#MuseumFromHome

Join us every Tuesday for live Q&A sessions with the Blanton staff! They’ll answer your burning questions about everything from how the windows in Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin got here to what NOT to say to an artist. Happy hour drink suggestions and recipes provided.

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Curated Conversations

20oct(oct 20)5:00 pmFeaturedCurated ConversationsArtful Leadership: A Blanton Board Q&A (Free Online Event!)

Event Details

Ever wondered what Blanton National Leadership Board members do and how they got involved with the museum? Find out in this behind-the-scenes look at Board membership! Several Blanton Board members

Event Details

Ever wondered what Blanton National Leadership Board members do and how they got involved with the museum? Find out in this behind-the-scenes look at Board membership! Several Blanton Board members will share why they joined our Board, the diverse experiences they bring to their roles, and the future they envision for the museum and its community. Blanton Director Simone Wicha will moderate a discussion with Suzanne McFayden, Gilberto Cárdenas, and Tom Dunning.

REGISTRATION INFO COMING SOON

About Our Speakers

In 2011 Simone Wicha became the Blanton’s fifth director, and has built a nationally recognized team of curators, educators, and other museum professionals. By overseeing the development of ground-breaking exhibitions, scholarship, and publications that have enriched the museum experience for the Blanton’s diverse audiences, Wicha has helped raise the museum’s standing internationally. Under her leadership, the Blanton has greatly strengthened its education mission and its acquisitions program, undertaken the first comprehensive renovation and reinstallation of its permanent collection galleries in 10 years, and acquired and constructed Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin. She is currently leading a partnership with Snøhetta to re-envision the Blanton’s grounds and establish the museum as a top destination in Austin. Wicha was born in Texas and raised in Mexico City, and is a proud Longhorn.

Gilberto Cárdenas recently retired as executive director of the Center for Arts and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, where he is also a professor emeritus of sociology. Cárdenas taught at The University of Texas at Austin from 1975-1999. He opened Galería Sin Fronteras in 1986, a gallery in Austin featuring Chicana/o and Latina/o artists. Cárdenas was an advisory council member for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Gates Millennium Scholars and is a founding member of the Smithsonian Latino Center Board. He also serves on the El Museo del Barrio board. Cárdenas joined the Blanton National Leadership Board in early 2020.

Suzanne McFayden, writer, parent and art lover, was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica until beginning Cornell University in 1983. After graduating with her BA in 1987, she worked in the retail industry in NYC. Subsequent to that, she received her MFA from Mills College in Oakland in 2005. She joined the Blanton National Leadership Board in 2015 and also serves on the board of the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Tom Dunning joined the Blanton National Leadership Board in 2014, with his wife Sally, a passionate art collector. Tom, named an Outstanding Dallas UT Ex, is a member the UT Steve Hicks School of Social Work Advisory Council and serves on the UT Southwestern Medical Center Audit Committee. He is Chairman Emeritus of Lockton Dunning Benefits. Texas Governors have appointed Tom to major state Boards and Commissions and Dallas Mayors have called on Tom to address and resolve challenging issues facing Dallas, ranging from homelessness to race and equal opportunity. Tom’s commitment is to advance the quality of life for all.

 

Feature Image: Interior view of Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin,” Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, taken during the Director’s Circle Members Party, February 2018. Photo by AzulOx Visuals, LLC.

Time

(Tuesday) 5:00 pm

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Enjoy this video series featuring Blanton educator Monique Piñón O’Neil leading easy, make-at-home art activities inspired by works in the museum collection. Each activity includes a downloadable supply list and instructions.

Step inside the galleries of the museum….virtually! Our interactive 360-degree video tours let you move through exhibitions online, enhancing your “visit” with high-resolution images, in-depth descriptive text, audio commentary from curators, and even videos. First up, you can explore our exhibition The Avant-garde Networks of Amauta: Argentina, Mexico, and Peru in the 1920s. Stay tuned for more virtual visits soon!

Fun and relaxing for all ages, these downloadable art pages feature works of art from the Blanton collection and are a lovely way to color the day away! We’ll be adding new collections every few weeks, so be sure to check back.

Post your colorful creations on social media and remember to tag them with #ColorTheBlanton and @blantonmuseum so we can re-share!

Delightful Design
Ooh and aah over these “Delightful Design” pages, taken from etchings and engravings in our prints and drawings collection.

Natural Beauty
Lush landscapes and fantastic flora bring the outdoors to you with these “Natural Beauty” pages from our prints and drawings collection.

Fabulous Fashion
Ready for your creative coloring, these “Fabulous Fashion” pages show a variety of the clothes folks wore in days of yore – as found in our prints and drawings collection.

Feathered and Furry Friends
In honor of Earth Day on April 22, our first group of pages, “Feathered and Furry Friends,” features an assortment of animalia from our prints and drawings collection.

We had so much fun sharing this challenge with our community and saw an abundance of creativity with the entries! We asked our followers to vote for a winner in two categories (Amateur and Professional) and the final votes are now counted! Congratulations to Stephanie Belov of Saint Elmo Architecture Studio for the Amateur win and Christine Williams of Cookies Del Mundo for the Professional win.

Check out our gallery of entries below and read this article in PBS Newshour to learn about how the #BlantonBakeoff began!

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In January 2015, the renowned American artist Ellsworth Kelly gifted to the Blanton the design concept for his most monumental work, a 2,715-square-foot stone building with luminous colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and fourteen black and white marble panels. Titled Austin, honoring the artist’s tradition of naming particular works for the places for which they are destined, the structure is the only building the artist designed, and will be his most lasting legacy. Envisioned by Kelly as a site for joy and contemplation, Austin is a cornerstone of the Blanton’s permanent collection and will enrich the lives of visitors from around the world.

The Blanton’s permanent collection of over 19,000 works is recognized for its European paintings, prints and drawings, and modern and contemporary American and Latin American art. Browse by collection area or search the entire collection.

Get more out of our collections and exhibitions through this in-depth series! Explore artistic themes, learn about connected histories, and observe works in more detail. Your art education starts here!

We Need Art—and You—Now More Than Ever

As a nonprofit, the Blanton depends heavily on admissions, membership, donations, and other income to be able to pay for our programs and staff—so the recent 5-month closure significantly impacted us. Now that we’ve reopened, it will be at a reduced capacity to allow for social distancing, therefore limiting admissions income for an additional, extended period. We have set-up the Blanton Together Fund to support our COVID-19 response plan. Gifts of any size will together help us get through these tough times and ensure the Blanton remains a vibrant cultural resource for our community, now and in the future.

To make a gift by check, please return this form and your contribution to: Texas Development, The University of Texas at Austin, PO Box 7458, Austin, TX 78713