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New Museum Planned--Voters in Beacon, NY, have approved the sale of a 130,000 sq. ft. former high school building that will be transformed into the largest decorative arts museum in the nation. The Decorative Arts and Design Institute will display decorative arts and design objects as well as crafts and offer a wide range of exhibition and educational programs. DADI will present exhibitions of major collections on loan from other decorative arts museums and collectors around the country. It is expected to be fully operational in three years.

Sculpture Installed--Four steel sculptures by Alexander Calder have been installed near the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. The 12-year sculpture program will rotate Calder works at the site.

Milestones Reached--Renowned Manhattan art dealer Holly Solomon died recently in New York City at age 68. Solomon was the subject of a 9-panel portrait by Andy Warhol and was a major player in the art world. And J. Carter Brown, former director of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and director of the National Gallery of Art for 23 years, has died at 67. Brown was instrumental in overseeing the development of several monuments and architectural attractions, including the Vietnam Memorial.

Museums Plan Expansions--The High Museum has announced a $130 million expansion that will more than double the museum's space and add a central piazza, restaurant, shop and expanded arts campus. Renzo Piano has been selected as the architect. Meanwhile, renovations have begun at the Carnegie Museum of Art's Sarah Scaife Galleries, which house paintings, sculpture and decorative art objects from the museum's permanent collection. Improvements are projected to take one year; meanwhile many works from the permanent collection will be on view in Panopticon: An Art Spectacular, a unique exhibition in the museum's Heinz Galleries from Sept. 28 through Aug. 17, 2003.

Party Animals Turn Political--When visiting Washington, D.C., through early fall, you'll see 200 "Party Animals"--specially designed 4.5 x 5 foot sculptures of donkeys and elephants. Each artist selected received a $1,000 grant and $200 for supplies to create the sculpture, and more than half of the artists are from the D.C. area. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had a design (which decried the treatment of circus elephants) refused by the arts commission, and the matter is expected to end in litigation. A guide map detailing the locations of the sculptures is available at Metro stations.

Peace Program Scheduled--The International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) is holding a Peace Through Art Program for Cyprus from July 1-20 in Washington, D.C. Twenty Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot youth will come together for three weeks of peace education and leadership training. ICAF is the only national art and creativity organization for children in the U.S.

Exhibitions:

Chicago -- The Art Institute of Chicago -- To Inspire and Instruct: Art from the Collection of the Chicago Public Schools -- Between 1900 and 1946, more than 300 murals were placed in Chicago's public schools, painted by artists of some renown. The subject matter of these works was carefully chosen to inspire, educate, and edify students. This exhibition highlights 20 portable murals and paintings from this vast collection of thousands of pieces. Through August 11.

Washington, D.C. -- National Gallery of Art -- Alfred Stieglitz: Known and Unknown -- The NGA has published a catalogue that includes reproductions of their collection of 1,600 photographs by Stieglitz. This exhibition celebrates the publication with an installation of approximately 100 of Stieglitz's photos. Through Sept. 2.

Austin, TX -- Austin Museum of Art -- The Circus in 20th Century American Art: Images from the World Between brings together approximately 90 works that include paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs and video by twentieth-century American artists whose works reflect a sustained or significant interest in the circus. Among these are George Bellows and John Steuart Curry from the first half of the century and Diane Arbus and Lisette Model from more recent times. Through August 18.

Philadelphia, PA - Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art -- American Sublime: Epic Landscapes of Our Nation 1820-1880 - Organized by the Tate Britain, this exhibition explores topics from the exquisite beauty of the untamed wild to the heartbreaking realities of Industrialization. It celebrates the inspired vision of Bierstadt, Church, Cole, Cropsey, Durand, Heade, Kensett, Gifford and others with more than 60 astounding grand-scale oil paintings mixed with smaller works and oil sketches. Through August 25.

Blue Mountain Lake, NY -- The Adirondack Museum -- In Search of a National Landscape: William Trost Richards in the Adirondacks -- This opportunity to display a selection of 25-30 Adirondack oil paintings and works on paper, ranging in date from 1855 to 1904, will introduce the visitor to one of the most important, although lesser-known, mid-century interpreters of the region. Through October 14.

Baltimore, MD -- Baltimore Museum of Art -- Cézanne and the Transformed Landscape features "Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from the Bibemus Quarry" from the BMA's collection and three dramatic landscapes on loan from New York's Museum of Modern Art as well as 35 French masterpieces by Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin, Renoir, and Pissarro--and a special exhibition of more than 20 works from the Museum's collection that highlights Cézanne's influence on well-known European and American artists. Through August 25.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 12 No. 9 -- July 2002