Curatorial Lectures
I really love the National Gallery. It’s my favorite museum by design and acquisition and that it is so accessible. I used to work there and that probably has something to do with my continued affection for the NGA. When I first worked at the NGA, I was an intern in the Public Relations Office — the administrative side — before I worked later on the exhibition side. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn the behind the scenes tactics of what it takes to operate a famous and large-scale public art museum. Fortunately, I was able to do this with a Tonya Grant from my university. Normally this was…
Designing for Light
Back to the Hirshhorn, from yesterday's post. Director, Richard Koshalek, has asked Doug Aitken, a Los Angeles based artist to redesign the museum's bookstore and shop. I was amazed with what he's come up with. He's designed a space that refracts light with mirrored, angled walls. The shop is located in the basement and currently has no natural light. He intends on using a shaft to a window from the floor above as the light source. He came up with the idea based on what he thought books meant to him — "enlightenment." This was the illuminating idea to spark his creative process. The design will cost between $500,000 –…
Practical Painting
I read in interesting story in my local newspaper (Washington Post) about a teenage artist who had painted a 4 x 21 foot mural at his high school as a reaction (and with encouragement from his art teacher) to the assassination of President Kennedy. He was 17 at the time at The Washington Lee School. As John Kelly's article states, typically high school murals are painted directly on the walls and do not survive renovation. Luckily and wisely, Jon Friedman, the muralist painted his mural on sturdy paper. When The Washington Lee School was torn down, the mural was removed, stored and reframed and reinstalled in the new building. The…
