Arts & Healing: Speaking with NEA Chairman Dr. Jane Chu

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Brooke Rosenblatt

Phillips Head of Public Engagement Brooke Rosenblatt speaks with Iona Art Therapist Jackie Sargent and Dr Jane Chu, Chairman of the NEA. Photo: Gerlach Graphic

Phillips Head of Public Engagement Brooke Rosenblatt (left) speaks with Iona Art Therapist Jackie Sargent (center) and Dr. Jane Chu, Chairman of the NEA (right). Photo: Gerlach Graphic

I recently had the honor to sit down with Dr. Jane Chu, the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Dr. Chu was invited by the National Center for Creative Aging to visit the Phillips’s partner Iona Senior Services. She wanted to witness creative aging programs in action! During her site visit, we discussed the Phillips’s ongoing museum-education and art therapy partnership with Iona and the program’s positive impact on participants and their families. Her visit to Iona was timely–the NEA Arts Magazine‘s most recent issue highlights the innovative ways that organizations are using art as an instrument of healing.

Stieglitz and Marin: Together, Apart, and Together Again, Part 3

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Conservation

In this three part series, Conservation Assistant Caroline Hoover outlines the process of treating a photogravure by Marius de Zayas. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

(clockwise from top left) Spraying to wet up for pulp fills; using an eye dropper to get blended color matched pulp; dropping pulp into loss areas to correct thickness and transparency on light box; adjusting pulp fills to correct thickness

Paper pulp was prepared from a high quality artist paper to fill in the losses around the edges of the brittle backing paper. The backing paper was wet up in order to attach these areas of pulp. Using an eye dropper and tweezers, the pulp was dropped into the areas of loss and built up to the same thickness of the original paper. Excess water was removed and the fills were then coated with a sizing agent to ensure attachment. The paper, with its new fills, was dried between felts. Afterwards, the pulp fills were trimmed to the edge of the original paper.

(left) Using a bone folder to get rid of excess water and flatten fills (center) coating fills with methyl cellulose to size (right) drying whole piece with fills

(left) photogravure next to pulp filled paper (right) detail of fills

(left) trimming excess fills (right) Alfred Stieglitz and John Marin backing page

Two tiny, thin Japanese tissue hinges were used to re-attach the photogravure to its backing paper at the top edge to secure the artwork. The picture is now ready to join its companions in a future exhibit.

Attaching hinges

The piece after treatment

Nordic Wonderland Family Program

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Brooke Rosenblatt

Photos: Andrea Kim Taylor and Brooke Rosenblatt

As a part of our Nordic Cultural Initiative, the Phillips recently hosted our first Nordic Wonderland family program in collaboration with the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Over 120 guests created art activities from Denmark and Norway, experienced storytelling from Iceland, viewed a Moomin cartoon from Finland, and watched a St. Lucia parade from Sweden.

During the program, we debuted our new Winter Warm Up “Art-Venture.” The digital scavenger hunt is a fun way to navigate the Phillips. You can play with your family, friends, or even by yourself! The Winter Warm Up “Art-Venture” is available to visitors all season long and can be accessed using your mobile device, or you can access it here: http://edventurebuilder.com/phillips/winter.

One family described the “art-venture,” saying “The questions were good ones and a great way to learn about art and the museum.” Another said, “The event was wonderful… For the older kids, the scavenger hunt was really fun!”