Winter–Spring ’14 Arlene Shechet Meissen Recast
Andy Warhol’s Photographs Graphic Design
Now in Production
Arlene Shechet, Embossed Bird Boat, 2012. © Arlene Shechet. Courtesy of the artist.
Dear Friends,
Photograph © David O’Connor.
In addition to our exhibition program, we launched our new website, inaugurated our new journal, Manual, added two dynamic curators—Elizabeth Williams and Dominic Molon, and implemented a new visual identity. It is your support that makes this, and so much more, possible. 2014 promises to be an equally stimulating year. First up is an exhibition of new work by RISD alumnus Arlene Shechet created during a recent residency at the renowned Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Arlene’s work is showcased within the context of the RISD Museum’s superlative collection of 18th-century Meissen porcelain, creating a lively dialogue between the historical and the contemporary.
In late January, we open an exhibition of more than 150 photographs by Andy Warhol. These works are a recent gift from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and provide an inside view into the orbit of this endlessly fascinating artist. Later this spring, we unveil a major new exhibition, Graphic Design: Now in Production, which highlights innovations and new directions in graphic design practice. This exhibition is accompanied by a wide array of programs, many featuring RISD’s renowned graphic design faculty. Finally, I want to offer my deepest thanks to our community— who make this such a special place—and wish everyone a happy, healthy New Year.
With all good wishes, John W. Smith Director, RISD Museum
RISD Museum 224 Benefit St. Providence, RI 02903
As we look ahead to a new year at the Museum, I want to take the opportunity to thank our members and donors who played a role in making 2013 a banner year for the RISD Museum. From our internationally acclaimed exhibition Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion and our unprecedented exploration of the nearby creative community in Locally Made to the stunning display of our collection in Making It in America, we have continued to offer compelling projects of immense range and quality.
NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID Providence, RI PERMIT NO. 408
Opening Soon
Arlene Shechet Meissen Recast
january 17 – july 6 Upper Farago and Porcelain Galleries In the first U.S. exhibition of her one-of-a-kind Meissen sculptures, Arlene Shechet (RISD MFA, Ceramics) presents works she produced during her residency at the world-renowned Meissen Manufactory in Germany. Her hand-painted, cast-porcelain forms are inspired responses to historical works by the pre-eminent porcelain manufacturer. In Meissen Recast, Shechet presents her Meissen works in two galleries, alongside a number of pieces from the Museum’s collection of Meissen figures and tableware that date back to the 18th century—connecting the past and present, fine arts and decorative arts. Arlene Shechet: Meissen Recast is supported by the Providence Pottery and Porcelain Club, Gretchen and William Viall, and the Robert Lehman Foundation.
Related Events Lecture: Arlene Shechet Breaks the Mold: Meissen Overtime MAR 20 | THU 2 pm Arlene Shechet talks about her work with the Meissen porcelain factory. Free. Presented by the Providence Pottery and Porcelain Club.
Lecture: Meissen Porcelain in the RISD Museum: Highlights and Curiosities APR 24 | THU 2 pm Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, Getty Museum guest scholar and former curator at The Frick Collection, discusses the Museum’s collection of Meissen figures. Free. Presented by the Providence Pottery and Porcelain Club.
Arlene Shechet, Mix and Match, 2012.
Arlene Shechet, Scallop Bowl (detail), 2012.
© Arlene Shechet. Courtesy of the artist.
© Arlene Shechet. Courtesy of the artist.
Opening Soon
On View
Andy Warhol’s Photographs
Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests
january 31 – june 29 Buonnano Works on Paper and Tsiaras Photography Galleries
through may 11 Spalter New Media Gallery
More than 150 Polaroid and black-andwhite photographs by Andy Warhol, the icon of American Pop, provide a rich sampling of the tens of thousands of photographs Warhol took between 1970 and 1987. The exhibition also celebrates a gift to the RISD Museum through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program of the Andy Warhol Foundation.
Andy Warhol, Jon Gould, ca. 1983. © Andy Warhol. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Andy Warhol’s Photographs is made possible by a gift to the RISD Museum through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program of the Andy Warhol Foundation.
The Polaroids primarily served as the basis for Warhol’s commissioned portraits, silkscreen paintings, drawings, and prints. In studio-based portraits of subjects such as Joan Collins, Keith Haring, Maria Shriver, and Pia Zadora we see Warhol’s attraction to their beauty, a fascination with their power, or an interest in their personalities. The black-and-white images provide a glimpse of Warhol’s obsessive recording of his life outside the studio, including his nightlife, travel, and activities on the street.
Graphic Design
Now in Production march 28 – august 3 Chace Galleries This major international exhibition explores how graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade, expanding from a specialized profession to a widely deployed tool. With the rise of user-generated content and new creative software, along with innovations in publishing and distribution systems, people outside the field are mobilizing the techniques and processes of design to create and publish visual media. At the same time, designers are becoming producers: authors, publishers, instigators, and entrepreneurs, employing their creative skills as makers of content and shapers of experiences. Featuring work produced since 2000 in the most vital sectors of communication design, Graphic Design: Now in Production explores design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, posters, branding programs, designer-produced goods, typography, titling sequences for film and television, and information graphics. Graphic Design: Now in Production is co-organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York.
Mike Perry, “Eames Eiffel Side Chair,” 2010, Courtesy the artist and Outdoorz Gallery
Meike Gerritzen, Beware of Software vest from the Saved by Droog Project, 2010. Text: Geert Lovink. Photo: Stefanie Grätz
Between 1964 and 1966, Warhol created more than 350 Screen Tests, 20 of which are screened in this exhibition. Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Nico, Lou Reed, and Susan Sontag are among the subjects shown in slow motion portraits, each lasting about four minutes. As a sequence, they induce an almost hypnotic reverie that “help the audiences get more acquainted with themselves,” as Warhol once said. Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests features works from the collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Andy Warhol, Screen Test: Edie Sedgwick (1965), 16mm film, black and white, silent, 4 minutes at 16 frames per second. ©2013 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum.
Making It in America through february 9 – final weeks! Chace Galleries “ Making It in America is a giddy gallop through American dreams achieved . . . intoxicating.” – boston globe
January 16 FRI 17 SUN 19 TUE 21 THU
Course: Ways of Looking 5:30–6:30 pm
Art Shots 7–7:30 pm
23 SAT 25 SUN 26 FRI 31 THU
Arlene Shechet: Meissen Recast Opens
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Double Take: Sugaring Off 2–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Open Studio 1–3 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm
Andy Warhol’s Photographs Opens
New programs added regularly— for a complete schedule, please visit RISDMUSEUM.ORG
Double Take: Sugaring Off
Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, Covered Cup, 1728–1731.
JAN 25 | SAT 2–3:30 pm | Chace Galleries
Anonymous gift in memory of S.H.M.C.
RISD professor of painting Dennis Congdon and Daniel Cavicchi, RISD’s dean of liberal arts and professor of history, philosophy, and the social sciences, consider the New England ritual of making maple syrup in this large-scale, 19th-century oil sketch by Eastman Johnson. A local maple syrup producer shares current techniques, products, and samples. Refreshments served. Registration required at risdmuseum.org. Member: $8, non-member: $20 (includes admission).
Arlene Shechet, Scallop Bowl (detail), 2012. © Arlene Shechet. Courtesy of the artist.
Courses
Don’t miss these recurring programs
Ways of Looking
Art & Design Lab
Open Studio
Tours for Tots
JAN 16, FEB 21, MAR 20 & APR 17 THU 5:30–6:30 pm | Museum Galleries
Free classes for high school students exploring how art and design provoke fresh ideas, elicit conversation, and stimulate creativity. Registration required.
Truly for all ages. Gallery explorations that inspire art making in the studio. Drop-in.
Themed interactive tours with readaloud story time and gallery activities introduce small children to big ideas in art. For ages 3–5 with adult companion. Registration required.
Guided introductory sessions invite curious viewers to look closely at selected paintings and sculpture. Context and connections are illuminated through lively conversation. Medieval (JAN 16), Renaissance (FEB 21), Abstract Expressionism (MAR 20), Impressionism/French Modernism (APR 17). Registration required at risdmuseum.org. Free.
Art Shots Gallery talks spanning centuries and cultures, from the perspective of student artists and art historians.
The Drawing Room: Pattern and Design
Double Take
Five sessions beginning MAR 2 SUN 1:30–3:30 pm | Museum Galleries
Specialists from various fields offer differing views on objects and stimulate thinking about social context and artistic interpretation.
Paintings and sculptures on view provide the catalyst to learn the basics, or refine your skill, at drawing ornamentation and embellishments. Artist and educator Margaret Owen guides students in line, pattern, proportion, volume, and shading. Session dates Mar 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. Registration required at risdmuseum.org. Member: $90, non-member: $100.
Family See & Sketch A close look at a work of art with lively discussion, sketching, and activities in the galleries. For ages 6+ with adult companion.
Work in Process Join RISD students for conversations in the galleries about the processes and techniques they use to create art.
Hands-On Art Inspired by works on view, adults create their own art in the galleries with the guidance of art instructor Paul Carpentier.
For more information and to get a complete schedule, please visit risdmuseum.org Unless otherwise noted, all events are free for members; general Museum admission applies for non-members.
February THU
20
Chinese Porcelain Lecture 11 am
Film: The Painting (Le Tableau) 6 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Sitings Opening Celebration 6–8 pm
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
21 SAT 22 SUN 23 FRI
Andy Warhol, Maria Shriver, 1978. © Andy Warhol. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
02 TUE 04 THU 06 SUN
08 SUN 09 SAT
Langston Hughes Poetry Reading 1–3:30 pm
Art Shots 2–2:30 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
Community MusicWorks 6–7 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
13
16 TUE 18 WED 19
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
PCFF: Best of the Fest 11 am & 2 pm
Family See & Sketch 2 pm
Haven String Quartet & Community MusicWorks 2 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
FEB 2 | SUN 1–3:30 pm | Metcalf Auditorium
Double Take: Silver Flatware 2–3 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Langston Hughes’s poems, dating from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, continue to resonate today. These powerful, poignant, and often amusing works are read aloud by members of the community and leaders of diverse backgrounds, including educators, corporate executives, writers, musicians, and artists; accompaniment by the Daniel Ian Smith Jazz Trio. Coordinated by Anne Edmonds Clanton. Join us for a reception following the event.
Double Take: Silver Flatware Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm Valentine’s Day Date Night 5:30–8 pm
SUN
27
Course: Ways of Looking 5:30–6:30 pm
19th Annual Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading
Family See & Sketch 2 pm
THU
THU
Art Shots 7–7:30 pm
Providence Children’s Film Festival FEB 13–17
FEB 9 | SUN 2–3 pm | Chace Galleries In the Victorian dining room, the ability to manage dozens of implements—from a pickle fork to an oyster ladle—attested to a diner’s command of complicated social rules. Etiquette expert Didi Lorillard joins curator of decorative arts and design Elizabeth Williams in reviewing which fork to use. Free.
Valentine’s Day Date Night Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Open Studio 1–3 pm
FEB 13 | THU 5:30–8:30 pm An evening of not-for-couples-only activities—embark on a gallery hunt, join a red-themed Art Shot gallery talk, enjoy a drink from the cash bar.
Sitings Opening Celebration FEB 20 | THU 6–8 pm View the selected installations of the Museum’s annual site-specific competition for students. The winners will be on hand to talk about their inspiration and process; refreshments will be served.
March SUN
02
04 THU 06 SAT 08 TUE
Open Studio 1–3 pm Course: The Drawing Room 1:30–3:30 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
09 THU 13 SUN 16 SUN
18 THU 20 TUE
Family See & Sketch 2 pm
Course: The Drawing Room 1:30–3:30 pm
Art Shots 7–7:30 pm
Open Studio 1–3 pm
Double Take: Valentine Typewriter 2–3 pm
Course: The Drawing Room 1:30–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Lecture: Arlene Shechet Breaks the Mold 2 pm Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
Laurenz Brunner, Akkurat, 2005, Courtesy Lineto.
22 SUN 23 SAT
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Course: Ways of Looking 5:30–6:30 pm Focus on Andy Warhol 5:30–8 pm Hands-On Art 6–8 pm Art Shots 7–7:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Course: The Drawing Room 1:30–3:30 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Family See & Sketch 2 pm
THU
27
MAR 16 | SUN 2–3 pm | 20th-Century Galleries
Focus on Andy Warhol MAR 20 | THU 5:30–8 pm Spend an evening in the world of Andy Warhol. Inspired by the exhibitions Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests and Andy Warhol’s Photographs, take your own faux Polaroid photo, make a screen test, join a Warhol-related adult art class, watch Warhol’s films, listen to the music of the Velvet Underground and other Warhol favorites, and enjoy refreshments. Free.
Graphic Design: Now in Production Curator Gallery Tour for Members 5:30 pm
Art & Design Lab for HS Students 3:30–6 pm
Double Take: Valentine Typewriter In conjunction with the exhibit Graphic Design: Now in Production, Eric Anderson, assistant professor in RISD’s History of Art & Visual Culture Department, talks with Kate Schapira, poet and lecturer in Brown University’s English Department, about the bright red portable typewriter. Free.
Graphic Design: Now in Production Member Preview Day 10 am–9 pm
28 SUN 30 FRI
Graphic Design: Now in Production Opens
Course: The Drawing Room 1:30–3:30 pm Family See & Sketch 2 pm
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
April 01 THU 03 SAT 05 SUN 06 THU 10 SUN 13 TUE
15 WED 16 TUE
THU
17
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
19 WED 23 THU 24
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Calm Assurance and Savage Pleasure 2–3:30 pm
Peter Bil’ak works in the field of editorial, graphic, and type design, and teaches at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. He started Typotheque type foundry in 1999, Dot Dot Dot art & design journal in 2000, Indian Type Foundry in 2009, and Works That Work magazine in 2012.
Critical Encounters with Type, Image, and Print APR 16 | WED 1–5 pm and 6:30–8 pm | Chace Galleries
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
27 TUE 29
Curators of Graphic Design: Now in Production, Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton, along with graphic designers, Jessica Helfand of Winterhouse Studios and Prem Krishnamurthy of Project Projects, engage in discussion with RISD faculty. These designers and innovators debate the past, critique the present, and imagine the future of graphic design by using the design-driven magazines, books, posters, branding programs, typography, titling sequences for film and television, and information graphics in the exhibit. Reservations required at risdmuseum.org. Faculty & students: free; members: $10, non-members: $25 (includes admission). Co-sponsored with RISD’s Graphic Design Department.
Lecture: Armand Mevis Critical Encounters with Type, Image, and Print 1–5 pm & 6:30–8 pm Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
APR 24 | THU 6:30 pm | Metcalf Auditorium
Course: Ways of Looking 5:30–6:30 pm Hands-On Art 6–8 pm Art Shots 7–7:30 pm
Through their Dutch studio, Mevis & van Deursen, graphic designers Linda van Deursen and Armand Mevis are known for their work for cultural clients, producing identities and numerous books on art, architecture and design. Mevis is a design critic at the Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Calm Assurance and Savage Pleasure: The Life & Art of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet APR 13 | SUN 2–3:30 pm | Metcalf Auditorium Reading diary entries from circa 1920s Paris, actress Sylvia Ann Soares portrays Rhode Island–born sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet. A gallery talk on Prophet’s sculpture by museum educator Horace Ballard follows. Co-sponsored with Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. Free.
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
Design the Night: WYSIWYG Open Studio 1–3 pm
Lecture: Maureen Cassidy-Geiger 2 pm
APR 17 | THU 5–9 pm | Museum Galleries
Lecture: Armand Mevis 6:30 pm
Family See & Sketch 2 pm
Celebrate all things graphic—text, space, image—through unexpected objects and interventions throughout the galleries. The Museum's newest exhibition Graphic Design: Now in Production provides the catalyst for artists and designer to design one-of-a-kind experiences. This dynamic evening of lively talks, hands-on art-making, music, and more offers ways to connect with art and one another—come design your night! Free.
Save the Date: Miles Redd
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm
SUN
International and award-winning graphic designers share their innovative work. Co-sponsored with RISD’s Graphic Design Department.
APR 3 | THU 6:30 pm | Metcalf Auditorium
Art & Design Lab, HS Students 3:30–6 pm Open Studio 1–3 pm
Lecture: Peter Bil’ak 6:30 pm
Lecture: Peter Bil’ak
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
Design the Night: WYSIWYG 5–9 pm
SAT
Graphic Design: Now in Production Related Events
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm
MAY 5 | Museum Associates Annual Fundraiser
Art Shots 2:30–3 pm & 3–3:30 pm
The Museum Associates welcome interior designer Miles Redd for a lecture and luncheon. Redd is the creative director of Oscar de la Renta Home and was named one of Architectural Digest’s “AD 100” in 2012 and 2013. His work has been featured in Vogue, W, House Beautiful, Elle Décor, Veranda, and Architectural Digest. Tickets start at $150. Visit risdmuseum.org or call 401 454 6505 for more details and reservations.
Tours for Tots 2–2:45 pm “American Felling Axes,” 2009, Best Made Company.
Behind the Scenes
Buddha Conservation In a workroom deep within the Museum, conservator Ingrid Neuman closely examines a visitor favorite, the 12th-century Dainichi Nyorai Buddha—a huge and hugely popular attraction since its 1936 arrival to a top-floor corner gallery. Neuman is enjoying a rare opportunity to learn the Buddha’s secrets and prepare it for future Japanese, Dainichi Nyorai Buddha, ca. 1150. generations of admirers, as extensive Radeke Museum Appropriation Fund Restoration Project improvements have closed the Museum’s sixth floor until June 2014. She is carefully cleaning the wooden figure, examining its structural stability, and documenting its condition using infrared digital photography and hand-drawn interior and exterior diagrams. “These resources will be vital once the inner cavities are no longer open for study,” Neuman explains. When the sixth-floor galleries reopen, visitors will see improved installations of Asian and ancient Egyptian art and have access to a new study gallery featuring rarely-seen selections from the Museum’s 26,000piece collection of costume and textiles. The Buddha will be returned to his gallery, renamed the Hudner Buddha Gallery. To learn more about the Buddha conservation project, visit risdmuseum.org.
Museum Membership How can you visit more than 30 Museums for free? Upgrade to a RISD Museum Friend Membership! Enjoy your current member benefits, plus • Membership to the Art Museum Reciprocal Network, offering free admission and benefits at more than 40 local and national museums • Passes to bring friends and family to the RISD Museum • Invitations to educational and travel opportunities • A copy of Manual, a twice-yearly Museum publication about art and its making Friend Memberships start at $150. Visit risdmuseum.org/support or call 401 454 6322 for more information. Memberships make great gifts, too!
RISD WORKS Museum Store Cubebots by David Weeks
Recent Acquisition According to Dominic Molon, RISD Museum’s Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art, Ryan Gander’s Self Portrait VIII challenges the conventional understanding of visually representing oneself. Gander suggests how a presentation of the artist’s time and industry provides an even more comprehensive and accurate idea of who they are than a self-interpretation of their physical appearance. To create this work, Gander painted one self-portrait every day of one month. Rather than exhibiting those paintings, he presents the different palettes he used each day in a calendar-like format to suggest the varying combinations of colors and the arbitrary forms resulting from the relationship between his hand, the paint, the palette, and the unseen canvas. Gander demonstrates how seemingly disparate artistic sensibilities such as conceptual art (which privileges the idea behind a work of art over its visual or material virtues) and a more traditional approach (that emphasizes craft and handiwork to create a distinctive object) may combine to prompt a reconsideration of how we define a sense of “self” though art. Self Portrait VIII is on view in the Lower Farago Gallery.
Ryan Gander, Self Portrait VIII (detail), 2012. 30 toughened glass palettes, acrylic. Richard Brown Baker Fund for Contemporary British Art 2012.89. © The artist; courtesy, Lisson Gallery, London.
RISCA Grant Thank you
(RISD Photography, 1990)
We are so grateful to our friends for awarding us a significant Investment in Arts & Culture grant. Support like this helps us share the arts with all of you. Congratulations to our 142 friends and neighbors also awarded grants. Hours Tuesdays–Sundays, 10 am–5 pm Thursdays, 10 am–9 pm
Shop online at
risdworks.com Photo courtesy of David Weeks.
Thank you to Governor Lincoln Chafee, House Speaker Gordon Fox, and Rhode Island Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed for making possible this support of art and arts programming in Rhode Island.
For hours, directions, and information about parking, group tours, and more, visit RISDMUSEUM.ORG or call 401 454 6500.
Funding provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and private funders.