Smithsonian Accepts Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ball Gown

WASHINGTON, DC.- First Lady Michelle Obama formally presented the gown she wore to the 2009 inaugural balls to the Smithsonian’s First Ladies Collection Tuesday, March 9, during a ceremony at the National Museum of American History. The gown will be displayed in the center of a new gallery addition to the museum’s popular exhibition, “The First Ladies at the Smithsonian.” The new gallery, “A First Lady’s Debut,” opens to the public March 10. The one-shouldered, white-silk chiffon gown, created by [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art Announces Staff Promotions and Changes

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announces two staff promotions and two curators sharing responsibilities of the chief curator.
Dan Byers, previously assistant curator of contemporary art, and Amanda Zehnder, previously assistant curator of fine arts, have been promoted to associate curators. Zehnder, who joined the museum in 2005, has curated numerous exhibitions in the Works on Paper Gallery, including the current Caricature, Satire, and Comedy of Manners: Works on Paper from the 18th through 20th Centuries. Byers has been with [...]

Aretha Franklin Honored at International Slavery Museum’s Black Achievers Wall

LIVERPOOL.- The International Slavery Museum is continuing its celebrations of International Women’s Day with the unveiling of three new plaques on the Black Achievers Wall on Wednesday 10 March 2010.
The plaques will be unveiled during “Celebrating Women”, a special evening of guest speakers, dance performance and discussion at the museum.
The three new faces, who have earned their places through creativity, bravery and talent are:
Aretha Franklin – the multi-award winning American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as “The Queen [...]

SFMOMA Announces New Thursday Night Happenings

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) marks 75 years as a pioneering force in art with exhibitions and events, including a series of three Thursday evening happenings that offer a sophisticated social experience for late-night guests. Launching on March 18, 2010, SFMOMA: Now Playing invites artists to animate the museum in unexpected ways—and audiences to come play and see the museum in a new light. Guests can roam the galleries, take in live performances and [...]

Ron Arad’s Design Museum in Holon Opens to the Public

HOLON.- Following four years of construction, Design Museum Holon opened the award-winning building by Ron Arad Architects. Constructed of five sinuous bands of varying shades of COR-TEN (weathered steel), Design Museum Holon is Arad’s first architectural project of this scale and the pinnacle of a sixteen-year urban regeneration programme, a process which is transforming the city of Holon, central Israel, into a global epicentre for culture and education.
Design Museum Holon’s mission is to explore the impact of design and the [...]

Israel Museum Commissions New Works by Olafur Eliasson and Anish Kapoor

JERUSALEM.- Olafur Eliasson and Anish Kapoor have been commissioned by the Israel Museum to create two new monumental installations on the Museum’s campus, as it nears completion of a comprehensive renewal and expansion, together with a complete reinstallation of all of its collection galleries. These site-specific works will be installed as focal points within the Museum’s newly re-organized campus, opening to the public on July 26, 2010.
These commissions include:
Olafur Eliasson’s installation “Whenever the Rainbow Appears”, consisting of 300 individual paintings [...]

New Music Museum in Jamaica to Show Marley, Tosh

KINGSTON.- Jamaica plans to open a music museum next year that officials say will feature rare pieces from the island’s music history, such as the sole album that the late reggae star Bob Marley produced before he gained international fame.
Artifacts will include a cassette tape in which another reggae great, Peter Tosh, jams a blues song with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, museum curator Herbie Miller said Sunday.
The tape was recorded in June 1977 in New [...]

Leo Villareal Public Art Installation Illuminates Downtown with Sky

TAMPA, FL.- New York-based digital light artist Leo Villareal’s recent completion of Sky (Tampa) on the south façade of the new Tampa Museum of Art features a dramatic 12,000-square-foot public art commission that illuminates the downtown core.
The exterior of the new museum features programmable LED lights, 45 feet high and 300 feet long, embedded within two-layers of perforated aluminum panels. In daylight, the museum’s façade creates a moiré-like pattern, and in darkness the LED light installation glows with Villarreal’s signature [...]

Much-Anticipated Reopening of the Morris Museum of Art

AUGUSTA, GA.- After months of planning and preparation—fresh paint, new carpet and lights, interior construction, and rearranging and hanging hundreds of works of art—the Morris Museum of Art reopened. This is the first time since the Morris opened in 1992 that its renowned permanent collection has been completely reinstalled.
“The museum’s staff has done an outstanding, outstanding job under great pressure and in a very short span of time. They have completely transformed the permanent collection galleries at the Morris,” commented [...]

Worcester Art Museum Rock & Rolls All Night Long

WORCESTER, MA.- Worcester Art Museum rolled out the red carpet to celebrate the opening of its new exhibition, Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present. The exhibition features more than 100 candid shots, live performances, publicity portraits and album cover art of legendary rock stars, such as Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Mick Jagger.

William “PoPsie” Randolph, Jimi Hendrix and Wilson Pickett, Prelude Club, Atlantic Records Release Party. May 5, 1966. 100 year archival [...]

Kemper Museum Acquires Two Magnolia Laurie Paintings from Causey Contemporary

BROOKLYN, NY.- Causey Contemporary announced that two paintings by Magnolia Laurie are being acquired by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO for their permanent collection. Paintings, “November Charlie” (I am in distress and require immediate assistance) and “To Abandon My Vessel” (Alfa Bravo) were selected for the museum by curator Barbara O’Brien after visiting Magnolia solo exhibition at Causey Contemporary. The exhibition entitled “All After: All Before” opened on February 12, 2010 and runs through March [...]

Karl E. Willers, Ph.D. Appointed Director of Nassau County Museum of Art

ROSLYN HARBOR, NY.- Peter Tilles, the president of Nassau County Museum of Art’s (NCMA) Board of Trustees, announced that Karl E. Willers, Ph.D. has been appointed Director of the Museum.
Dr. Willers brings with him a wealth of administrative and curatorial experience at both major urban and focused regional museums. A leader in the museum field, Dr. Willers has published extensively on a broad range of topics, ranging over American and European art from the late 18th century to the present. [...]

Julián Zugazagoitia Named Director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

KANSAS CITY, MO.- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced today that Julián Zugazagoitia has been named the new Director/CEO of the Nelson-Atkins, the fifth director in the Museum’s 75-year history. Zugazagoitia, 46, an international scholar, museum director and consultant who has served for the past seven years as the Director/CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York, was the unanimous choice of search committee members and will begin his position Sept. 1, 2010.
Marc F. Wilson, the Museum’s esteemed Menefee [...]

Art Institute of Chicago Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago announced the appointment of David Thurm as the museum’s new Chief Operating Officer . Thurm, who began his tenure at the Art Institute on March 1, 2010, will oversee the museum’s general operations. Thurm’s duties will include the strengthening of the museum’s financial position and easing its transition to a more complex institution–which the museum has now become as a result of the addition of the Modern Wing and the multiyear reinstallation project [...]

Mrs. Obama to Donate Inaugural Gown to Smithsonian

WASHINGTON, DC.- The one-shouldered, white chiffon gown first lady Michelle Obama wore to the inaugural balls is going on display.
Mrs. Obama is donating the gown to the First Ladies Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on Tuesday.
Dotted with beads and covered in fabric petals, the gown was a star attraction at 10 inaugural balls held in January 2009 to celebrate President Barack Obama’s swearing-in. Designer Jason Wu, 27, of New York, planned to join Mrs. Obama for [...]