As a child growing up in Alabama in the 1950s and ‘60s, Jack Whitten was not permitted inside his segregated local museum in Birmingham. Now, the late artist is the subject of a major exhibition at the Met Breuer in New York. Its title, aptly, is “Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture 1963–2017” (on view through December 2).

As recently as 1992, a proposed tour of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Jean-Michel Basquiat retrospective was canceled when no other museums came forward to take it. Last spring, one of Basquiat’s paintings sold for $110.5 million, becoming the most expensive work by an American artist ever sold at auction.


 

​For many native San Diegans, class field trips to museums such as the Museum of Man or the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park often meant listening to heroic tales about Spanish explorers and friars who established the state’s first mission. The brutal treatment of indigenous peoples, however, was hardly touched upon.
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In recent years, however, a number of museums around the country, as well as in Balboa Park, have embarked upon journeys to “decolonize” both their collections and their messaging. Locally, this means changing not only how the story of San Diego’s past is told, but also who tells it. The San Diego Museum of Man in particular has been at the fore. Last year, it established the position of Director of Decolonizing Initiatives, which is currently held by Jaclyn Roessel. These actions and hires aim to identify colonizing practices in each of its departments and create a strategic plan for museum-wide decolonization. 

​The first Friday of each month is a special day for the arts in Phoenix.  Art galleries remain open late into the night, and city streets give way to artisans, food trucks, and performers.  Thousands of people – young and old – gather to enjoy, support, and appreciate the arts.  As we do most First Fridays, my daughter and I are on the Artlink Trolley, which connects the arts districts of Phoenix. We arrive at the Heard Museum and it has never been more evident that the mission we set out to achieve nearly three years ago with the museum – to engage new audiences and celebrate contemporary Native American artwork – has been accomplished.  The entry court is packed with visitors who’ve come to see the new exhibit Dear Listener by Nicholas Galanin, an artist the New York Times called a “standout,” while the music of experimental hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces echoes from inside.  The vibrant, celebratory spirit of First Friday and the Heard Museum are in full harmony.

The Cincinnati Art Museum has received a $500,000 grant to renovate and reinstall it's Near East installation. 

The Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will fund a restoration project for the Near East collection of art and archaeological material.

The project will be a "complete re-envisioning" of the 2,800-square-foot gallery, known as the Hanna Wing.
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The majority of the collection has been in storage since 2004 due to lack of gallery space, the museum said.

​OGUNQUIT, ME.- The Ogunquit Museum of American Art debuted three new exhibitions in mid-July that celebrate creativity across media. 

On view in the Little Gallery, Bill Viola: The Fall Into Paradise is a digital cinema installation that renders the human experience in a dramatic wash of water, light, and sound. Viola’s work offers a meditation on the instance of transcendental and spiritual breakthrough, tracing the artist’s continuing search for consciousness and empirical knowledge through art. Viola is a leading American artist and pioneering figure in video and the moving image. This installation marks the artist’s first exhibition in Maine and its presentation – immediately next to the sea – promises a compelling and profound experience. The show, organized by the Ogunquit Museum of American Art with the important assistance of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is generously supported by the Cliff House

​CLEVELAND, OH.- The Cleveland Museum of Art has collected exceptional Chinese paintings since its earliest days and has one of the most distinguished collections in the West. As responsible stewards of these important holdings, the museum has sought to increase the level of Chinese painting conservation expertise within the institution, and in turn throughout the United States. Today, the museum announces a transformative $1.5 million gift from June and Simon K.C. Li to establish a Center for Chinese Paintings Conservation. The Li gift matches a $1.5 million endowment challenge grant awarded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

“Chinese paintings are a special strength of our collection,” said William Griswold, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. “While these superb works occupy a critical place in Chinese art history, they also represent a major conservation challenge given the fragile nature of the materials used to create them. The shortage of qualified Chinese paintings conservators is a widespread dilemma faced by museums across the country. The generous gift by June and Simon K.C. Li and challenge grant from the Mellon Foundation will enable solutions that will effect great change in the industry and ensure the care of Chinese paintings for generations to come.” 

​A museum dedicated to the history of Philadelphia is closing its doors to the public, and it is unclear when — or whether — it will open them again.

The Philadelphia History Museum has been struggling to increase revenue for years. City officials were in talks with Temple University to form a partnership that might keep the institution afloat. But this week, they learned that the university had abruptly pulled out of the partnership discussions, leaving the museum’s future uncertain.

Michael DiBerardinis, the city’s managing director, said he learned about the university’s decision from news reports. “I’m still wondering what happened,” he said. “I still don’t have clarity.”

​PITTSFIELD, MASS.- Executive Director Van Shields is retiring from the Berkshire Museum. Dr. David Ellis will become interim Executive Director, as the museum undertakes a national search for Shield’s successor. 

“We are grateful for Van’s leadership and vision, especially through a challenging time,” said Elizabeth McGraw, President of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “Van helped chart a course to secure the museum’s future, true to our mission and responsible to our community. We wish our friend well in his retirement.” 

​Students—as both learners and curators—are leading the way at Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, which is due to reopen on 26 January 2019 after a closure of nearly three years for an expansion and revamp by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The $50m project expands the museum’s space by 50% to over 62,000 sq ft, adds six new galleries and renovates the museum’s original 1985 Charles Moore building (which was “not healthy”, Williams says, revealing rust and mould in the renovation process). “The museum is the largest classroom on campus,” says the director, John Stomberg.
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The museum had been studying needs for expansion for almost 20 years, says the deputy director, Juliette Bianco. She points to the inadequate classroom space—which had been carved out of previous storage space and could only accommodate fewer than 20 students—as a major factor in the expansion. This project triples spaces for classes, which include a range of disciplines across the university; museum education has shifted from “teaching about art, to teaching with art”, Stomberg says. The spaces are designed for “object-based learning”, so students—thanks to on-site storage—will be able to easily access and work directly with objects in the encyclopaedic collection of over 65,000 works.

​The School of Fine Arts will relocate its Master of Fine Arts program in Arts Administration to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the nation, further expanding UConn’s presence in the capital city since the opening of the new Hartford Campus last year.

Under a five-year agreement approved at today’s Board of Trustees meeting, the Wadsworth will provide 1,100 square feet of work space for students, a seminar room, and faculty offices for use by the three-year graduate program in Arts Administration.

“All of our students undertake intensive internships and hands-on research with arts institutions in Hartford. This partnership is mutually beneficial,” says Anne D’Alleva, dean of the School of Fine Arts. “We have national caliber arts institutions in Hartford. Our students will benefit from engaging with them. The arts institutions will benefit from working with bright, motivated, and dedicated graduate students.”