Montgomery Museum Of Fine Arts Association

Programs: Permanent collection/acquistions: the museum's mission to collect, preserve, and interpret art for montgomery and central alabama is made tangible by the art we hold in trust for our community. The museum acquired 29 works of art for the permanent collection in 2016-2017 by gift or purchase, most augmenting our core collections of american art and works on paper. Acquisition highlights include two watercolor paintings by charles burchfield, over the roofs, 1937 and rural landscape, 1947, an oil painting by jack levine, sacrifice of isaac, 1974, the great american pastime: the negro baseball league, 2009, by yvonne wells, a print series, seam, 1982, by j rg immendorff, and still life with fruit dish (nature morte au compotier), 1908-1909, by pablo picasso. Other significant works were etchings and engravings by twentieth-century graphics masters including jane hammond, alexander archipenko, and diego rivera. The staff continues to execute research into the history and importance of the works in our permanent collection, and to update information available through our collections database now searchable online. The public can browse the collection highlights using portfolio views or search the entire collection.

exhibitions: the museum hosted 11 temporary exhibitions of art during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. In addition to regular installations of art from the permanent collection, this group of temporary exhibitions reflected the museum's goal of presenting works of art in a variety of media, from many cultures and time periods. Highlights included first folio! The book that gave us shakespeare, october 1 through october 30, 2016; federico uribe: transform art, october 8, 2016 through january 8, 2017; nature, tradition, and innovation: contemporary japanese ceramics from the gordon brodfeuhrer collection, january 28 through april 23, 2017, and frank stella prints: a retrospective, august 19 through october 29, 2017.

education: during fiscal year 2016-17, the education division offered tours for all ages with the majority serving montgomery public school students. Other education offerings included community outreach activities, youth and family programs, teen and university programs, adult and teacher programs, studio classes for all ages, exhibitions of student art, and training for volunteers, including docents and interns. Areas of programmatic focus included the bicentennial of alabama, the centennial of the first world war, collaborations with the alabama shakespeare festival (related to the display of shakespeare's first folio at the mmfa) and the alabama department of archives and history (related to a joint exhibit of alabama quilts and more), and themes of major museum exhibitions. During the 2016-17 school year, the american scene tour program was presented to all mps fifth graders and included a pre-visit classroom session, a gallery tour exploring historical connections, a mixed-media studio lesson, and an interdisciplinary experience in artworks. Launched fall of 2017, the new becoming alabama tour program for fifth graders incorporates a timeline exercise in the classroom, discussion of artwork in the galleries related to different eras of alabama history, a "stars falling on alabama" themed studio project, and activities in artworks related to creek culture. All mps kindergarten students enjoyed the art of baking puppet show and discussed original works of art in the galleries following. Other free tour offerings included first sundays and third saturdays (both open to the public), tours for senior citizens and special needs groups, and visits from summer academies. Cell phone tours were also offered. In the community, the learning through art artist in residence program provided weekly art lessons for third and fourth grade students at wares ferry road elementary school. The curriculum includes student-driven discussions of art, individual journal entries, art making with professional artists, and visits to the museum. The school's writing and math scores have improved since the introduction of the program. Additionally, the museum offered art in the afternoon (after-school art classes) at the e. D. Nixon community center, the chisolm boys and girls club, valiant cross academy, and the mt. Meigs campus for alabama department of youth services. Free youth and family public programs included drop-in art and cultural activities in the artworks gallery, a puppet show, tales for tots (creative gallery experiences), an american history based homeschool event, family art affairs (incorporating art making, performance, and gallery components), and special family events such as holiday open house, native american family day, the chalk art competition at the flimp festival - a spring celebration of the arts with a quilt theme this year, military open house, and a collaborative venture with alabama shakespeare festival designed around the first folio. Teen programs at the mmfa were offered free of charge. The a. P. Art history course for local high school students saw the second year of a new curriculum from the college board based on more focused content with expanded emphasis on analysis and skill building. The scores on the national exam were excellent. In addition to their regular meetings for gallery and behind the scenes experiences, the muses teen council wrote an article about a popular mmfa artist and organized a performance event and several workshops for their peers. The museum offered regular workshops for art teachers, travel art suitcases for use in classrooms, and a range of interdisciplinary workshops for the alabama institute for educators in the arts. The signature event for university audiences was related to the first folio. The museum also continued the partnership with auburn university at montgomery by offering a course for the lifelong learning institute. Free programs for adults included lectures and gallery talks, films, and five weekly short courses that addressed a range of subjects. Members-only offerings included ekphrasis, a monthly book club about art, and arttalk, a collective critique for artists. The museum also partnered with the respite care ministry serving individuals with memory loss. Studio classes and workshops for all ages, including summer art camps for youth and teens. Involved professional artists and explored drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, stained glass, and photography. Six artworks corridor exhibitions of student art showcased work by elementary through college students, including a show dedicated to work created in the learning through art artist in residence program.