Podcasts about yale art gallery

What you'll learn in this episode:   Why we often have more information about gold than any other decorative object The difference between material culture and material studies, and how these fields shaped the study of art and jewelry What John wants visitors to take away from “Gold in America: Artistry, Memory and Power” Why history is much more global than we may think What it really means to curate, and why it's an essential job   About John Stuart Gordon   John Stuart Gordon is the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery. He grew up among the redwoods of Northern California before venturing East and receiving a B.A. from Vassar College, an M.A. from the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, and a PH.D. from Boston University. He works on all aspects of American design and has written on glass, American modernism, studio ceramics, and postmodernism. His exhibition projects have explored postwar American architecture, turned wood, and industrial design. In addition, he supervises the Furniture Study, the Gallery's expansive study collection of American furniture and wooden objects. Additional Resources: Yale University Art Gallery Website Yale University Art Gallery Instagram John Stuart Gordon Instagram Photos available on TheJewelryJourney.com   Transcript:   Perhaps more than any other metal or gem, gold brings out strong reactions in people (and has for all of recorded history). That's what curator John Stuart Gordon wanted to explore with “Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power,” a featured exhibition now on view at the Yale University Art Gallery. He joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why people have always been enchanted by gold; what he discovered while creating the exhibit; and why curation is more that just selecting a group of objects. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guest is John Stuart Gordon, the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery. Welcome back.    I'm curious; I know you recently had a group from Christie's studying jewelry that came to visit your exhibit. I'm curious if they asked different questions, or if there's something that stood out in what they were asking that might have been different from a group studying something else.    John: Every group is different. I love them all, and I learn so much from taking groups of visitors through because you start looking at objects through their lens. Recently a group of makers came through and, wow, that was a wonderful experience, because I could make a reference to, “Oh, look at the decoration on this,” and then, “Is it chaste or is it gadroon?” “What kind of anvil are they working with?” We have to answer these questions. There are some things I can't answer but a maker can identify easily, so I'm learning things.    Maybe someone who's a collector or an appraiser is thinking about objects in a very different way, wanting to know how rare it is, if there are only a handful, where they are, how many are still in private collections, what's in the museum collection. One of my favorite tours was with a small group of young children who had a completely different set of preconceived notions. I had to explain what an 18th century whistle and bells would have been used for because they'd never seen one before. I had to talk about what kinds of child's toys they remembered from when they were kids, trying to relate. Every group has a slightly different lens, and you can never anticipate the questions they're going to ask.   Sharon: Yes, they're coming at you from the weirdest angles. In putting this together, what surprised you most about gold in America? What surprised you most about putting this exhibit together? What made you say, “Gosh, I never knew that,” or “I never thought about that”? There's a lot, but what's the overriding question, let's say.    John: It's such a nerdy answer, and I apologize for being such a nerd, but what surprised me the most was an archival discovery. Mind you, this all takes place against the background of lockdown and having way too much time on our hands and looking for distractions. I pulled a historical newspaper database that the library subscribes to, and I typed in the word “gold” and pushed enter. There were about three million responses that came back, and I just started reading my way through. Not all of them were interesting, but I was struck by the frequency with which people were discussing gold, and I was struck by the global knowledge at a very early period. I would find articles written in the 1720s in colonial Boston talking about the Spanish fleets leaving Havana Harbor with amounts of silver and gold onboard. They would describe how much gold, how much silver, was it coins, was it bars, was it unrefined. There was a newspaper report coming out of New York in the 1750s talking about a new gold strike at a mine in Central Europe. That was truly unexpected: to realize that this material was of such importance that people were talking about it on a daily basis, and that it was newsworthy on this global scale. People weren't just talking about what was going on in colonial Boston or colonial Philadelphia. They were talking about what was going on in Prussia and Bogota. I think we often think of early history as very insular, and we think of our present day as global. History has always been global, and it was a lovely reminder of how global our culture always has been.   Sharon: That's interesting, especially talking about global. I just reread Hamilton. They're talking about Jefferson and Madison and everybody going over to France and coming back. I think about the boats, and I think, “Oh, my god.” I think of everybody as staying in place. You couldn't get me on one of those boats. What a voyage. But that was global. Everybody was communicating with everybody else. So, yes, it always has been that way, but it's very surprising, the movement that has been there for so long. We could go on and on about that.    Let me ask you this: Yale Art Gallery just received a donation from Susan Grant Lewin of modern jewelry, art jewelry, on the cutting edge. At the museum and gallery, is the emphasis more on jewelry as part of material culture and decorative arts? Not every museum or art gallery would have been open to it. What's the philosophy there?   John: Yes, we just received a gift of about two dozen pieces of contemporary jewelry from Susan Grant Lewin, who is a collector and scholar. We've also received a gift from the Enamel Arts Foundation, which is a foundation that collects and promotes enamel objects and jewelry. We have a long history of collecting jewelry, and it's based on historic collections. The core of the American decorative arts collection is the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection. It started coming to the art gallery in 1930. It's this rather storied collection. It covers everything you can imagine: furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, you name it.    It was assembled by a man named Francis P. Garvan, who was a Yalee. He graduated in the late 19th century and he gave it in honor of his wife. His main love, after his wife and his family, was silver, and the collection at Yale is probably the most important collection of early American silver in any museum. Silversmiths and goldsmiths, the names are interchangeable, and it is mostly men at that period who were making silver objects and gold objects. They're also making jewelry. As you take the story forward, it doesn't change a lot. People who are trained as metalsmiths often will make holloware and/or jewelry. The fields are very closely allied, and the techniques are very closely allied. So for us, it makes complete sense to have this very important historical collection of metalwork go all the way up to the present.   We have a lot of 20th century jewelry, now 21st century jewelry. We also have contemporary holloware because we like being able to tell a story in a very long arc. The way someone like Paul Revere is thinking about making an object and thinking about marketing himself is related to how someone graduating from SUNY New Paltz or RISD are thinking about how to make an object and how to market themselves. Often it's the same material, the same hammers, the same anvils. So, it's nice to show those continuities and then to bring in how every generation treats this material slightly differently. They have their own ideas and their own technologies.    So, the Susan Grant Lewis Collection is a very experimental work. She has said she doesn't like stones, so you're not going to see a lot of gem setting and a lot of diamonds and rubies set in gold. There's nothing wrong with them, but she's more interested in people who are more out there, thinking about how you turn 3D printing into art or how you use found materials and construct narratives and make things that are more unexpected.   Sharon: I just want to interrupt you a minute.  SUNY New Paltz is the New York State University at New Paltz?   John: State University of New York at New Paltz. Sorry, I gave you the shorthand.   Sharon: I know RISD is the Rhode Island Institute—   John: We're going to have to submit an index on how to understand all my acronyms. Yes, RISD is the Rhode Island School of Design. There are a handful of institutions that have really strong jewelry departments and really strong metalworking departments, among them Rhode Island School of Design, State University of New York at New Paltz. You can add Cranbrook, which is outside of Detroit. There's a whole group of them that are producing wonderful things.   Sharon: So, you studied decorative arts. What was your master's in?   John: I was an art historian. I was very lucky in college to have a professor who believed in material culture, and I asked, “Do I have to write about paintings?” and she said, “No, you don't.” I was very lucky to find that in college. Then I went to the Bard Graduate Center in New York. It was a much longer title, the Graduate Center for Material Culture and Design. It changes its name every two years. My master's was in kind of a history of design and material culture. Then to get a Ph.D., there are very few programs that allow people to focus on material culture. Luckily, there are more with every passing year. When I was going to school, Yale is one that's always focused on decorative arts and material culture. Boston University, their American studies program is a historically strong program that allows you to look at anything in the world as long as you can justify it. So, that's where I went.   Sharon: Was jewelry like, “Oh yeah, and there's jewelry also,” or was jewelry part of the story, part of the material culture, the material objects that you might look at? Was it part of any of this?   John: It was. I am at core a metals person. My master's thesis was written on the 1939 New York World's Fair, looking at one pavilion where Tiffany, Cartier and a few others had their big exhibition of silver, gold and, of course, jewelry. My entry into it was silver, but I had to learn all the jewelry as well. So, jewelry has always been part of my intellectual DNA, but it didn't really flourish until I got to Yale, and that would be because of my colleague, Patricia Kane. She has a deep knowledge and interest in jewelry. We have done a few jewelry exhibitions in the past, and she has seen it as part of the collection that should grow. I arrived at Yale as a scrappy, young curator seeing what was going on in the landscape, and the jewelry is amazing. One of my first conferences I went to was a craft conference. I met jewelers and metalsmiths, and it's a really approachable group. They're very friendly. They like talking about their ideas. They like talking about their work, which is really rewarding.   Sharon: What were your ideas when you started as a curator? Did you have the idea, “Oh, I'd love to do exhibition work”? Curate has become such a word today. Everybody is curating something.   John: Yes, my head is in my hands right now. One of my pet peeves is that people talk about curating their lunches. The word curate actually means to care for, so I think about the religious role of a curate. It's the same role. Our job is really to care for collections. If you care for your lunch, you can curate it, but if you're just selecting it, please use a different word.    That idea of caring for objects, that's what really excited me as a curator; the idea that so much of what we do is getting to know a collection, to research it, to make sure it's being treated well, that things are stable when they go on loan, that when things need treatment, you work with a conservator or a scientist. I was really excited by that.    Over the course of my career, I've become much broader in my thinking. When you come out of graduate school, you've spent years focusing down deeper and deeper on one small, little subject. I was still very focused on a very narrow subject when I became a curator. That was early 20th century design. I love it dearly, but over the years my blinders have come off. I love American modernism. I also love 17th century metalwork. I love 21st century glass. You realize you love everything in the world around you.   Sharon: Would you say your definition of curate is still to care for? I'm thinking about when I polish my silver. I guess it's part of curating in a sense, taking care of things.    John: Polishing your silver or your jewelry is actually one of the best ways to get to know it. We're one of the few collections where it's the curators who polish the silver. We hold onto that task because we don't do it very often, because it's better to leave things unpolished if you don't have to. But when it comes time to polish something, the opportunity to pick something up, to turn it over, to feel the weight of it, to look closely at the marks and the details, that's a really special thing, to get to know your objects so well by doing it. I give a hearty endorsement of silver polishing. It's also a great emotional therapy if you've had a tough day. But to your question, I even more strongly believe that the role of a curator is someone to care for their collections.   Sharon: I really like that. It gives me a different perspective.   John: Yeah, because what we're doing is not just physical care; it's emotional care. In today's culture we talk so much about self-care and these kinds of tropes, but that's a lot of what we're doing. We're understanding history through our objects. We're understanding the objects better to have something preserved for posterity, so it can tell future generations stories.   Sharon: That's interesting. John, thank you so much. By the way, the exhibit ends in July, but the Susan Grant Lewin Collection is open through September. You'll be busy, it sounds like.   John: “Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power” closes July 10. The Susan Grant Lewin Collection of American Jewelry will be up through the fall. If you miss both of those or you're in a place where you can't get to New Haven, our collections are all online. All you have to do is go to our website, and you can just click through and spend a day looking at objects from the comfort of your living room.   Sharon: Yes, and very nice photos. As I said, I was looking at them before we started. I was very interested. What was that used for? Where did it come from? I guess being in Los Angeles, I'll have to do that. I'll be doing that from my living room. John, thank you so much. This is very, very interesting. I learned a lot and you have given me a lot to think about, so thank you so much.   John: Thank you for having me.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

Beyond the Paint podcast celebrates the visionary artist Pamela Colman Smith in two parts. Part 1, today's episode, focuses and highlights aspects of Smith's artistic life and practice. . Part 2-will take a deep dive into Smith's legacy as illustrator for the Rider-Waite tarot deck, a commission she described as "big job for very little cash.".Resources for this episode include Yale Art Gallery and the seminal text "Pamela Colman Smith: The Untold Story" by Stephen R. Kaplan with contributions by scholars like Mary K. Greer..Image credit: Photo of Pamela Colman Smith: Mary K. Greer (blogsite)Special thanks to K. Lee Marks @k.leemarks (IG) and the creators Grant Walker and Amy B. Scott of Seeds of Initiation Tarot deck @seeds_of_initiation_tarot (IG) for inspiring this journey into Smith's evocative and mystical visual imagery..Special shout out to the women who bring awareness and create arenas for contemporary women artists to flourish!Liezel Strauss: Art Girls Rising: www.artgirlrising.comHall Rockefeller: Less than Half Salon: www.lessthanhalf.orgKelly Groehler: Alice Riot: www.aliceriot.com

Do you have a spouse or loved one who has dementia? Hearing them say “I love you” or share a memory is something that every caregiver hopes for. And in those rare instances, it truly gives a renewed sense of purpose in life. Unfortunately, often, after being diagnosed with dementia, patients are prescribed drugs that, in some cases, cause depression or suppress who they are. But what if there was a way to reduce the medications and boost the mental well-being of the person with dementia and the spouse or caregiver? Interestingly enough, evidence shows that art plays a role in improving neural health. Art therapy is being taught as an alternative approach to dementia cases, providing an opportunity for patients to boost their mood and change their behavior without diminishing their quality of life. In this episode, Kirsten sits down with the incredible Angel Duncan. Angel is a mental health, art therapist, and research clinician specializing in therapeutic program developments for people with mental health, developmental, intellectual, cognitive, and memory disorders. Angel has an extensive background in counseling psychology, life development, and Alzheimer's disease phase 1b, 2, and 3 clinical research trials. She works globally with leading organizations on brain health initiatives and is a widely published author and speaker. During their discussion, Kirsten and Angel dive into the science behind art therapy, explaining how and why it works. Duncan also shares countless examples of patients who practice art therapy demonstrating the behavioral changes and how they reconnect with their spouses again or learn to engage with their caregivers. If dementia or mental health issues have impacted your life or the life of someone you know, this episode is for you. Tune in now for more on the benefits of art therapy and why Angel Duncan has spent her career advocating for this life-changing form of treatment. Big Three from Episode #074: Research shows that by engaging in art, which taps into certain regions of the brain, those with dementia are also getting neural activation and productivity. Ultimately, this leads to a shift in mood and behavior. Art Therapy is found to be helpful for all forms of dementia and, really, all types of mental health issues. Just because someone has dementia or another cognitive issue, doesn't mean their creativity goes away. Case studies and research demonstrate exactly how art therapy brings those with dementia out of their box, helping them reconnect with the outside world. Time-stamped Show Notes: 3:08 Long-term memory is returning for dementia patients through the process of Art Therapy. Listen now to hear Angel Duncan share the benefits of staying artistically creative for those suffering from neurological diseases.  5:43 Studies prove that art truly does work for people who have dementia. Start listening now for more on how art is helping neurological disease.  8:05 Relationships between caregivers, whether family or professional, and dementia-infected patients are becoming nurtured with empathy because of art therapy.  10:13 More often than not, psychotropic drugs are the go-to fix for dementia patients, causing diminished behavior. Angel answers how art could be used as an alternative to psychotropic drugs.  14:21 Angel Duncan has advocated for art therapy for almost 20 years. Listen to her journey and the life-changing work that has come from working with like-minded physicians.  17:43 Press play here to learn what different creative mediums are included in art therapy treatments. 21:11 Ask Kirsten Segment: Kirsten answers an email from Maria in Danville looking for advice on how to encourage her mother, who has dementia, to do an estate plan. If you have a question that you'd like to have answered by Kirsten, send an email to info@absolutetrustcounsel.com. 23:56 Listen to how Angel helped co-create Art in Mind for dementia patients at the Yale Art Gallery.  28:08 Angel Duncan's Art Therapy Workshop is not just for dementia patients but also for spouses and caregivers. Listen in as Angel shares stories and feedback from those who have participated in the workshop. 30:06 Interested in learning more about art therapy? You don't want to miss out on this special event -The 12th annual Expressive Therapy Summit is hosting Neurosciences and Aging Symposium and Track Series for aging populations. Listen here for more details on the event.  32:18 Live Q&A: Do you find art therapy to be helpful in all forms of dementia? Resources/Links in this Episode: Cognitive Dynamics Lorenzo's House About Angel Duncan – How to get in touch about programs Expressive Therapy Summit [Ad] Do you need help planning for things like incapacity? The Absolute Trust Counsel team is here to help. If you become incapacitated without a plan, you don't have time to wait for court rulings, nor do you want to waste your money on that. You need support right away. At Absolute Trust Counsel, we can help put a plan in place, so you and your family are covered – no matter what the situation.  Visit our calendar to pick a date and time that works best for you, and let's get started!

Join Mark Weaver with Metropolitan Museum of Art's noted Exhibition Design Manager, Dan Kershaw.Developing the environments for The Met's installations for over 30 years, Kershaw creates both temporary and permanent gallery exhibitions. Kershaw has consulted for Yale Art Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Gagosian among other esteemed institutions. Learn about the complex nature of designing installations and how he creates emotional experiences that leave guests feeling inspired. To learn more about The Metropolitan Museum of Art you can visit their website www.metmuseum.org or follow them on Instagram @metmuseum Be sure to keep up to date on 'Designers at Home' by following @markweaverandassociates on Instagram

"Really my favorite thing about photography is walking around with my camera…If I could do only one kind of work for the rest of my life, I think that would unquestionably be what I would want to do."   Sasha Rudensky is an artist and an educator. She is currently the Program Director and an Associate Professor of Art at Weslyan University. She studied Studio Art and Russian Literature at Weslyan University and received her MFA from Yale University. When Sasha was young her family left Russia, just as the Soviet Union was breaking apart. We talk about the duality and tension of her insider/outsider approach to photographing in Russia and Ukraine as well as her description of people and place through fact and fiction. We also talk about teaching in-person during the pandemic and we talk about a book that Sasha has been working on that combines multiple projects into one body work. Sasha also reveals the new title of this book which we expand upon at the end of the episode. I should also note that Sasha is represented by my podcast partner, Sasha Wolf.   Sasha Rudensky is a Russian-born artist whose work has been exhibited widely including Musee de l'Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland; Fries Museum in Leewarden, Netherlands; Macro Testaccio Museum in Rome, Italy; ArtScience Museum in Singapore, and Danziger Projects in New York. In 2010 Sasha's work was included in “reGeneration 2: Photographers of Tomorrow Today”, an international survey of emerging photographers. Her work is held in a number of public collections including Musee de l'Elysee, Yale Art Gallery, and Center of Creative Photography in Tuscon amongst others.   Sasha received her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2008 and BA from Wesleyan University in 2001. She was the recipient of the Ward Cheney Memorial Award from Yale University, Mortimer-Hays Brandeis Traveling Fellowship, Leica/Jim Marshall Award, and Jessup Prize from Wesleyan University. In 2013 Sasha was awarded the Aaron Siskind Individual Fellowship grant. Her work has appeared in New York Times Magazine, Der Spiegel, Cicero Magazine, American Photo, PDN and others. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Wesleyan University, where she is the head of the photography program.   http://www.sasharudensky.com/index.html https://sashawolf.com/artist/sasha-rudensky/

Indigenous artist Marie Watt, in collaboration with sewing circles, embroiders objects in flight, both man-made and from nature, onto a canvas of reclaimed, woolen blankets. Highlighted in this podcast episode is the work "First Teachers Balance the Universe: Part I: Things that Fly" now on view at Yale Art Gallery (www.yaleartgallery.edu). Learn more about the prolific work of Marie Watt at www.mariewattstudio.com and view all works of art discussed at my website at www.beyondthepaint.net.

Indigenous artist Marie Watt, in collaboration with sewing circles, embroiders objects in flight, both man-made and from nature, onto a canvas of reclaimed, woolen blankets. Highlighted in this podcast episode is the work "First Teachers Balance the Universe: Part I: Things that Fly" now on view at Yale Art Gallery (www.yaleartgallery.edu). Learn more about the prolific work of Marie Watt at www.mariewattstudio.com and view all works of art discussed at my website at www.beyondthepaint.net.

A discussion about the exhibition "Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art," on view at the Yale University Art Gallery through June 21, 2020. The three curators, Katie McCleary, Leah Shrestinian, and Joseph Zordan, are recent Yale graduates, and they spent three years researching and curating the exhibition and writing the accompanying catalogue. The show contains works from the nineteenth century to the present coming from the collections of the Yale Art Gallery, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. https://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/place-nations-generations-beings-200-years-indigenous-north-american-art

August is loaded with sizzling events and ideas! This month, interviews with Ed Fast and Conga Bop, who are set to play outdoors at Pardee-Morris, also I chat with the Senior Curator at the Yale Art Gallery, who is organizing a fascinating program of visual art, story, and myth—great for families, but all invited. Loads of live music coming up at Mactivity Cafe and the Statehouse—Kaleta and Super Yamba Band and Magic Dick and Shun Ng; guitar phenom! Also, the Puerto Rican Annual Fest is cued up for the New Haven Green! More art installations at the Kehler-Liddell space, and the Five Point Gallery, as well. Good times await with Farm Day at the Dudely Farm, and so much more! Listen now to get times and dates for your next New Haven experience!

Learning through Art series, Part 1. Dr. Rubin explores how looking at works of art can help improve your ability to diagnose. It started at Yale University Medical School, where they took 1st year med students to the Yale Art Gallery to discuss how to improve diagnosis skills by improving observational ability. If it can help med students it certainly can help chiropractic students!

Following a joint artist residency at the Yale Art Gallery in 2013, photographers Jim Goldberg and Donovan Wylie began collaboration on a book project to explore New Haven’s urban landscape. The project grew to include writings by Christopher Klatell, Yale School of Law J.D. ’99, School of Law Senior Research Scholar, and writer, and Laura Wexler, Professor of American Studies, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Co-Chair of the Women’s Faculty Forum at Yale, and an introduction by Pamela Franks, Senior Deputy Director and Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Presented in collaboration with the newly published book, Candy/A Good and Spacious Land, and the current exhibition of Goldberg and Wylie’s work at the Yale Art Gallery, join these two artists and two writers as they explore the concept of the “model city” through the lens of New Haven.

Rosanne Somerson is a furniture designer and maker, with works in the permanent collections of the Yale Art Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She is also the President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She has a long history with the school: she earned her BFA in industrial design there, with a focus on furniture making, and she joined the faculty of RISD in 1985. She was appointed its president in 2015, but she still maintains a studio in Fall River, Massachusetts. She still makes time for one or two design projects a year, a practice she feels is necessary to her work as president. Rosanne is passionate about arts education as a preparation for jobs that don't exist—a crucial skill in an ever-changing world—and about artists as the change-makers the world needs.  Make/Time shares conversations about craft, inspiration, and the creative process. Listen to leading makers and thinkers talk about where they came from, what they're making, and where they're going next. Make/Time is hosted by Stuart Kestenbaum and is a project of craftschools.us.