Research Resources

Guide Training Package for Kondo Exhibition

Transcendent Clay: The Kondō Family’s Path of Porcelain Innovations

Mar. 1–Sep. 7, 2025; Galleries 251–253

 

Spanning almost a century of creativity, “Transcendent Clay” offers the opportunity to explore the interplay of tradition and innovation in Japanese ceramics through the achievements of the Kondō family in Kyoto. The legacy of porcelain-making began with Kondō Yūzō (1902–1985) in the 1930s and continued with his sons Yutaka (1932–1983) and Hiroshi (1936–2012), who broke free to pursue original, individual expressions. Ultimately it was the grandson Takahiro (born 1958) who emerged as the family’s greatest innovator by developing the secret technique of applying a “silver mist” (gintekisai) of metallic droplets to his modern forms.

This exhibition is based on Transcendent Clay/Kondo: A Century of Japanese Ceramic Art, originally presented by the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, guest curated by Joe Earle. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, whose generosity and passion brought this exhibition to life.

The Curatorial Department has created a training package that includes images and background information on the artwork featured in this exhibition. Please see the link below!

Kondō exhibition 2025 – Docent training package

March 2025 public in-gallery tour

This is the resource page for our March 2025 in-gallery public tour, focused on Women in Art. To confirm your slots and gallery assignment, please reference the sign-up document, via this link.

G259

(Focus on contemporary Native American women artists: Christi Belcourt. Avis Charley, Jackie Larson Bread, Emmi Whitehorse, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (who just passed away), Keri Ataumbi and Jamie Okuma, Kay Walking Stick)

Avis Charley: New to Nevada: Avis Charley

The Growing Thunder Collective

From the New York Times: Kay WalkingStick: Reframing the American Landscape

Jackie Larson Bread

Quarantine Stories from the Artist’s Studio | Jackie Larson Bread

Emmi Whitehorse

From the NGA: Emmi Whitehorse Paints the Harmonies of Her Homelands

Keri Ataumbi and Jamie Okuma’s Adornment: Iconic Perceptions

Pocahontas Jewelry Set, Of Us and Art: The 100 Videos Project, Episode 14

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Essay from the Whitney

From the Heard Museum: Studio Tour with Jaune-Quick-to-See Smith and Neal Inuksois Ambrose Smith

To find information on Christi Belcourt, please search her name on this site.

From last year’s Art in Bloom: Talk – Garden of the Mind: The Art and Practice of Christi Belcourt

 

G351/353

(Focus on the Mary Cassatt exhibition in G353, as well as speak about Berthe Morisot and Hilda Fearon in G351)

From the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a wonderful video about Mary Cassatt’s printmaking: Demonstrating Mary Cassatt’s Color Printmaking Techniques

From the Met: Mary Stevenson Cassatt

Artist bio from the Smithsonian: Mary Cassatt

Check out the Art Adventure set (Menu, School Tours, AAG Sets), Family, Friends, and Communities for information on Berthe Morisot’s painting, The Artist’s Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny, c. 1884

Hilda Fearon bio (Cornwall Artists)

Hilda Fearon on Wikipedia

 

G369

(Focus on Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Andrea Bowers, Julie Mehretu, Fujikasa Satoko, Stephanie Syjuco, and Penelope Umbrico. Note: The Mehretu was removed for the Deborah Roberts’ talk, but will be reinstated in March.)

Lorna Simpson from Met Museum

From Art21: Lorna Simpson on weaving literature into her visual practice and the artists inspiring her today.

Andrea Bowers exhibition at the Hammer: Andrea Bowers

Virtual Studio Visit: Andrea Bowers

Gallery bio: Andrea Bowers

Fujikasa Satoko 藤笠 砂都子 (including a video link, artist bio from Joan Mirviss gallery)

TEMPEST Fujikasa Satoko at Joan B Mirviss LTD | The Process

Art21: Stephanie Syjuco

From the Smithsonian: Stephanie Syjuco

Mehretu (See Black History Month Resources)

Art21 Julie Mehretu

 

G375

(Focus on Rose Simpson, Cara Romero, Modupeola Fadugba, Louise Erdrich, Claire Zeisler, Katō Yuwa)

From Art21: Rose B. Simpson in “Everyday Icons” – Season 11 – “Art in the Twenty-First Century” | Art21

From the Norton Museum: A room full of witnesses | Rose B. Simpson: Journeys of Clay | Exhibition Insights

From Hyperallergic: Rose B. Simpson Embeds Ancestral Histories in Clay

The Great Women Artists podcast: Rose B Simpson

Hearts of Our People: Artist Profile Cara Romero

Cara Romero: artist website

From SLAM: Artist Talk: Cara Romero

Pink Honey by Modupeola Fadugba

The documentary: Dreams from the Deep End (Follow Togo-born Nigerian artist Modupeola Fadugba as she paints NYC’s only African American synchronized swim team of senior citizens, the Harlem Honeys and Bears, continuing her ongoing focus on powerful Black figures in water together.)

From Archives of American Art: Claire Zeisler

Claire Zeisler, Wikipedia

From MPR: Acclaimed author Louise Erdrich creates interactive exhibit

Yuwa Kato, artist website

October 2024 in-gallery public tour

Here are resources for he October in-gallery public tour!

October 3 to 31 , Thursdays through Sundays, 1-3 pm; Thursday evenings, 6-8 pm

Theme: Gather around works of art to look, listen, and tell your own stories.
No tour October 11: Yom Kippur holiday

Galleries: G255, G275, G302, G322

G255 resources

For information on the Tibetan Buddhist shrine, and other things in the supporting gallery, see the Tibetan Shrine resource page on our guide website.

Note that there may be curiosity about the sand mandala process. We have the videos still linked on the Mia website, so you could show some examples of the nuns doing the sand mandala, at this link.

Here is a link to the object file for the Yamantaka Mandala.

Here is a link to the object file for the sculpture of Green Tara.

 

G275 resources

Here is a link to the recording of the training with Valeria Piccoli, 9.26.24

Here is a recording of Valeria’s previous training on Gallery 255 (which included some of the same artworks).

Website for Myrlande Constant

From the Indigo Arts Gallery, a bio and more information on vodou flags: Myrlande Constant artist

Elsa Gramcko: Hyperallergic review of an exhibition, The Gap Between Things and Their Names

ELSA GRAMCKO: THE INVISIBLE PLOT OF THINGS (in this article, check out the photo of Gramcko with her painting, No. 6!)

More information on No. 6, by Gramcko

Information from Rose Stanley Gilbert on Gramcko: Elsa Gramcko and oil pump– Prop and Elsa Gramcko – No. 6, 1957

 

G302 resources

From the Art Institute of Chicago a short video: Archibald John Motley Jr.’s Nightlife | Art Institute Essentials Tour

From the National Endowment of the Humanities: Block Party: Archibald Motley painted African Americans having a good time.

From the Nasher, some great info within an exhibition page for Motley’s first exhibition: Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist

Artist bio on Wikipedia: Archibald Motley

Biography of Victor Gatto

Romare Bearden Foundation

Khan Academy/Smart History (about a similar subject): Romare Bearden, Three Folk Musicians

Romare Bearden The Art Story (extensive biography)

Romare Bearden 3 musicians PDF (with our painting)

Elmer Bischoff: Biography

From the Marin Museum, a virtual tour of Elmer Bischoff exhibition

From the Pacific Sun: Bischoff retrospective goes on display

And an article from 1988 on Victor Joseph Gatto, from your colleague Susan Arndt (scroll to page 56 for the article): The Clarion Spring 1988

Then we have a whole treasure of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings in the gallery!

From the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: About Georgia O’Keeffe

 

G322 resources

Labels and panels for new artworks within this gallery

EUR252546 G322 Labels_EDIT (1) (1)

A defining thread connecting the works is the influence of Classical art, so you can trace how that appears in decorative objects, paintings, and sculptures within the gallery.

Wedgwood’s Anti-Slavery Medallion: Josiah Wedgwood’s Medallion

Voltaire, Rousseau and Franklin were often pictured together as important philosophers of the 18th century

Here is a link to the object file for the Portrait of George Washington. Note that this is also a work in the Art Adventure set, American Stories, so you can look at the entry there.

The portrait of Countess Bucquoi is in the Art Adventure set, Dressed for the Occasion, so check out the entry for more info on the artist and the sitter.

Information on Juliette Recamier from the Library of Congress and Wikipedia.

From SmartHistory: The Age of Enlightenment, an introduction

 

July 2024 in-gallery public tour resource page

July Cross Currents: Summer Vacation! Take a break as works of art transport you on a trip around the world.

Gallery 203

Training with Curator Yang Liu on 6.27.24

Articles by Yang Liu:

Three_Eremitic_Pictures_and_a_Song_of_Despair

Fantastic_Mountains_Where_Man_Meets_Nature

Fantastic_Mountains_Chinese_Landscape_Painting

Essay from the Met: Landscape Painting in Chinese Art

From Khan Academy: Chinese landscape painting

From the Asian Art Museum: The Development of Landscape Painting in China through the Tang Dynasty (618-906) (in particular, note this statement: “In Chinese color theory, black contains all colors; thus theorists believe that people can conceive all colors in the various tones of ink.”

Lesson on Chinese landscape painting from Princeton, with some good questions under the “Lesson” heading: Chinese Landscape Painting during the Song Dynasty

 

Gallery 355

Worcester Art Museum Video: Matthias Waschek: Pierre Bonnard’s ‘Dining Room In The Country’

French Quarter magazine: Exploring the Intellectual Haven: The Legacy of Parisian Café Culture (Vuillard’s Place Saint-Augustin)

BBC Arts: The Pursuit of Paradise: Eight paintings tracing Paul Gauguin’s quest for the exotic in Tahiti

Gauguin, Tahitian Landscape (in /Art Adventure, People and Their Environments)

National Gallery of Art: Gauguin: Maker of Myth

Musee Giverny: Signac, the colors of water

PDF fact sheet on Salmon Fishers at Nesøya, 1891, by Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen: Eilif Peterssen – Laksefiskere på Nesøya (Salmon Fishers at Nesøya) – factsheet

Van Gogh, Olive Trees, ArtStory

 

Gallery 379 (Going on a road trip, boat ride, or scooter–in streamlined design)

Streamline Moderne: Speeding into the future!

From Wikipedia, a history of the Road Trip

From the Library of Congress blog: America on the Road: The Family Vacation by Car

Go on a road trip with the Tatra! Tatra 603 ad video (a later Tatra version, but good sense of how fast it could go, even in the countryside)

From Wikipedia: Tatra 87

Tatra ArtStory on artsmia.org

Classic Car Review: The Death Eaters, Chapter 1: Tatra T87

Skippy Racer Scooter history, with photos: 1938 ‘Skippy Racer’ Streamlined Scooter

 

 

 

 

Resource page for May 2024 public tour

Here are some resources for preparing for the in-gallery (Cross Currents) May public tour:

G259

Check out info on Virgil Ortiz, Jagg and Gage, minute mark 14:30 in this new accessions video.

Jeffrey Gibson’s punching bags: Jeffrey Gibson on the origins of his beaded punching bags

Jeffrey Gibson at the Venice Biennale 2024

Rose Simpson’s monumental sculptures: Rose B. Simpson in “Everyday Icons” – Season 11 – “Art in the Twenty-First Century” | Art21

Rose Simpson at the Jack Shaiman Gallery

Avis Charley: New to Nevada: Avis Charley

The Growing Thunder Collective

Pathfinder: 40 Years of Marcus Amerman

From the New York Times: Kay WalkingStick: Reframing the American Landscape

 

G301 (Reimagining Native/American Art) Feel free to walk into 302 as well.

(NOTE: This exhibition closes on May 27. For the May 30 and 31st public tours, guides will station in the Prairie School galleries, G300)

Watch Jill and Bob’s training on this gallery installation.

Wing Young Huie, Kids Playing in Frogtown (see Art Adventure set, American Stories, for information)

Christi Belcourt, here is the PDF of some of the flora and fauna depicted:

It’s a Delicate Balance – flora and fauna

Eva Zeisel–Town and Country by Eva Zeisel

Eva Zeisel in Chicago Tribune: EVA DOES IT

Charles Biederman: The Sage of Red Wing

 

G364 (American Gothic)

From the Mia blog: The Minnesota legacy of Gordon Parks, a life of seeing and being seen

Here is a link to the training with Curator Casey Riley, from January 9:

Training on Gordon Parks exhibition

Here are the panels, labels, and subpanels in the exhibition:

GCA242167_GordonParks_Panels V2

GCA242167_GordonParks_SubPanels FINAL

GCA242167_GordonParks_Labels FINAL

 

G373 (and feel free to wander into G374)

Check out Dennis Jon’s training on Part 2 of this Collage/Assemblage exhibition.

If you go into G374, Joe Minter’s assemblage provokes lots of conversation. Learn more about Joe Minter by listening to Mia’s podcast, The Object: Yard Show:  The World According to Joe

 

February 2024 BHM tour

Here are some resources for the February in-gallery public tour, Celebrating African American Art, as part of Black History month celebrations.

First, here is a link to all African American art currently on view at Mia (updated for March 2024).

 

Here is a link to the Cross Currents public tour sign-up, where gallery assignments are noted.

 

Here is the training by Jean Ann Durades on January 18:

Part 1: G301-304

Part 2: G322

Part 3: G353 (not on Cross Currents, but good artworks to include on BHM private tours)

Part 4a: G364/365

Part 4b: G364/365

 

2024 self-guided tour flyer:

2024 Self-Guide Template Celebration of African American Art QR final

 

Here is a link to Bisa Butler’s talk.

 

From your colleague Marne Zafar, a detailed tour outline:

Black Heritage-History Tour Notes FEB 2024

 

Galleries 303 (also can access 301, 302, and 304)

Nellie Mae Abrams, “Housetop” quilt

Gee’s Bend quilt information, Mia blog

Lamar Peterson: A Self-Portrait

Leslie Barlow (move ahead to 10 minutes in the video): studio visit

Leslie Barlow’s MAEP exhibition and her talk, recorded

Renee Stout, Biography (also includes a pic of Soul Regenerator)

Object file on Henry Bannarn’s Cleota Collins

Photo of Cleota Collins

 

Gallery 322

Bisa Butler, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Notes from Josie Owens from a convo with Bisa Butler:

“Bisa tried to imagine their past and future personalities. The symbols refer to how she sees them. The fan is a symbol of success. In Ghana in the markets the more lucrative businesses have electricity and can offer fans to their customers. This woman will be a successful businesswoman. The hearts are on the skirt of the woman who looks like the kind friend. The bling is for the woman who is the fashionista. The high heels refer to Michelle Obama’s inauguration heels. She’s a leader and powerful. She said that she had to redo the face of the fan woman. She didn’t like how she looked.”

Video of Jean Ann’s tour, including Joshua Johnson’s painting. (and Bannarn’s Cleota Collins)

Winfred Rembert’s obituary

Video: Patsy Rembert introduces ‘Winfred Rembert. All of Me’ in New York

From the Mia blog: “I wanted people to know”: The moving history behind Winfred Rembert’s “The Beginning”

From Kate Christianson, a great documentary about Rembert now streaming online at Amazon Prime:

All Me: The Life And Times Of Winfred Rembert

 

Galleries 364/365: American Gothic: Gordon Parks and Ella Watson

From the Mia blog: The Minnesota legacy of Gordon Parks, a life of seeing and being seen

Also, from The Object podcast: to come

Here is a link to the training with Curator Casey Riley, from January 9:

Training on Gordon Parks exhibition

Here are the panels, labels, and subpanels in the exhibition:

GCA242167_GordonParks_Panels V2

GCA242167_GordonParks_SubPanels FINAL

GCA242167_GordonParks_Labels FINAL

 

PBS video from Jean London:

Why Gordon Parks’ Most Famous Photo Almost Wasn’t Released

 

From Rose Stanley-Gilbert:

This is a SHORT NPR article with lots of pictures. If someone wants to know about Gordon Parks — this will tell you the many AMAZING and creative things he did.

https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/06/10/1102645123/gordon-parks-photography

Background on the FSA:

From Mary Costello:
and

Galleries 375 (also can access G376)

A catalog of James Phillips’ works that includes Cosmic Connection

Joe Overstreet’s work discussed (28:24 on video) in Curatorial training in 2019

William Edmondson, Ram (see Jean Ann’s tour video posted under G322–and check out the Art Adventure set, Artist’s Inspirations, of which the Ram is part.)

Curator Bob Cozzolino’s training on Bob Thompson and Beauford Delaney: Kunin Collection Focus on Bob Thompson, January 10, 2019

December 2023 public tour: Cross Currents

Our December public tour is in-gallery conversations (Cross Currents). Guides will be stationed in G243, G250 or 254, G357, and G362.

Cross Currents Flyer Template_December 2023 public tour

The theme is “Celebrating the Season: learn how countries around the world celebrate the season of rebirth and renewal.”

Training for this tour is already available, December 2022. Click on this link to access the Tour Break information from last year for Yalda, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas.

 

 

Resource page for November 2023 public tour, Arts of Native America

The November tour theme is:

Arts of Native America
Experience the role of tradition and innovation in superb works of Native American Art.

General condensed Native relations statement:

The museum resides on the homelands of the Dakhóta people and their Anishinaabe and Ho-Chunk neighbors. Through gallery installations and future exhibitions, Mia pledges to make visible the creativity and ingenuity of Native artists from the past, the present, and the future.

From your colleague, Marne Zafar, a tour of Native American art, including works in the new reinstallation in G259-261:

Who Are We. Who We Are. Americas Tour 2023-2024 FINAL

 

Check out the Lyrical Art of Jim Denomie resource page (link here) for information on that exhibition.

Check out the tour break and other school tour materials on this topic, at this link.

Check out the Reimagining Native/American Art resource page for information on that gallery reinstallation at this link.

 

Check out our self-guided tour flyer for November:

Native American Heritage Month self guided tour

Peer resources:

Meet the Artist: Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo)

Resource page for October 2023 Cross Currents: Telling Stories

In the October 2023 Cross Currents, the theme is Telling Stories: Gather around works of art to look, listen, and tell your own stories.

Guides will be stationed in Galleries 213, 280, 365, and 379. Following are some resources for each gallery, to help prepare for your assignments. If you find additional resources you wish to share with your peers, email those to Debbi or Kara to add here.

Gallery 213

Check out all objects on view in G213

Enshrined Buddha, 1850, with audio stop

and Burma Enshrined Buddha Object File

And article on an enshrined Buddha in the Asian Art Museum collection:

Crowned and bejeweled Buddha image and throne

Ceremonial vessel in the form of a Water Buffalo, 1000-300 BCE (this is an Art Adventure object, so check out the booklet with its entry, in People and Their Environments)

Thailand Walking Buddha object file

Java Ganesha object file

Prajnaparamita, late 12th-early 13th century (with audio stop)

General information on Buddhism:

Introduction to Buddhism and subsequent articles, Khan Academy

Buddhism/Hinduism/Jainism, lecture by Debbi Hegstrom, 2019

 

Gallery 280

Jim Denomie, lecture with Nicole Soukup:

Curator lecture on the Lyrical Art of Jim Denomie

Video playing in the exhibition: The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie, exhibition video

Video interview with Jim Denomie from the Muskegon Museum of Art: Jim Denomie: Challenging the Narrative  (note, great information is included about some works in our show.)

From the Bockley Gallery: Jim Denomie bio

 

Gallery 365

Gallery training (video link) with Associate Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Leslie Ureña.

Another Look exhibition page on Mia website

 

Gallery 379

How might visitors feel when they find out the “true story” of the missing curator is a fiction? What are visitor expectations of the information they find in the museum? What is a period room and how does it “tell a story”?

Mark Dion (pronounced Die-On), Curator’s Office (we recommend bringing a little flashlight with you to point out details within; flashlights are by the attendance clickers.)

Here is the ArtStory on the Curator’s Office. Click on “Details” and “More” in the tab headings to learn great details to point out to visitors.

Here is a video of Mark Dion discussing the work.

Articles about the work:

Artforum: Mark Dion speaks about his latest installation

ArtNews: The Curator Vanishes: Period Room as Crime Scene

Bio and more: Mark Dion: Art 21

 

 

New World Objects of Knowledge

A new research resource from your colleague Kay Miller:

New World Objects of Knowledge compressed

“A stunning, richly illustrated hardback cataloging key artifacts from across Latin American art, nature, and history.

From the late fifteenth century to the present day, countless explorers, conquerors, and other agents of empire have laid siege to the New World, plundering and pilfering its most precious artifacts and treasures. Today, these natural and cultural products—which are key to conceptualizing a history of Latin America—are scattered in museums around the world.

With contributions from a renowned set of scholars, New World Objects of Knowledge delves into the hidden histories of forty of the New World’s most iconic artifacts, from the Inca mummy to Darwin’s hummingbirds. This volume is richly illustrated with photos and sketches from the archives and museums hosting these objects. Each artifact is accompanied by a comprehensive essay covering its dynamic, often global, history and itinerary. This volume will be an indispensable catalog of New World objects and how they have helped shape our modern world.”