“You’re just trying to look for connections. Certainly, we’re more interested in what they see in the painting, and then talking to them about ‘What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find in the picture?’ And when you have a group of people, everyone gets a chance to contribute their thoughts – and everyone’s thoughts are important.”

“We have to really make sure that there are no major distractions. Part of what we do, of course, is we actually have these tours on Tuesdays, which Brooks is closed on Tuesdays. That way they are not a lot of noises or distractions and other people in the museum. It’s much quieter because folks are easily distracted or disturbed.”

“You have to be very cognizant of where you’re taking groups, because sometimes the area is just not large enough for everyone to be able to see and hear comfortably. For the Alzheimers tours, we do actually provide seating in the areas. We determine what area we’re going to go to and we actually put seats there so they can go and sit in front of [paintings]…so they’re not having to worry about moving around or standing on their feet too long. Obviously some people are in walkers or wheelchairs, so that’s something we have to think about too… as well as lighting! It’s really surprising how people who are seated see lights and such. There are a lot of reflections, and it can be very distracting.”

“[Sometimes I think] ‘Will I be able to have a conversation with them?’ and what I enjoy most is when you can have more of a running conversation with them and with several people. And you find out about their lives. THey will surprise you in a heartbeat. [In] the Tiffany exhibition there was some stained glass that had a landscape of windmills in Holland, and one of the gentlemen – he’d really been kind of semi-bored for several of the objects – but he got to that [and] he pulled his glasses off and looked at it a little more closely, and he started talking about a trip he had made to Holland once. He just became very animated, and it’s just kind of thrilling when you finally find that connection where they’re stimulated.”

“You want to spark memories, but you don’t want…to press people hard on any personal questions that might make them uncomfortable if they can’t remember. But you do want to ask folks to look at the art and talk about things. Sometimes you get different individuals speaking up about this that and the other and you can talk to them more, more back and forth, about a particular subject. These are people that have had amazing lives. [For instance], a gentleman – his wife, who is no longer living, was an artist. He talked about this and that related to just the artist’s side of doing artwork.”

“Enjoying having that conversation with them and learning more about them too and knowing that they appreciate it. They really seem to appreciate it so much.“

This month’s tour is themed around ‘Portraits,’ and will begin at 10:30 a.m. on May 21. Call 544-6215 to register.

Participating in the ABC (Art and the Basic Curriculum) Program through The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art exposed both my students and me to excellent lessons that highlighted how to successfully use art integration in the classroom. We were also privileged to take part in guided museum visits and activities that showcased the wonderful educational resource that is the Brooks.

Most of my students have lived in Memphis all of their lives but had not been to the Brooks before participating in this program. I have a combined fifth and sixth grade classroom of mostly boys who are between the ages of 10 to 12 – not a group that most would say would be interested in fine art. When, during our first museum visit, I saw my entire class sitting at attention (a difficult task for many a middle school student) and intelligently discussing the symbolism in a particular painting with our fabulous museum educator Ms. Brown, I knew we were taking part in something special.

Ms. Brown’s three visits to our classroom at Our Lady of Sorrows School in Frayser were equally rewarding for my students. They learned how to create a Sioux Winter Count – an activity that brought an ancient Native American tradition to life for them within the four walls of our classroom. Their study of plant and animal cells in science was reinforced by our final ABC lesson for the year, which consisted of creating a scientific illustration of a cell.

From having the opportunity to join in on an ABC teacher watercolor painting workshop earlier this year to seeing the growth in my students because of their participation in this program, I look forward to the interesting lessons and activities my students and I can expect for next school year!

This blog is written by Elizabeth Black, educator at Our Lady of Sorrows School.

It may qualify as a “buzzword,” but it is so much more. Defining what sustainability means to me in terms of food is complicated. It includes things like proper crop and livestock pasture rotation, growing foods that complement their environments, and using farming practices that won’t harm those environments. Farming in a way that is good for us to eat and good for the Earth is complex. Doing it a way that is economical is even more daunting.

It is natural and responsible to want to associate our food, businesses, and lifestyles with a word that implies “forever.” At the Brooks and the Brushmark, we are constantly evaluating the impact our footprint has on the Earth and learning new ways to make that footprint smaller – through biodegradable takeout boxes, induction stovetops, reduced linens to launder, local produce, etc. We learn from the local community and are grateful for the support and insight of local advocates like recent E-Cheivement Award recipient, Margot McNeely, and Project Green Fork. We are proud to be Project Green Fork certified and embrace their vision of a sustainable Mid-South. We hope that the steps we take now – both small and large – will mean a better future for generations to come.

This blog is written by Andrew Adams Chef de Cuisine for the Brooks.

While trying to think of an effective environment for socially-concerned art, I used to have visions of left-leaning galleries, street art, and house shows by small artist collectives. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t think of art museums. The word “museum” conjured images of quiet, chilly rooms housing  masterpieces being respectfully observed by a few individuals with clasped hands and raised eyebrows. However, my experiences at the Brooks and with my internship in the Education department began to gnaw on my preconceived notions of one-dimensionality and the Aztec dance performance during the Day of the Dead event definitely shattered them! The Brooks is so dynamic! I am so often inspired by conversations I’ve had with the staff in Education and others I’ve met here. The passion for art and to engage and educate the community is evident and it’s exciting to learn about and see the ways in which we do so.

I had no idea how much tedious effort it takes to organize an exhibition. Kathy Dumlao allowed me to help organize the student-created altar exhibition for the Day of the Dead event. This primarily took place through emailing, designing promotional and informative material for teachers, more emailing…and then a lot more emailing. I enjoyed the process, but it was not until the kids’ altars were installed and people began to enjoy and connect with them could I understand the richness of what we had been building.

Working on Peaceful Warriors: Aim For Change; showed me how involved the community could become in the exhibition. The photos and text in the show were created by high school students from Trezevant, Hutchison, and Westwood high schools after we visited with them in their classroom. My favorite part was that Karleen Gardner and Jenny Hornby allowed me to develop a powerpoint lecture in which I could use photography examples from the civil rights era and other revolutionary moments to babble on about what I’m most interested in: art and social change. The community then selected the photos for the exhibition on a facebook page. The images touched on a wide range of issues from gang activity to the importance of nutrition to animal cruelty. By focusing on “peaceful warriors” and their strategy to fighting a specific issue, the pieces offered a pathway to solution within their simultaneous focus on a problem. This gave the show a constructive, positive energy that inspired nonviolent action, yet it nicely accompanied the warrior theme of Armed and Dangerous: Art of the Arsenal.

It was exciting to see so many people in the auditorium for the student panel discussion that followed exhibition and to listen to the thoughts of the students and other community voices on the issues impacting our world. Together we pondered the meaning of  the exhibition and how a community can work together to face issues and I realized the active role a museum can play in fostering impactful dialogue.

I’m so grateful for all my experiences at the Brooks, all the fantastic people I’ve met, and the example the ladies in Education have given me of thoughtful, constructive thinkers and doers.

The museum had a great crowd this month due to the opening of the Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition, a Decorative Arts Trust lecture and the British Arrow Awards film. Those are three distinctive events all occurring in front of the eyes of all of the artworks the museum shows such as our extensive permanent collection that focuses on art that spans time to our traveling and in-house shows that represent so many interests…

Looking into the future, I believe that museums will offer even more to their cities. There are already so many possibilities and ways to turn an institution into exactly what you need it to be for you personally. One could come cost free on a Wednesday, have an inexpensive date on Thursday night or a picnic date on the weekend while lazily strolling around the museum with a full stomach. Or you could catch up with friends and family to eat and shop. I had no clue that museums offered so much! I look forward to seeing you here soon.

One provenance issue that has been of prime importance to museums in recent years is that of Nazi looting in WWII. A seminar that I attended in Washington D.C. in 2011 dealt primarily with this problem. During the war, Hitler and his officers confiscated many works of art during the invasion and occupation of Europe. Some works were taken from state museums, palaces, etc., others from Jewish family collections. After the war, rather than being returned to their legal owners, many of these artworks made their way to the art market, some resold a number of times, and they fell into public and private collections around the world.

In 2011 the Kress Foundation began the lengthy process of investigating WWII provenance issues regarding works collected by Samuel H. Kress that are now in museums and universities nationwide. Although the majority of the works have indisputable provenance, others have incomplete ownership data. Last November Fulvia Zaninelli, who is heading the Kress Provenance project from her office in the National Gallery in Washington D.C., made a trip to Brooks Museum to examine its Kress paintings as she has done at many other institutions. The images and information she has gathered here will be consolidated with those collected from other Kress recipients and any works that appear to have significant gaps in their provenance will be researched further.

Museums worldwide have taken up the task of researching their own collections to locate any of these objects and return them to their rightful owner. Success in tracing this type of information has been vastly improved due to the internet and many of the newly available resources were outlined and discussed at the Washington conference. Although it is still very time consuming, researching provenance can be extremely fascinating as you check old invoices, photographs, auction catalogues, publications, etc. to verify ownership history. And in the course of your investigation you never know what you may find along the way. In my own research I’ve found previous alternate titles for a work, ascertained that another painting had been cut down from its original size, and other evidence that consequently changed the date of a painting. Very much like searching one’s own genealogy, it takes you on different paths, and sometimes with surprising results.

Marilyn Masler
Associate Registrar

2012 Best Portfolio Kyle Owens “Commitment”

The Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards has been something I’ve looked forward to every year of high school. I always try to greatly improve my artwork and advance my concepts to enter for the following year. Winning a gold key is so exciting, and the chance to have my work in an exhibition at the Brooks is such an unbelievable opportunity.

2010 Best in Show, Senior Division, Kyle Owens, “Alone . . . “

I can remember my art teacher looking at some of my work during my freshman year and telling me about Scholastic. He advised me to do a piece specifically for it. I wanted it to be better than anything I had previously done. This resulted in me obsessing over one drawing the entire semester only for it to not win anything. After this, I began working much harder with art and striving to be better. Soon everything I did involved art. I was constantly thinking about it and just wanted to be the best I could possibly be.

“Forgotten” (this painting also received an American Visions nomination), Kyle Owens

Now I’m in my senior year in high school and have won several Scholastic awards the past three years including “Best-in-Show” my sophomore year, “Best Drawing” my junior year, and “Best Portfolio” this year. These accomplishments have been such an honor and I’m very grateful that there is a contest like this that honors all the young artists around the Mid-South.

2011 Drawing Award, Senior Division, Kyle Owens, “Vanity”

Next fall I plan on attending Memphis College of Art while continuing to hone every aspect of my art. Hopefully after college I will be able to make a living doing what I enjoy the most and continue doing so for the rest of my life.

-Kyle Owens

The Brooks staff discusses future shows several years in advance. Each meeting or preview lecture provided takes us one step closer to seeing the actual objects in person. When I learned about Armed and Dangerous, I was very excited to see all of the armor and weaponry throughout time! I thought to myself, my fiance always watches these war and roman-esque movies, maybe I can identify some of these things!

I grabbed our camera and snapped some great pictures (from a very safe distance, of course) of the installation. See them and other installations on our flickr page. Enjoy!

A & D is neat because it has taught me to look at objects which are primarily instruments of destruction as items that nonetheless reflect the art and aesthetics of various cultures. Artistic development as related to weaponry also inevitably leads to military history which offers a further perspective on the many facets of intercultural exchange. For example, the Chinese are generally considered to be the inventors of gunpowder and the first guns, but Europeans quickly took over gunpowder technology and harnessed its results for much more precise and deadly means than the Chinese had yet imagined.

I’m grateful to be working on a project that I will be able to see to its completion since A&D opens in less than one month. I will have learned how an assortment of various objects can come together under curatorial management and become a cohesive statement about the development of visual culture. At the same time, I’ve simply learned a lot of weapons and weaponry. (Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci invented a type of gun which became the forerunner for pistols today?)

Working at the Brooks, especially working so closely with its curator, has been a great opportunity for me which has definitely contributed positively to my thoughts on a future career in the art world. After the opening of A&D, I look forward to assisting with more projects and exhibitions, and I’m only saddened that my time here seems to be passing so quickly.

P.S. Armed and Dangerous: Art of the Arsenal opens November 12!

This blog is written by Amy Aughinbaugh, Exhibitions Intern for the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Photographs and video from the Brooks Museum’s summer In Focus program are currently on view in the Education Gallery through Oct 23, 2011. Memphis artist Thomasin Durgin worked with 30 adolescents from Girls Incorporated, a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. The focus of the program was portraiture through digital photography and included an introduction to stop-motion video.

Adolescents typically struggle with issues of identity and control over their own lives. Through portraiture girls are able to express who they are, and to show themselves as they want to be seen by the world. Many participants began the program with an eye for glamorous shots, yet photo assignments such as composing faceless portraits or choosing to depict specific emotions helped them begin viewing the camera as an artistic tool. Photographs were projected and reviewed at the end of most sessions, which encouraged dialogue and reflection. Composition, framing, lighting, and technical aspects of photography were introduced during these discussions s well.

An exceptional group of talented girls, the participants created work that is moving, creative, thoughtful, and fun.