THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MUSEUM OF ART
Engaging, Enriching ... Essential
Welcome to the Museum's new newsletter! We hope you'll enjoy hearing from our staff about Museum exhibitions, programs, and events. Make sure to stay tuned to our website and social media for even more Museum news!

From the Director 
Friends:

It is with mixed emotions that I announce my resignation as Director of the UA Museum of Art effective July 30th, 2017.  While it is with both personal and professional sadness that I am leaving the UAMA, I am returning to Phoenix for a happy reason - to get married. My fiancée and I are looking forward to living in the same city as we begin this new adventure in our lives together.

It has been a privilege to lead the UAMA through such a transformative time in its history. The creation of the collaborative learning center, rebranding of the institution as a teaching museum, development of a new series of student-curated exhibitions, activation of the galleries as a curatorial laboratory, establishment of innovative transdisciplinary partnerships and collaborations (particularly the College of Medicine-Phoenix), completion of the first strategic plan in ten years, creation of exciting new mission and vision statements, new focus on student and faculty engagement, and launch of an initiative focused on visitor-centered exhibitions and edu-curatorial practices are all achievements that position the UAMA well for reaccreditation by the American Alliance of Museums.

During this upcoming period of transition, Associate VP for Research R. Brooks Jeffery will provide administrative oversight of UAMA, with the assistance of Senior Director of External Relations Meg Hagyard, while a leadership strategy is developed. They will work closely with the UAMA staff and stakeholders to ensure the quality of scholarship, community engagement programming, and the stewardship of our friends and supporters is sustained.
 
At this high point in the UAMA's history, I have great confidence in the future of UAMA as it embarks on the next chapter of leadership and impact.  I want to thank all of you who have contributed to the UAMA's success over the last three years and encourage you to continue your support.

-W. James Burns, PhD

Spring Exhibitions 
in Review
We recently finished a very creative and busy spring semester for exhibitions at the UAMA! From the complex issues of the U.S./Mexico border, as illustrated in
Northern Triangle, and Resilient Voices: The Art of David Tineo, to the student-curated exhibitions Bycatch, Coastlines, and Fame the museum galleries were activated in new ways. Verboten/Forbidden explored the Nazi's Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition of 1937 and we were grateful to partner with the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center, which used the exhibition for programming related Holocaust Remembrance Day.

From a recreation of a McDonald's Drive Thru complete with 3-D printed French fries, to stunning monumental photographs of refugees from Africa, this year's Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition highlighted important themes relevant to today's society while pushing the boundaries of what art can be. Perhaps most special was how many artists so willingly shared their personal stories with the world.

The spring also featured Exposed: The Art and Science of Conservation. Funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, this exhibition highlighted the professional field of art conservation and gave visitors a look into collections care, a side not normally seen by the public. In conjunction with this exhibition, a technical art history symposium brought together scholars from various departments and institutions across campus including: the Arizona State Museum, the Center for Creative Photography, the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, the Tree-Ring Lab, Materials Sciences, Optical Sciences, Anthropology, and Classics. Keynote speaker Brian Baade, professor of art conservation at the University of Delaware, gave a fascinating talk about painting reconstructions and their relevance to conservation. Our most recent programming for the exhibition was at Family Day-kids had a blast wearing art handling gloves and searching for damage on paintings with magnifying glasses!

-Olivia Miller, Curator of Exhibitions and Education
Sam Woolcott, Play day at the Playhouse, 2016, Acrylic paper on canvas
Visual Delights and Fanciful Flights of Imagination
May 27 - October 1, 2017

Bisbee, recently voted the prettiest town in Arizona, has long been a haven for artists. Nestled in the Mule Mountains just north of the border, Bisbee is a source of inspiration for many creative-types, including Sam Woolcott and Poe Dismuke.

Woolcott is a self-taught painter who later obtained a degree in fine arts, and Dismuke, an art school rebel and former ceramicist, is a sculptor and graphic artist. The pair discovered Bisbee fifteen years ago. Woolcott's abstract architectural paintings are inspired by the work of old masters and abstract expressionists. She wanders Bisbee daily looking for inspiration in deconstruction sites and the built environment. Woolcott works on-site, chronicling structures and spaces as they change. Dismuke's sculptures are constructed of recycled materials, taking the form of oversized insects and other animals as well as fanciful creations he calls "alteraniums." He co-founded Bisbee's annual artist's soap box derby, the Bisbee Rolling Arts Transport Society (BRATS), and recently published a graphic book " Stumble Bones: Da Funny Pages." Woolcott and Dismuke are Bisbee treasures that have long been overlooked; this is their first-ever joint museum exhibition. 

-W. James Burns, PhD
Erin Currier, The Harvesters, 2015 Mixed media collage and acrylic paint on panel. Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Edward J. Gallagher, Jr. Memorial Fund
Erin Currier: La Frontera
We were first introduced to the work of Erin Currier while exploring the holdings of the Tia Collection; we happily included two of her mixed-media paintings in the exhibition Modernist Intersections: The Tia Collection held last year. Noting that students, faculty, docents, and staff all engaged with her work during the run of the exhibition, we made the decision to purchase The Harvesters. We are beyond proud to add it to the museum's permanent collection.

Currier's work is a reflection of the realities of contemporary society. In her own words she describes the motivations behind her work, "The more I travel, the greater my sense of urgency as an artist to address social inequality and economic disparity through my work. Above all, I am a humanist artist, politically active and unapologetically narrative in my repertoire of practices, and for whom art and the social world are inseparable."

The Harvesters  pays homage to three of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) cofounders: Gerardo Reyes Chavez, Nely Rodriguez, and Lucas Benitez. CIW is a human-rights organization in Florida that fights for living wages and safe conditions for migrant farm workers. You will have the chance to see this work, and many others this fall, in a solo exhibition of Currier's work at the Museum. La Frontera runs September 28, 2017-January 7, 2018 with a public reception on October 12.

-Olivia Miller, Curator of Exhibitions and Education
Cranach in Germany
If you happen to be in Germany this summer, visit the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf to view Cranach: Meister, Marke, Moderne, closing on July 30, 2017. The Museum has lent its Virgin and Child, 1513-1514, by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, from the Kress Collection.

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is being commemorated all over the world in 2017 - including an exhibition and tour of prints at the Museum, and other events across campus. Cranach's patrons were fervent supporters of Martin Luther and the Reformation, and many of his prints and paintings promoted the movement. The exhibition in Düsseldorf displays works by Cranach, as well as artists he has influenced down through the centuries into contemporary times.  The exhibition is made more special for the Museum, due to the fact that the painting is reunited with its  two wing panels , which depict Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara, both in the collection of the Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic.

The Museum has many more pieces out on summer loans, including at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice (Mark Tobey's Dem Licht Entgegen ( Toward the Light), the De Young Memorial Museum in San Fransisco (Stuart Davis's Adit #1), and at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana (Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's Spam). 

-Kristen Schmidt , Registrar
Intern Update
Willa Ahlshwede
Becky Black


Xoe Fiss


The Museum is lucky to work with talented student interns from across The University of Arizona. Below are highlights of  their new opportunities. 

Willa Ahlshwede, MA, Art Education
Willa is an MA student graduating this May, 2017 in Art and Visual Culture Education, emphasis on Museum and Community Art Education.  Interning at the UAMA in 2016, Ahlshwede helped to produce the Operation Military Kids community art program at the UAMA. This program resulted in the exhibit, "Art in Service: Military Families Create." Willa was also able to use this project as the case-study for her research. Her thesis, Affective learning in the museum: Community-based art education with military and veteran-connected families provides other museums best practices for working with military families.  Willa will be presenting about this program and exhibition at the annual Association of Academic Museums and Galleries in Eugene, OR, this June.

Becky Black, Ph.D. candidate, Art & Visual Culture Education
Becky is a PhD student graduating May, 2018, in Art and Visual Culture Education, emphasis on Museum and Community Art Education. As part of her graduate assistantship position here at the museum this past year she has developed interdisciplinary lesson plans for undergraduate survey courses using the UAMA collections.  Becky Black received a prestigious fellowship this summer as the Gallery Interpretation Fellow at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. While in Houston, Becky will be finishing her dissertation, titled Understanding how perceptions of power and identity influence student engagement and pedagogy in undergraduate art history survey courses.

Xoe Fiss, MA,  Art Education
Xoe Fiss was our Art and Visual Culture Education graduate assistant in 2015/2016. During her year at the UAMA she developed a choice-based resource station for all visitors in the UAMA lobby called "Connect/Create." This center fosters museum literacy skills by providing visitors with a choice of different ways to participate and explore the galleries in the museum. This May, Xoe accepted a position at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. As the K-12 Curator of Education, Xoe is responsible for planning and facilitating all K-12 programs for museum visitors and community organizations, training docents, and much more! 
Meet the Tinkerlab!

The Museum is thrilled to announce a new summer offering, the Tinkerlab. The Tinkerlab is a makerspace that will take over the Art Lab gallery from June 10- September 3. What is a makerspace? Makerspaces are environments that foster experimentation, invention, problem solving, and creativity. These creative environments are in many ways a throw-back to the artist studios of the Renaissance, where art, invention, and science were not considered separate disciplines.

The Tinkerlab features activities that combine art, science, engineering for kids (and adults!) of all ages. All activities will foster critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration through fun, hands-on engagements all summer long! While it will be hot outside, the Museum offers cool, educational and inspiring activities for the entire family.  The lab will always be stocked with hands-on activities, and you can visit our website for the Tinkerlab schedule of mentor-led activities! All activities are included with Museum admission.

Special thanks to The University of Arizona College of Engineering and The University of Arizona Libraries iSpace for their support of the space and programming!

-Chelsea Farrar, Curator of Community Engagement

Member Updates
We love our members! Continue reading for a Museum supporter highlight and news on all the upcoming member happenings!

The Jessup Legacy
For the Jessup family, the Museum has always been a part of life. Kay Jessup worked at the Museum from 1977 to 1989 in several roles, including as Interim Director. Her son Pat Jessup, a realtor with Long Realty, is an active supporter of the Museum and member of the 1954 Circle Leadership Team.

While Kay Jessup passed away in 2001, her legacy lives on at the Museum with Pat's involvement and with the Jessup Scholarship, which funds a graduate level museum intern position. Pat said that he wanted to establish the scholarship " to do something to help the museum, and the education department specifically. That was her life's work." The Museum meant a lot to his mother, who he describes as " the glue that held the Museum together. She saw the Museum through two different directors and helped move it from a gallery to a fine university museum with an exceptional collection. She helped shepherd the Francisco Zúñiga sculpture gift/purchase. Her personal friendship with Yulla Lipchitz helped attract the Lipchitz gift."

Pat remembers coming to the Museum as a child to visit his mother and getting his first glimpses of the collection. Those impressions stuck with him, and he has remained involved with the Museum, calling it " a source of stability in my life. It has been a place of entertainment, refuge, refreshment and time out from an otherwise hectic world. UAMA has one of the finest art collections in the State and is truly an exceptional university museum. Not only should people support the UAMA, they should also visit often."

Supporters like the Jessups help make Museum exhibitions and programs possible. For information on donating to the Jessup Scholarship fund, contact The University of Arizona Foundation. 

Tinkerlab After Hours - A Members' Appreciation Event 
June 15, 2017 5 - 8pm
Join us for a
make-and-take members' appreciation event inspired by
Tinkerlab. This event will feature opportunities for our members to become the makers in the Museum with activities hosted by the UA's iSpace , the Sonoran Glass School , and the Drawing Studio . Join us and your fellow members for a night of music, refreshments, and fun!   


Become A Member!
Your membership ensures the Museum can offer access to an outstanding collection as well as a space that encourages active dialogue and exploration of the arts. In addition to the many ways you make an impact with your support, you will receive benefits such as free year-round admission, access to gallery tours and studio visits, and much more!
 
There are many ways to join! Click here to choose your sign-up method.

Upcoming Programs and Events

Poe Dismuke,  Russet Rover , 2016, Mixed media dacron
Tinkerlab After Hours - A Members' Appreciation Event 
June 15, 5 - 8pm
Join us for a make-and-take members' appreciation event inspired by Tinkerlab. 
Learn More


Opening Reception:
Visual Delights and Fanciful Flights of Imagination
July 29, 5 - 7 pm
Join us for an opening reception celebrating Bisbee artists Sam Woolcott and Poe Dismuke.


Mapping Q Opening Reception
August 17, 5 - 7 pm
Join us for a preview of 
Mapping Q,  where you can get a first glimpse at the art! Visitors will also have the opportunity to meet the artists and enjoy music at the Museum.

Art Sprouts
9:30 am
May 24, June 14, June 28, July 12, July 26, August 9 & August 23
Art Sprouts is a fun story time and art making event for families with children ages 2-5. Adults and their children will explore works of art, move their bodies, read a book, and investigate objects and art materials.

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