Videos

July 2023 Cross Currents Public Tour: Fresh Perspectives

This resource page will contain information to help prepare for a July 2023 Cross Currents assignment.

Cross Currents Flyer Template_July 2023 public tour

Theme of the tour: 

Fresh Perspectives on Art: Reflect on evolving museum practices as we reimagine what art is and view artworks paired in unexpected ways.

Gallery 230 (Rotunda)

Thematic connection:

In the past, the Rotunda showcased the Classical sculpture of ancient Greece and Rome, giving prominence to the Eurocentric view of art history, where Classical sculpture is seen as one of the high points of (predominantly male) artists’ achievements. Now, the Rotunda is showcasing new accessions to Mia’s collection, better reflecting the diversity in the museum’s collection and the current curatorial approach to collecting and displaying work from artists (women and BIPOC) who historically have not had representation in these gallery spaces.

Artworks, see accession proposals for artworks on display:

Spring 2023 Rotunda Rotation Guide Proposals

Visitors might be interested in learning more about some of the other new gallery reinstallations or approaches.  You can send them to check out the Americas galleries, to explore the contemporary work on display:

How to Shift Museum Space to Native Place

For Shiva and Parvati with Companions:

Mia blog post

Visit the colorful and vibrant South and Southeast Asian galleries:

With New Light: Mia’s Reinstalled Himalayan, South, and Southeast Asian Art Galleries

as well as Pujan’s training with us (search Pujan Gandhi to find the recording)

For the Chief’s Blanket: Navajo Chief’s Blankets: Three Phases

and Navajo Weaving Methods

For Lamar Peterson, a great article: Lamar Peterson: A Self-Portrait

From Kate Christianson, a gallery with good info on Navajo weaving: Donald Ellis Gallery

 

Gallery 255

Thematic connection:

Gallery 255 is set up as a mini-exhibition, “Night Life,” which presents 20 artworks from across Africa that address the various ways nighttime was, and in some cases still is, perceived and experienced. With the sounds of African nightlife in the background, these artworks speak to the richness and vitality of life after the sun goes down.  Here the curator attempts to evoke a greater understanding of the context for the works by use of sound as well as a dark blue on the walls.

Note connections to some “fresh perspectives” on display in G250/254 (see articles below). For example, ancient Egypt art is included within the African galleries, reflecting a Curatorial approach to reconnect all aspects of African history. In the past, ancient Egyptian art was included within the ancient art galleries.

Articles about the African galleries re-design:

Inside the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s New, Improved African Art Galleries

Redesigned African Art Galleries To Open at MIA

Africa revisited: How the new galleries will change the way you see art museums

 

Gallery 318

Thematic connection:

Period rooms like our French salon used to be very static spaces, filled with decorative arts and furniture from that specific era of the room. With the Living Rooms Initiative, Mia sought to reinvigorate and reinterpret these spaces. Now the Salon is set up to reflect the use of the room, with a soundtrack and lighting scheme meant to better give a sense of its original context.

(Note: Bring a flashlight to this room to use, as it does become quite dark!)

Articles on the initiative:

Up All Night in the 1700s

Living Rooms: The Period Room Initiative

Mia’s Period Rooms

ArtStory on the Salon

Labels and panels:

Grand Salon labels and panels

Other notes:

Grand Salon_DH notes

 

Gallery 375

Thematic connection:

In this gallery, focus on the idea of “fresh perspectives” from artists, in the inventive use of traditional materials (e.g., Joe Overstreet’s canvases) and use of new materials, previously not seen in museum spaces (e.g., Harmony Hammond’s Chicken Lady). Also, in this gallery we have a focus on better representation of the diversity in modern art, with works by BIPOC and women artists prominently showcased.

Recording of training with Curator Bob Cozzolino:

Gallery 375 training 06.15.23

Bonus training G322 06.15.23

Resource page for ReVisión: Art in the Americas

This is the resource page for the summer 2023 exhibition ReVisión: Art in the Americas. “Ancient and contemporary artworks help us connect to land, people, and place in this exhibition from the Denver Art Museum’s Ancient and Latin American collections.”

July 1, 2023 – September 17, 2023 (Touring July 11 to September 10)

Panels:

ReV_Panels_Subpanels_AllSections

Labels:

(These are final as they will appear on the wall and cases. Note that the Mia objects in the exhibition are separated in the labels and are at the end of this PDF.)

Labels for ReVision 06.29.23

 

These are labels inserted into the checklists:

FINAL ReVision Labels_Mia objects

FINAL ReVision Labels_EDIT

Exhibition fact sheet:

ReVision Fact Sheet_guides

Curator Lecture:

Recording of lecture 6.20.23

PowerPoint lecture slides:

ReVision_Guides June 23_VP

Here are the checklists from DAM and from Mia additions:

ReVision Checklist_final

ReVision additions_Mia

Here is the layout:

To come

 

PDFs of the photo props:

Photos for ReVision tours_ Map of Latin America

Photos for ReVision tours_ Cochineal

Photos for ReVision tours_ Tossin

Photos for ReVision tours_ Ceiba and Quetzal

Photos for ReVision tours_ Potosi

Photos for ReVision tours_ Templo Mayor model (1)

Photos for ReVision tours_ Contemporary artists

 

For family-friendly or youth tours, a resource list. This link takes you to a Google Doc, and you can download a PDF of it. Please feel free to add any ideas or experiences to the document:

Family-friendly artworks in ReVisión

 

Various support articles from staff and guides:

Additional resources from Rafael on Latin American history

StarTribune article: Governments are gathering to talk about the Amazon rainforest

For an overview of ancient and colonial Americas, check out the SmartHistory unit: The Americas to 1900 . This includes various articles on ancient Mesoamerican cultures, ancient Andean cultures, South American (1500-1800), and Latin American art (1800-1900).

Article about Clarissa Tossin. Encontro das Águas [Meeting of Waters/Encuentro de las aguas], 2016. From JOAN Gallery (link here)

Cochineal dye, Video: Cochineal Bugs Create Red Dye: A Moment in Science

Smarthistory: Cochineal

(Short video) Nature by Design: Cochineal | Gloria Cortina

Smarthistory: Featherwork (from Mesoamerica)

From the Library of Congress: For Love, War, and Tribute: Featherwork in the Early Americas

From Hyperallergic: Plumage of the Saints: Aztec Feather Art in the Age of Colonialism

A video on Carlos Cruz-Diez, What is a Physichromie? | Carlos Cruz-Diez

From ArtNews: How I Made This: Sandy Rodriguez’s Pigments from Indigenous History

Inscription of Rafael Ochoa: Painters of African Descent in Colonial Spanish America

From the Met Museum: Gold in the Ancient Americas

Information on the painting of the Cerro Rico, Potosi.

BOLIVAR’S PLATTER: LA BANDEJA DE BOLÍVAR (video)

Artist profile: Sandy Rodriguez, LA Times, How artist Sandy Rodriguez tells today’s fraught immigration story with pre-Columbian painting tools

Video showing Chiachio and Gianonne embroidering and discussing their work.

An article from the Getty on Sandy Rodriguez: Unearthing the Secrets of Color

Video about Clarissa Tossin and her artwork, 7 minute mark, Meeting of the Waters: Encontro das Águas (Meeting of Waters) | Clarissa Tossin || Radcliffe Institute

Sandy Rodriguez, podcast: “From Invasive Others Toward Embracing Each Other” (discusses her codex, 9 minute mark)

CAA review of ReVision in Denver

From The Cornell Lab: What Is The Essence Of Iridescence? Ask A Hummingbird

Online article on corn paste sculptures:  God figures made of corn stalk paste

Also an article on corn pith sculptures from Smarthistory

Brief Video:  Sebastião Salgado on ‘Serra Pelada, Gold Mine, Brazil’

Longer interview: pedro reyes + carla fernández on practice and personal life for friedman benda’s “design in dialogue”

Serpent in St. John’s cup (featherwork): St. John with Serpent in Chalice

A modern use of the quipu profiled on PBS: Brief But Spectacular PBS July 19, 2023

Virgin of the Mountain, Potosi: Virgin of the Mountain of Potosi, 1720

Recipe for cochineal dye/instructions: Pretty in Pink

Catalog from Gloria Cortina, with more pictures of the inside of the Bullet cabinet:

Gloria Cortina Catalog

 

 

 

 

Caravaggio exhibition

To sign up or review Caravaggio Ask Me shifts, here is a link to the sign-up:

Sign up sheet for Caravaggio Ask Me shifts

 

Here are the videos of Rachel McGarry’s in-gallery training on 4.18.23:

Caravaggio Part 1

Caravaggio Part 2

 

Here are the panels:

CUR231906_Caravaggio_Intro_Texts_V3

Here are the labels:

EUR231905_Caravaggio_Wall_Labels_V4

 

Additional collection connections:

Essential Characteristics of Baroque Art

Council of Trent and Catholic Reformation

 

Research resources:

Barberini: CARAVAGGIO (MICHELANGELO MERISI) (MILAN 1571 – PORTO ERCOLE 1610): Judith Beheading Holofernes

Biography of Caravaggio on The Art Story

Biography from the National Gallery, UK

From Khan Academy, a great article that discusses his influence: Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-Century Europe

The story of Beatrice Cenci (mentioned by Rachel)

Sebastian Schütze, Caravaggio: The Complete Works (Taschen)

Catherine Puglisi, Caravaggio (Phaidon)

Helen Langdon, Caravaggio: A Life (Farrar Straus & Giroux)

Guilio Mancini, Lives of Caravaggio (J. Paul Getty Museum)

Rosella Vodret, ed., Caravaggio The Complete Works (Silvana Editoriale)

Andrew Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred & Profane (W. W. Norton & Company)

Related books of interest:

Letizia Treves, Artemisia (National Gallery of London)

Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi (Princeton University Press)

Ludovica Rambelli’s Malatheatre Theater Company Caravaggio staging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIeyulbiB0A&t=11s

 

Religious Literacy Workshop: Cultural Fluency Spring 2023

Part 1 of our Spring 2023 cultural fluency training was the lecture by Dr. Jeanne Kilde, Director of Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota, on March 30, 2023. Here is a link to the recording:

Religious Literacy Workshop: Developing Your Practical Toolkit for Talking about Religious Art with the Public

Dr. Kilde provided some handouts for this session:

Religious Diversity in Minnesota Timeline (1)

Religious Diversity Overview of US Religious Landscape Final (1)

Here is a PDF of Dr. Kilde’s slides:

PPT FINAL-MIA Religious Literacy for Guides (1)

If you attended in person, you filled out a feedback form after the lecture. so you do not need to complete any extra feedback. We were able to record your attendance at the event.

If you were unable to attend, please watch the recording, then take a minute to fill out this brief feedback form to receive attendance credit for the session:

Feedback form for Part 1 of training: Religious Literacy Workshop

 

Safety and Security training with Ross Guthrie

Here is the video of our safety and security training with Mia’s Director of Security, Ross Guthrie:

Safety training with Ross Guthrie 3.15.23

Here is the procedure that Ross discusses in his talk, including the list of safe places on each floor, in the facilities lockdown update:

Facilities Lockdown Procedure Updates revised 7.16.18

A separate message is being sent to ask guides to join the museum’s Omnilert system. This system sends emergency alerts as well as weather closures to your cell phone. If you miss the deadline included in that message and wish to be part of the Omnilert system, contact Kara and Debbi directly.

Miao textiles and silver jewelry/hats

From Wikipedia: According to the 2000 censuses, the number of ‘Miao’ in China was estimated to be about 9.6 million. The Miao nationality includes Hmong people as well as other culturally and linguistically related ethnic groups who do not call themselves Hmong. These include the Hmu, Kho (Qho) Xiong, and A-Hmao. The White Miao (Bai Miao) and Green Miao (Qing Miao) are Hmong groups.

Here is something I found about the silver hats on display: Silver Ornaments of the Miao Ethnic Group
And an exhibition by the Bowers Museum, on Miao silver: https://www.bowers.org/index.php/current-exhibition/miao-masters-of-silver

A short video:

Miao Textiles at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

 

Resource page for Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes

This is our resource page for the Special Exhibition Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes

Exhibition runs: March 4, 2023 – May 21, 2023

Stop and Chat station scheduled Thursday through Sunday, 1 to 3 PM, March 9 to May 14, 2023.

Stop and Chat training video 3.7.23

Stop and Chat Eternal Offerings (1)

 

This show does not have labels or panels inside. Here are the three panels at the entrance to the show:

EO_Panels_FINAL

Here are the poems shown on the walls in the intro gallery:

EO_Poetry_Installed FINAL

Eternal Offerings info sheet:

Eternal Offerings Info Sheet for guides

Curator Yang Liu’s lecture on 2.16.23:

Eternal Offerings exhibition lecture

 

Exhibition Guide, describing the different rooms within the exhibition:

EO_Exhibition Guide_FINAL

Exhibition checklist:

This is online, available at this link.

Gallery layout:

See exhibition guide for description of layout.

 

Didactics for the Stop and Chat:

Timeline:

EO_Timeline_Diagram_

Map of Bronze Age China:

EO_BronzeAgeChinaMap

Typology of bronzes and handout with information:

Vessel_Types_Diagram_45x36_ChineseTransl

Chinese Bronze Vessels with image

 

Stop and Chat information

pronunciation guide (1)

Touch Props on Eternal Offerings Stop and Chat (1)

Chinese Bronze Age_rev

 

Digital resource page for the exhibition:

Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes

 

Collection of 3D scans of Mia bronzes:

Sketchfab scans

Annotated bronze scans

 

Chinese ritual bells (video provided by Yang Liu):

Bianzhong of Marquis Yi – Traditional Chinese Bells

 

Previous video on Mia’s Bronzes:

Chinese Bronzes, Of Us and Art: The 100 Videos Project, Episode 19

 

Information about Chinese art is posted in two locations on the guide website:

China Art Cart Manual and training (2017)

Class sessions on Chinese art from 20015/2016:

Ancient China/Japan, October 2015

Han to Tang China, January 2016

Han/Yuan, May 11 2016

Ming/Qing, September 2016

 

Resources shared by Mia Educators:

Chinese Art Timeline

Chinese ritual bronzes AI

From Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (MMA):

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm

Orientations article by Yang Liu:

Yang Liu_Eternal Offerings_03Feb23

Orientations article by Matthew Welch:

Matthew Welch_Eternal Offerings_06Feb23

 

From the National Museum of Asian Art:

Bronze Age Casting

From the Metropolitan Museum, an exhibition guide:

The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the People’s Republic of China at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Three short videos on bronze casting, good animations to illustrate casting process to visitors:

Harvard Online, shows how engravings achieved: How ancient Chinese bronzes were created

Asian Art Museum, better animation showing bronze flowing in: Casting Bronze Vessels: The Piece-mold Process

Art Institute of Chicago, shows how final vessel was golden: Mirroring China’s Past: The Piece Mold Process

From Khan Academy:

Shang Dynasty, an introduction (with bronzes discussed in a couple articles)

Zhou Dynasty, an introduction

From China.org.cn, some information on foods/drink prepared in the bronze vessels:

3,000 year old food for thought

 

Resources shared by guides:

From Mingjen Chen: Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn

From your colleague Manju Parikh, a short video on the taotie from PBS.

Tour Break: Winter Solstice December Cross Currents 11.17.22

Here is the recording of the training for the December 2022 Cross Currents public tour, Winter Solstice:

Tour Break: Winter Solstice December Cross Currents

Here is the chat:

Chat for December Cross Currents

Here are the presentation slides, with the resources:

Tour Break_ Winter Solstice Cross Currents

And here are the best practices for engagement from guides who have given multiple Cross Currents tours, and some information and reminders about the tour format:

Best Practices for Cross Currents tours

 

Required cultural fluency training on 11.9.22

Here is a recording of the training with Dr. Abdul Omari. This training video will only be accessible until January 15, 2023:

unavailable

Here is the participant guide from Dr. Omari:

Mia.ParticipantGuide

Here are the real scenarios we discussed:

Final draft with questions_ Scenarios for 11.9.22

 

If you attended the training, here is a link to the feedback form:

Feedback form for attendees to on-site training

 

If you were unable to attend the session, here is a link to the online training form, complete with feedback sections:

Online training and feedback form for those who were unable to attend the session

Form letters and lead guide checklists for adult tours (11.1.22)

Recording of Brown Bag session on 11.1.22, lead guide responsibilities:

Adult Guide lead guide responsibilities

Slides for Adult lead guide responsibilities:

Lead guide for Adult Tours

Tour contact letter:

Form letter to send adult tour contacts (rev 11.03.22)

Lead Guide Checklist:

Lead Guide Checklist for Adult Tours (rev. 11.03.22)

Map with tour route starting points:

Starting areas for routes of topic tours

 

Group Tour Guidelines:

English: LIN221358 Update Guided Tour Guidelines_FINAL

All 4 languages (Somali, Hmong, Spanish, and English):

Combined Guided Group Guidelines