Not the most uplifting post for a Friday, but maybe it's cathartic

At the "Conversation" last Saturday, an audience member voiced her concern over the sign that was still hung on the side of the UIMA's former Riverside Drive building. She said the sight of the words "Museum of Art" on that structure, which will never house the UIMA's collection again, pulled at her heart, and she requested that they be removed. UI President Sally Mason agreed.

On Wednesday, Melissa Hueting, UIMA Assistant to the Director for Special Programs, and I took a trip down to the arts campus site and noticed that the white, "Museum of Art" letters had indeed been removed, leaving only shadows as a reminder of the nearly 40 years they hung there. Melissa took a few pictures, which I've posted here. The image is a painfully clear symbol of the difficult times the Museum has undergone since the summer, but it is also a symbol of looking forward. The UIMA may never be the same as it was before the flood, but I think there are many of us out there who believe in the possibilities that the future holds.

Now, on a happier note, go out there and enjoy the sunshine on this wonderful weekend! I certainly plan to.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Intern

Press Coverage and other updates

First of all, a HUGE thank you to all our wonderful supporters who came out to all the events these past two weeks! We REALLY appreciate your support.

The UIMA's been in the news quite a bit the last couple of weeks:

The Press Citizen's Rachel Gallegos reports on Saturday's "Conversation about the future of the UI Museum of Art" with UI Officials. Tyler Green, DC-based art blogger who wrote about last year's Pollock issues, links to her article on his blog, Modern Art Notes. The Des Moines Register, the Gazette, KCRG, and the Daily Iowan also cover the "Conversation," though I can't seem to find a link to the DI story. The Chicago Tribune also ran the AP story.

Most of the papers also cover our exhibit opening at the Figge last weekend. The Gazette writes "We're glad to see some of the flood-evacuated collection from the University of Iowa Museum of Art will come out of storage after 10 months and be available for public view." The Quad-Cities online writes "New Figge exhibit shines." KCRG has a video clip here, the Press Citizen has an article here, The Cultural Heritage News Agency carries our press release (badly) here, The Quad City Times cover the opening here, and Jeff Ignatius of the River Cities' Reader has a great story on the exhibit here.

If you haven't checked out Diane Heldt's great coverage of the UIMA@ the Figge, you should. Here are some photos, and here's a great article.

The Daily Iowan's Caroline Berg has a nice article it today's DI on the UIMA "Word Painters" reading with Cutter Wood and Bonnie Sunstein, coming up this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Capitol Museum's Senate Chamber.

Lee Rosenbaum, who visited the UIMA to talk about Deaccessioning issues last week, has a couple great posts on her blog, with more to come. The first is about deaccession legislation, and the second about the flood-devestated arts campus. She also writes briefly about her visit to the Figge, and includes a clip from the KCRG preview of the exhibit.

Claire and I hard at work trying to figure exactly how to use our camcorder software, but we're hoping tohave videos from Lee's talk and this week's Elliott Society event on education next week, as well as some footage from Sunday's opening at the Figge.

Some old business, but worth taking a look if you haven't seen it (and linking to since I have not yet done so!), is this Daily Iowan article on the Museum's return to campus.

I think that should cover it for now at least! Michael Morain will be writing an article for the Des Moines Register for this weekend, so as soon as I get that link I'll post it as well!

--Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager

Discussions on the UIMA's future

Photo by Brian Ray of The Gazette

The front page of The Gazette on Thursday featured a prominent story by Gazette writer Diane Heldt examining what the future might hold for the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The story ran as a preview to the upcoming event, "Conversation about the Future of the UI Museum of Art," a public discussion with UI President Sally Mason, Provost Wallace Loh, and other UI officials this Saturday, April 18 at 2 p.m. in the Bijou Theater of the Iowa Memorial Union.

Heldt interviewed a wide range of people for the story, from Doug True, UI vice president for finance and operations, to Museum supporters Linda Paul and Charlie Anderson, UIMA Interim Director Pamela White, and UIMA Manager of Exhibitions and Collections Jeff Martin. The article does a great job of covering the different aspects that must be considered when looking into the UIMA's future. Here are a few quotes that stood out to me:

"...what the museum's future presence on campus will look like, and whether any of the collection will return to the former building on the river's west bank, is still to be decided. It could be five years before the museum is back in a permanent facility, and numerous options are on the table.

'I certainly would hope to have a museum in the coming years that's second to none, a museum that's truly worthy of the fabulous collection we have,' said Doug True, UI vice president for finance and operations. 'How we get there, I don't know.'"

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"Supporters will be especially important in recovery for the Museum of Art, True said, because the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not contribute money if the UI decides to build a new museum at a new location. FEMA would contribute 90 percent of the cost to restore the former museum building, but that facility now houses temporary facilities for the displaced School of Music."

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"Options that UI officials will consider include building a new free-standing museum elsewhere or making the museum part of a new arts complex—if officials decide to replace flood-damaged Hancher Auditorium at a new site."

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"White does not favor storing art in a building near the river, given the difficulty of evacuating it last summer. Her job, she said, is to provide leadership in thinking about what the museum can be, as a steward of cultural resources and icons, without being site or place-specific right now.

'This is the time to think about all the ideas,' she said. 'We don't want to just react so fast to the tragedy that befell us by not looking at the opportunity we have to revitalize arts and culture on campus.'"

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It's certainly a large topic and there will be no quick solution, but it is an important conversation for the community to have. To learn more about the UIMA's future and give us your feedback, make sure to attend the event on Saturday. UI officials and UIMA staff members are interested to hear what you have to say, because, as we've learned in the Museum's absence over the past 10 months, a museum doesn't belong to just one person; it belongs to us all.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Intern

Moving the Pollock

On Friday, we moved Pollock's Mural from one small gallery to the next at the Figge. Diane Heldt and Brian Ray from the Gazette were there to help us capture the moment. Check out the story here.

--Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager

UIMA-sponsored Cool Kids show: review + photos

This is late coming, but here are some pictures from the recent UIMA-sponsored Cool Kids concert last Saturday, April 5, as well as a guest post by former Daily Iowan arts reporter Jarrett Hothan, who attended the concert and wrote up a brief review of the show for the "Art Matters" blog. The free show celebrated the 25th anniversary of the University of Iowa's student radio station, KRUI-FM 89.7, and was also part of the local Mission Creek Festival 2009.



Photo credit: Ake, trucloudy.com

"Judging by the crowd, the Iowa Memorial Union’s name was self-fulfilling at the recent Cool Kids show. A fantastic union of hipsters, frat boys, sorority girls, and everyone else in between bobbed heads to the throwback hip-hop of the Chicago rap duo.

"Illuminated by shining oversized gold chains and colorful flat-brim baseball hats, the Cool Kids strutted across the dark stage trading off boastful and bombastic raps. The duo, comprised of Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks, have the tag-team rap approach down to a science. Interacting and interjecting with each other’s rhymes, the rappers burned through signature songs like 'Gold and a Pager' and 'Black Mags.'

"The Cool Kids’ minimal, mid-1980s, less-is-more-except-in-the-bass-department production is a perfect snapshot of the retro-renaissance happening in rap music as of late. The show was a satisfying culmination to the Mission Creek Festival week in Iowa City, which aside from the GZA’s performance at the Englert Theatre, was disappointingly devoid of more rap shows. As hundreds of sweaty students poured out into the drizzly night, it was easy to be jealous that my birthday parties aren’t more like this."
-Jarrett Hothan

Looks like it was a pretty rockin' time.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Intern

Rosenbaum's latest blog post features UIMA

Check it out.

Also, these two deaccession-related articles came out today from Art in America and the LA Times.

It's quite a hot topic! Don't miss the event -- Wednesday, April 15, University Athletic Club -- BE THERE! :)

UIMA presents "When Values Collide: Financial Asset or Cultural Resource" April 15

The Metropolitan Museum, New York. The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Massachusetts. The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Virginia. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

These are just a few of the museums to catch the public eye in recent years and months for decisions to deaccession—or sell—art from their collections. The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) will present a free, public program examining this often controversial issue at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15 at the University Athletic Club, 1360 Melrose Ave., Iowa City. In advance of the event, Museum donors at the Elliott Society level are invited to an exclusive reception at 5 p.m.

The program, entitled “When Values Collide: Financial Asset or Cultural Resource,” will feature a keynote address from veteran cultural journalist Lee Rosenbaum. A prominent art blogger and a frequent writer for the Wall Street Journal’s “Leisure & Arts” page, Rosenbaum has often been the first to break the news about museum deaccessioning controversies. Iowa City-based attorney David Bright, who serves on the American Bar Association’s Art & Cultural Heritage Law Committee and the UIMA Members Council, will join Rosenbaum for the talk.

“As part of the university, an educational institution, it is our responsibility to help the public learn about this issue—especially during tough economic times,” said UIMA Interim Director Pamela White. “The paintings in our collections are cultural resources we hold in trust for future generations, and they are essential to the university’s academic mission.”

The program’s focus is especially relevant for the UIMA in light of recent events, White said. In 2008, at the request of the Board of Regents, the university prepared an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of deaccessioning the Museum’s most celebrated painting, Jackson Pollock’s Mural (1943).

Rosenbaum, who covered the Pollock story on her blog, advocates clearly enunciated, well-publicized standards regarding deaccessioning practices.

“It's important for the public to know and understand these issues because this is their stuff: We've paid for it with the tax deductions that people get for donating it, as well as through museums' tax-exempt status, which they get through properly fulfilling their public purpose,” she said.

Currently, organizations like the American Association of Museums (AAM), which accredits museums that meet that organization’s standards, and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), which represents major art museums in the United States, Canada and Mexico, outline deaccessioning best practices.

“There are strict guidelines about when museums are allowed to deaccession objects and what the money from such sales can be used for,” White said.

Museums have to take into account many ethical and legal intricacies when they consider deaccessioning works from their collections, Bright said.

“Deaccessioning involves many areas of the law, including charitable giving law, estate planning and probate law, contract law, art law and higher education law,” he said. “It takes considerable effort and due diligence for organizations to navigate this process. In many ways, the University of Iowa’s experience can serve as a model for other institutions to follow.”

To raise public awareness about deaccessioning rules in the long term, Rosenbaum said university museums need to reach out to their constituencies within their institutions and in surrounding communities.

“I like to analogize the art in the university's museum to the books in its library,” Rosenbaum said. “The artworks are primary sources of information and knowledge for anyone at the university or in the broader community who is interested in cultural, intellectual and political history, not to mention those who are enrolled in a university's fine arts program.”

“When Values Collide” is second of three talks in the UIMA’s Spring 2009 Elliott Society Lecture Series. The third lecture, for museum donors at the Elliott Society level and above, will be presented at the same location on Wednesday, April 22 (“Art as Inspiration: The Value of Art Education”).

A graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Lee Rosenbaum has frequently contributed to the Wall Street Journal, New York Public Radio, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among others. She has also appeared on BBC-TV. A widely read blogger and cultural commentator, she is author of “The Complete Guide to Collecting Art” (Knopf) and has lectured on artworld issues at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University Law School, Seton Hall University, the annual conference of the Museum Association of New York and a conference sponsored by UNESCO and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture at the New Acropolis Museum. For more information, visit her blog CultureGrrl at http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl.

David Bright practices law with Meardon, Sueppel & Downer, P.L.C., where he focuses a significant portion of his practice on nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. He is a frequent speaker at state continuing legal education events and a regular guest speaker at the University of Northern Iowa on philanthropy and the law. He serves as President of the Iowa Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts on the Members’ Council for the University of Iowa Museum of Art. He also serves on the American Bar Association’s Art and Cultural Heritage Law Committee and Steering Group and is the author of an upcoming series of articles for the Committee’s Newsletter on litigation relating to the wreck and artifacts of the R.M.S. Titanic. Bright was born and raised in Iowa City and earned both his B.S. and J.D. from the University of Iowa.

The UI Museum of Art offices have been relocated to the Studio Arts Building (formerly Menards), 1375 Highway 1 West, 1840 SA, Iowa City, IA 52242. For up-to-date museum information visit http://www.uiowa.edu/uima or the UIMA blog, "Art Matters," at http://uima.blogspot.com, or call 319-335-1725.

Link to University News Services release here.

Coming soon -- Videos from the UIMA

Audiences and organizations everywhere are discovering that multimedia is an exciting way to connect through the Internet, and the UIMA is excited to announce that it will soon be joining in!

Today, the UIMA Marketing and Media staff purchased a camcorder and equipment to start creating video content for the Museum's website, blog, and other social media outlets.

We hope to begin filming High Definition videos of the UIMA's happenings as soon as possible, especially with the many big events coming up next week:

-- "When Values Collide: Financial Asset or Cultural Resource," a free, public lecture about deaccessioning with veteran cultural journalist Lee Rosenbaum, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15 at the University Athletic Club, 1360 Melrose Ave.

-- "Conversation about the future of the UI Museum of Art," a public discussion with University officials, including UI President Sally Mason and Executive Vice President and Provost Wallace Loh, 2 p.m. Saturday, April 18 at the Bijou Theater in the Iowa Memorial Union

-- Exhibit opening of A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock’s Mural and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art Sunday, April 19, noon to 5 p.m. at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa

Many museums are expanding their presence on the web through multimedia. Recently, the Indianapolis Museum of Art founded the site ArtBabble, a place for museums across the country to post videos of artist interviews, exhibitions, lectures, and other behind-the-scenes features. In the near future, we hope the UIMA can join the partners of this exciting new site, which already include the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the New York Public Library.

Keep checking the "Art Matters" blog as the UIMA begins posting videos in the next few weeks!

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Intern

Coverage of the Figge exhibition opening

Quad-Cities online picked up our news release. We're also expecting a story in the Gazette next Wednesday, April 15, and stories in the Press-Citizen and the Des Moines Register over the opening weekend.

--Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager

Q&A with Lee Rosenbaum

On Wednesday, April 15, the UIMA will present a public program examining the complicated issue of deaccessioning--or selling--work from a museum's collection. The event, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the University Athletic Club, 1360 Melrose Ave., Iowa City, will feature a keynote address from veteran cultural journalist Lee Rosenbaum (right).

A prominent art blogger and a frequent writer for the Wall Street Journal’s “Leisure & Arts” page, Rosenbaum has often been the first to break the news about museum deaccessioning controversies. In advance of the event, Rosenbaum answered a few questions for the UIMA:

UIMA: How did you become interested in museum issues, particularly those surrounding deaccessioning?
Lee Rosenbaum: I began my journalistic career about the time when a tremendous furor arose over the now infamous deaccessions by Thomas Hoving, then director of the Metropolitan Museum, of two major modern masterpieces---van Gogh's The Olive Pickers and Rousseau's Monkeys in the Jungle. The furor stirred up by a series of New York Times articles in 1972 and 1973, which exposed the Met's deaccession deeds and misdeeds, moved then Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz to hold deaccession hearings involving testimony from many New York State museum officials. His office imposed restrictions on disposals by the Met that exist to this day.

This was a case where enterprising art critics and journalists raised the public's awareness of an important issue and had an important impact on policy and practices. It had a strong impact on me, as someone with deep interests in culture and investigative journalism.

UIMA: Why it is important that there be standards to regulate how museums get rid of objects?
LR: In the absence of clearly enunciated, well publicized standards, there will always be some museum officials and trustees who are tempted to monetize artworks in times of financial crisis. It's the easiest but most ethically dicey way to raise quick cash.

UIMA: Why is it important that the public know and understand these issues?
LR: It's important for the public to know and understand these issues because this is our stuff: We've paid for it with the tax deductions that people get for donating it, as well as through museums' tax-exempt status, which they get through properly fulfilling their public purpose. Museums hold their collections in trust for the public, and public and professional opinion has been an important force in discouraging ethically dubious deaccessions.

UIMA: It seems like controversy surrounding deaccessioning has become especially prevalent in the US in the past couple of years. Why do you think that is?
LR: It's obvious that as financial pressures on nonprofits increase, the pressures to monetize collections also increase. And there's a snowball effect when a few institutions sell without suffering significant adverse consequences. This encourages officials and trustees at other institutions to consider art disposals as a solution to their financial problems. I'm thinking specifically of what I call the "Thomas Jefferson University Effect"---the decision by a Philadelphia medical school, which has no art curriculum or art museum, to sell Eakins' The Gross Clinic. I feel that this anomalous case has set a dangerous precedent for institutions that DO have art programs and, therefore, should have a very different set of ethical considerations regarding art disposals.

UIMA: What is your advice to museums -- especially university museums -- with regards to the issue of deaccessioning? How can they prevent the sale of their collections by their parent entities when they are not in agreement? What do you see as the long term solution to this problem?
LR: In the short term, university officials must be made aware of the body of detailed professional guidelines (and the sanctions for violating those), accounting standards (which allow collections to be valued at $1, because they are not liquid assets) and past enforcement interventions by State Attorneys General, all of which are predicated on the fact that these works are the public's patrimony and should not be monetized. Ignore this, and the university risks widespread condemnation by the public, alumni, professional organizations and potential donors (as, in fact, has recently happened at Randolph College in Virginia and Brandeis University in Massachusetts).

In the long term, university museums need to work harder to broaden their constituencies within their own institutions and in their surrounding communities. I like to analogize the art in the university's museum to the books in its library. No one would ever propose of selling the library's reference materials to improve the university's bottom line or pay for a new building. Similarly, the artworks are primary sources of information and knowledge for anyone at the university or in the broader community who is interested in cultural, intellectual and political history (not to mention those who are enrolled in a university's fine arts program). The art isn't a frill. It is central to the university's educational mission. The key to preventing sales from collections is to make sure that the university's stakeholders understand this and that they experience and appreciate the museum's worth firsthand.

Lee Rosenbaum is a frequent contributor to Wall Street Journal's "Leisure & Arts" page and an influential, widely read blogger on artworld issues at CultureGrrl. She has been a frequent cultural commentator on New York Public Radio (WNYC) and has published numerous articles on the New York Times' and Los Angeles Times' Op-Ed pages and in ARTnews and Art in America magazines, among many others. She is author of The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf) and has lectured on artworld issues at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University Law School, Seton Hall University, the annual conference of the Museum Association of New York, and a conference sponsored by UNESCO and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture at the New Acropolis Museum.

Her deaccession-related articles include:

For Sale: Our Permanent Collection, New York Times, Nov. 2, 2005
The Lost Museum: Why Is MoMA Selling Off Its Masterpieces? Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2004
A Betrayal of Trust: At the New York Public Library, It's Sell Now, Raise Money Later, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2005
The Walton Effect: Artworld Is Roiled by Wal-Mart Heiress, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 2007
He's a Museum Leader for Trouble Times (Michael Conforti), Wall Street Journal, Jan. 27, 2009

UIMA at the Figge -- photos!

Check out some photos (finally!) from the UIMA move into the Figge a couple weeks ago.



And make sure to come to the opening from noon to 5 p.m. April 19!

--Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager

UIMA @ the Figge: Exhibition opening April 19

As a result of the June 2008 flooding of the UI Museum of Art building (UIMA), the Museum’s collections and exhibitions have moved.

The UIMA invites you to visit our new temporary location at the Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second St., Davenport, IA, 52801, where modern masterworks by celebrated artists including Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse will be featured in an upcoming exhibition organized by the UIMA:

A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock’s Mural and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art Sunday, April 19–Sunday, Aug. 2.

Opening reception 12–5 p.m. April 19
Tours at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 p.m.

For more information on the exhibition, click here to read the press release.

Admission to the Figge is FREE for UI students, faculty, and staff who present their University ID cards and UIMA donors who present their donor courtesy card. The general public is also welcome at the event for regular Figge admission prices: $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for children ages 3-12.

UI students can sign up to take a FREE bus to the opening, departing from the Studio Arts Building, 1375 Highway 1 West, at 1 p.m. for Davenport and returning at approximately 6 p.m. Those who wish to ride the bus must sign up to reserve their seat at the Studio Arts front desk, the Iowa Memorial Union box office, Old Capitol Museum, the Museum of Natural History, or by e-mailing benjamin-lipnick@uiowa.edu.

Hosting UIMA-organized exhibitions such as “A Legacy for Iowa” is just one aspect of the larger partnership between the UIMA and the Figge; the Figge will also store the UIMA collection until a permanent museum space in Iowa City becomes available. For more information, read the press release.

Visit the UIMA Website, www.uiowa.edu/uima, for more information, including a map and directions, to learn more about where and when our exhibitions and events will occurs while we await our new permanent home!

--Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager