Studio 8: A Space Dedicated to Young People at Irish Museum of Modern Art

DUBLIN.- The new season of Studio 8 kicks off on Saturday 6 March with Irish artist Claire Halpin and Studio 8 Coordinator, Lynn McGrane, with a workshop that explores the IMMA Collection exhibition What happens next is a secret. This experimental exhibition examines notions of collection and curation, in response Studio 8 participants will develop ideas in the studio, working on creative concepts and making working drawings. They will discuss various aspects of curation, such as how the placing and [...]

Hope Alswang Named Executive Director of the Norton Museum of Art

WEST PALM BEACH, FL.- Hope Alswang has been appointed Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Norton Museum of Art, the Museum’s Board of Trustees announced today. She will assume her duties on April 15, 2010. Before joining the Norton Museum, for the past four years, Ms. Alswang was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Museum of Art at the highly-regarded Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, [...]

Tampa Museum of Art Unveils New Facility with Landmark Exhibitions

TAMPA, FL.- Executive Director Todd Smith announces the new Tampa Museum of Art schedule of exhibitions in conjunction with the public opening of the new building. Designed by noted architect Stanley Saitowitz of San Francisco-based Natoma Architects, Inc., the 66,000-square-foot glimmering metal mesh-clad structure is dynamically situated atop the new Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. The new museum building is named the Cornelia Corbett Center in honor of Cornelia Corbett, whose family provided the lead gift to the institution’s multi-million capital [...]

SOFA WEST Partners with Museum of New Mexico Foundation on Opening Night

CHICAGO, IL.- Mark Lyman, President, The Art Fair Company, announced an expansion of The Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s participation in the Opening Night Preview of the second annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair: SOFA WEST 2010 in Santa Fe, NM, Lyman says, “After the tremendous turnout of over 2000 persons at our first SOFA WEST preview gala last year, the Foundation plans an intimate, private Opening Night preview for its highest level supporters, inviting its Circles membership and [...]

Site-Specific Installation by Artist Kiki Smith at the Brooklyn Museum

BROOKLYN, NY.- “Kiki Smith: Sojourn”, a major site-specific installation that explores the ideas of creative inspiration and the cycle of life in relation to women artists, will be on view February 5 through September 12, 2010, in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. The exhibition will draw from a variety of work by Kiki Smith in a range of media including cast objects, unique sculpture, and works on paper. The artist will also incorporate her work into two [...]

Two Major Donations to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art

NEW ORLEANS, LA.- The Ogden Museum of Southern Art has recently received two major donations to its Permanent Collection: Artist David G. Spielman donated photographs from his “Southern Writers” series and local collectors Dr. Jerry and Carolyn Fortino donated paintings by Thomas Sully. David G. Spielman and “Southern Writers” Over a period of 210 days in 1997, artist David G. Spielman photographed 72 Southern authors, documenting these literary legends in their environs. The book, “Southern Writers: Photographs by David G. [...]

MFA Houston’s Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens Begins Dynamic New Chapter in Fall 2010

HOUSTON, TX.- This September, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens—the MFAH´s historic house museum for American paintings and decorative arts—will open the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center, greatly increasing the museum´s capacity for programming, outreach and scholarship in American art and fulfilling the vision of its founder, Miss Ima Hogg. Bayou Bend, the former estate of the legendary Houston philanthropist and collector, houses one of the most distinguished collections of its kind in the world. The new Kilroy Center [...]

Film Chronicles the Long and Dramatic Struggle for Control of the Barnes Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Art of the Steal chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art valued at more than $25 billion. THE ART OF THE STEAL, an IFC Film, runs 101 minutes, is in English, and is not yet rated by the MPAA. In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes created The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Philadelphia with the intention of [...]

Rio Ferdinand Joins Charles II and Lord Nelson as Heroes of National Portrait Gallery Campaign

LONDON.- Did you know Rio Ferdinand was a ballet dancer? Or Nelson suffered from sea sickness? Or Mary, Queen of Scots was the first woman golfer? Mary, Queen of Scots, Lord Nelson, King Charles II, artist L.S. Lowry and new England captain Rio Ferdinand have been chosen as the faces of the National Portrait Gallery‘s latest marketing campaign, launched on posters, ads and bus shelters from today, which highlights the hidden stories behind its portraits of well known Britons. The [...]

Masterpiece London Confirms Planning Permission for Former Chelsea Barracks

LONDON.- Masterpiece London confirmed that planning permission has been granted for this year’s inaugural fair which will take place at the former Chelsea Barracks, London SW1 between 24-29 June 2010. Residing opposite the prestigious Royal Hospital Chelsea and ideally situated in the heart of central London, Masterpiece London will be held in a Stabilo-designed bespoke structure on the site. Visitors will enjoy a remarkable array of works of art, from fine and decorative arts to contemporary design, vintage cars and [...]

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Raises $250 Million for Expansion and Endowment

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Board Chair Charles R. Schwab today announced that the museum has received landmark contributions totaling more than $250 million to expand the museum and grow its endowment. Comprising more than 50 percent of a projected $480 million campaign goal, these pledges from museum leadership will fuel SFMOMA’s plans to triple its gallery and public spaces; offer enhanced exhibitions, educational programs, and services for the public; and showcase the Fisher Collection, one [...]

Freer and Sackler Galleries Launch First Web Resource of “Song and Yuan Dynasty Painting and Calligraphy”

WASHINGTON, DC.- The earliest Chinese paintings in one of the most important collections in the West are now featured in a new public Web resource launched by the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler galleries. “Song and Yuan Dynasty Painting and Calligraphy” contains hundreds of images and comprehensive documentation of the Freer’s exceptional holdings of 85 works of Chinese brushwork from the 10th through the 14th centuries. The culmination of years of research and preparation, the Web site comprises an unprecedented assemblage [...]

Rats, Murder and Secret Wartime Bunkers…Archive Goes Online

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery has launched its archive catalogue on the web, revealing to a wider audience fascinating stories about the Gallery’s activities since it was founded in 1856. An Edwardian murder and suicide in the public galleries, an outbreak of rats and the extraordinary lengths directors went to in order to ensure the safety of the nation’s portraits during the First and Second World Wars are among the discoveries available at the click of a button. The launch [...]

Alberta Creates an Art Gallery of National Significance

EDMONTON, AB.- The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA), in downtown Edmonton, opened to the public on January 31, 2010. The remodeled 85,000 square foot gallery, designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, features three floors of exhibition space that showcases historical and contemporary Canadian and international art. The opening marks a major milestone in the AGA’s New Vision project and fulfills its goal of creating an art gallery of national significance for the Province of Alberta. “It is the AGA’s [...]

Crocker Art Museum to Open the New Anne and Malcolm McHenry Works on Paper Study Center in 2010

SACRAMENTO, CA.- As part of the Crocker Art Museum ’s 125,000-square-foot expansion project — to be completed in October 2010 — the Museum will unveil the new Anne and Malcolm McHenry Works on Paper Study Center and exhibition space. The new Center is designed to significantly enhance public access to the Museum’s exceptional collection of more than 1,400 master drawings and will open with the inaugural exhibition, A Pioneering Collection: Master Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum. On view from [...]