleries during First Friday Art Walks. And the Saturday morning hustle of soccer moms and dads at Short Pump Town Center, looking for shin guards before their daughter’s afternoon match at Striker Park.

And always, the timeless roll of the James River, flowing through the heart of the city—carrying whitewater kayakers today the way it carried Captain Christopher Newport, John Smith and the first English explorers to Richmond’s leafy banks more than 400 years ago.

Revisiting history Centuries after its settlement, Richmond is dense with history. But during the last 30 years, it has undergone a dynamic transition and growth that again makes it a place waiting to be discovered.

“We have a unique blend of cultural and natural resources that live side by side,” said William Martin, president of the Valentine Richmond History Center. “It’s not just the importance of history, but it’s history plus.”In today’s Richmond, “That’s the way we’ve always done it” is no longer the way it’s always done.

“It’s like my canvas,” said Richmond-raised Lucy Meade of the civic group, Venture Richmond. “This incredible, ever-changing canvas. Every time you look at it, it’s different. It’s not rococo—it’s a modern work of art.”

That work has many foundations. The city’s history is one of them. In Church Hill, there is St. John’s Church, where Patrick Henry uttered his famous “Give Me Liberty” speech rallying Virginia to revolution in 1775.

Downtown, sandwiched by the VCU Medical Center, is the White House of the Confederacy, which housed Jefferson Davis during the Civil War.

A couple of blocks away, on a hill, is the beaming white state capitol building, designed by Thomas Jefferson, home to the nation’s longest sitting legislature.

Richmond’s story has broadened in recent years to become more inclusive and embrace parts of its past that were previously ignored.The city’s role as a slave trading capital of the colonies has been recognized with the establishment of the Richmond Slave Trail. There are plans to excavate a slave burial ground in Shockoe Bottom.

Civil War 150th anniversary exhibits at the Library of Virginia and the Virginia Historical Society delved into both sides of the story. A statue on the capitol grounds, the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial depicts Prince Edward High School student Barbara Johns and her 1951 protest against the state’s massive resistance policies that led to school segregation.

“The whole race issue has held us back for so long because nobody wanted to talk about it,” said Richmond resident Leighton Powell, executive director of Scenic Virginia.

“Now everybody’s getting on board, realizing you can’t hide history, you can’t pretend it didn’t happen. But if you do it the right way, it can become a teaching tool, and if you do tourism right, it can pay for everything you need in this city.”Investment in the arts in recent years also has paid dividends for Richmond. More museums, more galleries, more young artists, thanks to VCU’s celebrated arts program, have taken up residence in Richmond.

Creativity driving growthA $150 million expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was capped with the landing of an extensive exhibit of the works of Picasso, which drew more than 230,000 visitors and generated $29 million in economic impact for the region.”It is an indication, yet again, that Richmond is poised, ready and willing to move into the future,” said Alex Nyerges, director of the VMFA.”Richmond has become a vibrant center of creativity and activity and it’s all blending together at the right time. It’s not just a renaissance, it’s a coming of age.”

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Americans left cities in droves to discover suburban life and the promise of more space, less crime and strong schools. Retail businesses followed, deserting downtowns for upscale indoor and outdoor malls designed to replicate the “town-like” lifestyle of their former homes.In suburban Richmond, retail remains dominant, offering residents of the region the chance to buy just about anything within a 30-minute drive.But unlike other cities, when people wanted to return to urban living—lured by affordable housing, safer streets and an engaged, diverse community—Richmond’s neighborhoods had plenty of authenticity to offer.

“Our urban character contributes to our economic growth,” said Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones. “We have livable, walkable, neighborhoods that help attract and retain an eclectic, educated and diverse workforce.”

Artist Eliza B. Askin has been to them all—Church Hill, the Fan, Northside, Bon Air, Rocketts Landing, and the list goes on. The former VCU art student’s ink-on-paper drawings of Richmond places has kept the Northside resident inspired for 30 years.”I never run out of things to draw,” she said. “It’s been a great city to me. It’s like a small town, but it is a city,” she continued. “The neighborhoods all have their own bars and restaurants and personalities and feelings about their schools and councilman. That combination is what is so old-world about Richmond, even though it is extremely modern. How all that connects defines the city to me.”

The best of the old, the best of the new

The modern Richmond is growing and increasingly diverse. For the first time in a decade, the city gained population. And in recent years, communities of Asians and Hispanics and Indians have come here, adding their own cultural brushstrokes to the canvas of the region with restaurants and festivals that celebrate their heritage. It’s not just souvlaki at the Greek Festival and Hanover tomatoes anymore.”There’s an energy fueled by people coming to the city,” added Martin. “Richmond has always had, as a community, the elements of an important and interesting place to live.”

Maybe the 1955 movie had it right after all:”Richmond,” it concludes, “where the best of the old is combined with the best of the new, making it one of the most interesting and charming cities in America today.”

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Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D., senior research associate at the Urban Institute and director of its Culture, Creativity and Communities Program, is the featured keynote speaker for “Community and Creativity” the 44th anniversary luncheon of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. The luncheon, a fundraiser for the museum, will take place Thursday, Sept. 15, at noon at the National Press Club Ballroom in Washington, D.C.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110909/DC65879)

The theme of the benefit is inspired by the museum’s “Call & Response: Community and Creativity Initiative” that focuses on traditional and non-traditional expressions of creativity found in everyday communities. “Exercise Your Mynd – BK Adams I AM ART” currently on view, features the fanciful sculptures, paintings and multi-media work of artist and former Anacostia resident Adams, and is the first of the initiative’s three multi-part exhibitions. The luncheon is organized by the museum’s advisory board, chaired by James Larry Frazier and tickets are $125. For ticket information, call (202) 633-4875, e-mail ACMinfo@si.edu or visit anacostia.si.edu.

An author and lecturer, Jackson has expertise in the areas of community, development revitalization and planning; urban race, ethnicity and gender politics and the role of arts and culture in communities. She has been published in academic and professional journals, edited volumes in the fields of urban planning, sociology, community development and the arts and served on the boards of various prominent national and regional arts organizations.

Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano, is honorary chair for the benefit. A native Washingtonian from Anacostia and a graduate of the famed Duke Ellington H.S. for the Arts, she is internationally recognized as vocal star of classical operatic music.

Artist and scholar David C. Driskell will be awarded the John R. Kinard Leadership in Community Service Award during the event. An authority on African American art and African Diaspora art, Driskell was honored with the 2001 establishment of an arts center bearing his name at the University of Maryland. Besides teaching at the university and chairing its department of art, Driskell has been cultural advisor to Camille O. and William H. Cosby curating their fine arts collection. Kinard was founding director of the Anacostia Community Museum from its inception until his death in 1989.

Receiving the Anacostia Community Museum Community Service Award is Mary Brown, executive director and co-founder of Life Pieces to Masterpieces. Brown was the 2010 Washingtonian of the Year in recognition for her organization’s innovative work teaching more than 1000 Ward 7 and 8 boys and men art to effect positive change in their lives.

The luncheon features a silent auction which includes work by renowned artists Sam Gilliam and Clementine Hunter as well as BK Adams. Maureen Bunyan, weeknight anchor for WJLA-TV7, reprises her 2010 role as mistress of ceremonies for this year’s event. Corporate sponsors of the museum’s 44th anniversary luncheon include CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and PEPCO.

The Anacostia Community Museum opened in southeast Washington in 1967 as the nation’s first federally funded neighborhood museum. Adopting its current name in 2006, the museum has expanded from a solely African American emphasis to a focus on social and cultural issues impacting urban communities. For more information on the museum, the public may call (202) 633-4820 or (202) 633-5285 (TTY); for tours, call (202) 633-4844. Website: anacostia.si.edu.

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Carnegie Museum of Art launches its much-anticipated exhibition of the photography of the late Charles “Teenie” Harris, an endeavor that is as much about American culture and Pittsburgh history — with a special focus on African-Americans — as it is about the art of image making.

The Frick Art & Historical Center displays works by the great House of Faberge, famed comic illustrator Alex Ross exhibits — and appears — at The Andy Warhol Museum, and a U.S.-Egypt artist exchange comes to Mattress Factory.

Pittsburgh artists shine at the final two iterations of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial, opening at The Warhol and CMU’s Miller Gallery (the final day to catch all five locations is Sept. 18 because The Carnegie’s closes after that), and at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual, this year at the Society for Contemporary Craft.

The Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh’s A Fair in the Park offers a last opportunity to enjoy art/crafts outdoors Friday through Sunday at Mellon Park, Fifth and Shady avenues, Shadyside

Following are other season highlights. Watch the Weekend Mag calendar for a complete listing of new shows as they’re announced.

CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART: The 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial continues through Sept. 18, with exhibiting artist Stephanie Beroes in town to screen and discuss her cult classic 16 mm film “Debt Begins at Twenty” at 6 p.m. Sept. 15 (a Culture Club night, opens at 5:30 p.m., $10 museum admission includes one drink ticket). Exhibiting artists Zak Prekop and Jamie Gruzska give gallery talks at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Culture Clubs will also be held Oct. 20 and Nov. 17. “Ragnar Kjartansson: Song” runs through Sept. 25, with an added video recently installed.

“Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story,” a retrospective of images of Pittsburgh’s Hill District by the late Pittsburgh Courier photographer, opens Oct. 29 (through April 8). A black-tie premiere gala will be held Oct. 28 (tickets start at $250; RSVP at 412-578-2552).

“Revealing the American Story: Personal Perspectives from the Teenie Harris Archive Advisory Committee,” a panel discussion about shaping the show, will be held 1-2:30 p.m. Oct. 29.

“Picturing the City: Downtown Pittsburgh, 2007-2010,” 86 recent images from nine contemporary photographers who call the city their home, has its opening reception 5:30-9 p.m. Sept. 22 and continues through March 25. Exhibiting artists Richard Kelly and Annie O’Neill give gallery talks at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23.

In The Heinz Architectural Center, “Palladio and His Legacy: A Transatlantic Journey” continues with an opening reception 7-9 p.m. Sept. 23 and symposium “Building Insights: Andrea Palladio” 1-3 p.m. Sept. 24 (free with museum admission). The exhibition runs through Dec. 31.

Other architectural events include the screening of “Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio,” on the late architect’s progressive program for impoverished residents of his county, Nov. 12, and a symposium, “Irish Architecture Now,” noon-2 p.m. Oct. 1 (both free with museum admission). Belfast native Cathy Wilkes has a solo exhibition Nov. 12 through Feb. 26 in the Forum Gallery.

The popular “What Are Museums For?” series returns Oct. 6. with Carnegie Museum of Art director Lynn Zelevansky on the museum as transformative leader. It continues Oct. 27 with the three 2013 Carnegie International curators on making the big show and Nov. 3 with Carnegie Museum of Natural History Director Sam Taylor on scientific and artistic thinking. The talks run 6:30-7:30 p.m., followed by a reception.

The 50th anniversary of the decorated Christmas trees in the Hall of Architecture will be marked by a Carnegie Trees Preview Party Dec. 8 (tickets at 412-622-3325) and a Family Holiday Sing-Along Dec. 10. The Neapolitan Presepio returns Nov. 25 through Jan. 8 (except during tree set up Dec. 5-8). (412-622-3131).

THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM: One of the five sections of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial, “Gertrude’s/LOT,” opens with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 17 during which special performances will be given by exhibiting artists T. Foley, Amisha Gadani, Vanessa German and Jill Miller’s “The Milk Truck” (through Jan. 8). Exhibiting artist Madelyn Roehrig will present two videos from her ongoing project “Figments: Conversations with Andy,” 2 p.m. Nov. 5.

The Word of God series, examining the texts of major world religions through contemporary art, wraps up with “Max Gimblett, The Sound of One Hand,” Sept. 17-Nov. 13, and “Jeffrey Vallance” Dec. 11- Feb. 5. Mr. Gimblett will give a talk at 2 p.m. Sept. 17 followed by a shared reception with the Biennial. He will conduct workshops on Sumi Ink Painting Saturdays Oct. 8-22 or Sundays Oct. 9-23 ($95, members $86, includes materials, space limited). In conjunction with “The Sound,” gallery meditations and discussions will be led by Buddhist monks and teachers Oct. 15, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12. Mr. Vallance will talk at 2 p.m. Dec. 11 followed by a reception.

“Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross” opens with a Heroes & Villains Unmasked Party 8 p.m. Oct. 1, with Mr. Ross in attendance ($35, members $30). He will conduct a private exhibition tour for 30 people at 1:30 p.m. ($250) and will autograph collectables 3-5 p.m. (free with museum admission). He’s created an artwork for The Warhol available as a limited edition poster at the museum exclusively. A related film series begins 7 p.m. Oct. 7 with “Flash Gordon” with star Sam Jones in person; films also Oct. 21, Nov. 4, Nov. 18 and Dec. 2.

“Fifteen Minutes: Homage to Andy Warhol,” an exhibition in sight and sound by artists associated with or inspired by Andy Warhol, runs Oct. 1-Jan. 8. (412-237-8300).

THE FRICK ART MUSEUM: Sunday is the last day to see “PAN — Fin de Siecle Prints: Art Nouveau on Paper.” “Faberge: The Hodges Family Collection,” more than 100 objects that go beyond the ubiquitous egg, opens with a gala Russian-inspired party on the museum’s terrace Oct. 21 ($250, purchase tickets at ext. 584). The exhibition’s public opening is Oct. 23 and it continues through Jan. 15. Related events include an Oct. 23 lecture by Stephen Harrison, curator of decorative art and design at The Cleveland Museum of Art; an Oct. 28 bus trip to explore “Russia in Pittsburgh;” a Nov. 6 University of Pittsburgh Carpathian Music Ensemble performance; and a Nov. 11 program on Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s automobiles (bus trip $75, $60 members; the others $10, $8; advance registration required for bus trip and Tsar’s cars, and recommended for the others). (412-371-0600).

MATTRESS FACTORY: “Neighbo(u)rhood,” different ways to visualize community, runs through Sunday. “Sites of Passage,” a guest-curated exhibition derived from an artist exchange between Egypt and the U.S., opens 7-9 p.m. Friday at the MF Annex Gallery, 1414 Monterey St. ($10), and continues through Jan 8. A performance work will occur at the opening; at sunset Sunday a second performance inspired by an artist’s five-week journey through revolutionary Cairo will be given. “Factory Installed,” new site-specific work by six international artists working in residence, opens 6-9 p.m. Oct. 28, continuing through Feb. 26 ($10). (412-231-3169).

WESTMORELAND MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: “Tattoo Witness,” photographs of tattoo culture by Pittsburgh artist Mark Perrott, opens with a reception 7-9 p.m. Sept. 16. Accompanied by “The Ink Spot,” images of individual tattoos submitted by community members and a place to record visitor tattoo stories, both through Oct. 16. Mr. Perrott will lead a gallery talk at 7 p.m. Sept. 23. Tattoos in culture, from sailors to us, is the topic of “Making Our Place in the World” 7 p.m. Sept. 30 by Ben Ford, IUP assistant professor who specializes in maritime and historical archaeology. “The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America’s Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011)” opens 6:30-to 8 p.m. Nov. 4, continuing through Jan. 22. The talk “Art in its Soul: Perspectives of an Art Colony” will be presented at noon Nov. 9. Two films about early Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann will be screened: “Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher, Teacher/Artist,” on his process, at 7 p.m. Dec. 16, and a 1950 documentary, “Hans Hofmann,” which visits his Provincetown studio and painting classes, at noon Jan. 4. Openings and events are free but reservations are appreciated for openings. (221 N. Main St., Greensburg; 724-837-1500).

PITTSBURGH CENTER FOR THE ARTS: The 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial continues through Oct. 23. Exhibiting artist Gregory Witt and others will talk at 2 p.m. Sept. 18 ($5). A Brunch Discussion with the Biennial Curators will be held 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 2 ($10). The exhibitions “2011 Artist of the Year,” Jon Rubin, and “2001 Emerging Artist of the Year,” John Pena, open Nov. 11, with a reception Nov. 18 (through Jan. 22). (412-361-0873).

PITTSBURGH FILMMAKERS: The 2001 Pittsburgh Biennial continues through Oct. 23, followed Nov. 4 by the “Center for Emerging Visual Artists” of Philadelphia exhibition, through Dec. 11. (412-681-5449).

SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT: “Bridge 11: Lia Cook, Mariko Kusumoto, Anne Drew Potter” continues through Oct. 22. “Faces Seen, Hearts Unknown,” an informal public dialogue about issues of identity, will begin at 1 p.m. Oct. 15. Ms. Kusumoto will conduct a private gallery tour Oct. 21 (call for information) and lead a workshop Oct. 22 (advance registration required). The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual Exhibition will open with a reception 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 11 and continue through Jan. 14. At the society’s BNY Mellon Center Satellite Gallery, Ohio glass artist Scott Goss’ “Glass Panel Series” continues through Oct. 9, then Brian Ferrell exhibits wooden furniture Oct. 12-Dec. 4 and Ann Coddington shows sculpture comprising basketry techniques Dec. 9-Feb. 12. (412-261-7003).

WOOD STREET GALLERIES: “Long Are the Days, Short Are the Nights,” recent Icelandic art, remains through Sunday. A component of “Long” is “Path: Installation by Elin Hansdottir” 943 Liberty Ave. “Parallel Universe,” dual technologies sharing a common vision, opens Sept. 30 (through Dec. 31). (412-471-5605).

SPACE: Two guest curators enliven the gallery’s season. Jill Larson’s “Extraction” will change during the exhibition run with the help of visitors (Sept. 23-Nov. 13), followed by Susanne Slavik’s “Out of the Rubble,” international artists considering the aftermath of war, Dec. 2-Feb. 5. (412-325-7723).

707-709 PENN GALLERIES: These Pittsburgh Cultural Trust galleries offer a full exhibition schedule, including “Felipe Garcia-Huidobro: Memory Shredder,” through Sunday; “Harish Saluja: Procession,” Sept. 23-Nov. 20; and “Ross Mantle: In the Wake,” Nov. 25-Dec. 31, at 707; and “Stephanie Armbruster: In Search of Something More,” through Sunday; “Thomas Bigatel and Peter Johnson: Universal Expressions: Movement in Multiple Dimensions,” Sept. 23-Nov. 13; and “Thomas Norulak: Detritus,” Nov. 25-Jan. 1, at 709. (412-325-7017).

CRAWL: The fall Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District is 5:30-9 p.m. Sept. 30.

SILVER EYE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY: “HomeFrontLine: Reflections on Ten Years of War Since 9/11,” 11 documentary photographers and photojournalists explore the far-reaching impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, opening with a reception 3-6 p.m. Sept. 11 (ending Dec. 10). (412-431-1810).

THE PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER: “10 x 10 x 10,” small works by more than 200 glass artists, continues through Sept. 17. The Art on Fire Celebration and Glass Art Auction will be held Sept. 23 ($95).?(412-365-2145).

REGINA GOUGER MILLER GALLERY: One of the five sections of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 16, preceded by a tour with curator Astria Suparak and exhibiting artists at 5 p.m. (continuing through Dec. 11). Other events are planned to complement the show. (At CMU, 412-268-3618).

HUNT INSTITUTE FOR BOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION: “Botany and History Entwined: Rachel Hunt’s Legacy,” gems from the founder’s collection, marks the 50th anniversary of the Hunt Institute, Sept. 16-Dec. 15. Among many complementary events is the talk “USDA botanist B.Y. Morrison and his forward-thinking secretary, May Blaine,” 2 p.m. Sept. 18. Admission is free. (At CMU, 412-268-2434).

UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY: “On a Lucky Day a Surprising Balance of Forms and Spaces Will Appear,” an exhibition of faculty work, will have an opening reception 5-7 p.m. today, and continue through Oct. 21. Exhibiting artists will speak at noon on Sept. 21 and 28, Oct. 5 and 12. (University of Pittsburgh, Frick Fine Arts Building, 412-648-2430).

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