My Dream Internship at RMA
As I walked up the steps of the Rollins Museum of Art this morning, I couldn’t believe the summer had passed so quickly. On May 16, I started my dream internship as the Association of Art Museum Directors intern at…
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Work of the Week: Gertrude Käsebier, “The Red Man”
Gertrude Käsebier was an early supporter of the Pictorialism movement, which sought to reverse the idea that photography could not be painterly. Joining the likes of Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen in the Photo Secession group, she adopted several older, labor-intensive printing styles, used alternative chemicals that yielded more nuanced tonal ranges, and reworked her plates with paintbrushes and other methods before printing. In the pictorialists’ hands, photography was art and being a photographer was a professionalized artistic craft.
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, From the RMA Collection
As an artist and activist, Ringgold’s career has been dedicated to exploring themes of race and gender equality. She grew up in the creatively fertile Harlem Renaissance, a time and place where perceptions of black culture and identity were redefined. Her work incorporates the narrative traditions of quiltmaking and African American history with great resonance, serving as platform to share her story and that of those before her.
Work of the Week: Juan Travieso, “Lonesome George”
Travieso’s work is ripe with environmental concerns and a call for action. The jarring effect ofhis spliced paintings serves as commentary regarding the negative impact of humaninterference in natural ecosystems, frequently referencing species’ endangerment andextinction. These themes reflect a compassion for the vulnerable and under resourced, alikely byproduct of growing up in communist Cuba. He also credits his use of bright andexpansive color palettes to the lack of art materials available to him on the island at the startof his artistic career. Lonesome George raises important questions regarding the ties between man and nature, asking for careful consideration as we inch closer to the pointwhere humans become victims of their own circumstances and reflecting on the ripple effectsof even the smallest actions.
Work of the Week: Danh Vo, “We The People”
Danh Vo’s We The People sheds light on the fragility and malleability of the concepts of freedom and democracy. Created as a series of 250 pieces, it recreates a full-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty, originally constructed by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. Vo intentionally broke up the replica, its many pieces entering the permanent collections of museums worldwide. The fragments’ diasporic trajectory recall the multiplicity of individual journeys that made their way at the foot of Lady Liberty as they reached Ellis Island. Inherently woven into its many segments is the lingering symbolism of the immigrant dream. But the stakes of that dream have changed, revealing the intricate power systems controlling the arm of democracy.
Work of the Week: Marcus Jansen, “Plot #2”
Marcus Jansen (American, b. 1968) Plot #2, 2018, oil, enamels, mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 in. Given by Barbara and Theodore Alfond in honor of Anca Giurescu, Ena Giurescu Heller, and Eliane Heller – three generations of courageous…
Work of the Week: James McDougal Hart, “Summer Landscape”
James McDougal Hart (American, 1828-1901), Summer Landscape, 1857, Oil on canvas, 12 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. Purchased with funds from the Michel Roux Acquisitions Fund 2007.7 (This was originally published in Spring of 2021) Like Dr. Grant Hamming describes…
Work of the Week: Rafael Trelles, “La autopista del sur (The Southern Highway)”
At its simplest definition, Magical Realism is a genre of art (including visual art and literature) characterized by the inclusion of fantastical elements or events in an otherwise realistic setting. The term was most famously first applied by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier to describe what he saw as a growing trend in Latin American literature of the time, and is most famously associated with Latin American art. Although Magic Realism is often labeled as Surrealism, the key difference is that Surrealism is based in images of the subconscious, of dreams, and Magic Realism deals in, well, reality.
Work of the Week: Caitlin Keogh, “Renaissance Painting”
Caitlin Keogh (American, b. 1982), Renaissance Painting, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 63 in., The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Gift of Barbara ’68 and Theodore ’68 Alfond, 2016.3.15., Image courtesy of the artist and Bortolami, New York. If…
Work of the Week: Antonio Martorell, “¿Quéslaque? Es que la…”
Antonio (“Toño”) Martorell (born 1939) is a Puerto Rican multi-media artist, educator, and writer, and a pillar of Caribbean contemporary art history. An intellectual, an artist of artists, and an artist of and for the people, Martorell‘s prolific body of work spans over six decades, consistently making references to the histories, diversity and resilience of Puerto Rican culture in face of adversity.
Work of the Week: Amy Sillman, “After Metamorphoses”
Amy Sillman (American, b. 1955), After Metamorphoses, 2015-16, Single-channel video on 5:25 min. looped, color, sound. The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Gift of Barbara ’68 and Theodore ’68 Alfond, 2017.6.62. Image courtesy of the artist. My first introduction to Greco-Roman…
Work of the Week: Shirin Neshat, “In Deference”
Shirin Neshat (American, Iranian, b. 1957), In Deference, 2018, Dye-sublimination on aluminum, 25 9/16 x 40 in. The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Gift of Barbara ’68 and Theodore ’68 Alfond, 2018.1.23. Image courtesy of the artist. I first encountered Shirin Neshat’s…
Art Encounters, Episode 2: “African Apparel: Threaded Transformations across the 20th Century”
In the second episode of our podcast, “Art Encounters,” Guest Curators Dr. Mackenzie Moon Ryan, associate professor of Art History at Rollins College, and two of her students Morgan Snoap ’20 and Cristina Toppin ’21, share insights on the new…
The Major Scale: African American Art in the 20th Century
A special three-part presentation of The Major Scale with Rollins Museum of Art’s exhibit, African American Art in the 20th Century, on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. With a bounty of bold and brilliant masterworks from the likes…
Art Encounters, Episode 1: Walt Whitman’s Bicentennial
How does one start working at a museum? What is a teaching museum anyway? Aren’t all museums in the practice or in the business of teaching? The Cornell Fine Arts Museum’s Director, Ena Heller; Curator, Gisela Carbonell; and Education Coordinator…