I was always most interested in the life-size tomboy shown in Eastman Johnson’s Winter, Portrait of a Child. As organized by our Chief Curator Marina Pacini, the Winter child and Duveneck’s “doll” hung on opposing sides of a small gallery alcove. While Wheelright was depicted in a state not unlike sleep-walk, with glassy eyes fixed somewhere to the left of the viewer, limply toting a doll at her side; Johnson’s child seems to have but a minute to pose before she is off on her next adventure in the snow. Rosy-cheeked, mouth parted just enough to appear slightly out of breath, and in her hand is a string which pulls a sled. Winter has the scale of a painting in the Grand Manner, an aesthetic choice that connotes importance; yet it depicts a scene of the everyday – a young girl’s winter adventure, which would customarily be left to smaller genre works. It only makes sense that the girl we see in Winter is Johnson’s daughter.

It would be remiss to not mention Abbott Handerson Thayer’s Angel, based on his daughter’s image and painted while his wife was lying ill and would soon pass. Not only was she the starlet of our exhibition here in 2013, but it seems something was prodding this painting into popular culture 10 years ago as well. Angel graced the cover of Time magazine with the headline “The New Age of Angels: 69% of Americans Believe They Exist. What in Heaven is going on?”. Also in 1993, the indie pop band Superconductor released their album, Hit Songs for Girls, also featuring Thayer’s Angel.

Consider this our contribution to the New Museum’s recent show NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star. 

Seymour Joseph Guy
A Bedtime Story, 1878
oil on canvas, 34 x 27 1/2
Private Collection

]]> http://rebrooksblog.com/2013/05/22/goodbye-angel/feed/ 0 elizabethmariemurphy guy_a_bed_time_story thayer time mag copy Superconductor http://rebrooksblog.com/2013/05/20/alzheimers-art-therapy-tours/ http://rebrooksblog.com/2013/05/20/alzheimers-art-therapy-tours/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 21:17:34 +0000 elizabethmariemurphy http://rebrooksblog.com/?p=5266 ]]> When a docent gives a tour, there are multiple factors that he or she has to keep in mind: Am I boring the audience? Can everyone hear me? Did I give enough time to ask questions?’ The parameters can vary with the group, but they manifest themselves ten-fold when the patrons are of a certain age – and state of mind. Before Brenda Burgess, docent coordinator and Alzheimers’ Art Therapy guide, gives Tuesday’s  tour, she shared her experience of leading this group of grand individuals around the gallery spaces in a conversation with guest blogger Erin Williams.

“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.

HARAKIRI
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Japan | 1962 | 133 minutes
Thursday, May 2nd | 7 pm

SWORD OF DOOM
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
Japan | 1966 | 119 minutes
Thursday, May 9th | 7 pm

SAMURAI REBELLION
Director: Masaki Kobayahi
Japan | 1967 | 121 minutes
Thursday, May 16th | 7 pm

KILL!
Director: Kihachi Okamota
Japan | 1968 | 114 minutes
Thursday, May 30th | 7 pm

Click here for more information on all May films and to sign up for the mailing list.

Perhaps you have seen the flyer around town.*

Admittedly, it’s slightly tardy to post. Yes, Brooks’ screenings of King, Little Women, and War Witch have passed. But April showers have runneth over, and Sound City, Where the Yellowstone Goes, The Playroom, Django, and 56 Up are yet to come. If that glass isn’t full enough, here are two more reasons to pay attention:

1.) Discount tickets for students.
Brooks is now proud to offer student ticket prices. With a valid ID, students receive an average of $2 off each ticket. It ends up being $6 a pop more times than not (with special events, prices may vary). Reserve your seats by following the links to pre-sales here.

2.) The Brooks Films Bulletin.
This is like a micro-issue of your favorite film journal sent directly to your inbox every month, featuring films conveniently screening at a historical art museum near you (that’s Brooks). Sign up here.

*Haven’t seen the Brooks Films Screenings Calendar at your favorite haunt? Would you like to? Submit a calendar request and we’ll try to make that happen.

In the quarter-century that I have spent in and around the city that I refer to as my second home – the place where I spent more summers, weekends, holidays, weekdays and all the days in between with my extended family, not once had the time ever been taken to go to the Brooks Museum.

That time ended yesterday.

Of course, when you’re eleven years old and you have the option of looking at art versus checking out the interior of the Jungle Room, you can easily guess which one of those wins out. But I digress. Now that I have entered adulthood and have a say over where I spend my in-between time shifting from Whitehaven to Midtown and everywhere in between, I make it a point to include places that weren’t on my radar when I was a kid. In the past few years, I have developed a deep interest in arts and culture, and knew that a visit to the Brooks was in my near future.  In my arts education, I had only heard about, but never seen face to face, the style of work iconic to Romare Bearden. To see it on the last leg of my visit would be an Easter treat in itself, and therefore I had to go.

I was automatically tickled at the intricately placed yarn bombs as I walked up the entryway to the building, and stood back to admire the fluorescent media display that greeted me as I opened the door. Upon chatting and checking in with the friendly attendant, I circled downstairs on a mission to take in as much of the exhibit as possible. With a near-five hour drive and unfavorable skies ahead of me, I had to make good use of my time. I decided to concentrate squarely on the Bearden exhibit during my inaugural visit, but had I stayed longer, I’m pretty sure I would have spent the opening hours planted firmly in the exhibition’s spot. I asked for an iPod, which offered great audio explanations for every work, but eventually took off my headphones and studied each work for myself, just so I wouldn’t miss anything.

The images that stuck out the most to me were of Baptism – the faces conveyed the exact emotion and strength that one often sees demonstrated during such a life changing event; and of the goddess Circe; her adornments, vivid expression, and being surrounded by animals made me know she was not only important, but not to be messed with, especially in Greek mythology.

Bearden’s vision of portraying Homer’s work from such an artistic perspective was both ingenious and eye-opening. Each frame led you deeper and deeper into Odysseus’ journey – losing his men, being tempted by women, and fretting over his future – that you wonder if he will ever make it home. The opening statement helped to set the tone for what I was about to see – “As equally important as getting home is feeling  at home wherever we may be…like Odysseus, we are all travelers through uncertain seas, all striving to maintain our families and ourselves as we seek pathways home.”

Like many twentysomethings, I am in a phase where I toggle back and forth on a daily basis if I am doing the right thing, am I in the right location, will I remain in one spot forever, and – of course – what’s next. No matter the chaos and turmoil I may be facing before I arrive, I always feel at home and safe in Memphis, and fight fiercely to maintain my family ties and be true to myself. That a mythical character from eons ago was going through the same journey – and, more importantly, that I had something in common with Homer – helped to open my eyes to the landscape that Bearden created.

Though I knew how the story ended, I was relieved as I saw Odysseus inch his way home. I glanced at the time and knew that like our hero I’d soon have to make my way back too. As I collected my belongings and headed out the door, I realized how grateful I was to the fact that even though there was no book in sight, I felt I had just read the entire epic for myself, and understood it way better than Cliffs Notes would have explained. I left with a deeper understanding of Odysseus, awe and respect for Bearden, and calm for myself. Not only had I just added another place to call “home” on my Memphis map, but I realized that all roads, no matter how unpredictable or unyielding they may be, lead you to your destination. And that journey is one I now feel more prepared to take.

 Erin Williams is a multimedia journalist currently based in St. Louis.

A group known as the Memphis Knit Mafia rallied last month to weave a 21st-Century response to the Brooks’ Angels & Tomboys exhibition around the walkways, architectural elements, and pedestals punctuating the Museum’s outdoor plaza.

From MKM’s call to action, fellow Memphian knitters came forth; trafficking tote bag after tote bag chock-a-block vibrant swatches of knit work onto the grounds. The collaboration transformed, unseating any remnants of color from the Brooks’ chalk festival of the day before. It seems we had staged a weekend of innocuous park graffiti.

But while the chalk festival was guileless fun, knit bombing offers a bit more texture; especially if read alongside Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art, on view at the Brooks through Mother’s Day. The brainchild of Newark Museum curator Holly Pyne Connor is a manifold trove to its theme: Masterworks to cross stitch, genre painting to portraiture come together to represent shifting notions of girlhood felt throughout the 19th-Century – while America was coming of age itself. It never settles on an archetype, but makes one thing clear: By mid-century, girlhood had gone from a non-thing to something keenly considered. The conversation is certainly ongoing today.

If we exact the common thread (pun seemingly unavoidable) of women’s work, MKM’s outdoor installation harkens back to some of the earliest works in the exhibition: Two cross stitch samplers made by adolescent girls in 1836 and 1844. But whereas this hobby was enforced to ready girls for domesticity, the Memphis Knit Mafia didn’t have to practice sewing throughout adolescence to ensure they would be good mothers. And this is why in the 21st Century, knitting can be fun. And we still have good mothers.

Memphis Knit Mafia’s knit bomb will remain on display through April 11th at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN 38104

For tons of pictures, go HERE.

On Sunday, March 17th, the Brooks had the pleasure of hosting multi-media artist Wayne White. Originally from the wellspring of artistry of the American South, White is currently living on the west coast and in the loving arms of the art world for his “word paintings”. If this doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps you will be more familiar with his role in a certain cultural phenomenon: White was one of the original puppet masters of Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

Recently dispatched from the Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island, Florida, the artist appeared quite tan and fully inspired as he obliged the Q & A session that followed Brooks’ screening of Beauty is Embarrassing: The Wayne White Story, a documentary by Neil Berkeley that tracks the artist’s journey thus far.

“Hi, I’m Wayne White. If you ‘Q’, I will ‘A’”

And with this humble exposition, a smattering of positive inquiry unfurled from the audience in earnest. Artists, teachers, supporters of the arts, and even a man from White’s hometown provided the artist with a platform to divulge everything from the secrets to success (failure), to the best way to transfer a drawing to canvas (ballpoint pen). Effortlessly, his thoughts coalesced into sound bite lore: The insight of a formidable art-star packaged as Southern adage.

At one point, White expressed his dislike for the idea of having a guru, “I’m anti-guru.”
Indeed, he is….

Listed below are the highlights and zingers I managed to jot down, from both the Q & A and the documentary. Feel free to add to this list through comment or repost. If you didn’t make it to the Brooks that day,the film is offered here for $5.

• “Don’t believe your own press, and be careful what you wish for.”
• “I think of art as entertainment.”
• “…it’s introducing humor to the art world: Not art world humor, but real-world humor.”
• “I can tell you from being around them; famous people are insane. Celebrity really is for crazy people.”
• “I use the language people use. I love the ‘f-word’ because for me, it’s like humans barking.”
• “The rhythms of the banjo suit my nervous system.”
• “Limited resources are a great spark for creativity.”
• “I don’t believe in artist blocks, I make myself work. A lot of people don’t realize it, but art is hard work. I call it ditch-digging.”
• “A lot of inspiration is found in negative reinforcement. It’s not good for the soul to be celebrated all the time.”
• “People ask me what the secret to success is, and I say it is failure. It’s fail, fail, fail, fail, succeed…”
• “Leave your comfort zone, leave your town. People are always so proud of where they are from like they invented it. It becomes provincialism. Art does not feed off of provincialism.”
• “Most things are done out of fear: Fear of losing your job, fear of losing your house, fear of losing your wife. The world needs stuff done out of love. That is what these places are for – things built out of love.”