APR MAY JUN 2019

FROM DIRECTOR JEFF FLEMING

SINCE ITS FOUNDING, THE DES MOINES ART CENTER HAS ACQUIRED ARTWORKS BY MANY AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTISTS TO ENSURE AN INCLUSIVE AND DIVERSE PERMANENT COLLECTION.

For example, the Art Center’s forerunner, the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts, and its founders were fortunate to have acquired four extraordinary paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner early in our history. Traylor’s personal history greatly Bill Traylor (American, 1854 – 1949) U ntitle d , Go at, c. 1938–1942 Considered the patriarch of African- informed his art. Traylor was born Pencil and poster paint on verso of found American artists, Tanner even served a slave on the Traylor Plantation in advertising board 10 1/2 × 14 inches as a consultant for the early leaders Alabama in 1853, and he died in Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; of the Art Center, connecting them Montgomery, Alabama in 1949. In his Purchased with funds from the Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc., and an anonymous donor, 2018.80 with the major art and artists of his life, he experienced slavery, the Civil time, such as Auguste Rodin. In the War, emancipation, reconstruction, years that followed, the Art Center has Jim Crow, segregation, and extreme accessioned numerous artworks by racial violence. He could neither read ability to end violence, racism, and artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, nor write, so he used allegory and sexism. But my art can help them look Romare Bearden, Robert Colescott, symbolism in a pictorial language to and think.” In M istak e n Ide ntity, she David Hammons, Lorna Simpson, tell his life’s story. Traylor may have combines glass beadwork and Murano Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, been unschooled, but he did not glass, drawing from traditional African and Fred Wilson, among many others. work in a cultural vacuum. In fact, and Native American methods, in a Now, the Art Center has a renewed he drew from a very complex and seated figure holding a ball of fire and commitment to be an inclusive layered array of cultural influences displaying horns and a tail. This work and accessible institution for the to create intentionally potent and alludes to a variety of concerns, such entire community. poignant visual images. Drawings as gun violence, abuse of women, We have continued our precursor’s such as U ntitle d , Goat are simple, yet sex trafficking, and other social justice efforts by acquiring major works of surprisingly descriptive and modern, like issues related to race, gender, and art by contemporary African-American Matisse’s paper cutouts. Here, realism, economic disparity. Moreover, Scott artists to broaden our holdings. abstraction, narrative, and symbolism often uses humor in her work as Examples within the last year all mix together to affirm and validate his a strategy to engage an audience. include the acquisition of artworks identity when society did not allow it. Speaking of which, Scott will deliver a by Leonardo Drew, Deana Lawson, Scott’s approach to artmaking lecture at the Art Center on Sunday, Ebony Patterson, Joyce J. Scott, often merges traditional, labor- August 25, at 1:30 pm. Reservations Bill Traylor, and Jordan Weber. intensive handicraft, or what has been open June 4. Many of these works share stories traditionally defined as “women’s We have a long way to go, but I of the African-American experience. work,” with potent social commentary. hope these works will begin to spark Traylor’s U ntitle d , Go at (c.1938–1942) As she states, “I’d like my art to induce conversations and provide entirely (above), and Scott’s M istak e n Ide ntity people to stop raping, torturing, and unexpected experiences at your (2018), are two prime examples. shooting each other. I don’t have the Art Center.

2 | APR MAY JUN 2019 AT THE ART CENTER

The Art Center is pleased to announce that a new restaurant has opened on the premises — Tangerine at the Art Center. An established caterer in the Des Moines metro and central Iowa, this is the first time the company has set up shop as a restaurant. Tangerine’s menu will change often and features sandwiches, salads, pastas, vegetarian dishes, and house-made desserts. They also offer a hand selected wine and beer list.

The restaurant is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am – 2 pm, and plans to extend its service in the future, including a happy hour in the courtyard, and various special events.

The menu is available on the Art Center’s website, desmoinesartcenter.org.

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 3 Move this color background to right to 2 inch mark JUNE 1 – SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 ANNA K. MEREDITH GALLERY AND I. M. PEI BUILDING ORGANIZED BY ASSISTANT CURATOR JARED LEDESMA EXHIBITION OPENING + COMMUNITY CELEBRATION Saturday, June 1 / 7 – 10 pm Refreshments available *RSVP encouraged This community celebration is presented by the Art Center’s member affiliate group, Art Noir. Queer Abstraction LECTURE “The Possibility of Queer Abstraction” Thursday, June 6 / 6:30 pm David J. Getsy, Goldabelle QUEER ABSTRACTION is a landmark Civil Rights Movement, and the AIDS McComb Finn Distinguished exhibition. Not only will it be the crisis — queer artists have embraced Professor of Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago first show in the Des Moines abstraction to communicate their Levitt Auditorium Art Center’s 70-year history to focus unauthorized desires and identities through *Reservations required exclusively on LGBTQ themes, but an accepted mode of art. Marsden Presented in partnership it is also the first major museum Hartley’s modernist portrait of his fallen with Capital City Pride’s exhibition devoted to the subject. lover, Louise Fishman’s queer feminist Speaker Series canvases, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ TANDEM GALLERY Featuring approximately 50 works of art, tender, conceptual works are but a few DIALOGUE + COCKTAILS QueerAbstraction unites both national examples. Currently, abstract art that WITH THE ARTIST Thursday, June 27 / 6:30 pm and international contemporary artists embodies this mode of expression has Anna K. Meredith Gallery + lobby who utilize the amorphous possibilities of gained the moniker “Queer Abstraction,” Join Carrie Moyer and abstraction to convey what it means to and has become a growing aesthetic force Jared Ledesma for a discussion exist on the margins. during the present, unsettling era. of the exhibition. Mingle with the speakers For more than a century, many Lesbian, Included in the exhibition will be a afterwards while enjoying Carrie’s Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer monumental painting by Mark Bradford cocktail of choice, artists have turned to the language of and site-specific wall drawing by a Paloma. Cocktails hosted abstraction to illustrate diverse facets Mark Joshua Epstein. In the I. M. Pei by the Membership Department. * Reservations required of sexuality and gender. In response building, Tom Burr’s D e e p Pu rple , a to specific struggles — such as the sculpture that stands eight feet tall and COMMUNITY LEARNING: criminalization of homosexuality, the is 82 feet long, will travel across the LGBTQ+ IDENTITY AND HOW TO BE AN ALLY Thursday, July 25 / 6:30 – 8 pm Becky Smith, Director of Youth Engagement, Iowa Safe Schools Levitt Auditorium

TANDEM GALLERY DIALOGUE + COCKTAILS WITH THE ARTIST Thursday, August 8 / 6:30 pm Anna K. Meredith Gallery + lobby Join Toni and Tim Urban International Artist-in-Residence Mark Joshua Epstein and Jared Ledesma for a discussion of the exhibition. Mingle with the speakers afterwards while enjoying Mark’s favorite summer sipper, an Aperol Spritz. Cocktails hosted by the Membership Department. *Reservations required

4 | APR MAY JUN 2019 OPPOSITE ABOVE Tom Burr (American, born 1963) John Paul Morabito (American, born 1982) D e e p Pu rple , 2000 Frottage 064 , 2017 Wood and acrylic paint Cotton and wool 78 x 984 x 17 inches 76 x 43 inches Collection FRAC Champagne-Ardenne Collection of the artist Photo courtesy of the FRAC Photo courtesy of Alex Young Champagne-Ardenne ©Tom Burr

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 5 Jade Yumang gallery floor, partially surrounded by QueerAbstraction will be accompanied (Canadian, born Philippines 1981) Pa g e 1 4 , 2014 Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ beaded curtain by a catalogue with essays by Assistant Scanned gay erotic page printed piece U ntitle d (W ate r), which viewers will Curator Jared Ledesma, and David J. Getsy, with archival ink on cotton, polyurethane foam, chicken wire, be allowed to touch and walk through. the Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished felt, dress pins, and fringe The exhibition also includes critical works Professor of Art History at the School of the 17 1/2 × 19 × 19 inches Collection of the artist by Math Bass, Elijah Burgher, Edie Fake, Art Institute of Chicago. Getsy is the author Photo courtesy of the artist Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, Sheila of AbstractBodies: Sixties Sculpture in the Pepe, Prem Sahib, Jonathan VanDyke, Expande d Field of Ge nde r (2015), and the and Jade Yumang. editor of Queer (Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art series, 2016).

OPPOSITE Harmony Hammond (American, born 1944) C h e n ille # 2, 2016–2017 Oil and mixed media on canvas 88 1/2 x 72 1/2 inches Courtesy of the artist, Alexander Gray Associates NY, and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects Photo: Robert Wedemeyer © Harmony Hammond/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

6 | APR MAY JUN 2019 DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 7 MAY 10 – AUGUST 4, 2019 JOHN BRADY PRINT GALLERY ORGANIZED BY DIRECTOR OF CURATORIAL AFFAIRS / SENIOR CURATOR ALISON FERRIS

LEA GRUNDIG’S ANTI-FASCIST ART

GALLERY DIALOGUE This exhibition features remarkable prints and Marxists. Following Hitler’s 1933 election WITH ALISON FERRIS one drawing by German artist Lea Grundig as Chancellor of Germany, Grundig courted Thursday, July 11 / 6:30 pm John Brady Print Gallery (1906–1977), who was virtually the only her own death by acquiring a small etching artist, between 1933 and 1938, who dared press and pulling editions that never disseminate a substantial body of anti-Nazi exceeded five impressions, circulating art while still living in Hitler’s Germany. hundreds of drypoints that broadcast the Born in Dresden and raised as an truth about Nazi Germany. Grundig managed Orthodox Jew, Grundig rejected her orthodox to survive the war, after two arrests, by roots when she began her education at the escaping to Palestine. Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. There she This exhibition will feature Grundig’s met and fell in love with her husband Hans works from the 1930s, and will be Grundig, a militant Communist. The two accompanied by works in the Art Center’s artists became members of the German collections by artists such as Ernst Barlach, Association of Revolutionary Artists, a group Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, that regarded art as their weapon in the and others, who inspired her when she class struggle and, later, against the Nazis began studying art in the 1920s. who preached virulent hatred of Jews and

Ernst Barlach (German, 1870 –1938) W ande ring De ath, 1923 Lithograph on paper Sheet: 15 × 19 7/8 inches Image: 10 5/8 × 13 1/4 inches Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Purchased with General Memorial Funds, 1959.29

8 | APR MAY JUN 2019 LEFT Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945) GefangeneMusik H öre n d ( Pr is o n e r s L is t e n in g t o M u s, ic 1925 ) Lithograph on paper Sheet: 22 3/8 × 19 3/4 inches Image: 13 × 12 5/8 inches Des Moines Art Center’s Louise Noun Collection of Art by Women, 1998.20

BELOW Lea Grundig (German, 1906–1977) Kinderspielen Erschießen ( C h ild r e n Pla y W a, r )plate 4 from the series “Unterm Hakenkreuz (Under the Swastika),” 1934 Drypoint on heavy cream wove paper Sheet: 13 1/8 × 19 7/8 inches Plate (/image): 5 3/8 × 9 13/16 inches Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Purchased with funds from the Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc., 2018.19

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 9 MAY 24 – SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 PAMELA BASS-BOOKEY AND HARRY BOOKEY GALLERY ORGANIZED BY ASSISTANT CURATOR JARED LEDESMA

JEFFREY GIBSON I WAS HERE

Jeffrey Gibson For the past two decades, artist It features Macy, a transgender woman living (Choctaw-Cherokee, born 1972) I W a s H e re, 2018 Jeffrey Gibson has been producing work on the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi. HD video (color, audio), with that addresses themes such as race, It starts by following an ordinary day in Macy’s original music by Tanya Tagaq 8 minutes, 40 seconds gender, sexuality, and religion. At first, Gibson life, which includes applying make-up and Edition 2 of 3 resisted the notion that his art reflected his a trip to the Piggly Wiggly. Halfway through, Produced by the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at multifaceted identity. He grew up in Europe, the plot twists, and the film becomes more Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Korea, and the United States. He’s a member fantastical. We observe Macy traversing an This film is made possible by The Daniel W. Dietrich ’64 Arts of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians ethereal, wooded landscape and donning Museum Programming Fund. and is half-Cherokee. And he identifies as garments designed by Gibson, eventually © Jeffrey Gibson, photo courtesy of the artist and Sikkema queer. But recently Gibson has admitted, baptizing herself in a body of water. Jenkins & Co., New York in reference to these cultures and identities, Accompanying the piece is an original “I’m finally at a point where I can feel soundtrack composed by Canadian (Inuk) comfortable being your introduction.” throat singer Tanya Tagaq. One of the In I W a s H e re, the artist explores “how oldest forms of music in the world, throat- the representation of one’s subjective narrative singing in Canada is native to the Inuit, and is complex, valid, and never didactic.” The is traditionally only performed by women. work is Gibson’s first video project, and is a Tagaq’s short, sharp, rhythmic inhalations hybrid of documentary and invented narrative. and exhalations add rawness and emotion to the video.

10 | APR MAY JUN 2019 JUNE 21 – OCTOBER 13, 2019 BLANK ONE GALLERY ORGANIZED BY ASSISTANT CURATOR JARED LEDESMA

IOWA ARTIST 2019 NOAH DOELY

ARTIST LECTURE + Based in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Noah Doely photographed using a pinhole camera. From PUBLIC RECEPTION produces work focused on science and the these mysterious images Doely asks that Friday, June 21 / 6 pm Levitt Auditorium + lobby history of visual perception, as well as the we become active inquisitors, questioning Noah Doely will discuss his origins of photography, myth, and the world. authenticity and what’s presented before us. work in a public lecture. Doely focuses on photography “because Doely is Assistant Professor of A complimentary reception with the artist immediately of its complicated relationship to truth and Photography at the University of Northern follows in the lobby of the verifiability and its paradoxical ability to Iowa, and holds a BFA from UNI and an museum. evoke both trust and skepticism.” Keeping MFA from the University of California, *Reservations required this in mind, the artist creates pictures that San Diego. He has had solo exhibitions at are purposefully deceptive and blur the UNI, the Dubuque Museum of Art, the State distinction between reality and illusion. Historical Society of Iowa, and the San Diego This exhibition features photographs Museum of Art, among others. He is a from Noah Doely’s A b o v e & B e lo w series, 2018–2019 Iowa Artists Fellowship which look like subaqueous caves illuminated recipient and has been artist-in-residence by rays of light. The underwater chambers at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in are, however, sections of a diorama Doely Amherst, Virginia; and the Bemis Center for constructed, lit from a single source and Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska.

Noah Doely (American, born 1982) U ntitle d #10, from the series “Above & Below,” 2015 Archival pigment print on fiber-based paper 20 x 24 inches Collection of the artist Image courtesy of the artist

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 11 NEW ACCESSIONS

Susan Collis decay, and burning. This is the first work by Susan Collis’s Anyparadise can trudge here the artist to enter the collections. (2017), is a quintessential example of the artist’s work. What at first appears to be an Zoe Leonard ordinary drop cloth covered with stains and A vital member of AIDS activism during the drops of paint is, when examined closely, a 1980s and 1990s, Zoe Leonard was a founder textile with the reproduction of these random of the lesbian art activist group Fierce Pussy. marks sewn in exquisite silk embroidery. In 1992, the artist’s friend Eileen Myles, a noted Glenn Adamson, whose essay is included poet and author, announced her run for the in the catalogue that accompanies Collis’s presidency. In support, Leonard created the exhibition at the Art Center writes: “This is poem I W a n t a Pre s id e n, twhich expresses a the power of Collis’s work: she connects the desire for a president who has faced significant far extremes of experience, the most banal struggles, such as a survivor of rape or AIDS. and the most wondrous, pulling them together The Art Center has purchased a limited edition into a tight knot.” He goes on to state that the print of this poem, which benefits the Treatment “little epiphanies” offered by her work are “so Action Group (TAG). This is the first work by immediate that even children can enjoy them Leonard to enter the museum’s collections. (perhaps children above all). Such pleasures are rare in contemporary art.” This is the first Beth Lipman work by Collis to enter the collections. The Kohler Foundation has given the Art Center a major artwork by Beth Lipman, Leonardo Drew entitled Overcome (2016). Often inspired by Susan Collis (British, born 1956) The Art Center purchased a drawing by historic still-life painting, Lipman’s art comments A n y pa ra d is e c a n t ru d g e h e re , 2017 Leonardo Drew entitled 50P (2015), with on mortality, vitality, time, and environmental Cotton dustsheet and embroidery thread funds given by Dennis and Diane Young issues, and has helped pave the way for Overall: 118 × 40 inches, variable in honor of Richard Levitt. This textured, introducing craft practice into the contemporary Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; expressive work on paper exemplifies Drew’s art realm. This work combines a small table Purchased with funds from the interest in process and the cyclical nature with cast glass, broken glass cast offs from the Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc. and an anonymous donor, 2019.1 of life — particularly concepts of oxidation, crafting process, and commercially made glass

12 | APR MAY JUN 2019 found objects, all of which brings its own to the permanent collections. These Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, born 1981) history to the work. This is the first work by gifts substantially add to the museum’s ...amongthe blades between Lipman to enter the collections. holdings of 20th-century photography, from theflowers... while the horse w a t c h e s ... for t h o s e w h o b e a r/ Pictorialism to documentary to candid street barewitness , 2018 Ebony Patterson photography. Examples include images by Hand-cut jacquard woven photo tapestry with glitter, appliqué, Jamaican artist Ebony Patterson’s glorious Henri Cartier-Bresson, Michael Disfarmer, beads, trim, brooches, feathered work, . . .a m o n g t h e b la d e s b e t w e e n t h e Leonard Freed, and Joel Meyerowitz, butterflies, fabric, silk flowers, and hand-embellished resin owl fl o w e r s employs a panoply of colorful, glittery, among others. on shelf, on artist-designed mass-produced objects in the form of a textile fabric wallpaper Overall: 130 × 175 inches to explore, as she describes it, “the idea of Bill Traylor Des Moines Art Center Permanent gardens, both real and imagined, and their The Art Center purchased a major drawing, Collections; Purchased with funds from the Edmundson relationship to postcolonial spaces.” While at U ntitle d , Go at (c.1938–42), by Bill Traylor Art Foundation, Inc., 2019.3.a-.c first gardens might be thought of as benign, with funds from the Edmundson Art Photo courtesy of Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago Patterson reminds us that they are markers Foundation and an anonymous donor (page of class, privilege, and power. Five headless 2). An eyewitness to American history in figures, dressed in 18th century finery, the tumultuous decades following the Civil seamlessly blend in with the lush ornamental War through the Second World War, Traylor garden flowers to suggest that the garden is has emerged as one of the major figures of a space where one can bear witness to the 20th-century American Art. Born into slavery colonial past and its lasting impact today. and untrained as an artist, Traylor began This is the first work by Patterson to enter making art in his 80s, leaving behind hundreds the collections. of works expressing his views of Southern life and culture. Animals, particularly those he Photography would have seen in the streets and rural areas Thirty-five images comprising the second of his Alabama home, play an important role in portion of a significant gift of photographs Traylor’s visual lexicon. This is the first work by from Mark Greenberg were recently added Traylor to enter the museum’s collections.

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 13 2019 PHOTO: ANNA KNOTT THURSDAY, APRIL 11 7 PM FINGERMAN JAMES RONDEAU President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the LECTURE SERIES Art Institute of Chicago “Expanding the Path THE CHANGING Forward for Museums” Levitt Auditorium *Reservations required

ROLE OF MUSEUMS The Art Institute of Chicago is a civic institution dedicated Envisioning a Bold and Relevant Future to its mission to collect, preserve and interpret works of art representing the world’s On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Fingerman diverse artistic traditions. Lecture, the Des Moines Art Center presents a series Now more than ever before, of four lectures by leading museum directors about the the fulfilment of that mission role of museums in addressing the complexity of today’s calls for the museum to cultural, political, and social concerns. James Rondeau, address issues of equity Kaywin Feldman, Franklin Sirmans, and Kevin Gover visit and inclusion in professional us over the course of the year, and will present ideas that training and opportunities; challenge long held beliefs about museums and envision The post lecture visitor experience; and a bold and relevant future for our cultural institutions. reception collecting, programming and Alison Ferris, Director of Curatorial Affairs / Senior encouraged interpretation. Rondeau will Curator set the stage for the series with a provocative share his insights on the lecture attended by 150 guests on the wintry evening of guests to share Art Institute’s efforts to March 7. Ferris punctuated the opening of her presentation their thoughts becoming a more equitable by showing the powerful music video for the song “Apeshit” about the museum, what it has by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The six-minute video, filmed in the accomplished thus far, and Louvre, underscores the egregious lack of representation changing role of the immense challenges that and audiences of people of color in museums. Her museums. lie ahead. presentation went on to summarize multiple events in the last two years that have both drawn the attention of the national media and provoked serious reckoning in the museum field.

This series is made possible through generous gifts by Louis and Lois Fingerman. The artists and scholars who have spoken at the Art Center have enriched the understanding of the works of art collected here, as well as provided the opportunity for the community to become familiar with ideas and topics embodied in the art of our time. We hope this series sparks conversations, promotes curiosity, and furthers critical and empathetic thinking.

14 | APR MAY JUN 2019 PLEASE NOTE NEW DATE PHOTO: 2013 MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/ PHOTO: 2013 MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/ LACMA PHOTO: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PHOTO: DANIEL DENNEHY

SUNDAY, MAY 5 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 1:30 PM 7 PM 1:30 PM KAYWIN FELDMAN FRANKLIN SIRMANS KEVIN GOVER Director of the Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami Director of the National Gallery of Art, “A View from the Center of the Americas: Smithsonian’s National Washington D.C. Re-Envisioning Miami’s Art Museum” Museum of the “Art and Empathy: American Indian The Wonder of Wonders” Levitt Auditorium “Why Americans Should *Reservations are required and will be available Unlearn their History” Levitt Auditorium beginning June 4 *Reservations required Levitt Auditorium Based at the crossroads of the Americas between *Reservations are required In the age of the selfie, fake South and Central America and North America, and will be available news, and “me time,” it seems Miami’s Art Museum was founded in 1984. In beginning June 4 suitable to ask “what is the addition to the desire to define itself as the face of role of the art museum?” Americans have been taught a a new “cultured” Miami in the wake of the early Some have suggested this shallow and simple narrative of 1980s — Mariel Boatlift (1980); Miami Race Riots moment is “the death of the the history of Native Americans (1980); T im e magazine’s “Paradise Lost” cover about museum,” but perhaps it is the and the history of our country. Miami (1981); and the scourge of drugs and violence time that heralds the triumph Contemporary scholarship identified by the Cocaine Cowboys that led to the of the museum and the visual shows that a larger, richer, and TV debut of Miami Vice (1984) — Miami’s Art arts? In her talk, Feldman will more inclusive story is ours for Museum opened six months after Christo and discuss the dramatic potential the taking, yet that bigger and Jeanne-Claude’s Su rrou nde d Islands (1983). In this of wonder and empathy in better story has not entered the lecture, Sirmans will talk about how this unique today’s turbulent world. popular consciousness. The backdrop has played, and continues to play, a In March, Kaywin Feldman stories we tell ourselves about key role in how the museum defines its mission assumed the role of Director ourselves shape our approach and vision in the 21st Century. Today, with a lead of the National Gallery of Art. to current issues. Shallow role in the international discussion on diversity in Feldman is the fifth director narratives are satisfying and collections, exhibitions, and audience, Pérez Art and the first female in its allow us to feel good about Museum Miami highlights its relationship to the 77-year history to lead the our history as a nation, but city and county’s diverse and dynamic community. institution. they can cause our approach Making the arts of Latin America and the Caribbean to contemporary issues to a focal point, while looking toward the African be uninformed and even diaspora, PAMM is a unique voice in today’s misinformed. Gover’s lecture discussion of American Art museums. Additionally, will implore us to fearlessly as a museum with a short history, PAMM utilizes embrace the larger, messier, unique methods to create new audiences for more complex truths of our modern and contemporary art. history. For when we do, we find that the story of America is richer, more compelling, and What are art museums’ responsibilities more heroic than the history we in this fraught moment in history? imagined, providing valuable “All museums have a responsibility to build and insights as we become an ever more diverse nation. define our culture and civilization, and thus must make space for everyone.”

POST LECTURE RECEPTION PARTICIPANT DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 15 FROM STUDIO EDUCATION DIRECTOR TRACY DURAN

Pantheon Project Making (and Breaking) the Code

The Pantheon Project is a STEAM initiative The students choreographed their own and collaboration with the Des Moines improvisational dance and were challenged Member support Art Center’s Teen Academies, the Des Moines to think about the movement of one’s body makes this Youth Symphony Academy, a specially as a response to a code. Additionally, FREE program selected troupe of dancers from Des Moines they learned about sound and Morse code, possible. DanzArts Studio, and educators from the and were challenged to recreate poems Science Center of Iowa. using emojis as a visual code. Every other year these institutions bring In February, the group met at DanzArts to together teens from across the Greater work with dance instructor, Kathleen Hurley, Des Moines metro for cross-disciplinary to create choreography code. Students were learning experiences in the arts and sciences. given prompts to produce spontaneous This provides the teens the opportunity to dances that followed a cause and effect collaborate and learn from one another. code; when one movement occurred, a Friendships form between students whose different or mirroring movement would paths may not otherwise cross, sharing and happen in response. As the dancers exchanging their passions. shared their discipline with the group, Each year the Pantheon Project explores the art students captured their movements a different topic. In 2019, the students in sketches. As the activity continued, are studying the concept of coding and sound was incorporated into their how art, music, dance, and science are all movements. Upon hearing a sound clip of interconnected by invisible “codes.” Students a clown horn or a car crash, students are challenged with questions such as ‘what would jump up and down and then fall to is a code?’, ‘how do you create a code?’, the ground, while still following the code and ‘how do you break a code?’. By of their other movements. The results delving deeper into each of their disciplines were a fluid, fast-paced, and challenging through such questions, and relating their sequence of movements that elicited knowledge to other disciplines, students considerable laughter. gain a larger understanding in art, science, Throughout the spring, students will music, and dance. continue to meet at the Art Center and the Thirty-five teens from the partnering Temple for Performing Arts to learn more organizations convened at the Science Center about how artistic and musical code inspires of Iowa for their first collaboration in January. new thought processes, challenges previously The group was introduced to coding and was written “codes,” and invents new codes for given the opportunity to write computer code performing music and creating visual art. using a free internet program called Scratch.

16 | APR MAY JUN 2019 In 2019, the Pantheon Project students are studying the concept of coding and how art, music, dance, and science are all interconnected.

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 17 FROM MEMBERSHIP MANAGER JULIA MASON GRAY AND DIRECTOR OF MEMBER EXPERIENCES DEBRA J. KURTZ

Membership #ArtCentered

YOUR MEMBERSHIP, YOUR WAY As a member, you are the heart of the Des Moines Art Center. Did you know you can customize your experience and gain even greater access through member groups? MY MUSEUM MONDAY My Museum Monday is an experience available to active members at all ENRICH giving levels. The next application period will be announced on the SALON 4700 connects those who Art Center’s website. are curious and enthusiastic about art What would you do with through distinctive member programs time completely to yourself at that offer insider access, often in the Art Center? collaboration with visiting artists and the MICHELLE JOHNSON Greater Des Moines arts community. “As a dancer I have had the pleasure GATHER to perform in art galleries and spaces for live audiences. I am interested in ART NOIR provides an entertaining the interaction of improvisation and art introduction to the Des Moines when the implications, constraints, and Art Center and makes contemporary expectations of performance are not art approachable for young attached to the generation of material. members and those emerging into This opportunity would truly allow me the Des Moines art scene. to ‘dance like no one is watching.’”

APPRECIATE

PRINT CLUB encourages the study and appreciation of fine prints, supporting the print activities and collections of the Des Moines Art Center through conservation efforts and commissioning the annual limited-edition commissioned print See more from Michelle’s experience on our Instagram page, blog, or website. for collectors.

18 | APR MAY MAY JUNJUN 2019 2019 MEMBER TRAVEL International Folk Art Festival — the largest folk art market in America — Santa Fe, New Mexico OPPORTUNITIES Limited Space Still Available

Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico Cape Town, South Africa extraordinary art, architecture, and JULY 11–14, 2019 OCTOBER 5 –13, 2019 location overlooking the Persian Gulf. One of the benefits of Art Center In the fall, members join Art Center On October 9, the group will travel to membership is the opportunity to Director Jeff Fleming for a trip of a Cape Town, South Africa, and stay travel with other art enthusiasts to lifetime to Africa. Participants leave at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel locations around the Midwest, country, Des Moines on October 5, arriving in for four nights. Tours will include and world. Abu Dhabi on October 6, where they various art and historical sites, as well This summer, join other Art Center will stay at the Four Seasons Abu as the acclaimed Zeitz Museum of members on an excursion to Santa Fe, Dhabi for three nights. Architectural Contemporary African Art. New Mexico. Participants will stay at wonders of the city will be at their feet For more information, contact the Four Diamond La Fonda hotel including a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Director of Development Tiffany K. July 11–14 and attend the International Grand Mosque, the Eithad Towers, Nagel Spinner at 515.271.0338 or Folk Art Festival — the largest folk art and the Louvre Abu Dhabi with its [email protected]. market in America. The trip includes the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and a day trip to Taos to visit the Taos Pueblos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Guests will also have an exclusive tour and dinner at a private home. For more information, contact Director of Member Experiences Debra J. Kurtz at 515.271.0336 or [email protected].

Watch for more news regarding upcoming 2019 regional trips open to all members.

Where would you like to go?

Email [email protected]. Table Mountain is a magnificent backdrop for Cape Town, South Africa’s oldest city.

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 19 stop by the shop

FOR A 2 19 DES MOINES ART CENTER GALA CELEBRATION CELEBRATING THE OF OUR 1 TH ANNIVERSARY OF NEW NAME THE JOHN AND MARY PAPPAJOHN SCULPTURE PARK THURSDAY, MAY 9 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 CELEBRATION 5 – 7 PM KRAUSE GATEWAY CENTER FOOD / BEVERAGES / ENTERTAINMENT DESIGNED BY RENZO PIANO 1459 GRAND AVENUE SHOP SALE 5 – 9 PM MEMBERS 25% OFF* FOR MORE INFORMATION NON-MEMBERS 10% OFF* (Normal member discount) OR TO MAKE RESERVATIONS PLEASE CONTACT *Exclusions apply DIRECTOR OF MEMBER EXPERIENCES Every purchase supports the Art Center’s DEBRA J. KURTZ AT 515.271.0336 OR committment to free admission. [email protected].

ABOVE Jaume Plensa (Spanish, born 1955) Nom ade , 2007 (detail) the shop Painted stainless steel / 324 x 204 x 216 inches Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; AT THE ART CENTER Gift of John and Mary Pappajohn, 2015.3

20 | APR MAY JUN 2019 SPOTLIGHT MEMORIAL AND HONORARY GIFTS

These gifts were received between Bravo December 1, 2018 and February 28, 2019. In Memory of Alex Brown Greater Des Moines Lawrence Kirsner In Memory of Stephen Exel The Des Moines Art Center — and thus the Greater Des Moines Woodward Brenton community — is the benefactor of a committed, devoted, diverse John and Penny Krantz array of funders, without whose investment we could not do all that Timothy and Rosemary Rahm we do. Director of Development Tiffany K. Nagel Spinner recently asked Executive Director of Bravo Greater Des Moines Sally Dix In Memory of Virginia Fletcher to share her thoughts about their relationship with, and support of, James Carney Marion Elmquist the Art Center. Mike LaMair In Memory of Bill Fultz Megan Zach In Memory of Don Gage LaMonte and Jean Combs Timothy and Rosemary Rahm In Memory of Margaret Jester Andrea and Gregory Abel In Memory of Rejman Jirsa Tiffany K. Nagel Spinner Sally Dix Louise Jirsa In Honor of Jeanne Levitt Tiffany K. Nagel Spinner Share a bit about why Bravo Henry and Muffy Harmon chooses to invest in the Art Center. In Memory of Cornelia Montgomery Sally Dix “First and foremost, the Art Center demonstrates Gerrianne Jordan excellence in every way. From operations to exhibitions, special In Memory of Diane Schupp events to educational programs, the Art Center can always be Amy Flannery counted on for a high-quality artistic experience. In addition, though, Jo Ghrist the Art Center is an outstanding community partner, regularly Mike LaMair collaborating to share its insights and experiences with other Polly Moore organizations — both in and beyond the arts sector. The Art Center In Honor of Stan Seidler is deeply and authentically committed to playing a leadership role Mary and Daniel Kelly in making our community outstanding.” In Memory of Robert Smithson Michael Wallace Tiffany K. Nagel Spinner Can you speak to how our collaboration has helped grow arts and culture in the metro? In Memory of Catherine White Andrea and Gregory Abel Sally Dix “The Art Center pushes Bravo to think bigger — bigger Linda Corell than what we are already doing or seeing in the community. The Molly Hagkull exhibits, speakers, programs and plans the Art Center presents and In Memory of Tom Worthen executes set the bar higher for what our community can and should Nancy Caponi and Robert Adams expect from our cultural institutions. They truly serve the entire region with access, education, and outreach and are an incredible jewel for Greater Des Moines.”

DESMOINESARTCENTER.ORG | 21 For more information on these events / exhibitions / classes CALENDAR visit desmoinesartcenter.org.

APRIL 25 THURSDAY 18 SATURDAY Student Exhibition Reception * Family Workshop 4 THURSDAY Spring Children’s Exhibition Nature Mandala Prints

5 – 7 pm 9:30 – 11:30 am / $ Books + Blankets 11 – 11:30 am 27 SATURDAY 19 SUNDAY No cost; no reservations; Family Workshop Art Spectrums drop-in for families * * Garden Mosaics Session 1: noon – 1:30 pm ARTNOIR Fruits of Labor 9:30 – 11:30 am / $ Session 2: 2 – 3:30 pm 6 – 8 pm In conjunction with S u s a n C o llis 28 SUNDAY 24 FRIDAY No cost; no reservations; * Make + Mingle EXHIBITION OPENS drop-in Forged Wire Earrings Jeffrey Gibson: I Was Here 12:30 – 3:30 pm / $ 6 SATURDAY 26 SUNDAY * Slow Art Day * Make + Mingle Docent-led Experience MAY Felted Beads 11 am 12:30 – 3:30 pm / $ Meet in lobby 2 THURSDAY Books + Blankets 11 THURSDAY 11 – 11:30 am JUNE * Fingerman Lecture Series: No cost; no reservations; James Rondeau drop-in for families 1 SATURDAY “Expanding the Path Forward ARTNOIR EXHIBITION OPENING + for Museums” 5 SUNDAY COMMUNITY CELEBRATION SALON Fingerman Lecture Series: Queer Abstraction 7 pm 47OO * Kaywin Feldman 7 – 10 pm 13 SATURDAY “Art and Empathy: *RSVP encouraged * Yoga + Gallery Dialogue The Wonder of Wonders” 8:45 am / Yoga (60 minutes) 1:30 pm 4 TUESDAY 10 am / Gallery Dialogue (20 minutes) Reservations open for Members free / $5 for non-members 10 Friday Fingerman Lecture Series EXHIBITION OPENS Franklin Sirmans and 14 SUNDAY Lea Grundig’s Anti-Fascist Art Kevin Gover and * Make + Mingle Joyce J. Scott Lecture Simple Bound Journals 11 SATURDAY 12:30 – 3:30 pm / $ Yoga + Gallery Dialogue 6 THURSDAY * 8:45 am / Yoga (60 minutes) Books + Blankets 17 WEDNESDAY 10 am / Gallery Dialogue 11 – 11:30 am Baby + Me Drop-In Tour (20 minutes) No cost; no reservations; 11 am Members free / $5 for non-members drop-in for families Meet in the lobby 15 WEDNESDAY Student Exhibition Reception Baby + Me Drop-in Tour Teen Academy Exhibition 11 am 5 – 7 pm

Meet in the lobby *Lecture David J. Getsy “The Possibility of Queer Abstraction” 6:30 pm RESERVATIONS / RSVPS / REGISTRATION

An asterisk indicates that reservations, rsvps, or registration is required 8 SATURDAY or requested. Please visit desmoinesartcenter.org and click on EVENT * Yoga + Gallery Dialogue RESERVATIONS or access the calendar from the homepage. 8:45 am / Yoga (60 minutes) * After completing your online registration, you should receive a confirmation 10 am / Gallery Dialogue (20 minutes) via e-mail. Please be sure to enter your e-mail address correctly to receive Members free / $5 for non-members this confirmation. If you do not receive an e-mail shortly after registering, please call 515.277.4405 and we will gladly check on your reservation. Guests on a given reservation list are guaranteed for the event; others are welcome to attend if space becomes available.

22 APR MAY JUN 2019

For more information on these events / exhibitions / classes Events listed are FREE unless indicated with $ MEMBERS STAY #ARTCENTERED. visit desmoinesartcenter.org. REGISTER NOW!

9Y SUNDA 20 THURSDAY MEMBER EVENTS * Make + Mingle Panel Discussion at the Botanical Center “See Me, Hear Me: Stories of * Yoga + Gallery Dialogues Etching & Botanicals Refugees in Des Moines” now FREE to members 12:30 – 3:30 pm / $ 7 – 8:30 pm $5 / Non-members (non-refundable)

15 SATURDAY – 23 SUNDAY 21 FRIDAY SATURDAY APRIL 13 Self-guided tours of EXHIBITION OPENING SATURDAY, MAY 11 Art Center’s collection * Artist Lecture + Public SATURDAY, JUNE 8 inspired by Reception 8:45 am / Yoga (60 minutes) World Refugee Day Iowa Artist 2019: Noah Doely 10 am / Gallery dialogue (20 minutes)

6 pm Early Access + Continental Breakfast 16 SUNDAY 27 THURSDAY for Ambassador Members Art Spectrums * SALON Tandem Gallery Dialogue SATURDAY, APRIL 27 Session 1: noon – 1:30 pm 47OO * + Cocktails with the Artist SUNDAY, APRIL 28 Session 2: 2 – 3:30 pm Carrie Moyer and Jared Ledesma 9 – 10 am 17 MONDAY 6:30 pm (This benefit is for members at the Film Screening Ambassador level and above)

H u m a n Flo w , 2017 28 FRIDAY – 30 SUNDAY SUNDAY, JUNE 23 Teen Weekend Workshop Ai Weiwei, director Member Sundae 7 pm / 2 hours 15 minutes Feminism & Art Noon – 2 pm / Greenwood Park FREE to all members 19 WEDNESDAY No reservations required Baby + Me Drop-in Tour 11 am THURSDAY, JUNE 27 Meet in the lobby * Artist Carrie Moyer’s Favorite Cocktail Follows QueerAbstraction Tandem Gallery Dialogue 6:30 pm

ARTNOIR

THURSDAY, APRIL 4 * Fruits of Labor / 6 – 8 pm In conjunction with S u s a n C o llis

SALON 47OO

SATURDAY, JUNE 1 * Queer Abstraction Exhibition Opening + Community Celebration Celebration hosted by Art Noir / 7 – 10 pm

THURSDAY, MAY 1 Behind-the-Scenes with artist Tom Burr PHOTO: BRITTANY BROOKE CROW PHOTO: BRITTANY * In conjunction with QueerAbstraction 5:30 – 7:30 pm

THURSDAY, MAY 2 FREE * Artist Studio Visit / 5:30 – 7:30 pm DROP-IN

TOURS THURSDAY, MAY 9

Annual Meeting + Dinner EVERY SATURDAY + MOST SUNDAYS / 1 PM in Art Center restaurant MEET IN THE LOBBY Dinner 5:30 – 7 pm / Meeting 7 – 8 pm * Reservations required for dinner Contact Director of Member Experiences Debra J. Kurtz at 515.271.0336 or [email protected] EDMUNDSON ART FOUNDATION, INC. Non-Profit 4700 GRAND AVENUE U.S. Postage DES MOINES, IOWA 50312 PAID Des Moines, IA Permit No. 2881 ENTIRELYUNEXPECTED

DES MOINES ART CENTER Thank you to members and sponsors who make our 515.277.4405 exhibitions, programs, Art Access, and FREE admission possible. www.desmoinesartcenter.org FREE ADMISSION FREE ADMISSION The Art Center is proud to continue to offer FREE ADMISSION to Art Center galleries, programs, and events,

unless otherwise noted. MUSEUM HOURS FREE ADMISSION IS SUPPORTED BY PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP AND ART CENTER MEMBERS. Tuesday / Wednesday / Friday / 11 am– 4 pm Thursday / 11 am– 9 pm Saturday / 10 am – 4 pm Sunday / Noon– 4 pm QUEER ABSTRACTION IS SUPPORTED BY Closed Monday

THE SHOP AT THE ART CENTER Open during regular museum hours. SUSAN COLLIS: WITHOUT YOU THE WORLD GOES ON IS SUPPORTED BY Members receive discounts every day.

TANGERINE AT THE ART CENTER Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation Tuesday – Saturday / 11 am – 2 pm

Lunch / Sweets / Wine and beer THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: ANIMAL AS MODEL IS SUPPORTED BY Menu online

CLASSES Studio art classes and workshops are

available for students of all ages. ART ACCESS IS SUPPORTED BY Members receive 20% discounts on classes and workshops. Join today!

ART CENTER TOURS Free tours available year-round American Enterprise Farm Bureau Financial Services Art4Moore Gardner and Florence Call Cowles Foundation JOHN AND MARY PAPPAJOHN Margaret Brennan John Deere SCULPTURE PARK The Bright Foundation Meier Bernstein Foundation Casey’s General Stores, Inc. The sculpture park is open

sunrise to midnight daily. MEDIA SUPPORT IS PROVIDED BY Free tours available April – October Business Publications MORE INFORMATION AT desmoinesartcenter.org GENERAL ART CENTER SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

/DesMoinesArtCenter

@DMArtCenter

@DesMoinesArtCenter

@DMArtCenter

ON THE COVER Carrie Moyer (American, born 1960) / Fa n D a n c e a t t h e G o ld e n N u g g, e2017 t Acrylic and glitter on canvas / 66 x 90 inches All photos by Rich Sanders, Des Moines, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY / Photo courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY unless otherwise noted. (story page 4)