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2008 Paint Brush Ball Slideshow - Enjoy!

Museum director Barker honored

Receives Society for American Archaeology's 2008 Presidential Award

Alex Barker, director of the University of Missouri's Museum of Art and Archaeology, received the Society for American Archaeology's Presidential Award at its annual meeting March 28, 2008.

Barker was cited for his exemplary work to raise collective awareness of ethical concerns in archaeology. Barker has "demonstrated that a concern for ethics is not mere moralizing or sanctimonious finger wagging," says SAA President Dean Snow, "but rather a vital component of any profession."

Barker has served as Chair of the SAA Ethics Committee for the past seven years, as well as serving on both the SAA Committee on Museums, Curation and Collections and the SAA Task Force on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains.

He has also been closely identified with broader issues of cultural property and antiquities within museums and archaeology, including work with the American Association of Museums, and the American Anthropological Association, whose Ethics Committee Barker chaired last year.

"What's at issue isn't merely a static past," says Barker. "Archaeological ethics is concerned with who has rights to the past, who owns antiquities, who controls how the past is interpreted, and ensuring that the archaeological record is preserved to be contested by future generations."

Presidential awards are given to recognize extraordinary services to the SAA and to the discipline of archaeology. Awardees are selected by the President of the Society in consultation with the Board of Directors.

Barker joined the Museum of Art and Archaeology as director in April 2006.

The Museum of Art and Archaeology is located in Pickard Hall on historic Francis Quadrangle, at the corner of University Avenue and South Ninth Street, on the University of Missouri campus. The only accredited museum in the University of Missouri system, and the only accredited art museum in mid-Missouri, it houses more than 14,000 objects in its permanent collection, ranging from prehistory to contemporary art.

The Society for American Archaeology is an international organization dedicated to the research, interpretation, and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With more than 7,100 members, SAA represents professional, student, and avocational archaeologists working in a variety of settings including government agencies, colleges and universities, museums, and the private sector.

Museum receives original Andy Warhol photographs

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has selected the Museum of Art and Archaeology to receive more than 150 original photographs by the iconic pop artist. Two other museums in Missouri, both in St. Louis, also received gifts of art from the Foundation.

"It's hard to overstate Warhol's impact on American art, especially on how art was perceived in popular culture," says Museum Director Alex Barker. "Photographs like these lie at the heart of Warhol's creative approach."

The 152 photographs, both Polaroid and silver gelatin prints, include images of pop icons such as Debbie Harry of Blondie; Ric Ocasek of The Cars; artists Paul Delvaux, Peter Schuyff and Christopher Makos; Warhol's partner Jon Gould; and Warhol's secretary Pat Hackett, editor of The Andy Warhol Diaries.

The images reveal information about the process Warhol used and his interactions with the subjects of the photos, says Jenny Moore, curator of the foundation's Photographic Legacy Program. They will also serve as valuable material for scholarly research.

"Through his rigorous — though almost unconscious — consistency in shooting, the true idiosyncrasies of his subjects were revealed," Moore says. "Often, he would shoot a person or event with both cameras, cropping one in Polaroid color as a ‘photograph' and snapping the other in black and white as a 'picture.' By presenting both kinds of images side by side, the Photographic Legacy Program allows viewers to move back and forth between moments of Warhol's art, work and life — inseparable parts of a fascinating whole."

"We're enormously gratified by our selection," says Barker. "It's an acknowledgement of both the excellence of this Museum, and of the importance of the Museum's role in the campus, the community, and the arts in mid-Missouri."

No date has been set for exhibition of the works, which are expected to arrive at the Museum later this spring.

The 2008 Paintbrush Ball

May 3, 2008

• Enjoy the sounds of "Kapital Kicks" seventeen-piece big band
• Wine and appetizers in the Cast Gallery, Pickard Hall
• Silent auction and raffle in the Great Room, Reynolds Alumni Center
• Dinner, dancing and live auction in the Ballroom, Reynolds Alumni Center

Paintbrush Ball Invitation (pdf - 9MB)
Paintbrush Ball RSVP card (pdf)
Paintbrush Ball Hogarth Prints Acquisition Fund (pdf - 9MB)
Paintbrush Ball Sponsors and Other Information (pdf)

Art in Bloom - March 7 - 9, 2008

The Museum of Art and Archaeology will showcase a variety of fresh-cut floral arrangements by various mid-Missouri florists and garden clubs. Each has chosen artwork from the Museum's collections that inspires their creative designs. Come and experience this special annual weekend that combines the beauty of fine art and artifacts with the majestic art of nature in bloom. See March (opens new window) for details of this exceptional weekend.

Art in Bloom 2008 Winners!

Art in Bloom 2008 poster (pdf - 20 MB)

Art in Bloom 2008 program guide (pdf - 8.2 MB)

Participating Florists

Allen's Flowers Inc., Columbia, Mo
April Flowers, Jefferson City, Mo
Becky Huffman Flowers, St. Louis, Mo
Columbia Garden Club, Columbia, Mo
Gerbes, Nifong Blvd., Columbia, Mo
Gerbes, Paris Rd., Columbia, Mo
Hy-Vee, Columbia, Mo
Kent's Floral Gallery & Gifts, Columbia, Mo
MU's Tiger Garden, Columbia, Mo
My Secret Garden, Columbia, Mo
River City Florist, Jefferson City, Mo
Unique Designs, Fulton, Mo

News coverage in Columbia Missourian | News coverage in Columbia Daily Tribune

See Art in Bloom 2007, Art in Bloom 2006 and Art in Bloom 2005.

Museum Acquires Bust by African-American Artist Beulah Woodard

The Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia, announces the acquisition of a terracotta bust by African-American artist Beulah Woodard, entitled Maudelle (ca. 1937–1938). This is the first acquisition to be purchased under the recommendation of Mary Pixley, the Museum's new Associate Curator for European and American Art. Dr. Pixley has only been with the Museum since September and has worked diligently to acquire this exceptional sculpture. "This acquisition is a very important addition to our collection of African-American Art, and a wonderful piece to call attention to our noteworthy Modern Art holdings, which I hope to expand," says Pixley. "This terracotta bust is also quite special because one can feel Woodard's touch as she molded the clay to create a striking portrait of a notable woman."

Woodard's Maudelle is a masterpiece of realistic portraiture achieved through incisive modeling and detailed description of the sitter's features, braided hair and colorful earrings. Her dramatic beauty combined with the medium of terracotta (unglazed brownish-red earthenware) gives the bust a potent presence. A fundamental medium of artistic expression, clay, even after firing, reveals traces of the artist's working method. This sensation of the presence of the artist combined with the slight tilt of Maudelle's head lends a forceful immediacy to the portrait, which was modeled without the use of drawings or sculptural models.

Beulah Ecton Woodard (1895–1955) was the first African-American artist to show at the Los Angeles County Museum with her solo exhibition in 1935. She organized the Los Angeles Negro Art Association in 1937 and lectured at a variety of educational institutions. Thanks to artists like Woodard and the cultural diversity of California, museums including the San Francisco Museum of Art, Lowie Museum at the University of California, Berkeley, and Los Angeles County Museum began exhibiting art from African countries and the Pacific Rim. Sadly, Woodard died in 1955 at the height of her career, on the eve of a planned exhibition of her work in Germany.

The model, Maudelle Bass Weston (1908–1989), was a well-known African-American concert dancer. She was the first black American to study with the choreographer Lester Horton. In 1940, she danced with the American Ballet Theater in Agnes de Mille's ballet Black Ritual, and in the 1950s she appeared with the dancer and choreographer Pearl Primus. As a model, she posed for numerous artists including Diego Rivera, Edward Weston and Weegee.

"This acquisition represented a remarkable opportunity for the Museum," states Museum Director Alex Barker, "and we're very excited to bring such a marvelous example of Woodard's work here." The bust will be unveiled at the Chancellor's residence on October 19th during a reception for MU African-American alumni. Maudelle will go on public display October 20th in the Museum's Robert and Maria Barton Gallery of Modern Art. [Recent Acquisitions]

Beulah Ecton Woodard
American (1895–1955)
Maudelle
ca. 1937-38
Fired terracotta painted brown
with white and green additions
(2007.40)
photos courtesy of Swann Galleries, New York

Docents needed!

Want to be a docent? All you need is enthusiasm for learning and the desire to share your knowledge with others. We provide the training! Docents are volunteer museum staff members who give tours to the general public. The training involves attending an Art History & Archaeology History of Western Art class twice a week, as well as a weekly docent training session in the Museum. In return, we ask you to give just 10 tours a year. All training is free and you will be eligible for a University of Missouri library card.

Email Cathy Callaway at callawaycl@missouri.edu or call 882-5076 for more information.

New Education Resources

Art Education in the News (opens new window)

Lesson Plans more >>

Learning to Look Guide (in pdf)

A Learning to Look tour at the Museum of Art and Archaeology is an interdisciplinary tour for K-12th grade students and is designed to meet school curriculum objectives. The tour teaches students how to look at, appreciate, and gain knowledge and insight from art, while at the same time developing cognitive skills. Students are introduced to artifacts, paintings, and sculpture in the Museum's collections while learning how to use words to describe the works' visual and tactile qualities, as well as looking at ways the artists have worked with these elements to give their work structure. By becoming familiar with the vocabulary of sensory and formal elements, students will be better equipped to evaluate the composition of a work of art, to understand an artist's choices in creating that work of art, and to construct meaning for themselves from their own perspective.

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