SPRING 2025
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table of CONTENTS
From the Director p.3
Exhibitions p.4
St. Simon the Apostle: Annotated p.10
The Future is Now: Grant Funds Museum’s Contemporary Expansion p.12 A Collective Canvas: Georgia Museum of Art Brings Sol LeWitt’s Vision to Life p.14 The Good Work of Many: Museum Helps Preserve Murals on Campus p.16
DIRECTOR’S Leadership Council
B. Heyward Allen Jr. Lacy Middlebrooks Camp Todd Emily Andrew Littlejohn D. Hamilton Magill III, chair-elect
William R. Newton Christopher R. Peterson, chair
Is There a Doctor in the Gallery? p.20
R. Lee Robinson John Shlesinger Sara Shlesinger Brenda A. Thompson Carol V. Winthrop
A New Learning Experience p.22
David W. Matheny Isobel Parker Mills Carl W. Mullis III
5th-Grade Tours Help Students “Mind the Gap” p.24
Elegant Salute XVIII: Baroque and Beyond p.26
Friends ADVISORY BOARD
Museum Notes p.27
Hours Tuesday and Wednesday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday: 1 – 5 p.m. Closed Mondays. Museum Shop closes 15 minutes prior. Free tickets required.
Ligia Alexander Kathleen Belknap Greta Covington Cornelya Dorbin Susanna Drennen Kira Epstein Bree Hayes, chair Tiffany Hines Christina G. LaFontaine Shanell McGoy Sherrie Olejnik Sarah Peterson, past chair
Anita Pratt Mary Prickett Lauren Schlesinger, chair-elect Julia Slatcher Marilyn Wolf-Ragatz, docent president Amy Wraga
706.542.4662
Editorial Hillary Brown and Jessica Luton
Ex-Officio David Odo Chris Peterson
Design Noelle Shuck
Publications Intern Isabel Davis
Front cover: Richard Prince (American, b. 1949), untitled (Milton Berle), 2021. Inkjet on canvas, 100 × 46 1/4 inches. Courtesy Richard Prince. Back cover: Richard Prince (American, b. 1949), untitled (Milton Berle), 2021. I nkjet on canvas, 100 × 46 1/4 inches. Courtesy Richard Prince. The University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or military service in its administrations of educational policies, programs or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Equal Opportunity Office 119 Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Telephone 706-542- 7912 (V/TDD). Fax 706-542- 2822. https://eoo.uga.edu/. Mission Statement: The Georgia Museum of Art shares the mission of the University of Georgia to support and to promote teaching, research and service. Specifically, as a repository and educational instrument of the visual arts, the museum exists to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret significant works of art.
Front cover: Onorio Marinari (1617 – 1716), “Judith Beheading Holofernes” (detail), 17th century. Oil on canvas, 57 5/8 × 46 inches. The Haukohl Collection. Back cover: Attributed to Jacopo Giorgi (1623 – 1665), “Penitent Magdalene,” 17th century. Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 35 7/8 × 25 3/16 inches. The Haukohl Collection. Above: Amalia Amaki (American, b. 1959), “Twosome” (detail), 2015. Collage, mixed-media assemblage. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of the artist. GMOA 2016.88.
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Winslow Homer (American, 1836 – 1910), “Art-Students and Copyists in the Louvre Gallery, Paris” (detail from Harper’s Weekly January 11, 1868). Woodcut, 10 1/4 × 15 9/16 inches (sheet). Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The Andrew Ladis and William Underwood Eiland Collection; Gift of William Underwood Eiland in memory of Thomas Brumbaugh and in honor of Olen Bryant. GMOA 2012.433.
I recently stumbled across a wonderful print by Winslow Homer that appeared in the January 1868 issue of Harper’s Weekly. It shows art students in a gallery bursting with natural light that streams down through the enormous skylights at the Louvre in Paris. They hone their craft by copy- ing works of art hung in classic “salon style” fashion, adorning the entire wall from the very bottom all the way up to the ceiling. (Our own salon-style display in the Nancy Cooper Turner Gallery is popular with visi- tors.) Copying masterworks is a time-honored aspect of art training. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been operating its Copyist Program since 1872, just a few years after Homer’s above-mentioned print was pub- lished. According to the Met, that program allows artists to engage in “intensive technical study, deep observa- tion, and encourages sustained engagement” with origi- nal works of art as they develop their own work. Seeing the Homer print made me appreciate the conti- nuity and long tradition of study and training that has taken place in art museums since the 19th century. But it also prompted me to think about how much we have changed from those early days. Although we continue to emphasize the value of intimately studying origi- nal works of art, the museum field has become highly professionalized and specialized. An ever-expanding roster of niche positions includes curators, educators, designers, registrars, preparators and conservators, not to mention posts that rely on expertise in security, hu- man resources and financial management. In short, art museums have become complex, modern organizations. Over time, we have expanded our areas of study and expertise accordingly.
As part of the University of Georgia, the Georgia Muse- um of Art’s commitment to education is paramount. We want all students, not just developing artists and art majors, to benefit from studying our collections. That is why we have been so excited to expand our work with students and faculty to cover 29 different departments. And thanks to generous funding from William Parker, we now offer a student guide program, which provides paid training to undergraduates from any discipline at UGA so that they can learn to give public tours and share their discoveries with all our audiences. Thanks to Anne and Bill Newton, the Benevity Fund and the Parents Leadership Council, all our student interns have been paid for their work at the museum since last fall, making this important experience available to as wide a range of students as possible. We see our commitment to education as extending beyond the classes we teach to encompass junior col- leagues seeking museum experience and professional development. We want the museum to become a hub of opportunity for those looking to build careers in the museum field. To that end, we are delighted that an anonymous donor has supported the William J. Thomp- son Fellowship in American Art, which will provide high-level research and curatorial experience to an aspiring curator starting later this year. We are looking forward to further expanding these opportunities in the months and years ahead.
David Odo, Director
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Beyond the Medici: The Haukohl Family Collection February 1 – May 18, 2025
exhibitions
Giovan Domenico Ferretti (1692 – 1768), “Harlequin and His Companion,” 18th century. Oil on canvas, 44 11/16 × 41 7/8 inches. The Haukohl Collection.
in the SHOP
Assembled over more than 40 years by Houston-based art collector and cofounder of the Medici Archive Project Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl, the Haukohl Family Collection is one of the finest and most extensive holdings of Florentine baroque art in private hands outside of Italy.
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“BEYOND THE MEDICI” CATALOG ($30)
JEWELRY FROM ANNE KOPLIK ($52 – $165) AND SUSAN SHAW ($30 – $101)
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ROUNDTREE BLOWN GLASS VASES ($100)
“Beyond the Medici” brings a selection from this collection to the University of Georgia, offering a unique opportunity for students and the wider community to experience these works of art. The spectacular art of baroque Florence has traditionally suffered from a lack of art historical attention. In the 17th century, most leading artists in Italy lived or worked in Rome. Meanwhile in Florence, the Medici family of bankers and politicians sponsored advances in music and the sciences. In this context, foreign and native artists developed a Florentine baroque style that is at once sensuous and deeply religious, poetic and classical, exuberant and restrained. “Beyond the Medici” illustrates the sumptuous visual pag- eantry and the blending of new stylistic elements with established models that are central to Florentine baroque art. It also sheds light on the intellectual history of Florence under the reign of the Medici.
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“Beyond the Medici” was organized by Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl with the generous support of the Haukohl Philanthropies.
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In-house Curator: Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art
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Felice Ficherelli (1605 – 1660), “Allegory of Poetry,” 17th century. Oil on canvas, 38 × 35 3/8 inches. The Haukohl Collection.
The Awe of Ordinary Labors: 20th-Century Paintings from Ukraine January 18 – June 1, 2025 exhibitions
Irina Soboleva (Ukrainian, 1920 – 2014), “Motif of Lviv,” 1957. Watercolor, 12 × 10 inches (framed). Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the William Parker Endowment. GMOA 2023.258.
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Sergei Khokhalev (Ukrainian, 1916 – ca. 2000), “May 9th (Victory Day),” 1970. Oil, 13 × 17 inches (framed). Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the William Parker Endowment. GMOA 2023.245.
Throughout most of the 20th century, the government of the Soviet Union promoted an official style of art: socialist realism.
That style promoted Communist values by showing working people’s virtues and struggles. Navigating the margins of artistic freedom, certain artists responded to this ideological imperative by creating works that complied on the surface but also commu- nicated subtle subversive statements and allowed for alternative interpretations. The 44 works by Ukrainian painters included in this exhibition come from the Maniichuk-Brady Collection and the Parker Collection at the Georgia Museum of Art and were
created ca. 1930 to 1980. These artists manifested national pride by rendering images that celebrated the labors of their compatri- ots as well as the history and the landscape of their country. The works abound in visual quotations and art historical references.
Curator: Asen Kirin, Parker Curator of Russian Art
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exhibitions
coming soon
Waffle House Vistas Through June 1, 2025
Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 – 1939 July 19 – November 2, 2025
Micah Cash, “Store #1591: Oak Grove, Kentucky,” 2021. Archival pigment print, 24 × 30 inches. Collection of the artist.
Emerging from Micah Cash’s photography series and photo book of the same name, this exhibition focuses on the built and natural environments as seen through the windows of Waffle House restaurants.
Louise Heron Blair (American, 1905 – 1972), “Self portrait,” 1929. Oil on board, 23 1/2 × 18 5/8 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura. GMOA 2013.203.
Captured from locations across the southeastern United States, these images contemplate the physical and social environments and commerce that surround each location of the southern cultural icon. The natural landscapes beyond the windowpanes are as diverse as the perspectives and stories of each guest at the tables. Yet the similarities of the restaurants’ interiors echo across states and time zones. The images look out from the restaurant’s iconic booths, past the signature midcen- tury pendant lamps and make viewers newly conscious of buildings so commonplace they often go unseen. Each guest, waiting for their hashbrowns, becomes witness to the intertwined narratives of economic stability, transience and politics. The familiar, well-worn interiors make us think about what we have in common. Yet the differences in environment call to mind the different ways we experience structures built and felt. This exhibition includes a newly commissioned time-based media component of the series. This video realizes Cash’s directive to “look up” through prolonged footage of views and sounds from three Waffle Houses. The video and its soundscape disrupt the nostalgia of the still photographs, which the audience animates with actual or imagined memories of a Waffle House meal. Instead, they emphasize a long, time-based vision of the surrounding landscape and architecture.
During the first four decades of the 20th century, American women made crucial contributions to the vibrant creative milieu of Paris.
Drawn by a strong desire for independence, they crossed the Atlantic to pursue personal and professional ambitions in a city viewed as the epicenter of modernity. “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 – 1939” features approximately 65 portraits of remarkable women (including Josephine Baker, Isadora Duncan, Zelda Fitzgerald, Loïs Mailou Jones, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anaïs Nin, Gertrude Stein, Ethel Waters and Anna May Wong) in a variety of mediums and highlights the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the refashioned sense of self and the new conceptions of modern female identity that resulted from the interventions of American women in Parisian life. It recaptures the experiences of these unorthodox women who found in Paris the freedom to blaze new trails in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater and dance.
This exhibition has been organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Curator: Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (in-house curator: Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, Georgia Museum of Art)
Curator: Kathryn Hill, associate curator of modern and contemporary art
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Mildred Thompson (American, 1936 – 2003), “String Theory VI,” 1999. Acrylic on vinyl, 49 × 66 inches (framed). Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection of African American Art. GMOA 2012.152.
Gallery Reinstallation: Focus on African American Artists
Over 30 percent of Georgia’s population is Black, and this reinstallation reflects the historic impact of African diasporic culture on the state and beyond through the visual arts. The gallery will focus on works by African American artists drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, including both recent acquisitions and selections from our core collection donated by Larry and Brenda Thompson. Located next to the Barbara and Sanford Orkin Gallery, which features modern and contemporary art, the space will become an extension of those narratives. As with our other galleries, works will rotate periodically and offer fresh perspectives and continued engagement.
This January we will reinstall the Boone and George-Ann Knox II Gallery within our permanent collection wing to showcase the vital contributions of Black artists to American art.
DON’T MISS
Our installation of Tokie Rome-Taylor’s contemporary work in the H. Randolph Holder Gallery is on view through March 9.
St. Simon the Apostle:
ANNOTATED
Simon marks his page with his finger, pausing to look up at the viewer. The BOOK , likely a copy of the biblical New Testament, refers to the years he spent preaching in Egypt and Persia. Its soft, unadorned leather cover resembles a typical 17th-century binding. The strings attached to the front and back covers were used to tie the book together, ensuring the delicate pages inside remained safe. Simon offers the viewer the SAW grasped in his left hand and asks viewers to consider its meaning. Here, the saw serves as a symbol and iconic motif associated with his life and is used to identify him in religious art. Most saints and important figures have a fairly standard set of attributes that appeared alongside them in early modern art. In Simon’s case, the saw alludes to the most popular story of his death: he was martyred in Persia by being sawed in half. Salvator Rosa signed this painting with his INITIALS , SR, which you can see etched into the top of the saw blade. Although most Italian baroque artists signed their paintings in some way, they typically used their full name. Rosa’s layered monogram recalls the signatures of northern European artists, who often hid their initials on or near objects.
Although Simon is a saint, he does not have an obvious HALO indicating his exalted status. The painting’s only illumination comes from an unseen light source to the left that casts the saint in dramatic chiaroscuro, a popular Baroque style characterized by bold contrasts between light and dark. Rosa may have intended the diffused light behind Simon’s head and the right side of his body as a halo substitute, granting the saint an air of otherworldliness without detracting from his unidealized appearance. WRINKLES line Simon’s time-worn face and hands, and his messy, graying hair frames his rugged, ruddy cheeks. His mundane, unidealized appearance lends an air of realness and relatability absent in earlier depictions of saints. Rosa’s decision to use a real person as a model reflects the shift towards naturalism in baroque art, prompted by the desire to create a connection between holy figures and the not- so-holy viewer. In keeping with Counter-Reformation art trends of the time, the piece evokes viewers’ emotional connections and personal acquaintance with holy figures.
Salvator Rosa (Neapolitan, 1615 - 1673), “St. Simon the Apostle,” ca. 1639. Oil on canvas, 49 1/8 × 37 1/2 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The Samuel H. Kress Study Collection. GMOA 1961.1888.
Annotation by Katherine Rabogliatti
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the future is now
GRANT FUNDS MUSEUM’S CONTEMPORARY EXPANSION
The most visible aspect of our use of the grant so far has been the installation of two new works of art in the H. Randolph Holder Gallery, located in our permanent collection wing. Kent Monkman’s “asinnajaq” and Grey Cohoe’s “To Dawn Drummer They Rhyme” are now on the walls alongside 18th-century colonial portraits. Both paintings by Indigenous artists of other Indigenous people create conversations with adjacent works in the gallery by drawing parallels between historic portrait practices and con- temporary perspectives. The paintings celebrate the resilience of Indigenous peoples and highlight the sitters’ individuality. They also share the space with one of the works on loan from the Terra Foundation’s Collection-in-Residence program and contemporary work by Atlanta artist Tokie Rome-Taylor. Other additions to the collection using these funds include Edmund de Waal’s “Letters to Amherst, II” (which was on view this past fall as part of the exhibition “Mind the Gap”), Emma Amos’ mixed-media work “Nothing but Blue Skies,” Athens artist Jason Thrasher’s photograph “Murmur Trestle” (also on view this past fall) and Kei Ito’s “Sungazing Scroll” and “Burning Away” (both works of experimental photography that were part of the artist’s
Since November 2023, when the Georgia Museum of Art received a transformative gift of over $1 million from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, we have been busy using those funds to expand opportunities for University of Georgia students and enhance our contemporary art program for all our audiences.
Part of the H. Randolph Holder Gallery, featuring Kent Monkman’s painting “asinnajaq” at left and a work by Tokie Rome-Taylor at right.
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Grey Cohoe’s painting “To Dawn Drummer They Rhyme” at left in the H. Randolph Holder Gallery.
solo exhibition at the museum). De Waal, Amos and Ito all make use of research, archives and ephemera in their artistic practice, fitting for a museum at a top-tier research university. The grant also funded the installation of two wall drawings by Sol LeWitt in the museum’s lobby, one of which was created with substantial input and partici- pation by UGA students. “Wall Drawing #869, Copied Lines” begins with a single, varied, horizontal black line. Individuals then copy that line carefully in either red, blue or yellow marker, creating a pattern that almost seems to breathe on the wall. Several UGA classes and many of our museum interns contributed their own lines as part of the project, which will be on display for three years. Students expressed their appreciation and enthu- siasm for the opportunity to have hands-on involvement in the project. Kathryn Hill, the museum’s associate curator of modern and contemporary art (now a grant-funded position), has seen her responsibilities expand and has been leading the museum’s work with contemporary artists and new acquisitions as part of the grant. We also used project funds last fall to hire Ciel Rodriguez as curatorial assistant in contemporary art and Alexis Gorby as associate curator of academic and campus engagement, both new positions. Gorby is focusing on teaching university course visits to the museum from all departments using the collections, with a focus on contemporary art. She is also training stu- dent guides who will begin giving tours this semester and managing the museum’s internship program. Grant funds also supported Mary Alice Smith (AB ’24), now a master’s of art history graduate student at the University of Texas, when she was an intern in con- temporary art at the museum. As part of her activities,
working alongside Hill, she helped curate the exhibition “The Artist as Witness,” which served as a companion piece to “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed.” “I really enjoyed my time at the Georgia Museum of Art,” she said. “All of the staff are very encouraging and I really learned a lot about what it is like working in the museum field. I gained hands-on experience that will benefit me in the future. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to work here.” Research is critical to curatorial practice, and grant funds have enabled our curators to conduct research at the Venice Biennale, the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and artists’ studios. The funds have also helped us bring important artists, educators, scholars and curators to the museum, where they have met and consulted with the museum team and UGA students. Behind the scenes, we have collaborated with Crystallizations Systems, Inc. (CSI) to design two cus- tom-fit rolling screen storage rack systems and one wall-mounted storage screen to be installed in one of the museum’s art storage areas this summer. These units meet museum industry standards for safe storage and preservation of art collections and are compatible with extant CSI storage units in the museum’s vaults. The system’s 21 screens maximize the storage area for large paintings and for storing new works purchased through the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation grant as they are rotated in and out of our gallery spaces. As you can tell, there’s been a lot going on, and students and other museum visitors are only beginning to see the results of that work.
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a collective canvas GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART BRINGS SOL LEWITT’S VISION TO LIFE by Nishat Nayla, communications intern
Sol LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing #1038 Bars of color within a square (#3)” (left) and “Wall Drawing #869” (above) at the Georgia Museum of Art. © 2024 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
This past fall, the Georgia Museum of Art brightened up its lobby with two wall drawings by famed contemporary artist Sol LeWitt. A fusion of conceptual art and community engagement, the project, funded in part by a grant from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, allowed students to directly participate in the creation of a work that will be on display for years to come. For LeWitt, the true art was the idea. The execution could be left to others. Years after his death in 2007, that legacy remains. LeWitt was a pioneering figure in the conceptu - al and minimalist art movements. His wall drawings are found in museums and galleries around the world and were not typically created by the artist’s own hand. Instead, he wrote detailed instructions on how to make them and invited others to bring his vision to life, challenging traditional notions of art-making by prioritizing the conceptual process over the final product. Professional installers from the Sol LeWitt estate (Gabriel Hurier, Lacey Fekishazy and Michael Benjamin, all of whom trained and worked under LeWitt), students and faculty from the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, and museum interns and staff worked together to create the drawings over two weeks. Together, they transformed the museum’s lobby into a collaborative art space, meticulous- ly following LeWitt’s instructions to create two large-scale wall drawings: “Wall Drawing #869” from LeWitt’s “Copied Lines” series and “Wall Drawing #1038 Bars of color within a square (#3)” from his “Bars” series. The result is more than just a visual display. It’s an embodiment of collabora- tion, learning and creativity. “Wall Drawing #869” involved the most collaboration. LeWitt’s instructions for it read: “Using a marker or crayon, a not straight line is drawn horizontally, about halfway between the floor and ceiling, across the wall. The line is black. The second line is drawn by another person, using another color, beneath the first line, as close as possible, imitating the black line. The next line is drawn in anoth- er color beneath the second line. Each color is drawn by a different person, and is continued, in the same sequence, to
the bottom of the wall. The black line (the first line) is not repeated. Continue to the bottom of the wall with the last complete line.” One of the installers from the estate created the first line, and UGA students, faculty and staff created the rest, in a repeating pattern of red, blue and yellow. The length of the wall meant that drawing a single line took about 45 minutes. Those creating the lines had to hold the surface of the marker flat against the wall and create the line without going back over any of it. They could take brief breaks to swap out markers, but the process required a lot of concentration, making it an almost meditative experience. This project serves as a continuation of LeWitt’s philosophy that art can live on through shared participation, rather than as a static object to be admired from afar. The stu- dents’ efforts breathe new life into the work, making it rel - evant and meaningful in the present moment. As you view the results, you can feel tiny alterations changing the flow of the line, almost like a game of telephone. All the lines work together, but each of them is its own unique creation. In a world where we often view art as something created by individual geniuses, LeWitt’s work invites us to con- sider a different model, where ideas take precedence over the physical and the act of creation is a shared, collective experience. For those who participated, this project will be a defining moment in their artistic journeys, offering a deeper understanding of the intersections among art, col- laboration and community.
THE GOOD WORK OF MANY museum helps preserve murals on campus
by Kelsey Schoenbaum, communications intern
Paintings conservator Libby Hatmaker with Edith Frances Hodgson’s mural “Communication of the News” in Brooks Hall.
Above the building’s three sets of front doors are frescos that show per- sonifications of music, theater and the visual arts. Renowned muralist Jean Charlot (1898 - 1979) painted them during his three-year residency at UGA in the 1940s, but they weren’t his only work on the campus. Just around the corner, less known but no less striking, are his murals inside Brooks Hall on Herty Drive. Thanks to a newly completed restoration project in- volving people from all over campus, the preserved murals are back to their original vibrancy and will be enjoyed for decades to come.
As you walk down Baldwin Street on the University of Georgia campus, you may spot the striking facade of the Fine Arts Building.
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CREATING THE MURALS
Charlot’s multinational heritage was an obvious influence on his works. He was born in 1898 in Paris, France. His father was a Russian exile, and his mother was born in Mexico of French and Indigenous American descent. This ancestry gave Charlot a life-long interest in pre-Columbian American history. After moving to Mexico City, he became a significant contributor to the Mexican Muralist movement, both through his own works and as an assistant to artist Diego Rivera. Charlot moved to New York City in 1928 to begin a teaching career. Among his students was a young Lamar Dodd. A de- cade later, Dodd became head of the UGA art department, and in 1941 he invited Charlot to visit Athens. For the next three years, Charlot gave informal lectures and talks while working on his murals with assistance from UGA art students. At the time, Brooks Hall housed the journalism school. Charlot consulted with its dean, John Drewry, on potential subject matter for murals at the building. Given a 68-foot-long hallway bisected by a door, he created two murals. Charlot chose to pay homage to and highlight the role of journal- ists and documentarians. In the left mural, the Indigenous Aztecs meeting Hernán Cortés’ conquistadors include artists rendering the invaders to inform their emperor. The mural is captioned in headline jargon: “ANNO DMI. 1519. EMPER- OR MONTEZUMA’S SCOUTS COVER AMERICA’S FIRST SCOOP. CORTEZ IN MEXICO.” For the right mural, Charlot observed military paratrooper drills in Alabama for reference and creat- ed a dynamic depiction of the soldiers in the moments before they land. Accompanying them are war reporters, their cam- eras and notepads out while their parachutes trail from their shoulders. The caption reads “ANNO DMI. 1944. PRESS AND CAMERAMEN FLASH ON THE SPOT NEWS. WORLD WAR II.” Above the center door, Charlot included a poignant personi- fication of Time as a Hellenic statue with an open bag filled with symbols of history. “All things that happen in time are cast together in Time’s poke,” he wrote in 1945. “The good with the bad: kings, emperors, poets, klu klux klans [sic], scholars, painters, richmen, poormen, soldiers, a lamb beside a lion. The dove of peace perches outside, waiting for its turn to get in.” Below her is written “TIME DISCLOSETH ALL THINGS,” a timely reminder of truth in the historical record. Charlot’s murals aren’t the only ones in the building. Lor- raine Harris created “The History of Bookmaking” (1945), a painting in true fresco in the entryway on the left. On the right is “The Freedom of the Press” (1947), an oil painting on plaster by John Chalmers Vinson. The two earliest paintings are in the stairway. On the right is Dorothy Douglas Greene’s “Contemporary Journalism” (1942), for which she sketched the offices at the Athens Banner-Herald. On the opposite wall are the remaining fragments of Edith Hodgson’s “Communication of the News” (1943). Both Greene and Hodgson created their murals as thesis projects toward the completion of the master of fine arts degree in painting.
Jean Charlot working on the Brooks Hall murals.
Dorothy Douglas Greene (American, 1918 – 2000; UGA MFA ’42) with her mural “Contemporary Journalism,” 1942.
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Christy Sinksen, Annelies Mondi and Libby Hatmaker in front of Jean Charlot’s mural in Brooks Hall.
RESTORING THE MURALS
Annelies Mondi, who retired from the Georgia Muse- um of Art in 2023 after a long career in various roles, has always had a soft spot for the Brooks Hall murals and has been involved with their preservation over decades. While leading a tour for staff at UGA’s Office Institutional Research, whose offices are located in that building, she noticed a section of paint peeling in Hodgson’s mural. Her sharp eyes and the collaboration of many people and units across campus mean that the murals are now back to their original luster. The newly completed project is a testament to the UGA commu- nity’s dedication to preserving campus history. If you have a chance to visit Brooks Hall to view the murals, you won’t be disappointed, said Mondi.
Libby Hatmaker, a painting conservator for the Georgia
Museum of Art and Lamar Dodd School of Art lecturer, was at the helm of the restoration of these works. She previously helped restore them after a fire at Brooks Hall in 1995 caused significant damage.
“I would like to thank Libby Hatmaker for her thor- ough and professional conservation treatment of the murals, said Mondi. “As always, she went above and beyond in her job and repaired numerous losses not originally identified in the initial proposal. I will always be thankful for the time and care she has devoted to these murals and am grateful for her patience and expertise.” The project was funded in part by the Georgia Muse- um of Art and the estate of Pat Dietz. Many museum staff, including Noelle Shuck, Hillary Brown, Lisa Conley and Ryan Woods, also deserve thanks for their efforts to help with this project, said Mondi. Mondi said that she believed the murals needed signage to explain them to help in their preservation, and credits Lamar Dodd School of Art director Joe Peragine with funding its fabrication and instal- lation. “It is my hope that by understanding the murals a little more, viewers will also help protect them,” said Mondi. Jeff Benjamin, associate vice president of Facilities Management, and his staff were integral to the project. “They were always willing to share their knowledge and experience to find a solution to any challenge,” Mondi said. They inspected the roof, repaired the window in the stairwell, repainted the non-mural areas of the stairwell, installed a new chair rail in the foyer and holdbacks for the stair- well door. They also made sure Hatmaker had access to the site and were eager to provide advice and help with signage installation. In particular, Mondi thanked facilities staff members Lynn Hix, Carol Van Sant, Richard Piotrowski and Joshua Kuyrkendall for their help. While Mondi was initially the project coordinator, Christy Sinksen, the museum’s associate registrar, stepped in after Mondi retired. “I was confident that Christy would adeptly handle the various moving parts to this project with tact and thoroughness and she did so with great success,” said Mondi. “The [work] by Jean Charlot and the accompanying murals done under his advisement are an integral part of the university’s history,” she said. “Their message about the importance of communication is just as pertinent now as it was 80 years ago when the paintings were created. These murals were cre- ated through collaboration and live on because of the good work of many.”
Details of the now restored mural “Communication of the News,” 1943, by Edith Frances Hodgson (American, 1917 – 2002; UGA AB ’38, MFA ’43).
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IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE GALLERY?
Medical students from the AU/UGA Medical Partnership are no strangers to the galleries of the Georgia Museum of Art.
by Rachel Palmer, communications intern
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“They are looking at prepared slides of organ tissue, radiolo- gy images and X-rays and learning to be adept at looking at an image and being able to read it,” said Steinmann. “There are obvious applications there that cross over with being able to describe and interpret images in an art museum and reading a medical image.” For second-year students, the focus shifts to lessons that help them have positive interactions and rapport with their patients in the future. Students learn about empathy, better communication and connection with patients by exploring concepts such as visual cues and implicit bias and by par- ticipating in a variety of interactive exercises in the galleries with partners or as a group. For example, in a program session during the fall semester, students were paired up and tasked with drawing an image based only on the verbal description from their partner. The results often reveal unintentional bias, a reality that these future doctors will need to be aware of when they practice medicine. “We get into talking about implicit bias and recognizing potential biases,” said Steinmann. “This means recogniz- ing that they, as doctors, are coming from a very different place from some of the patients that they are going to be working with.” Nationwide, there are lots of other medical humanities pro- grams offered in colleges. While some programs may have a more robust medical humanities curriculum, the goals are the same: honing observation and communication skills and providing opportunities for open-ended conversation and connection between students. “All of these skills have really direct applications to the work they are doing as medical practitioners,” Steinmann said. “They are looking at images. They are communicating with one another. They are describing what they see. They are making inferences based on evidence. Those are skills we are talking about in the museum.” According to Dr. Carrie C. Kelly, the AU/UGA Medical Part- nership’s campus lead for humanities in medical education and an assistant professor of pediatrics, students enjoy the program and it’s a great addition to the student experience at the school. “The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) pro- motes integrating arts and humanities into medical educa- tion for many reasons, but one is to promote well-being for the students,” Kelly said. “I think for our groups, coming to the museum as a whole class is a great experience for them to share and get to know each other a little better, promot- ing camaraderie and well-being for them.” “It has been such a pleasure working with Dr. Steinmann and the amazing museum staff to put these sessions together for the last few years, along with several of my colleagues here at the Medical Partnership,” she added. “I believe that the lessons learned in these sessions will be useful for the students for years to come.”
above and on facing page: Medical students from the AU/UGA Medical Partnership participating in gallery activities with the museum’s education staff.
While spending time at a museum to view art likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about medical school, students in the AU/UGA Medical Partnership visit regularly as part of their medical education. Through a special gallery program led by educators at the Georgia Museum of Art, medical students are learning useful lessons and skills through art, a concept that has been readily em- braced in recent years by medical schools across the country as a valuable component of a medical education. The Georgia Museum of Art’s program had its beginnings under the direction of William U. Eiland, former museum director. In 2018, Callan Steinmann, head of education and curator of academic and public programs, revamped the pro- gram into a more formal, curriculum-based format. Each year, the museum program hosts two cohorts of first- year and second-year students from the AU/UGA Medical Partnership campus in Athens. Each cohort has around 60 students, and their visits cater to the curriculums that first- and second-year students explore in classes. Looking at art, at a base level, offers many lessons that are applicable to the field of medicine. “For the first-year students, the focus is on introducing them to the goals of medical humanities programs and helping them understand the connections between the skill building they can engage in at the museum and its applications to their coursework and clinical practice even- tually,” said Steinmann. Sessions focus on skills such as visual literacy, critical thinking skills, close looking, careful observation, communication, tolerance of certainty and interpreting images. In classes at the UGA health sciences campus, first-year students spend a lot of time learning how to read medical images and understand basic anatomy. At the museum, they engage with objects and learn to use visual-thinking strat- egies that help them learn how to break an image into parts and better understand and interpret it.
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A NEW LEARNING EXPERIENCE
by Isa Davis, communications intern
A new kind of gallery space, known as a study gallery, is now open to University of Georgia faculty who want to pull works from the museum’s collection as a teaching tool for their students. Unidentified maker (American, Georgia), toy bed, ca. 1850 - 1910. Wood, rope, reed mat, and cotton mattress. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; museum purchase with funds provided by Alex and Claire Crumbley and the Chaparral Foundation. GMOA 2017.207. Larry Walker (American, 1935 - 2023), “Lift Every Voice,” 2003. Mixed media on two panels, 23 1/2 × 47 3/4 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection of African American Art. GMOA 2020.73.
Each semester, UGA faculty members will be able to select works that they want to display for their classes to study throughout the semester, with space in the Dorothy Alexander Roush Gallery designated for each of them. Three faculty partners are lined up for this spring, representing a range of disciplines: Dr. Akela Reason, associate professor of history and director of the museum studies certificate program; Dr. Michael Ford, instructor of English; and Dr. Elizabeth Saari Browne, assistant professor of art history. Each of these faculty partners has selected five to seven objects, which they’ll use to support their spring courses in different ways, said Dr. Callan Steinmann, the museum’s head of education and curator of academic and public programs. “Some may use the Study Gallery installations to illustrate general themes of their class; others may use the works as source material for specific class projects or assignments.” The museum’s Shannon and Peter Candler Collection Study Room is already available for faculty to request works for viewing during a single class period, but the study gallery makes these objects available throughout the semester for more in-depth learning. “We’re thrilled that the study gallery will offer students and faculty from diverse departments across campus the opportunity to dig deep into our collection to help advance learning through the study of original works of art,” said Dr. David Odo, the museum’s director. “As a bonus, the study gallery is open to all visitors, so we can all study along with UGA students as they learn from our collections.” Alexis Gorby, associate curator of academic and campus engagement, is excited about the study gallery because it allows students “to come out on the weekend when they might have a homework assignment” or “on their own time” to visit the pieces they are studying. Moreover, the gallery is open not only to students in those classes but also to everyone visiting the museum. This means students can bring friends to show them what they are studying, and visitors can gain insight into what’s happening in UGA classrooms, making the curriculum accessible and interpretable to a broader audience. With the opening of the study gallery, the museum will extend the curriculum beyond the classroom walls and foster inter-class dialogue. “I am excited to see if classes end up in dialogue with each other,” said Gorby. “It’s interesting when you have objects that are not from the same collection next to each other; it might create new ideas and perspectives.” These new ideas and perspectives could encourage students to approach their in-class research in different ways or even connect their learning to a broader context by stepping outside the bounds of their subject. Typically, classes are
Romare Bearden (American, 1911 - 1988), “Mecklenburg County, Lamp at Midnight,” ca. 1979. Mixed-media collage, 17 3/4 × 13 1/2 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Friends of the Museum on the occasion of the museum’s 50th anniversary. GMOA 1998.21.
designed as distinct entities, but the study gallery aims to break this mold and provide a more comprehensive learning experience. The study gallery redefines the traditional classroom by extending the learning experience to the museum, which students may occasionally visit for class purposes, such as a class trip. Being able to extend the learning experience into the permanent collection galleries allows students who have not visited outside of class time to explore the museum more, developing a deeper connection with objects outside of what they are studying and with the culture of the museum itself. The study gallery will usher in a new era for the muse- um, deepening the engagement between students, UGA faculty and the museum itself by providing a compre- hensive learning experience. This exciting adventure is one the museum eagerly anticipates. Gorby is par- ticularly excited to see “how faculty are really using the collection to teach.” This initiative will strengthen the museum’s role as a dynamic educational resource, fostering collaboration and discovery to benefit both current and future generations of learners.
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5TH-GRADE TOURS HELP STUDENTS “MIND THE GAP”
by Nishat Nayla, communications intern
The Georgia Museum of Art’s longstanding 5th-Grade Tours program is giving Clarke County School District (CCSD) students a chance to discover what it means to “Mind the Gap.”
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Clarke County School District 5th-graders tour the museum during the fall semester of 2024.
The program, which is part of Experience UGA, helped this year’s 5th-grade students explore the dynamic nature of the museum’s collections. Experience UGA is a partnership between the University of Georgia and CCSD that strives to bring every student in the district to UGA’s campus for an educational field trip every year. For nearly two decades, the program has made it possible for every 5th-grader in the county to visit the museum’s galleries and engage with art first-hand. The experience gives students a unique introduction to the museum and creative exploration as well as to the UGA campus and higher education.
Each year, the museum’s educational team refines the tour experience to focus on different objects on display in the galleries, whether in an exhibition or in the permanent collection. This year’s theme used the exhibition “Mind the Gap” to encourage young visitors to explore abstract art. By engaging with diverse mediums and perspectives, students not only learn about art but also about themselves and the world around them. The tour began with a presentation that introduces students to the museum, the exhibition’s themes and featured artists. Students then broke into small groups for interactive docent-led tours through the galleries,
including “Mind the Gap” and the permanent collection. The combination of abstract and traditional art gives students a well-rounded understanding of both approaches. UGA students helped in several ways. Experience UGA Ambassadors and the museum’s education interns supported the tours directly. Museum education interns also helped develop some of the tour content, researching objects and creating activities designed to engage 5th-graders.
After touring “Mind the Gap” and the permanent collection, 5th-graders then created their own abstract art. The highlight of the visit for many students, creating their own art helps the 5th-graders find inspiration and tap into their creativity. Using long strips of paper that they bent, twisted and glued to a cardboard round, they created their own abstract animal sculptures inspired by Nathan Mabry’s sculpture “The Nostalgia of the Infinite (Le Taureau).” Mabry’s sculpture was on view in “Mind the Gap” and uses geometric shapes to suggest a bull without actually showing one. The activity provided a hands-on chance to further explore the concepts of shape, structure and movement in a fun and imaginative way. The program is designed to be inspiring and welcoming for elementary school students. For many, it is their first visit to an art museum. Staff and docents encourage students to return to the museum with their families to continue fostering a connection to the arts beyond the classroom. “We want students to leave the museum feeling like they’ve not only learned something new about art, but also developed a positive connection to higher education and UGA’s campus,” said Loyd. “[We want them to leave the museum] thinking, ‘I’ve been there. I can see myself going there.’” After nearly two decades of educating 5th-grade students in Clarke County, the program continues to shape the minds of young learners and inspire the next generation of artists, thinkers and leaders, but it has also grown to help future educators gain valuable experience in the classroom. The 5th-graders’ art education isn’t confined to the galleries. Following the visit, University of Georgia students Jihee Kang (a doctoral student in art education) and Ella Madden (a second-year undergraduate student, also in art ed) continue outreach by visiting each 5th- grade classroom to reinforce the lessons learned at the museum. In the 2023-24 school year, UGA students visited more than 40 5th-grade classrooms to teach a nearly hour-long lesson that built on what students learned during their museum visit and to foster a deeper understanding of abstract art and creativity. Funding for both supplies and to pay Kang and Madden for their work comes from an Arts Education Program Grant from Georgia Council for the Arts. The outreach lessons following the museum visit help strengthen concepts and ideas introduced on the field trip and provide opportunities for preservice art education students at UGA to gain valuable hands-on experience developing and implementing a museum-focused lesson plan. “We are proud of the long history of the museum’s public outreach and community engagement work through our K-through-12 school programs. The 5th-grade program in particular is a great example of how the museum fulfills its mission of providing opportunities for authentic, experiential learning for both CCSD kids and UGA students,” said Callan Steinmann, the museum’s head of education and curator of academic and public programs.
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The program encourages students to engage with works independently using an activity guide that’s designed to spark critical thinking and foster close looking and personal interpretation of works on display. “The idea is to have students explore ideas, themes and subjects of contemporary abstract art,” said Kaitlyn Loyd, the museum’s assistant curator of education. Beyond the guided tour, the program featured a variety of other activities that help students engage with and learn about art.
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