Sydney McGee

I've spent all day in the DC area, and when I returned home tonight I had my inbox full of emails from readers asking if I had seen this.

Sydney McGee is an art teacher (with 28 years of experience) who has been fired by the Frisco, Texas school board because this Fisher Elementary School art teacher took 89 fifth-graders on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art last April and then some of the fifth graders reported to their parents that they had seen "a nude sculpture at the art museum."

Then the parents "raised concern..."

And then she was put on paid administrative leave...

And now the Frisco, Texas school board has voted not to renew her contract after 28 years.

[Anger]

Does the Frisco, Texas school board realize that these actions appear to put them a century or two ahead of the Islamofascists that I am sure they all abhor?

According to the Dallas Morning News:

Ms. McGee, who has taught in various Texas districts for 28 years, said she visited the museum and spoke with museum staffers before the trip to ensure that it was appropriate for the fifth-grade class. Ms. McGee said she does not know which piece of art offended the parent, and the district did not identify it.

Ms. McGee said principal Nancy Lawson called her into a meeting the day after the trip to admonish her about the parent's complaint. Shortly thereafter, she received a negative review and a series of directives about displaying student artwork and creating lesson plans.

"You have to start somewhere when you've seen things you don't believe are in the best interest of the students," Superintendent Rick Reedy said.

Quick to appear to shift the blame, "board members said there were other performance issues in question beyond the trip complaint."

Aw Texas... can't take you anywhere...

Options:

1. Frisco School Board immediately should prohibit any and all school trips to any museums or any other venues where any art nudity or nudity in any other form is present.

2. All Texas museums within school bus driving distance of Frisco, Texas should immediately (a) get rid of all nude artworks or (b) cover them up whenever the Frisco kids show up.

3. Frisco voters should fire all these Friscidiots on the Board.

Here's what we can do:

Email a note of support for Sydney McGee to Buddy Minett President of the Frisco School Board. Or write to him at:

Buddy Minett
President
8548 Scott Circle
Frisco, TX 75036

If you write, be courteous and intelligent.

Tapedude in Holland

Dutch television with a really good clip on DC's Mark Jenkins' street installation in the Netherlands .

See it here.

And see Jenkin's babies first words here. The installations were curated by Fleur Kolk in Rotterdam.

I wonder when DC museum curators will "discover" Jenkins.

I've said it before

Whatever you do, never piss off Bailey.

Bailey, who has spent (and documented) a ton of time in New Orleans, does a Bailey on Robert Polidori's After the Flood.

Read it here.

Art by Students

The AP's Joan Loviglio had an interesting article in the Philly Inquirer about art by students being the latest rage.

"If there's an art to collecting art, Susan Guill just might be considered an old master.

For about 15 years, she has been attending the annual student exhibition at the esteemed Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Nearly every wall in her Bala Cynwyd home is adorned with the work of an academy student; she purchased five student paintings at this year's show alone.

But in recent years, the crowds have become larger and the art gets snapped up even faster."

Buying student artwork has always been a great idea for young collectors and collectors on a limited budget. Savvy collectors and smart art dealers have always known that keeping an eye on what the art schools are delivering is a proven way to stay fresh and ahead of the game.

"Tilton Gallery in New York City has successfully brought the work of art students to its commercial gallery. Gallery director Janine Cirincione told The New Yorker that a show this year called "School Days" featuring art by 19 graduate students from Hunter College, Columbia and Yale University was 70 percent sold before the opening. Prices ranged from $2,000 to $16,000."

In the Greater DC area, over the last few years, Conner Contemporary, Fraser Gallery and Irvine Contemporary have all regularly had student shows and consistently included work by art students in their exhibition schedules. In the Greater Philly area, according to the article: "this year, the Pennsylvania Academy's 105th annual student show broke all previous sales records, raising $313,000 in its three-week run... and about 350 works of art were sold, some priced as high as $15,000."

I know of at least one major ubercollector, based in Maryland, who regularly attends students shows aroun the Mid Atlantic region, and happens to have an excellent eye (and one of the largest private art collections that I have ever seen - literally numbering in the thousands of paintings and sculptures (and lately even some videos) and who has been doing this "student art" practice for many years now.

For example, he started collecting Erik Sandberg and Andrew Wodzianski while they were both students, and has many, many paintings by Sandberg and a gigantic Wodzianski acquired while Andrew was a student at MICA.

Sandberg's latest is currently at Conner Contemporary until Oct. 28 and Wodzianski just recently had two very successful shows following his last solo at Fraser: one in Philadelphia at the Rodger Lapelle Galleries and one at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, and he has twice been a finalist for the Bethesda Painting Awards.

Needless to say, both those two young artists have gone on to bigger and better things and higher prices.

The fly in the ointment could be that:

"Some art school professors worry that early success could inappropriately influence students still defining their voice and their style to play it safe and commercial, so their works can easily sell.

"The danger is where you have critics coming into (students') studios looking for new talent; that's when it can be very disruptive," said Carol Becker, dean of faculty for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "You want students finding themselves, not trying to find what the market wants."

I would be curious to hear Dean Becker tell me and the rest of the world "what the market wants"?

Employment in the arts - Public Art Projects Curator

Closing Date: October 5, 2006.

Arlington County, Virginia Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources.

The Public Art Projects Curator structures and leads the implementation of public art and design enhancements of capital and infrastructure projects in support of the goals of the County's Public Art Master Plan and Policy.

The position entails communication and project-related activities to elevate the profile of public art and design enhancements in the County. Duties include: management of the public art design/enhancement component of capital projects; liaison to the Arlington Commission for the Arts Public Art Committee (PAC); caretaking of the Public Art Collection; education of County staff and residents; initiating/ supporting other visual arts projects such as temporary public art, exhibitions, publications and other projects. Strong organization, self-motivation and communication skills are essential. The position is located in the Cultural Affairs Division's Public Art Section, supervised by from the Public Art Administrator.

Online application required. Salary Range: $45,906 - $75,899 annually. Announcement No: 7102-7A-PRC-GW. Apply here.

The College Art Association

Deadline is ongoing

Assists artists financially in completion of MFA and Ph.D. programs. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to individual artists. For information, contact:
The College Art Association
Fellowship Program
275 7th Ave., New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 691-1051; or check website: www.collegeart.org

Art-O-Matic News

In 2004 Nils Henrik Sundqvist brought the DC area designers community into Art-O-Matic with AOM's first official poster show.

It was well received by the public, the artists and the designers, in fact, my good friend Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum, recognized the effort by adding the poster exhibit to her recommended viewing list for the 2004 show.

As we all know, this year's AOM is delayed to 2007, but they already have some amazing art contributions by 23 DC area designers and I wanted to share these with you; see them here. For more info email Nils at info@fiskdesign.net.