Minette and Jerome Robinson Scholarship Applications Due

The Minette and Jerome Robinson Scholarship

One scholarship will be awarded in January of each year. Applicants must apply by January 6th, 2010. Applicants must have served as a Blaffer docent for at least one semester and plan to continue work as a Blaffer docent for at least one semester.

Applications must include: a cover letter describing how the docent experience is meaningful to the student and stating their intention of continuing their work for the next semester; a transcript of past coursework at UH; a copy of the student’s academic schedule for the next semester. Please send completed applications to: Katherine Veneman, Curator of Education, Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, 120 Fine Arts Building, Houston, TX 77204-4018. Tel: 713.743.9526; kveneman@uh.edu.

Guidelines:

• Scholarship applicant must serve as a docent at Blaffer Gallery.
• Scholarship applicant must be a certified full-time undergraduate or graduate certificate or degree-seeking students in good standing at the University of Houston.
• Scholarship recipient must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better.
• Scholarship recipient may accept other scholarships and grants in conjunction with the Minette and Jerome Robinson Scholarship.
• Scholarship funds can be used to cover expenses for tuition, book, fees, and/or supplies for the coming academic semester. Any expenses incurred by the recipient in excess of the amount deposited must be borne by the student.

Juried Essay Competition

This fall Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, is increasing its academic reach by hosting The Art and Politics of Josephine Meckseper, a juried essay competition held in conjunction with our fall exhibition Josephine Meckseper.

Through photographs, installations, and video, the German-born artist critically examines an array of issues related to America's political, economic, cultural, and military systems and explores the culture of protest, leftist ideology, and political art. With an exhibition inclusive of so many themes, it is a great opportunity for students to apply the concepts and materials learned in class to the artistic discussion.

What is involved:

*The format has been loosely structured to allow the most flexibility in focus.

*Students are encouraged to incorporate assignments from classes into their entries.

*Essays should engage at least one of the following themes, explaining its relation to Meckseper’s work.

Topical Themes:

Art as Political Statement; Protest and Visual Culture; Leftist/Liberal Ideology; Media as Propaganda; Feminism; War and Economics; New media and multimedia artworks; The legacy of conceptual and/or pop art

*Sample prompts can be viewed under the documents heading on this site.

What are the Benefits:

*The top entrant will collect a $150 cash award

*All entrants will meet the artist at a special museum event

*The first and second place essayists will receive mention in press materials and essays posted in

their entirety on Blafferspeak, the Blaffer Gallery student blog.

How to enter:

* Any undergraduate enrolled in the University of Houston system is eligible to submit an essay

regardless of major or classification.

*Submit a paper copy to the Blaffer Gallery, Attn: Katy Lopez. Must be received on or before 5pm

on Thursday, October 22nd. Essays submitted after this deadline will not be reviewed.

*Final decisions will be made by Wednesday, November 2nd.

Formatting:

*Length: 10-12 pages, standard double spaced formatting, paginated

*Citations: Any academic style (Chicago Manual, AP, MLA, etc.) is acceptable as long as

implementation is consistent.

*Cover Page: Please print your name on the cover page only. It should not appear on any

subsequent pages.

Opportunities to Pay for Higher Education

Check out the newly posted web links under Job/Internship/Artist Opportunities.

Just posted are two great opportunities to further and finance your education. The first one is the Jacob K. Javits Fellowships Program. This program provides fellowships to students of superior academic ability—selected on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise—to undertake study at the doctoral and Master of Fine Arts level in selected fields of arts, humanities, and social sciences. This is one of the few all-tuition paid MFA fellowships for writers, artists, filmmakers, performing artists, etc.

The second post is the Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship. Ford Diversity Fellowship awards are offered at the Pre-doctoral, Dissertation and Postdoctoral levels. Fellowships are awarded in a national competition. Awards are made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Both of these programs have fall application deadlines so check them out now!

~Sophie Smith

What’s in Fashion this Fall at Neiman Marcus?

Josephine Meckseper
Untitled (Black and White Wall), 2008
Black paint on white wall
Courtesy the artist and Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York

Photo © Neiman Marcus

A Josephine Meckseper window installation is on display at Neiman Marcus. This window display is a collaboration of talented people in support of Josephine Meckseper’s fall exhibit at the Blaffer Gallery opening on September 12, 2009. Anat Ronen and her team at A&O Design and Production painted the wall based on Meckseper’s specifications to fit this unique space facing Post Oak Boulevard. Patrick Russey, the visual presentation department manager at Neiman Marcus installed the mannequins and the merchandise on display. The window installation will be up through the fall season, so get down there and take a look at Neiman’s latest fashion trend!

~Sophie Smith

Kitsch or not so Kitsch?

Have you seen the photos of Bill Clinton with Kim Jong Il? There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that analyzes the painting behind Clinton and Kim Jong Il, labeling it as totalitarian kitsch. According to the author of the article Eric Gibson, the “split personality” of the painting conveys Jong Il’s messages of paradise, which he believes he provides for his people, and of his power as a leader ready to “crush all enemies.” What do you think of Gibson’s analysis? Follow the link below to read the article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336383324209824.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

~Sophie Smith

A Fabulous Field Trip

The Blaffer Gallery hosted a field trip for the interns and docents that have worked all summer for the gallery. What a wonderful treat it was! The interns and docents who attended the field trip were Susan Minchew, Trinh Nguyen, Chris Conway, Penny Patton, Tina McPherson, Rona Lesser, Julia Wallace, and me, Sophie Smith. We were accompanied by Blaffer Gallery staff, Katherine Veneman, Katy Lopez, and Susan Conaway. They planned a nice lunch and a visit to see the contemporary art collection of Blaffer Gallery Advisory Board member Cindy Toles. Not only was this a learning experience, but it was also an opportunity to get to know our co-workers better.

After a delicious lunch at Café Express we were off to Cindy Toles’s house for a personal tour of her fabulous contemporary art collection. Cindy warmly greeted us and graciously invited us into her home. The works of art were integrated into every part of her house; everywhere you looked there was something beautiful and unusual to see. It was an amusement park for the eyes and the mind. We saw works of art from artists like Laura Lark and Jackie Tilestone, just to name a few. We did not get to see her Jon Pylypchuk however as, it was sent out to get ready for display in Blaffer Gallery’s fall exhibition.

Cindy also shared with us her process of choosing art to collect, partly on affordability and whole-heartedly on how it moves her. Her enthusiasm for each piece in the collection demonstrates the strong role emotional connection plays in the selection of each work of art. It is with sincere gratitude that I thank Cindy Toles on behalf of all the interns and docents who had the opportunity to share in this day. Thank you Cindy!

~Sophie Smith

It is Good to be an Artist in America

Articles like “Russia Cracks Down on Political Art” serve as reminders to the political freedom that we take for granted in this great country, even when the very acts that protect those freedoms are the ones most often being attacked. Follow this link to see why it is good to be an artist in America. www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905202,00.html

~Sophie Smith