Chrysler

The Members’ Magazine | Summer 2016

Curators and the Collection

As you will read later in this issue, the Chrysler has a new Chief Curator. Lloyd DeWitt, Ph.D., comes to us after several distinguished years as a curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Lloyd is a significant addition to lead our Curatorial Team, full of new ideas to help move us forward. This important moment of transition leads to an interesting question: Exactly what do curators do? They are often among the most visible members of the Museum staff, but to some their responsibilities can seem a bit obscure. Each of the Chrysler’s curators has spent years pursuing advanced degrees specific to their fields—and our curatorial positions reflect the strengths of the Chrysler Collection: European Art, American Art, Glass, Photography, and Modern and Contemporary Art. At the most fundamental level, curators are responsible, as are all of us at the Chrysler, for the safety, care, and presentation of the wonderful objects that have been entrusted to the Museum. With our registrars, preparators, and conservator, they ensure that our artworks are safely stored or properly displayed. They research the objects in our collection and write about them, teaming with Museum educators to craft overview texts and labels that help interpret our art and exhibitions. While the Chrysler already has a large and outstanding collection, a key part of our curators’ duties is to grow it and to shape it. They collaborate with me as Director and our Collections Committee to select just the right works to acquire for the Museum. Much more rarely, they select objects for removal from the collection. Finally, curators play a crucial role in developing ideas for exhibitions, vetting the quality and appeal of potential shows, and guiding these new projects from conception to completion. The Chrysler Museum of Art is fortunate to have a rich collection of objects of outstanding quality. In the coming years, we hope to create more exhibitions and catalogues inspired by these cherished objects. In fact, right now our Barry Curator of Glass, Diane Wright, is hard at work completing a new handbook of highlights from our highly respected glass collection. It is my intention that the Chrysler continue to support scholarship through the publication of more collection and exhibition catalogues. Without the hard work of our curators, this would be difficult, if not impossible. As we enter a new era, with a new department leader, our curators will continue to play a dynamic role in propelling us to the future.

board of trustees 2015–2016

Lewis W. Webb III, Esq., Chair Thomas L. Stokes, Jr., Vice Chair Lelia Graham Webb, Secretary Yvonne T. Allmond Dudley Anderson, M.D., F.A.C.P. Tony Atwater Shirley C. Baldwin Carolyn K. Barry Kathleen Broderick Deborah H. Butler Susan R. Colpitts Elizabeth Fraim Edith G. Grandy James A. Hixon Marc Jacobson Linda H. Kaufman Pamela C. Kloeppel Harry T. Lester Suzanne Mastracco Oriana M. McKinnon Peter M. Meredith, Jr. J. Douglas Perry C. Arthur Rutter III Lisa B. Smith Bob Sasser Richard Waitzer Joseph T. Waldo Wayne F. Wilbanks chrysler magazine

Denis Finley, Director of Communications Cheryl Little, Museum Editor/ Publications Manager Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Jane Cleary, Graphics Manager Chrysler Magazine is a quarterly publication produced for and mailed to Chrysler Museum Members as a benefit of their generous support. Update or verify your membership information at http://reservations. chrysler.org or contact Database Manager Fleater Allen at: Chrysler Museum of Art One Memorial Place, Norfolk, VA 23510 (757) 333-6287 | [email protected]. The Chrysler Museum of Art, all rights reserved © 2016 on the cover

Erik H. Neil, Director

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) David Bowie III, Los Angeles, 1987 Photographed for Rolling Stone Magazine Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Chrysler

The Members’ Magazine | Summer 2016

director ’s note



Photo by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith

2 5 6 8 10 Photo by Eleise Theuer for the Chrysler Museum of Art

New Chief Curator Lloyd DeWitt

Corporate Leadership Alliance Luncheon— Keynote Speaker David Goode

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Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits Cher, Los Angeles, 1990 Cover and story for Vanity Fair Magazine, November 1990 issue Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Inside front cover in the galleries

Exhibitions on View Conservation Presents a Bacchanal Collection Connection: Harry C. Mann: Norfolk Photographer Collection Connection: Women and the Civil Rights Movement Spotlight Exhibition: Tony Oursler in The Box cover story

Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits chrysler news

Chrysler Welcomes Two New Curators Education Reaches Underserved Youth Spring Events Food for Thought: Culinary Arts Water Forum Partnerships member exclusives and special events

Corporate Leadership Alliance Success Art Travel Opportunities last look

The Perry Glass Studio: Taking Flight back cover

Coming This Fall

Exhibitions

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Prince, Minneapolis, 1991 (detail) Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

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Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits Opening the evening of June 23 (Members’ Preview Party) in the Norfolk Southern Special Exhibitions Gallery (Gs. 101–102) and the Waitzer Community Gallery (G. 103) Meet the royalty of rock and roll. Photographer Herb Ritts introduces you to David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Janet Jackson, Elton John, Madonna, Prince, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake, Tina Turner, and more of the world’s biggest musical stars of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. His startlingly intimate portraits for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and other leading magazines presented these artists as the public had never seen them before. From B.B. King to Bruce Springsteen to Bono to Britney Spears, come face-to-face with the kings and queens of pop music. Discover Ritts’ legacy of

portrait photography and music video direction in our Summer keynote exhibition. Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits is presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, in collaboration with the Herb Ritts Foundation, Los Angeles. With those about to rock, we salute Herb Ritts. Discover why this photographer so often got to see his smiling faces on the cover of Rolling Stone. Chrysler’s summer cover story begins on page 14.

Exhibition Bonuses Encore! Concert costumes, lyrics, instruments, and memorabilia from Britney, Bruce, Aretha, Prince, Sting, and other legends enhance the show, courtesy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. #RittsRocks Selfie Stations Snap a photo you’ll Cherish with the beachy backdrop of the Material Girl’s second 1989 Rolling Stone cover. Or pose next to a favorite album cover by another artist. Hashtag your best shots #RittsRocks on social media. At The Museum Shop Calling all groupies: take your favorite rocker home with you. Find the perfect t-shirt, totebag, poster, mug, and more—and Members always save 10%! See more programming highlights on page 17.

Norwood Viviano— Cities: Departure and Deviation Closing July 31 in the Glass Project Space (G. 118) Precisely blown glass forms in gradating shades of white, gray, and black tell the centuriesold stories of urban growth, suburban flight, and the rise and fall of industrial influence in this data-driven exhibition. Norwood Viviano transforms population statistics for 25 American cities into 3-D graphs that serve as a starting point for conversations touching on commerce, race, technology, culture, sustainability, and change. The artist created the glass graph of Norfolk specifically for exhibition at the Chrysler. Norwood Viviano—Cities: Departure and Deviation is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Norfolk addition is on loan from the artist and Heller Gallery, New York.

In The Box: Tony Oursler Closing August 21 in The Box Two of the world’s most influential avant-garde artists join forces as the Chrysler debuts their new collaboration. Tony Oursler, renowned for his imaginative multimedia art and installations, presents the international premier of TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive. His short movie focuses on the late Tony Conrad, legendary conceptual artist, filmmaking innovator, minimalist composer, and educator. This improvisational biopic presents how Conrad became an artistic tour de force and explores how personal histories become the building blocks of creative possibilities. This project between two longtime friends promises an unforgettable experience in experimentation.

TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive, a movie by Tony Oursler in collaboration with Tony Conrad, and its related installation works in The Box are on loan from Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Explore the creative process that brought Tony Oursler’s latest project to The Box. Museum Director Erik Neil’s interview on pages 10–13 probes the artist’s new collaboration with artist Tony Conrad and the Chrysler.

A Moveable Feast: A Reconfiguration of Contemporary Art On view in the McKinnon Wing of Contemporary Art (Gs. 223–227) The Chrysler takes advantage of the Museum’s modular wall system with the first major reinstallation of our 20th- and 21st-century art since our reopening in 2014. Sprawling canvases, imaginative sculpture, and other popular favorites return to the galleries as we reimagine our expansive wing for contemporary art. Many of the works show the unique collecting tastes and insider dealer relationships of the Museum’s key benefactor, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Collection standouts by Larry Poons, Nam Jun Paik, Barkley Hendricks, and Idelle Weber headline this display.

Norwood Viviano (American, b. 1972) Installation detail of Cities of Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Houston from the series Cities: Departure and Deviation, 2011 Blown glass and vinyl cut drawings Photo by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Tony Oursler (American, b. 1957) TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive, 2016 Photographic still from movie installation © Tony Oursler Image courtesy of Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York and Hong Kong Larry Poons (American, b. 1937) Needles, 1972 Mixed media on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Art © Larry Poons / Licensed by VAGA, New York

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AT THE HISTORIC HOUSES

Harry Cowles Mann (American, 1866–1926) City Hall Avenue, Norfolk, Va., Looking East, ca. 1912–1915 Gelatin silver print (photograph) on texturized paper Museum collection

Willoughby-Baylor House 601 E. Freemason St., Norfolk Harry C. Mann: Norfolk Photographer Ongoing | First floor Discover the pioneering photographic work of Harry Cowles Mann (1866–1926). Between 1907 and 1924, Mann’s camera documented the bustling commercial life of Granby Street and downtown Norfolk. Featuring 50 vintage prints from the Chrysler Collection, this exhibition also presents his experiments in capturing waves, clouds, and shadows on the sand dunes of Virginia Beach, evidence of his powerful but unsung artistic ambitions.

Beyond the Tangible: The Roots of Abstraction in American Art On view in the Roberts Wing | 20th-Century Art Gallery (G. 222) Our Modernist art gallery is reinstalled with 15 masterworks by artists on the forefront of the American avant garde: Charles Sheeler, Georgia O’Keeffe, Joseph Stella, Niles Spencer, and Stuart Davis, to name a few. Their quest was, as Arshile Gorky said, “to extract the infinite out of the finite.” Explore the blend of vision, imagination, and symbolism that they present as they experiment with flatness, color, and rhythm—and blur the lines between representation and a radical new way of seeing.

Women and the Civil Rights Movement Opening June 14 in the Frank Photography Galleries (G. 228) Explore the integral role of women in our nation’s long quest for social justice. Drawn from the Chrysler’s rich collection of Civil Rights-era photography, this stirring selection of images chronicles the turbulent struggles of the mid 20th century. Be inspired by the women protestors, students, community organizers, and photojournalists who fearlessly stood on the front lines of change. As struggles for equality continue, come trace this revolution’s roots, realities, and results in a fascinating photographic journey through American history.

At The Perry Glass Studio 745 Duke Street, Norfolk Ongoing Our Glass Studio Assistants present a changing array of special project exhibitions as part of their program requirements. Come see work by the next generation of glassmaking professionals and artists, as well as art by established artists such as our guest instructors and Studio Team leaders. Look back (or forward) to Vestibule 102 exhibitions with our online archive at chrysler.org/glass-studio/vestibule-102.

Every photo in this exhibition tells a story. Curator Alex Mann shares a few of them in our Collection Connection article on pages 8–9.

Local history and local views—Curator Alex Mann shares how Harry C. Mann excelled in both in our Collection Connection article on pages 6–7.

The Norfolk Rooms Ongoing | Second floor in the Norfolk History Museum Moses Myers House 323 E. Freemason St., Norfolk Moses Myers: Maritime Merchant Barton Myers: Norfolk Visionary Adeline’s Portal by Beth Lipman 4  |  summer 2016

Builder Levy (American, b. 1942) Annell Ponder, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Funeral, Atlanta, Georgia, 1968 Platinum print on rag paper (photograph), printed 2014 Gift of the artist

Amber Borealis, Studio Assistant 2014

Joseph Stella (American, 1877–1946) Untitled (Night View of Brooklyn Bridge), ca. 1918 Oil on board Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. © Chrysler Museum of Art

Four Seasons of Revelry, Now on View

If you’re looking for a Bacchanal this summer, look no further than our Gallery 222. Painted in 1920 by American artist Eugene Savage and restored this year by our Conservation Team, our recently rediscovered Bacchanal depicts the four seasons. The painting portrays spring, summer, winter, and autumn as rowdy, reveling figures within an idyllic, gilded landscape. Though Savage is not a household name in art circles today, he enjoyed national acclaim during his lifetime. He is perhaps best known for the largescale murals he painted for the Works Progress Administration and his artworks depicting the Seminole Indian tribes of southern Florida and native Hawaiians. Born in Indiana, Savage studied art at the Corcoran Gallery and at Art Institute of Chicago before winning the 1912 Rome Prize, a three-year painting fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. His training there in early Renaissance techniques strongly influenced his style. Savage returned to earn a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Yale University, and taught at the Yale School of Art and Architecture for 28 years.

Eugene Francis Savage (American, 1883–1978) Bacchanal, 1920 Oil, tempera, and gilding on panel Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Several months ago while searching through the Museum’s paintings storage, another Yale graduate, Alex Mann, our Brock Curator of American Art, spotted Savage’s Bacchanal in its striking Renaissance-inspired frame. Museum records revealed that the painting had been exhibited in 1921 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that Savage that year won the prize for decorative painting. His works were lauded for their outstanding decorative qualities, fine craftsmanship, and symbolism. But Bacchanal, a 1971 gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., had never been exhibited here in Norfolk. A thick coating of dirt, grime, and old overpaint had long obscured a classically themed composition that deserved better.

To reveal Savage’s painstakingly intricate technique, bright palette, and concurrent use of thin glazes and thick impasto, the painting was entrusted to National Endowment for the Humanities Conservation Fellow Morgan Wylder. She removed the panel from its frame, documented its condition, and photographed it. After testing to determine the safest and most effective methods to remove the decades-old layer of dirt, she created a tailored cleaning solution to treat the entire surface. The results were remarkable. The painting came alive with jewel-like colors, varied textures, glowing gilding, and playful detail. As Savage preferred the matte aesthetic seen in early Italian tempera and fresco paintings, he intentionally did not varnish Bacchanal. Our Conservation Laboratory did the same to preserve the artist’s intent. Returned to its original frame— designed by Savage’s wife, Mathilda, to match its Renaissance influences—the restored painting now invites fellow revelers to enjoy its spirited message.

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A New Century Appreciates Harry C. Mann Harry C. Mann: Norfolk Photographer is on view at the Willoughby-Baylor House, 601 E. Freemason Street, in Norfolk. The Chrysler’s Historic Houses are open weekend afternoons. Admission is free.

Harry Cowles Mann (American, 1866–1926) On the Edge of a Traveling Dune, ca. 1915 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Gift of Polly Lazaron from the collection of Dr. Emanuel Wallerstein

Chances are, if you’ve been in Norfolk long enough, you’ve seen photographs by Harry Cowles Mann (1866–1926). During the 1910s— Norfolk’s boom years—Mann’s camera recorded the construction of this city’s first high-rise buildings and shipping traffic on the Elizabeth River. Today his WWI-era shots of Granby Street lined with Model T Fords are popular décor in local lobbies and restaurants. However, as our newest exhibition at the Willoughby-Baylor House reveals, these cityscapes were only one side of this talented artist’s career.

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Open since April, Harry C. Mann: Norfolk Photographer is the Chrysler’s first-ever show dedicated to this neighborhood favorite. Brock Curator of American Art Alex Mann (no relation) first explored the Museum’s collection of Harry Mann photos in 2014 while reorganizing displays for the Historic Houses on East Freemason Street. He quickly learned two things. First, the Chrysler owned far more Harry Mann photos than anyone realized, and second, this photographer had powerful and underappreciated artistic instincts. Together, these discoveries called for an exhibition. So, during the next two years, Mann sifted through boxes and drawers, finding dozens of prints. The Museum received its earliest gift of Harry Mann photos in the 1940s, but because they were filed amid troves of local history artifacts, some were never properly identified. Luckily, the artist added a photographic signature to his negatives, so most bear his name. As images came to light, registrars linked their records in the Museum’s database. The result: The Chrysler’s count rose from a few dozen to more than 80 prints. Faced with an overabundance of artistic riches, Mann received help selecting the 50 finest for this show from an intern, courtesy of a new fall 2015 Public History internship seminar at Virginia Wesleyan College. While her classmates worked on projects at the MacArthur Memorial and the Slover Library, Stephanie Deach (VWC, 2016) visited the Chrysler weekly to study and catalog these photos. She then barnstormed libraries to uncover the wider scope of Mann’s career. Little has been written about him, but Deach was persistent. Her biggest achievement was mapping out the photographer’s precise publication history with National Geographic Magazine. Thanks to her work, the exhibition includes several vintage National Geographic issues, proof that this Tidewater artist enjoyed a global audience.

Such wide circulation was no surprise to Mann, the exhibition’s curator, given the artistic merit of these shots. Though best known for views of Granby Street and Ghent, Mann also created haunting images of Virginia Beach and North Carolina’s Outer Banks. In step with the latest theories of photography’s artistic potential, as detailed by Alfred Stieglitz in his journal Camera Work, Mann used beach photos as opportunities for visual experimentation. While his views of downtown Norfolk are filled with history and details, he treated the dunes as a blank canvas, allowing wind and light to draw lines and patterns across the sand and sky. These images impressed the editors of National Geographic a century ago, and in this exhibition they bring long-deserved attention to Mann’s pioneering vision as a modernist photographer.

above

Harry Cowles Mann (American, 1866–1926) View of Mowbray Arch, ca. 1910 Two gelatin silver prints (photographs) Gift of Ernestine A. Cary

By presenting Mann’s commercial and artistic photographs together, the Chrysler breaks new ground in our understanding of this hometown photographer. Mann built a valuable architectural archive of Norfolk during a period of rapid change. Meanwhile, his beachscapes reveal a personal quest for aesthetic complexity and prove that every corner of our region has worthy pictorial subjects. So this summer, as you shop and attend festivals downtown or relax in the sun at the Oceanfront, know that you are walking in the footsteps of a local artist whose versatility and genius are finally receiving due recognition.

Stephanie Deach, Virginia Wesleyan College Public History Intern and Alex Mann, Brock Curator of American Art, review print selections for Harry C. Mann: Norfolk Photographer. Photo by Kathleen B. Casey, VWC, used by permission

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Faces of Change Women and the Civil Rights Movement

Women and the Civil Rights Movement is on view June 14–October 30, 2016.

EXHIBITION GALLERY TALK Women and the Civil Rights Movement Tuesday, June 28 | 2 p.m. In a special tour of this important new exhibition, Curator Alex Mann traces the faces and places of women in the quest for social equality.

Her sign reads “JUSTICE.” The 16-year-old stands outside the Union County Courthouse in Monroe, N.C., on August 26, 1961, to protest racial segregation at her local public swimming pool. This image, showing her pain, anger, patience, and strength, is a centerpiece in the Chrysler’s new exhibition Women and the Civil Rights Movement, opening on June 14. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s rich photography collection, the show explores how women— through their actions and their images—have been powerful agents of change within America’s ongoing struggle for equality. 8  |  summer 2016

While men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin gave speeches and negotiated with police and politicians, there was no shortage of women working for change. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, women were important grassroots leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, both on the front lines and behind the scenes. The photo, taken by white freelance photojournalist Declan Haun for the Charlotte Observer, shows one of the many volunteers who stood up and spoke out. Reprinted in newspapers and magazines, this image circulated throughout the nation, magnifying the impact of the girl’s simple sign.

In selecting images to publicize their campaigns, leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and other groups often identified photos of women and girls as particularly memorable and effective. When women appeared in the press as victims of police brutality or Ku Klux Klan attacks, their innocence and vulnerability were painful to view. When young girls, like Genora Covington in Haun’s photo, broke gender stereotypes by bravely marching, their faces challenged others to join the fight. The clarity and immediacy of the medium of photography increased the political power of such images. As you look at this picture, you are face-to-face with Genora, standing on those small-town streets on a hot summer afternoon. Are you a fellow protester, maybe a Freedom Rider, also holding a sign, restricted by a recent law to a size of no more than 24 inches tall? Or are you on the opposite side of the picket lines, one of the whites who attacked these demonstrators the next day, or one of the policemen who did nothing to stop the violence? The Chrysler’s photography collection includes many iconic pictures of demonstrations and confrontations, but this exhibition takes a wider look at women within this era. Compare the

defiance of Genora Covington with the bright smile of Helen Ann Smith, standing behind a lunch counter in a 1959 photograph by Ernest Withers. Surrounded by Coca-Cola signs and shiny chrome counters, this scene may feel far removed from the troubles elsewhere on view. But this is a segregated business. You are ordering your donut in a blacks-only Harlem House diner on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, part of a chain of restaurants opened in the 1950s by the larger Toddle House chain (a forerunner of Waffle House). Harlem House served African Americans since the original diners were off limits to blacks. Helen Ann Smith, laughing and serving soda, may not seem like an activist, but her photograph has much to teach us about this chapter in America’s history. Today, photographs remain a powerful tool as Americans continue to correct the injustices of the past and pursue equality for minorities and for women. This is a history too vast for one exhibition to explore fully, but the photographs and faces in Women and the Civil Rights Movement, some famous and others obscure, tell powerful stories that should not be forgotten.

facing page

Declan Haun (American, 1937−1994) Picketing the Courthouse, Monroe, North Carolina, August 26, 1961, 1961 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Museum purchase, gift of Patricia L. Raymond, M.D., and in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank above

Ernest C. Withers (American, 1922−2007) Helen Ann Smith at Harlem House, Beale Street, Memphis, TN, 1959 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Gift of Ernest C. Withers and Panopticon Gallery © Estate of Ernest C. Withers and Panopticon Gallery of Photography, Boston

—Crawford Alexander Mann III, Brock Curator of American Art

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ABCs of the Avant Garde Tony Oursler Talks Tony Conrad and More

Tony Oursler’s TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive is on view in The Box through August 21.

O

n April 21, the Chrysler Museum of Art hosted the world premiere of acclaimed artist Tony Oursler’s latest short film. TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive is an experimental short movie that focuses on his longtime friend and collaborator Tony Conrad. Sadly, the legendary conceptual artist, filmmaker, composer, and educator passed away on April 9 while Oursler was editing their project. Before the debut, Museum Director Erik Neil had a chance to talk with Oursler about friendships in the art world, innovative moviemaking, and how creativity makes anyone an “artist.” ERIK NEIL: How did you and Tony Conrad first meet?

TONY OURSLER: We met in southern California in 1979. I was living with Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw—we were just out of CalArts, which was, is, a bastion of conceptual arts. I started out as a painter, but I had this almost immediate connection to video, so I was making these videotapes that TC somehow had heard about. He was teaching at U.C. in San Diego then, and he was making a movie and invited us over. It was a Sad Sack kind of military deconstruction, not at all like his minimalist art. It was a very loose, very funny, submoronic satire. It involved a faux military van and many people in badly fitting camouflage fatigues. Today Homeland [Security] would have been all over him. Anyhow, he asked me and Mike to be in it and we went shooting with him. We’ve been friends ever since. EN: What made you friends? TO: TC had a wicked sense of humor and also a very generative, creative energy. He was the kind of guy who once he figured something out, he’d poke around with it, make a few things that he thought were good, and then he’d move on to the next thing. He was always working, setting up exhibitions, connecting people, collaborating, teaching, producing. Who could resist that? Also, he was just fun! EN: What interests did you share? TO: TC was one of the most curious people in the world. One of the things we shared is the belief that things that are not necessarily beautiful on the surface may be much more interesting than is immediately apparent. In other words, to find the gold, you may have to look in the margins of things, things that people may turn away from. And he totally did that, relentlessly. What didn’t we share is more the question. He was one of those rare people who’s interested in almost everything: media, performance, hypnosis,

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science, history, math, pop culture, whatever! I grew up in a family kind of like that. I related instantly. EN: When did you first conceive this film project with Tony Conrad? TO: It’s a meandering story that’s evolved over a few years. TC’s from a generation, just ahead of mine, that attacked and reshaped many set cultural forms in a way that interested me. Early on he was associated with minimal music and film, but TC had a very D.I.Y. attitude—an almost punk aesthetic that appealed to me and my group. When you first invited me to do a piece at the Chrysler, I had been shooting with him quite a bit, for various reasons. We were thinking about doing an opera, but we couldn’t land on the subject matter. Over the years we kicked around ideas and talked about it, but talk, over time, gets in the way of action, so we just got the camera out as a way of making notes for the opera. As we worked, the content shifted and TC suggested a few story elements from his life. Then one day—BLAM!—it hit me. All TC! So I suggested, “How about if we do something just about you?” Later, at some point, we realized he was quite sick…. EN: Tell us about the shoots. TO: Once it became a kind of self-portrait of TC, it was like a dam burst open. We moved very fast from there. We had maybe four or five sessions. He’d come to the studio and we’d pull out maybe a BB gun, a jug of water, a violin, and a leopard skin jacket, and he would bring a few of his own props, and we’d shoot whatever he wanted. The video scenes came together so magically. With TC it’s been best to let it flow where it wants to go—don’t get in the way of what may develop. He’s always been a great improviser. Everything he touched got zapped in one way or another, and I felt the need to keep that current flowing. So though it’s a kind of narrative project, it was conceived from moment to moment. That’s very special. It captures a spirit of invention that TC has been nurturing forever. In that way, the project is also a model for creativity. You have to keep in mind, even though we are concerned with hightoned ideas, both of the Tonys are blue-collar at heart. What we make is for regular people. In fact, I’m sure TC would be happy if people looked at it and said, “Hey, I can do that!” EN: How does this collaboration complement your earlier work with him?

TO: We’ve worked together many times over the years, usually one of us taking the lead. For example, TC scored my film The Influence Machine in 2000. He played a glass harmonicon and mixed in found spirit voice recordings, so the sound is eerie and ephemeral, like a séance. And then there was TC’s infamous Women in Prison movie that a bunch of us acted in. It was first shot in these jail cells he set up in his loft in Buffalo in the early 1980s. We were all dressed up and stayed in character in the cells for long weekends. TC shot a lot of our improv, but he never finished it, never showed it. Then 30 years later he says, “What we’ve gotta do is go back to the jail cell!” So he got the same actors together in the same set to continue filming, to show how we all aged and changed in prison. With this project TC had much of the control, but I set a catalytic reaction and I am shaping the editing so far, but it was never quite fully put together before the end. EN: You’ve involved a lot of other collaborating artists for your own TC movie. Is this a joint homage or shared labor of love? What are their roles? TO: Well, there’s a bit of a family tree of friends and collaborators, old and new, appearing in this project—Jennifer Walshe, Peggy Ahwesh,

Marie Losier, Constance DeJong, Paige Sarlin, Joe Gibbons, Jack Oursler, my son, and so on. There are some very interesting and important artists, filmmakers, and cultural agitators here. The way it worked was we would discuss or sketch out various memories or moments, fictitious or real, from Tony’s life. One of my favorite stories involves a .22 rifle that he bought at a garage sale. But you have to imagine Tony snowbound in Buffalo, deep in winter, going a bit stir-crazy. He set up some sort of target all the way across the loft and fired at it. Immediately he heard this sound rattling through the whole loft—and it was the bullet ricocheting around. Of course, it could have killed him. So I suggested that we reenact that story. When he came to town, we would see who was available and gather props, mostly simple things, a wooden gun and a tin-foil bullet. Then when everybody was in place, we’d get the cameras rolling. That’s the kind of absurdist quality some of the film has.

Tony Oursler (American, b. 1957) Photographic still of Liz Rossman, Constance DeJong, Tony Conrad, and Tony Oursler from TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive, 2016 © Tony Oursler Image courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong, used by permission

EN: Music is an important part of TC’s artistic influence. Is there a musical component here? TO: There is plenty of Tony’s music involved in the soundtrack. In fact, he plays in a number of scenes. One of my favorites is a duet with violin and voice in a smoldering jug of dry ice. Also, spotlight exhibition   |  11

Tony Conrad included amplified strings, electric drills, film projectors, and similarly noisy machinery in his 2008 performance piece Unprojectable: Projection and Perspective at the Tate Modern, London. Photo by Sheila Burnett, courtesy of Greene Naftali, New York, used by permission

there’s some text included in the video that scientifically describes some of the physics behind creating overtones in music. This is one of Tony’s contributions. What may sound like one or two notes bounces around the room and creates a whole host of other notes. We want to reach that effect in some way in our screening room. EN: Something you said the movie asks is “how do we become who we are?” What is the role of nature vs. nurture, or biography and experience, as building blocks for creative endeavor? How is TC a good case study for this kind of exploration? TO: I’ve known TC for a long time and I’m always curious about how artists become artists. He was getting up there in years, and he’d cycled through obscurity and wider interest a few times, but he was always the same. I guess it’s a natural part of getting to know somebody, caring about how they became who they are—although it’s impossible to really know. We can play with narrative and internal poetry to attempt an unlocking. Branden Joseph wrote a wonderful book [Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage, 2008] which outlines a lot of his achievements and contextualizes them. Some of that material ended up in the movie.

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It’s also interesting to see what TC wanted to remember as well. In this movie, he was more interested in talking about how he learned to steal candy when he was a kid than talking about his contributions to The Velvet Underground’s music. EN: Those musical connections are something that many may not realize. TO: TC was what was known as a minimalist, a pioneer, really, experimenting with drone music, noise music. What a lot of people don’t know is that Tony introduced amplification to bowed, stringed instruments when he was in a group called The Dream Syndicate [or sometimes the Theatre of Eternal Music] with La Monte Young, Angus MacLise, Marian Zazeela, John Cale, and others. He and John Cale started a little band with a guy by the name of Lou Reed and that became The Velvet Underground, carrying the drone into popular music. It was only one of the more influential bands in the universe. EN: Do you think TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive will add anything to Tony Conrad’s legacy? TO: One of the things that I think about this piece is that it’s a kind of introduction to the man’s character, one small side of TC’s personality. And

for those who are interested, it will open up onto other things, more on his music, his films, his sculpture, his great talent. He was a very intuitive artist—super-intellectual on one hand, but on the other hand, also superplayful. He was very important to art history, so I’m really excited to have my friend Tony Conrad talking to everybody here. EN: How does this movie fit within the trajectory of some of your other new work? TO: I recently got back into narrative linear multimedia, or, simply put, storytelling. I was into it early on in my career as I come from a storytelling family. But for many years I was interested in poetic, non-linear language, constructions and images. But I’ve been interested in these longer-form stories, and my feature film Imponderable will be at the Museum of Modern Art this summer. Here, too, I play with fact and fiction in a kind of family/personal history, which connects to my grandparents, who were writers and debunkers of spiritualists in between the wars. It will be installed at MoMA on June 18. If people are in New York, I hope they’ll check it out. EN: I’ve long been impressed by the richness of your imagination and the diversity of your visual

vocabulary. What is it like working in the field of creativity? TO: When I was a kid I wanted to be a scientist, but I didn't have the mathematical chops—it was before calculators. My next favorite thing was art, and somehow I managed to persevere. Much credit goes to mentors and teachers and my family. People in creative endeavors have so many distractions, so many obstacles—video games, social media, drugs, mental illness, money—but they also have a chance to contribute, to make things and to be part of the culture. I think creativity is just a different way of saying people can contribute. And I think it’s easy to tell when someone’s giving positively to the world, even in the simplest way, or is taking something away. As fine artists we are lucky enough to get to make things that reflect back on the rest of the culture in special ways, but art is really kind of a life attitude that anyone can have. A cook, a construction worker, parents, educators— everyone can have a creative effect. I hope that’s what places like the Chrysler Museum of Art symbolize.

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Tony Oursler stands beside a work of art that Tony Conrad created during the making of their movie. Pickled (as in the jar), boiled, stir-fried, curried, electrocuted, and hammered strips were typical of Conrad’s avant-garde performances to “kill film” as a traditionally screened art format in the early 1970s. Photo by Benjamin Boshart, Museum Gallery Host Tony Oursler (American, b. 1957) Photographic still of Tony Conrad performing an original composition in TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive, 2016 © Tony Oursler Image courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong, used by permission Tony Conrad with violin, photo by Bettina Herzner, courtesy of Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, used by permission

TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive, a short film by Tony Oursler in collaboration with Tony Conrad, and its related installation works in The Box are on loan from Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. spotlight exhibition   |  13

Putting on the Ritts Herb Ritts:

Mick Jagger, his impossibly tiny chest

The Rock Portraits

dr aped in a velvet tank top

is on public view

with his name studded in rhinestones.

June 24– September 18, 2016.

Joe Cocker in the midst of a herk y-jerk y, blissed - out gyr ation. Michael Jackson, so cool and fluid under the scorching desert sun. Madonna the chameleon, at first a schoolgirl, then a tease, then a siren, then an imp. David Bowie doing his elusive magic dance. These are some of the most compelling images to be found in Herb Rit ts: The Rock Portraits.

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Madonna, Hollywood, 1986 From the True Blue album cover All photos © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

What makes the music photography of Herb Ritts so unforgettable? Why did so many of his pictures become iconic, forever giving us the image that comes to mind when we think of artists as diverse as Prince, Dizzy Gillespie, Cher, and Axl Rose? His career spanned only 25 years. But before his untimely death from AIDSrelated illness in 2002, Ritts amassed an impressive portfolio. His portraits included not just musicians, but fashion figures, entertainers, athletes, and dancers. Throughout, his spare, sundrenched photographs reflect the trust that he cultivated with his sitters, giving us intimate access to our idols. “He knew the balance of the soul and the body—and where the beauty was,” said singer-songwriter k.d. lang, whom Ritts photographed both alone and, very memorably, in a barber’s chair with supermodel Cindy Crawford. “He made you feel like a star!”

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“For me, a portrait is something from which you feel the person, their inner quality, what it is that makes them who they are.” —Herb Ritts (1952–2002)

“Working with Herb was more like just hanging out with a friend,” said frequent collaborator and trendsetter David Bowie, who died in January. “We’d joke, chatter, and gossip, and at the end of the day he would have captured the whole thing in the lens. He was a great guy.”

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Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Chris Isaak, New York, 1984 Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) k.d. lang, Malibu, 1993 facing page

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Tina Turner, Hollywood, 1989 Foreign Affair album promotion

Herb Ritts was born in 1952 in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, the son of a furniture shop owner and an interior designer. He described his upbringing as fairly traditional, albeit in a Southern California sense—his next-door neighbor was Steve McQueen, who frequently took the Ritts children on motorcycle rides through the desert. After studying economics and art history at Bard College in New York State, Ritts returned to Los Angeles and began his photography career almost incidentally. In 1976 Ritts bought a 35 mm Miranda single-lens reflex camera for $152 and taught himself to use it. Instead of studying techniques, “I’d go down to the end of my street, to a garage that had a certain feeling about it, or a particular light. I’d take a picture of a friend who needed a head shot,” he said. “That’s how I learned.” While traveling in 1977 with his friend Richard Gere, he shot a series of hunky pictures of the aspiring actor that helped both of them establish

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their careers. After his images of Gere were published in Esquire, Mademoiselle, and Vogue, Ritts became widely recognized as an emerging photographer with a seemingly magic touch. Photo editors at Rolling Stone immediately took to his images. Soon after, the fashion and celebrity press took notice of Ritts’s uniquely strippeddown imagery and use of bold contrasts. His work seemed to update Hollywood glamour, making noir-like black-and-white imagery seem strikingly new. All the while, his relaxed, friendly manner made Ritts a trusted colleague, and subjects were soon requesting to work with him. By 1989, with his career well established as a portraitist in the fashion, entertainment, and sports world, Ritts’s frequent subject and friend Madonna persuaded him to try his hand at filmmaking. He was resistant at first, noting that he had neither training nor experience, but her persistence and his vision led to an active career as a music videographer. The success of Madonna’s “Cherish,” Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” and Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” led to work with Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Tracy Chapman, Britney Spears, and many others. In the videos, his starkly still photographs come to life.

In the crowded field of fashion and celebrity photography, Ritts’s work has endured largely because of his unique style. Unlike the busy, pop-tinged, scruffy glitz of his New York-based contemporaries—photographers Corinne Day, Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, Juergen Teller, and Wolfgang Tillmans—Ritts drew on the elegant, but unfussy style of Southern California. Stark settings and pronounced postures foreground his famous subjects. Indeed, his work has more in common with the classical balance, graceful refinement, and edgy vigor of the images of a slightly earlier generation: Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Robert Mapplethorpe. But Ritts’s aesthetic stands alone. In these exhibition photos, his subjects appear natural and welcoming, accessible even while they are rocking out. But what makes Herb Ritts’s photos of rock stars of the ’80s, ’90s, and the dawn of the new millennium so iconic? Why were so many of his photos of Prince used in tributes when the Purple Rain revolutionary died in April? Why did Time Magazine choose a Ritts image of Michael Jackson for its cover on the King of Pop’s passing in 2009? What about Ritts’s work prompted the commission of a remarkable 45 portraits for the covers of Rolling Stone? Ritts was able to capture images that seem timeless, but uniquely fixed in their moment in time. They depict people who were, at once, always the same, yet endlessly different. With such constantly resurrecting artists who appear forever young—Michael Jackson, Madonna, David Bowie, and the ever-glorious Tina Turner—Ritts presented more than just an iconic depiction of the singers. He created a time-warp transport to an era past, to hearing the music and experiencing familiar feelings anew. Ritts also memorialized not just the faces, but the personalities of rock’s now-elder statesmen. His photos further immortalized the howling, harmonic Bob Dylan, the post-glitter Elton John, the Beach Boys’ introspective Brian Wilson, even the flamboyant, pancake-makeup-wearing Little Richard with sensitivity and dignity. Herb Ritts’s work is both of its time and transcends it—and like the best music, his portraits will rock on. —Susan Leidy, Deputy Director —Seth Feman, Curator of Exhibitions and Acting Curator of Photography Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits is presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, in collaboration with the Herb Ritts Foundation, Los Angeles.

Program Highlights Exhibition programs are free unless otherwise indicated.

Members’ Exhibition Preview Party Thursday, June 23 | 6–10 p.m. Party like a rock star as we open our Summer keynote show. Take a red-carpet photo or put yourself on the cover of a magazine in our interactive photo booth. Enjoy the first chance to see your favorite rock stars’ portraits by Herb Ritts, as well as our cash bar and club lounge. And if you’ve got the moves like Jagger, prove it! The Michael Clark Band rocks Huber Court, while BJ Griffin and the Galaxy Groove play our Smartmouth beer garden outside. Admission is free for all Museum Members. Tickets for others are $18 in advance, $25 at the door (or join the Museum to join the fun). R.S.V.P. by Thursday, June 16 at reservations.chrysler.org. Coastal Virginia Magazine generously sponsors our exhibition opening party.

Behind the Lens: Herb Ritts and the Rock Portraits Saturday, June 25 | 2 p.m. Look into the prolific career of Herb Ritts with two of his closest colleagues and friends. Join Laurie Kratochvil, former Director of Photography for Rolling Stone, and Mark McKenna, Executive Director of the Herb Ritts Foundation, for a conversation in the Kaufman Theater about his life and legacy. Seating is limited. R.S.V.P. at reservations.chrysler.org. Special Gallery Talk: A Look at Herb Ritts Wednesday, July 27 | 11 a.m. Consider how images become iconic. Curator of Exhibitions and Acting Curator of Photography Seth Feman leads this in-depth tour of Ritts’s memorable portraits from the angles of technical expertise and creative artistry. Third Thursday Rock-in’ and Rockin’ Out Thursday, July 21 | 5–10 p.m. We’ve got driving backbeats, wailing guitars, and maybe even “Free Bird” tonight as both Huber Court and the Museum gardens are devoted to all things rock. Rock On! Thursday, August 18 | 5–10 p.m. Jam out with the next generation of stars, the house band from Norfolk’s School of Rock. From Aerosmith to Zeppelin, there’s not a rock classic they can’t slay. Free for Museum Members and students with current ID, $5 for all others. Cash bar Third Thursday is generously sponsored by The Capital Group Companies and Virginia Natural Gas/AGL Resources.

Photo by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer

New Leadership and scholarship for Curatorial Department

Lloyd DeWitt Chief Curator and Irene Leache Curator of European Art After an extensive international search, the Chrysler landed in Canada to find Lloyd DeWitt as our new Chief Curator and Irene Leache Curator of European Art. Since 2011, DeWitt has been Curator of European Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Located in Toronto, AGO is Canada’s leading art museum, with a collection of more than 80,000 works. “Lloyd DeWitt brings a rare combination of scholarly rigor, artistic acumen, and proven experience in organizing important exhibitions,” Museum Director Erik Neil said. “He adds a strong curatorial voice to our leadership team as we chart our course for the future. With all we hope to achieve, it was critical for the Chrysler to find a visionary new Chief Curator to build on our successes. I am confident that we have done so.” DeWitt’s interests range broadly, from 17thcentury Dutch art to African art to 20th-century Canadian art to nonprofit management. In his four years at AGO, he brought in highly successful exhibitions of Michelangelo and Turner.

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He also worked for eight years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he served as Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings Before 1900 and then was promoted to Associate Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection. Among the exhibitions DeWitt mounted there was 2011’s Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus. Organized with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, the international show was popular at all venues and broke attendance records in Philadelphia. “All of us who met Lloyd were impressed with him—and with his track record in organizing outstanding traveling exhibitions,” said Lewis Webb, Chair of the Chrysler’s Board of Trustees. “We are excited about the international stature he brings to the Chrysler and the new directions that he will lead us in.” DeWitt holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park. Studying with Arthur Wheelock of the National Gallery of Art, he specialized in Northern Baroque and Northern Renaissance Art. His dissertation on Jan Lievens (1607–1674) made him an expert on the Dutch painter. He earned an M.A. in Art History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a B.A. with honors in Fine Art from the University of Guelph, Ontario.

DeWitt, who arrived in April, is only the second Chief Curator of the Chrysler Museum of Art, filling the position vacated by Jeff Harrison, who retired in August 2015. Harrison served at the Chrysler for 33 years, 22 of them as the department head. DeWitt will lead a team of seven that includes curators, conservators, fellows, researchers, and support staff, with future hires to come.

of the Museum in May 2014. He is credited with creating an accessible, jargon-free standard for communicating scholarly information about the Chrysler Collection to the Museum’s many audiences. “Seth Feman’s new position moves us forward in a number of ways,” Museum Director Erik Neil said. “He brings to the curatorial department the unique perspective and cross-disciplinary approach that he has established since joining the staff. He has an incredibly wide range of scholarly interests and a unique ability to convey his enthusiasm about the collection and our exhibitions both in writing and in person.”

“I am thrilled to join the Chrysler as Irene Leache Curator of European Art and Chief Curator. I am very much looking forward to working with the Chrysler’s outstanding staff and leadership to achieve a higher, more global profile for this remarkable collection,” DeWitt said.

This summer, Feman will complete his Ph.D. in American Studies at The College of William & Mary, where he also earned his M.A. His dissertation received support from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Getty Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the University of Chicago.

“Every time I’ve encountered the Chrysler’s treasures in my work, I have been struck by how fortunate the Norfolk area is in having this rich collection—blessed with works of importance and quality. The Chrysler is wonderfully open to trying new things to really pump up our community’s engagement with great art. What a great place to be, and a wonderful time to be here!”

Photo Courtesy of Glenn Bashaw/Images of Light for the Chrysler Museum of Art

The Vassar graduate also has worked as an educator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a writer for the Kennedy Center/ VSA Arts, and has taught at both Lewis and Clark College and at William & Mary.

Seth Feman Curator of Exhibitions and Acting Curator of Photography Seth Feman has switched not only offices, but job duties. The Museum’s Manager of Interpretation since 2012 has been named Curator of Exhibitions and Acting Curator of Photography.

As the Chrysler’s Curator of Exhibitions, Feman will seek national and international traveling exhibitions suitable for the Museum, as well as work collaboratively across departments to manage every aspect of the many shows that are organized within the Museum or loaned from elsewhere. As Acting Curator of Photography, he will lead the Museum’s efforts to develop a coherent strategy for creating challenging exhibitions and for collecting in this important medium. “I am delighted to take on new responsibilities at the Chrysler while continuing to work closely with wonderful colleagues and friends in the broader community,” Feman said. “I’m proud of the dynamic exhibitions we’ve presented since our grand reopening, and I’m excited to develop new, engaging shows in the years to come.”

Off He Goes Retirement apparently comes easy to Tim Fink, the Chrysler’s Facilities Manager for the past eight years. He’s done it three times now. The most recent was early March when Tim retired from the job he has held here since 2008. Before that, Tim retired from the Air Force after 24 years, and from Tidewater Community College after nine years. Tim is one of those guys who never met a problem he couldn’t solve. He welcomed a big challenge a few years ago when he was thinking about retiring, but got talked out of it to help oversee the Museum’s 16-month, $24 million expansion. When the Museum reopened with great fanfare, Tim made preparations to leave once the final construction minutiae were cleared. The Museum honored his service at a staff breakfast at which he was presented a glass hammer made by our Glass Studio artists, whose facility he helped launch in 2011. Happy final retirement, Tim. We will miss you. Photo by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith

Feman joined the Chrysler just before the Museum closed for expansion, renovation, and the reinstallation of the collection. As Manager of Interpretation, working with educators and curators, he oversaw the development of the thousands of labels, introductory panels, and other educational materials for the reopening chrysler news   |  19

Being a Good Partner

M

icah stood tall in front of Josepha GaschMuche’s piece 7.3.2011. Though she had never given a public presentation to her peers and teachers, especially on a contemporary work of art, she commanded the room.

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Students from Norfolk’s Ghent Middle School get a lesson in sandcasting during our ongoing Glass After School partnership. Each of the tweens created a mold in damp sand that was filled with colored frit and molten glass to create a small sculpture. Photo by Echard Wheeler for the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio

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“I think the artist has had pain in her life,” Micah suggested. “That’s why she used shattered glass in her piece.” Micah was one of 25 students from Breakthrough at Norfolk Academy (BTNA) who participated in a half-day intensive workshop at the Museum. Breakthrough is a tuition-free, academic enrichment program designed to prepare motivated Norfolk-area middle school students for success in college-preparatory high school programs. The Museum’s Education staff worked with BTNA educators to design a program that divided the class into small teams. Each team chose a work of art on display, then answered questions about how that work addressed specific themes related to the organization’s mission— qualities such as perseverance, diversity, and collaboration. They finished with a “group gallery talk” that presented their findings to their peers and teachers. “The students in the program really rose to the challenge of public speaking about art that was entirely new for them,” said Ari Zito, Director of Breakthrough at Norfolk

Academy. “This was a great way to build their communication skills and, more importantly, their confidence.” Another program that builds confidence through public speaking is the Hampton Roads Youth Poetry Festival organized by Teens With a Purpose. Last April, TWP held its 8th annual poetry slam at the Chrysler. In the Olympic-style event, more than a dozen teens took to the stage of the Kaufman Theater to perform their spoken word pieces in front of 125 family, friends, and staff. As young writers, emcees, and poets told their stories, new community voices emerged as a positive force for change. The event continued a partnership with TWP that has grown over several years. The Chrysler hosted previous poetry events with the group, and last fall students from Teens with a Purpose got a front-row seat to the Museum’s Third Thursday lecture with contemporary artist Hank Willis Thomas, who talked about his Black Righteous Space installation in The Box. The students found Thomas’s work and message so exciting that they created work inspired by it and displayed their pieces at their annual fundraiser, the ART-Tastic Gala, which was held at the Chrysler in November. Then, just a month later, the Jean Outland

Chrysler Library donated several thousand duplicate books to TWP, forming the core of the group’s resource library. And speaking of libraries, the Museum additionally expanded its poetry-inspired programming by working with the Norfolk Public Library during National Poetry Month. On the first Saturday in April, the Chrysler hosted the Library’s city-wide original poetry contest for school-aged children. The awardees enjoyed a ceremony in their honor with special guest, poet and author Kwame Alexander, winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal for his book The Crossover. Finally, this past year brought new partners into two of the Museum’s afternoon programs. To continue the tradition of art after school, students from Ghent Middle School participated in our Glass After School program at the Perry Glass Studio. During each four-week session, participants learned several of the major processes of glassmaking. They melted glass rods in torch fire to create flameworked art, pieced tiny bits of colored glass into modern mosaics, used enamel paint to create images on flat glass, and turned molten glass on a pipe into works of art in the students’ favorite process, glassblowing.

For six weeks, students from CARE Now, an academic achievement program based at Norfolk’s Blair Middle School, spent their Friday Club Days at the Chrysler. As a group, they chose a theme on which to base their own exhibition— nature—and each student selected an apt artwork from the Chrysler Collection. Using those pieces as their inspiration, they created their own art and wrote label copy to interpret their works. They also helped to install the exhibition and plan an opening reception at Blair, to the delight of parents and students alike. All of these programs demonstrate the Chrysler’s commitment to practicing our mission—bringing art and people together—but more importantly, they show our continued investment in each of these organizations and their missions to serve our community and make Hampton Roads a better place.

In a field of talented teen poets finding their voices, Ashaunti Horton rises to the occasion at the Hampton Roads Youth Poetry Festival, sponsored by Teens With a Purpose. Her powerful presentation in the annual poetry slam helped the Indian River High School student win top honors in the 2016 contest on April 23. Photo courtesy of Robert Fields/ LeggWork Photography, and Teens With a Purpose. Horizons broaden and confidence grows with each Museum visit for students from Breakthrough at Norfolk Academy. The new partnership with the Chrysler encourages middle schoolers to explore their interests and share their observations about art. Photo by Paul Wilson, Jr., courtesy of BTNA

—Anne Corso, Director of Education and Public Programs

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Springing Forward

Our free Spring Family Day focused on Water, Water Everywhere with our Edward Burtynsky exhibition, a coastal enviroscape from Nauticus, and fun artmaking activities for all. Photos by Eleise Theuer for the Chrysler Museum of Art

With a special gallery talk, Beauford Delaney, James Baldwin, and the Civil Rights Movement in 1965, Brock Curator of American Art Alex Mann debuted one of 2016’s key new acquisitions on February 27. Photos by Michael Berlucchi, Museum Community Engagement Manager

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Our March 31 Conversations with the Curators gave mid-level Museum Members an insightful look behind the scenes with some of our most expert guides. Museum Director Erik Neil discusses ancient architecture in art; Vanessa and Chris Todd, and Ma’rie Hodges; Barry Curator of Glass Diane Wright presents Norwood Viviano’s Cities: Departure and Deviation; The evening’s presenters: Museum Director Erik Neil, Director of Exhibitions Seth Feman, Barry Curator of Glass Diane Wright, NEH Conservation Fellow Morgan Wylder, and Brock Curator of American Art Alex Mann (not shown, Museum Conservator Mark Lewis); Betsy and Conoly Phillips; Frances and Margaret Moore. Photos courtesy of Glenn Bashaw/Images in Light for the Chrysler Museum of Art

When it came to Museum Dance Off 3, the Chrysler had all the right moves. The international contest from WhenYouWorkAtAMuseum.com inspired the best from staff at the Museum, the Perry Glass Studio, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, and our Historic Houses. Our “Groove is in the Heart” video by Development Officer Megan Frost, with choreography help from Donor Relations Manager Kerry Martinolich, made it to the finals, but was outvoted by Australia’s Museum Victoria in May. Check out this year’s submission and other great CMA videos at YouTube.com/ ChryslerMuseum. Photos by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith

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Culinary Art Wisteria Focuses on Fresh and Local

Chris Boehme, head chef at the Chrysler’s restaurant, Wisteria, grows many of his own herbs on-site in Mary’s Garden at the Museum. Photo by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith.

“By understanding the whole process, chefs can teach diners to appreciate what farmers go through to get the best product,” Boehme says. “When chefs become gardeners, they don’t just lessen their carbon footprint. They take their cooking to the next level.”

Many people today are becoming more intentionally conscious of where their food comes from, and the “Eat Local” campaign has picked up steam across the country. If you are dining in our restaurant, Wisteria, this summer, the ingredients for your meal may have come from just a few feet away. Chef Chris Boehme manages a small garden plot in Mary’s Garden, adjacent to the restaurant’s outdoor patio. Here, he grows fresh herbs including basil, oregano, chives, dill, tarragon, and rosemary, as well as edible flowers like violas and marigolds. In addition, Boehme maintains a 1,000-square-foot garden at Cuisine and Company’s corporate headquarters in Virginia Beach. That garden features more than 30 vegetables, fruits, and botanicals including a variety of lettuces, tomatoes, beets, kale, eggplant, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. Boehme believes that high-quality, fresh, locally grown ingredients result in better tasting food—and he has been cooking this way for more than 20 years. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, the first restaurant he worked for contracted with a local farm to supply all of their produce, meats, and even the various woods for its smoker. In

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every job since then, he has championed local ingredients whenever possible. At Wisteria, he often looks to the gardens for inspiration for the day’s specials. “When a chef appreciates the seasons and learns how to work with them, it sparks creativity,” Boehme says. “That encourages you to cook with familiar local ingredients in different ways or to try foods you may not have considered before,” he says. “This could include something as simple as finding new uses for celery or trying something unusual such as cardoon. Gardening gives a chef great tools to achieve fresh, new flavors.” So the next time you enjoy a beet salad special or a fabulous vegetable soup, know that the ingredients may have been grown locally— and even personally—by your chef. —Colleen Higginbotham, Director of Visitor Services Wisteria is operated by Cuisine and Company, our exclusive restaurant operator and caterer. The restaurant is open during Museum hours, and Members save 10% on all dine-in and take-out purchases. To make a lunch or Third Thursday dinner reservation, please call (757) 333-6291.

ArtsScience Panels Focus on Water Issues Water has taken center stage at the Chrysler Museum of Art this year, so it’s no surprise that it formed a backdrop for two discussions at the Chrysler on the environment, sea-level rise, and global issues related to our most valuable natural resource. Edward Burtynsky: Water, an exhibition of largescale digital photographs, focused on our relationship with water and our attempts to manipulate it to serve our needs. Cities: Departure and Deviation by Norwood Viviano uses blownglass forms to tell the story of the changing face of urban America and how it has been altered by industrial changes. Both shows explore our natural and man-made environment and the existential tug-of-war that plays out every day between our desire to control it and the world’s natural inclination to resist.

Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil believes museums and arts organizations should help lead conversations about difficult topics in contemporary communities. Adaptation Forum photo courtesy of Virginia Sea Grant. Additional information on Adaptation Forum by Ben McFarlane, Senior Regional Planner, HRPDC

Using the two shows as inspiration, the Chrysler, Old Dominion University, and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission sponsored The Hampton Roads Adaptation Forum. The February 18 panel discussion explored the role cultural institutions can play in regional conversations about sea-level rise and flooding. The forum, a Virginia Sea Grant-funded project, featured Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil discussing whether museums should talk about contemporary social issues. (Yes, Neil said, because people trust the information they get from museums and they are good places to inspire conversation). Chrysanthe Broikos, Curator for the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., talked about how museums can help educate the public about risks from natural hazards and potential solutions for adapting. George McLeod, Assistant Director for Geospatial and Visualization Systems at ODU, gave an overview of how LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data can help measure elevation and analyze vulnerability to flooding. Artist Norwood Viviano followed with an explanation of how

he uses large datasets and computer modeling, much like that created by LiDAR, to design his hanging glass sculptures of city population loss and gain. In the afternoon, Jenifer Alonzo of ODU led a panel discussion with leaders from area cultural institutions. Elliot Gruber, President and CEO of The Mariners’ Museum; Michael Desplaines, President and CEO of the Norfolk Botanical Garden; Chris Witherspoon, Director of Education for the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center; and Dorothy Geyer, National Resources Specialist for Colonial National Historical Park, explained how their organizations are incorporating sea-level rise and flooding into their exhibitions and programming. On May 15, the Chrysler hosted the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s latest Blue Planet Forum. Cosponsored with ODU and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the expert panel in the Kaufman Theater included Jeff Corbin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s former Senior Advisor for the Chesapeake Bay; Peyton Robertson, NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office Director; Ed Harp, Chesapeake Bay photographer; and Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art, who curated the traveling Edward Burtynsky exhibition. Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil moderated their lively discussion of local and global issues related to water as the group examined the complex relationships between art, science, and public policy. More than 200 attendees enjoyed not just the forum, but a concluding reception and a chance to see Water in a whole new light. “Art has the power to unite people and inspire action,” Christy Everett, Hampton Roads Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said. “That’s what makes the Chrysler Museum a perfect place to explore the threats facing clean water in the Chesapeake Bay region and beyond.” chrysler news   |  25

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Corporate Leadership Alliance Good Art Is Good Business cla members

Bank of Hampton Roads Birdsong Corporation Cuisine and Company Delta Airlines Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. Glasser and Glasser Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate Jones CPA Kaufman & Canoles KPMG LLP The Main Marathon Development McGuireWoods LLP Monarch Bank Nancy Chandler Associates Newport News Shipbuilding Norfolk Southern Corporation Norfolk Tug Company PNC Bank Regent University The Runnymede Corporation Rutter Family Art Foundation Signature Family Wealth Management Suburban Management TowneBank Norfolk Troutman Sanders LLP Virginia Investors Virginia Natural Gas The Virginian-Pilot Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, PC Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Willcox Savage Williams Mullen Yupo Corporation America Annual membership in the Corporate Leadership Alliance is open to businesses across Hampton Roads. To learn how your participation helps the Chrysler, and of the benefits for your organization, please contact Assistant Director of Development Homer Babbitt at (757) 333-6298.

Museum Trustee Joe Waldo, Susan Goode, Museum Director Erik Neil Morris Clarke and John Cruikshank, JP Morgan Private Bank Robin Gregory, Peggy Barney, Thom Dix, Bank of Hampton Roads Photos by Eleise Theuer for the Chrysler Museum of Art

Never has the importance or level of corporate support for the Chrysler Museum been more evident than on the morning of the Corporate Leadership Alliance’s inaugural Business in the Arts Luncheon. On Monday, March 14, more than 200 leaders from businesses and nonprofit organizations across Hampton Roads showed their belief in the Museum and proved the theme of the event—that “Good Art is Good Business.”

The CLA’s popularity and success was evident not only in the attendance at its inaugural luncheon, but in the clout of its first keynote speaker— David Goode, former President and CEO of Norfolk Southern Corporation. Known as both a captain of industry and a champion of culture at local and national levels alike, Goode delivered an engaging address on “Business in the Arts and the Arts in Business.”

It was a welcome success that reflected a year’s worth of work on the part of the Museum’s volunteer leaders and staff.

Before a receptive audience, Goode spoke to the key role that strong cultural institutions like the Chrysler play in their communities. Citing research commissioned by Americans for the Arts, he argued that arts organizations do more than make our communities nicer places to live: they provide a great return on investment as money ripples through the economy. In turn, he said, corporate leaders have a responsibility to support those organizations with their own investments of support, talent, and attention. In return, those companies will reap great rewards in business opportunities and through good corporate citizenship.

Shortly after Erik Neil started as Director of the Chrysler, he and the Museum’s Development staff sat down with Trustees and key volunteers to rework the Museum’s venerable Business Exhibition Council. While the Museum was closed for expansion, and with the concurrent economic recession, membership in the group had eroded. Fortunately, with the new energy of the reopened Museum came the impulse to refresh the Chrysler’s corporate engagement and improve the ways the Chrysler works with its supporters in business across our region. Their expertise and hard work resulted in the launch of the Corporate Leadership Alliance, already a dedicated and growing group.

To conclude the luncheon, Museum Director Erik Neil reminded CLA members that the Chrysler remains a great venue with which to do business. “If good art is good business,” he said, “then the Chrysler’s balance sheet has never been stronger.”

Art Travel for Museum Members

Join fellow Chrysler Museum Members on special trips that offer unique opportunities to learn about the artistic and cultural life of destinations both near and far. These exclusive travel opportunities are a benefit of your annual Chrysler membership at any level.

Island Life of Cuba October 20–November 7 Be among the first U.S. travelers to experience Cuba during this unprecedented, nine-day People to People opportunity. See Old Havana, Santa Clara, Matanzas, and Pinar del Río. Enjoy comfortable accommodations, interact with local experts, and immerse yourself in Cuba’s history, culture, art, language, cuisine, and daily life.

Cost: $65 for Museum Members, $80 for all others. Space is limited. Register at RSVP/Central at reservations.chrysler.org, or contact Development Officer Megan Frost at (757) 333-6294.

The Great Journey through Europe July 5–15 This extraordinary 11-day Grand Tour of Europe lets you explore the picturesque waterways, lakes, mountains, and countryside of Switzerland, France, Germany, and The Netherlands. Cruise aboard the deluxe Amadeus Fleet along the most scenic sections of the Rhine River. Ride aboard three legendary railways—the Matterhorn’s Gornergrat Bahn, the famous Glacier Express, and Lucerne’s Pilatus Railway.

Photos by Gohagen and Company

Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977) St. Andrew, 2006 Oil and enamel on canvas in antiquated frame with gilded ornaments Museum purchase with funds provided by Susan and David Goode, Meredith and Brother Rutter, Ashby Vail, Joseph T. Waldo and Patrick Waldo, Leah and Richard Waitzer, Fannie, Milton and Leslie Friedman Family Foundation, Martha Goode and Blair Mielnik, Oriana McKinnon, Penny and Peter Meredith, Mabel Burroughs Tyler Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, Rebecca and Tom Robinson, Dr. Henry A. Garrity, Mrs. Joseph C. Addington, Lynn Cobb and Warren Richard, Susan and Alan Donn, Karen and Matt Fine, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lane Stokes, Jr., Tim Griffith, Angelica and Henry Light, and Dr. Edward L. and Linda H. Lilly © Kehinde Wiley

NEW! Members’ Bus Trip to VMFA Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic Monday, July 18 | 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Join fellow Museum Members and our Friends of African American Art for a special daytrip to see this summer blockbuster at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Sarah Eckhardt, VMFA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, leads our private tour of the acclaimed retrospective featuring the Chrysler’s St. Andrew. Wiley raises questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African Americans using the conventions of traditional European portraiture. NEW! Passage through the Panama Canal and Costa Rica January 27–February 4, 2017 Spend nine spectacular days on this exclusively chartered journey from the Costa Rican rainforest through the mighty locks of the Panama Canal. Aboard the all-suite M.V. Star Pride, experience a daylight passage through the canal and call at remote island paradises. Explore Costa Rica’s terrestrial wonders and tour Panama City. Pre- and post-program options are available. For more information on Chrysler art travel programs, please visit Chrysler.org/membership/art-travel-program or contact Donor Stewardship Manager Kerry Martinolich at (757) 333-6318 or [email protected].

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Taking Flight The Perry Glass Studio

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Inaugural NEAR artist Sarah Blood creates “paper” airplane forms in glass with Joan Biddle of the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio Team. Blood’s exhibition of mixed-media installations will include numerous interactive elements. Photo by Chrysler Museum Glass Studio staff Photos courtesy of guest instructors Stacy Lynn Smith and Wayne Strattman facing page

Visiting Artist Rik Allen’s space-age visit to the Glass Studio and to NASA’s Langley Research Center was literally and figuratively out of this world. Photos by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith and Chrysler Museum Glass Studio staff; drawing of MMSEV courtesy of NASA; drawing of The Flea by Rik Allen

New Energy Artist Residency Sarah Blood Headlines First NEON Collaboration The Perry Glass Studio started 2016 with its first New Energy Artist Residency program. The new partnership between arts organizations in the Norfolk’s NEON district is dedicated to bringing emerging artists with experimental practices of glass and new media to our region. The collaborative residency provides work space at Glass Wheel Studio, hotglass facilities at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio, and housing courtesy of the Rutter Family Art Foundation. It culminates with a solo show at Work|Release during the NEON Festival this fall. British-born, New York-based artist Sarah Blood often focuses on concepts of home and community, questioning

28  |  summer 2016

the difficulties of staying in touch with family and friends. To her, the “ease” of modern connectivity seems at odds with the weight of distances, real or perceived, between people. Drawing on the first method of long-distance communication she ever used, Blood creates paper airplane forms, but in new materials like concrete, metal, and glass. During her January visit to Norfolk, Blood created blownglass vessels with metal airplanes inside. Once cooled, she fills the forms with neon and electrifies them to create illuminated sculptures. Her NEAR exhibition will include hundreds of “paper” airplanes in immersive installations with opportunities for interactivity. See Sarah Blood’s NEAR exhibition at Work|Release, 759 Granby Street, Norfolk, September 15–24. Admission is free.

Guest Instructor Workshops Leading Artists Teach Summer Master Classes in Their Specialties The Perry Glass Studio welcomes Stacy Lynn Smith, an artist and expert in printing with powdered glass. In her Screen-Printed Powder workshop July 26–31, the longtime instructor and technician with Bullseye Glass explores a variety of methods for flat-glass screen-printing, including digital and handdrawn image preparation, photosensitive transfer, and printing with glass powders. Smith’s course expands on Imagery on Glass for Artists, a new class taught last spring by Studio Manager Charlotte Potter and Studio Instructor Hannah Kirkpatrick.

And the Studio proudly presents Wayne Strattman, who holds the world’s only Ph.D. in neon art. From August 2–7, the artist-educator teaches Neon, Plasma, and More. Techniques in this summer master class go beyond conventional tubular forms to create neon and plasma sculptures. Students will enjoy Strattman’s experimental approach as they create blown and kilnprocessed pieces to be plasmalit. The workshop already is booking well, building on the success of our first neon classes introduced last spring to enhance the NEON arts district. Experienced glass students may enroll in either master class at reservations.chrysler.org.

Visiting Artist Series 2016 Rik Allen and Glass Studio Team with NASA to Launch New Partnerships Rik Allen, with his astronomical fascination with spacecraft, science, rovers, and rockets, was the Glass Studio’s first Visiting Artist of 2016. His glass sculptures convey curiosity, humor, and narratives of what can be as they explore outer (and inner) space. As part of his March 3–6 working visit to Hampton Roads, Allen and Studio staff enjoyed a rare tour of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton. Behind the scenes they got a glimpse into the innovative research and machinery NASA uses to gather information, to test habitats, and to craft spaceships. One design particularly caught

Allen’s attention—the MultiMission Space Exploration Vehicle. The MMSEV was designed not to fly, but to jump around on the surface of Phobos, a moon of Mars.

Read more about Rik Allen’s visit to Langley at nasa.gov/feature/ langley/nasa-space-explorationdesigns-inspire-glass-artist.

—The Perry Glass Studio Team

That spacecraft, which Allen dubbed “the Flea,” inspired inspiration the work he created at the Studio. Before the public and about 100 rapt NASA engineers and invited family members accustomed to science-fiction-made-reality, Allen sculpted his own Flea. He impressed his audience with his command not just of art, but the science required to create it from molten glass. Allen’s visit serves as a catalyst for further partnerships between NASA and the Chrysler Museum of Art. New initiatives will be revealed in 2017 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. last look   |  29

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Branding the American West

Sunday from noon–5 p.m.

Members’ Exhibition Preview Party | Friday, October 28 | 6–10 p.m. See the landscapes, lore, and legends of the American West through the eyes of early 20th-century filmmakers and artists. In nearly 100 works, including paintings, films, sculptures, and ephemera, discover how their sometimes contradictory depictions of the frontier and its inhabitants changed the trademark image of the “Wild West” to a more complex identity rooted in reality, nuance, and experience. East meets the West anew in our Fall keynote exhibition from the Brigham Young University Museum of Art and the Stark Museum of Art. Also On View This Fall Monet, Homer, and the Agrarian Ideal In The Box: Brian Bress

Wendy Maruyama: The wildLIFE Project

Public and Private: East Germany in Photographs by Ulrich Wüst

(757) 664-6200 | Chrysler.org follow the chrysler

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William Herbert Dunton (1878–1936), The Cattle Buyer, ca. 1921 Oil on canvas, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas

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The Chrysler Museum of Art is partially supported by grants from the City of Norfolk, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Business Consortium for Arts Support, and the Edwin S. Webster Foundation.

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