North Carolina Museum of Art Teen Event 2011 from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

In January 2011 a group of Museum educators presented a charge to our new Teen Advisory Council: create a renaissance of teen programs at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

What does “a renaissance” mean? Well, it is all in the capitalization. A renaissance with a lowercase r refers to a renewal or revival. The Renaissance with a capital R was the rebirth of classic Roman and Greek art, literature, and philosophy in Europe between 1400 and 1600. Learning and innovation were celebrated, which led to new discoveries, inventions, and great advances in technology.

The past 20 years have also been a time of tremendous change, as the information age unfolds a steady stream of technological advances that enable us to communicate with thousands instantaneously. With support from the Wells Fargo Foundation, for example, the NCMA is offering a new series of online courses in collaboration with North Carolina Virtual Public Schools. The renaissance theme presented to the Teen Advisory Council was an outgrowth of the first course in this series: Videography with a Renaissance Twist. Regardless of geographic barriers, students have the opportunity to take these courses that foster critical inquiry and thinking skills for the 21^st century. The Museum’s first Teen Event introduced this course along with other exciting programs for high school students.

Considering both the capital R of the Renaissance’s artistic innovation and the lowercase r of the renaissance of vibrant teen programs, our Teen Advisory Council brainstormed about what high school students want from their state art museum. Over the course of five months, these students planned an evening to celebrate the newly resurrected teen art competition and the Museum’s first online course.  Thanks to a gift from Tekelec, the Teen Event was preceded by a symposium including a talk by Michael Gelb, author of How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci. Students and teachers explored the mind of Renaissance genius through the galleries of our permanent collection and returned to the studio for hands-on exercises in creativity.

Our new series of inventive course-related programs is just the beginning; we are piloting our second course, The Art of Game Design, and planning a third, Art of Persuasion, in the fall of 2012.

Watch the video to see how the NCMA Teen Advisory Council began this renaissance for teens at the Museum. And save May 19, 2012, on your calendar for the Spring Teen Event, and see what this passionate group of teens will plan. Finally, come visit the new Teens Inspired site to learn more.

We spent the first hour in the Portrait Gallery, where we learned points in analyzing how a portrait is developed: where the features are placed, how the lighting and shadows bring the face to life and add to the model’s expression. Information I know is going to enhance my enjoyment of the Rembrandt exhibition.

Then it was off to the studio to try our own hand at creating great art. Well, not exactly, but we did have a good time trying. After some preliminary instruction, we each chose a photograph cut from a magazine to copy. There was a lot of friendly interaction and kind words when we all held up our “finished” pictures.

I had looked forward to the class with anticipation and wasn’t disappointed, and I’m already looking forward to the next classes. Who knows where this will lead: the next Grandma Moses?

The NCMA’s next Senior Sampler is Tuesday, January 10. Find out details and reserve your spot here.

Irene Lejman is one of the NCMA’s most dedicated volunteers and a happy participant of the Senior Sampler program.

A few steps outside the Rembrandt exhibition in East Building is another exhibition, titled Self, Observed. Conceived and organized by our Education Department, this exhibition is a juried college art competition. Over 160 online submissions of original self-portraits in various media were received from all over the country. The jury, made up of college students from the Curatorial Projects class at UNC–Chapel Hill, selected 41 works for display, plus two video entries. Other entries can be viewed on a video screen.

This project is unique for the NCMA in several ways. It is our first juried college art exhibition. I will admit the suspense was thick over the summer as the entries seemed slow to arrive, but as soon as the fall school semester started, the whole thing went viral. The entries poured in.

Another twist is that the jury was made up of college students. The Curatorial Projects students (under the leadership of professor Elin o’Hara Slavick) selected art for the exhibition and wrote label copy. They provided not only enthusiasm and thoughtful perspectives, but also another layer to the outreach programming for which our Education Department is known. That reaching out and taking the Museum experience into different communities creates connections and partnerships that enhance the art experience for us all.

As the designer for this project, my original challenge was to design a room with only 18 works. By the time final entries were received, the challenge was to design a room with so many. The curatorial students wrote what we call “extended” labels, which take up more than the usual amount of wall space. I felt it was important to allow each work to have enough space to be seen on its own and not simply as part of the whole. I believe a good balance was created between the individual self-portraits and the groupings of works.

Self, Observed is an inviting and contemporary companion exhibition to Rembrandt in America. Congratulations to those students whose work was selected. Between these students and Rembrandt, there really are masters among us!

Image above: Mark Wroblewski, I’m Trying to be Serious, 2011, Charcoal, 13” x 19”. Self, Observed is on view on Level B in East Building at the Museum.

Thanks to funding from the North Carolina General Assembly to support character education in K–12 public schools, the ELA section of the Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina Museum of Art had the privilege of hosting these young people and their teachers for a Character Education Teen Residency Project. Under the leadership of artist Peg Gignoux and writer Susie Wilde, students transformed their ideas into images and words that tell the story of what it means to be a good person. (See photos of the event on Flickr.)

Carolyn Crutcher, an English 10 teacher at New Technology High School at Garinger in Charlotte, N.C., reflects on her experience.

Participating in the residency was such a rewarding experience for my students and me. First, in the words of Moe Win: “I had so many new experiences in a few days. The environment at the NCMA made me feel so creative. As I was an author/writer, I learned so much about showing not telling, revising, and editing for the story. I am not the type of person who likes to work with a team, but I learned that it is more fantastic to work with others. We were discussing and helping each other while writing our story. Another good opportunity was visiting the art galleries. I loved the tours Ms. Rusak guided. The art work invited me to think more about the purpose of the artists.”

Here are Ivan Gaddy’s reflections: “I wanted to go to Raleigh, but I was nervous because this was the first time that I had gone somewhere and spent more than one day without my family. The main thing I was worried about was the way we had to make the art. Before the residency, I had only used pencil and paper for drawing. Also I was afraid that the groups weren’t going to agree on anything. I am so glad that my assumptions were wrong. It was nice hearing the other groups’ stories and seeing how they drew the main character, “Bird.” I liked making the collages out of fabric, and I hope to use that form of art in the near future. The trip was great and I hope to go again.”

For me, as the teacher, it was sheer pleasure to have this time with such talented young people on such a creative project. I spent most of my time with the writing groups, but to my delight, I also got to help cut out fabric for the illustrations and even helped a little with sewing. When we toured the galleries, I was deeply moved by Michael Richards’s bronze sculpture, Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, especially when Sandy Rusak told us that Michael died on September 11, 2001, in his art studio in one of the Twin Towers.

I used a picture of the sculpture and Michael’s story to introduce the essential question for a recent literature project: How do beliefs and attitudes affect the lives of individuals? First I showed the students a picture of the sculpture and instructed them to look at it and think about it. Then I had them read about Richards. With a partner they discussed these questions and wrote their answers:

1. What is ironic about the bronze statue?
2. Explain the allusions in the title Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian.
3. Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?
4. How did Michael Richards’s beliefs and attitudes shape his art?
5. How did the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of the young men who flew the planes 9/11 affect Michael Richards’s life?

When the students completed their research, we had a stimulating class discussion. Although only two of my students were able to participate in the art residency, I was able to share one of the pieces of art with all my students.

Teenagers tend to see the world a little differently—but that’s not a bad thing! A distinct point of view can be an asset to a photographer. The Museum’s recent Digital Photography Workshop encouraged high schoolers to express their creativity in a variety of media.

The workshop combined a photo shoot in the Museum Park with computer manipulation and hands-on art projects. First the teens took a look at our current photography exhibition, Landscape Sublime, and saw how North Carolina artist John Menapace transformed ordinary daily spaces into extraordinary arrangements of light and form. They took their cameras into the Park to capture worm’s-eye views of oaks covered with kudzu and the geometric angles of the amphitheater stage.

Back inside, they got their hands on computer software to manipulate photographs, distorting and enhancing their own photos for a dramatic and sometimes humorous effect. The students experimented with printing on unusual surfaces and combining photos of themselves with works of art for mixed-media projects.

They drew inspiration from Anthony Goicolea’s Sea Wall, a sculptural installation of photos, glass bottles, and glass blocks, to print photographs of each other on acetate for a group installation, which they then photographed. They looked at vanitas paintings in the Dutch collection—still lifes that symbolize the emptiness and transience of earthly things—and then created another three-dimensional installation using still-life objects. Their work graced the Blue Ridge patio for just a short time, but the images live on in students’ photographs.

We invite you to peer behind the lens for a new perspective of the Museum.

Rockwell’s work reminds us of a time when families gathered around the dinner table or piled into the car (a car without a DVD player) for family vacations, a time when kids found ways to amuse themselves that didn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or a television. An age when many families found themselves out on their front porches in search of a cool breeze and a good story, as they entertained themselves with what was happening in the neighborhood.

Rockwell’s nostalgic works will put you in just the right frame of mind to enjoy a little time on our Front Porch. We have created a porch inside the Museum, complete with rocking chairs and a shady yard. Stop by for a game of checkers with a friend or just a little girl talk under the trees. The Front Porch is the perfect spot to linger and share your thoughts and impressions about Rockwell’s work. This gathering spot also hosts storytellers and musicians throughout the American Chronicles exhibition.

But not to worry; we haven’t totally left the 21^st century behind. Your view from the porch includes a screen with photographs of porches submitted by people across the state, and Caption This, a project that lets visitors submit captions for select works from three exhibitions. Do stop by!

Curator John Coffey’s remarks on the cell phone tour make the house in Andrew Newell Wyeth’s Weatherside (1965) come alive. He points out “the little specks of red in Christina’s window”—the geraniums that she always loved—and the tiny knot on the clothesline that show Wyeth’s obsession with detail.

As a new editor at the Museum, I knew I had a lot to learn. (I’m a newspaper veteran, not an art historian.) In my first days on the job, I’d hear coworkers rattling on about “the Steinkamp” or “the Archipenko.” I would nod sagely. Back at my desk, I’d look up those names in the Museum database. Aha! The Steinkamp is not some intimidating thing—it’s that flowing, ever-changing tree image projected on a wall of West Building. And the Archipenko is, of course, the Blue Dancer, balancing tirelessly on one pointed toe.

Well, two down, 3,834 to go.

Fortunately, I learned early on, not all of the Museum’s art is on display at once. For the moment I’d forget about the works in storage and focus on the 700 or so I could see.

And fortunately our curators and educators hadn’t left me to learn on my own. Before the new galleries opened, they had put together a cell phone tour to guide me—or any visitor—to some of the Museum’s highlights. Press 236 in the African gallery, and I could hear Ledelle Moe telling how she sculpted each head in Congregation. Or press 235 near the Krater, and curator Mary Ellen Soles tells about “the great intellectual drinking parties of ancient Greece.”

Listening and looking became my favorite part of the new job. When I had a bit of time to spare, I’d head to the galleries, check out an audio wand, and scope out a painting or two. Exploring reassured me that my ignorance was not total: amid the mysteries I found old friends Degas and Wyeth and O’Keeffe—oh, and have you heard, we have Rodins?

So, four months I’ve been here now. A couple of newspaper friends came by for lunch, and when we finished I led them into the galleries.

“You’ve got to see this,” I urged. “Lines That Link Humanity. By a Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui. Isn’t it amazing? He made it of old liquor bottle labels and even pieces of old newspaper printing plates—thousands of them.—And look, over here, this is the Steinkamp­—”

“You really know your art!” one friend exclaimed.

“Well,” I replied, “I’ve been keeping an ear out.”

Listen to remarks by curators, educators, and scholars using your own cell phone in the galleries, gardens, or Museum Park. Or check out an audio wand at the Information Desk for $3 (free for NCMA members). To listen on your own MP3 player, download the Cell Phone Tour.

Hundreds of photos poured in to Flickr, and a 10-foot-by-10-foot cube was born. Open at the top and tied around the middle with an oversize bow, the installation became the centerpiece for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of the Museum’s new West Building on April 23.

Wayne Henderson of Chapel Hill, a graphic artist and blacksmith, crafted the project and managed its installation on the Museum lawn. He worked with a team of students at N.C. State’s College of Design to create the bow. Under the leadership of professor Vita Plume, the students–Jessica Odom, Veronica Tibbitts, and Jenna Bost–designed and fabricated the large cloth bow and added it to the gift.

After the ceremony, Linda Carlisle, secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, asked what would be done with the cube. Upon hearing it would go into storage, she said, “Oh, no, this is much too wonderful to put into storage. It should be in the lobby at DCR.”  Thus began another art movement project for the Museum’s art handlers.

The piece has been installed in the State Archives and History Building at 109 E. Jones St. in Raleigh, in numerous locations. A very pleased Wayne Henderson says, “While I had designed the panels for some flexibility, your creative triangular towers in the lobby were not something I had even considered. Great job! It’s wonderful that the faces and places of this great state will live on for a while.”

Give Colors to Classrooms is one way the NCMA is trying to raise awareness about this situation and increase support for students and teachers across the state. Visitors to our opening festival are encouraged to bring a set of markers, colored pencils and pastels to art and non-art classrooms across North Carolina. You provide the color. We’ll supply the paper. Together, we’ll make sure these riches get into the hands of our neediest students.

Helen Rowe writes:

Udney Maria Blakely is a sort of distant relative of my husband’s. She married Joseph von Bretton, but she then died in childbirth or shortly afterwards the year after the marriage. Her baby daughter also died. However, some years later Joseph remarried, and he named his first born after his first wife (Udney Maria Blakely von Bretton). In researching the family history I had come across her story, and was therefore quite amazed to think that her portrait and the tea/coffee set have survived.

To which curator John Coffey responds:

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for dear Udney Maria. She never knew her naval hero father, but a grateful North Carolina made sure that the girl was brought up genteelly with funds provided by the public treasury. Thomas Sully’s adoring portrait, painted when the girl was fifteen, testifies to Udney Maria’s beauty and charm which would soon capture the heart of a Danish aristocrat. I love the story of the origins of the Blakely silver: in honor of her father’s gallantry, the State of North Carolina wished to present the Udney Maria with a ceremonial sword.  However, her sensible mother convinced the State that a coffee and tea service was more appropriate. And you have to marvel at the equanimity of the second Baroness von Bretton in acquiescing to the naming of her first child for her deceased predecessor. Udney Maria must have been an extraordinary young woman.

In the new American gallery, John has set the stage for this amazing story to be told again and again. Udney Maria’s tea service now sits just a step away from her lovely portrait. (It’s just one instance of where an interesting juxtaposition in the galleries sparks a whole new thought.)

Thomas Sully's portrait of Udney Maria and her tea service, at left