This summer, the Dallas Museum of Art rolls out the red carpet to present the Summer Spotlight tour, inviting visitors to experience the romance, drama, action, and mystery of great works of art as they view them through a cinematic lens. Beginning in June and running through August, the Museum will highlight 30 of its masterworks, both old favorites in the collections and new acquisitions, to encourage viewers to look at great art in an exciting and different way.
In addition, Summer Spotlight will offer a multitude of special family-friendly programming, including the launch of the Late Night Friday Summer Block Party and special film screenings. Also premiering this summer is the DMA’s Wi-Fi enabled tours enhanced with video clips, audio excerpts, images, and more. Visitors can use their own Wi-Fi enabled phone or media player to access this material or borrow one at the Visitor Services Desk. The Museum will also provide its guests with a special gallery map to the “DMA Stars” featured in the program.
“We are excited about Summer Spotlight and the opportunities it offers for our visitors to connect with great works of art in a new way and to participate in a vast array of programs focused on art and the movies,” said Bonnie Pitman, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art.
The Summer Spotlight masterworks, encompassing all time periods and cultures and a broad range of media, are separated into four popular movie genres – Love and Romance, Action and Adventure, Drama, and Horror, Mystery and Suspense – and can be found on Levels 2, 3 and 4 of the Museum. With help from the Dallas Film Society, these works are spotlighted and feature special labels whose text encourages the visitor to think about the relationship of the artwork to the cinema.
For example, to illustrate Action and Adventure, the DMA places its favorite superhero, Vishnu as Varaha, “center stage” in the Asian Art gallery. Like Superman, the 10th-century Indian god Vishnu takes on a special form in times of great need. In the sculpture, he becomes a boar called Varaha, who saves the beautiful earth goddess Prithvi. While looking at the work, the DMA suggests visitors make their own “Movie Connection” and think of other movies with superheroes, such as Superman and The Neverending Story.
Love and Romance are easy to see in the works by 18th-century American portraitist John Singleton Copley titled Woodbury Langdon and Sarah Sherburne Langdon. Sarah Sherburne was 16 years old when she married Woodbury Langdon in 1765 and these portraits capture the young couple as they wanted to be remembered: powerful, stylish, and affluent. Here, visitors can make a “Movie Connection” by remembering such popular films as When Harry Met Sally and Love Story.
And for Horror, there’s Hitchcock. The DMA’s painting of Lighthouse Hill by Edward Hopper is known to have inspired several of the eerie scenes in the horror master’s films. Hopper created sketches for this painting during the summer of 1927 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, emphasizing the overwhelming stillness of the scene. Make a “Movie Connection” to a scary place and check out Vertigo and Psycho.
Take in some drama at the DMA with a classic, The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church. This larger- than-life oil painting is one of the DMA’s and Church’s finest works and easily brings back memories of the dramatic story of the Titanic. Make a “Movie Connection” and try to recall another favorite film where Mother Nature was the villain, such as The Perfect Storm.
Additional DMA favorites featured in the Summer Spotlight experience are Apollo and Diana Attacking the Children of Niobe by Jacques-Louis David, Portrait and a Dream and Cathedral by Jackson Pollock, Thomas Sully’s Cinderella by the Kitchen Fire, jaraik figures from Indonesia, the rain god Tlaloc from Mexico, and Kneeling female figure with bowl (olumeye) by sculptor Olowe of Ise of Nigeria.
With admission of $10 or less and offering free admission to kids under 12, the Museum hopes to remind visitors how inexpensive a trip to the art museum can be this summer. In addition to free admission on First Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, the Museum will offer free admission on all five Wednesdays in July this summer, thanks to Ovation TV and Time Warner Cable.
Beginning June 1, Summer Spotlight debuts its special programming. Highlighted activities that will run through the end of August include:
The First-Ever Late Night Summer Block Parties
On the third Friday of the month, June 19, July 17 and August 21, visitors can celebrate the Arts District with a Late Night Summer Block Party. From 6:00 p.m. until midnight, for $10 or less, come to the DMA, the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Crow Collection of Asian Art to enjoy outdoor films, concerts, strolling musicians, parades, artist demonstrations, Arts District tours, and family activities. Stay late for movie trivia, DJs in the galleries, and Soundtrack Karaoke. For a full schedule, visit DallasMuseumofArt.org.
Summer Spotlight Weekly Events
Families can take part in Summer Spotlight Weekly Events in the Center for Creative Connections every Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. Tuesday’s activity will be a Premier Interactive Family Tour. On Wednesdays, take part in Sketching in the Galleries for Kids. On Thursdays, show off your creativity with a Showdown at the Materials Bar. And on Fridays, join a resident storyteller for Summer Spotlight Story Time.
Summer Story Time with Arturo
Every Wednesday in June and July at 1:00 p.m. in the Center for Creative Connections, join the DMA’s fun and friendly mascot, the Peruvian parrot Arturo, for Summer Story Time with Arturo.
Films
Come to the DMA on selected Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. to view a variety of movies in the Theater in the Center for Creative Connections. On selected Fridays, come in from the heat and enjoy cinematic classics with Dinner and a Show Presented by the Robert J. O’Donnell Endowment Fund in the DMA’s Atrium Cafe.
Other programs for the summer that are included in general admission are lectures, tours, Gallery Talks every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m., Performances in the Galleries every Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and Tech Lab workshops and programs on selected Saturdays. For an additional fee, visitors can sign up for classes and camps at the Museum about animation, documentaries, sketching, and film. For details on classes or any programs, visit the DallasMuseumofArt.org.
Bonus Features
In addition to Summer Spotlight, the DMA is trying out something new this summer and wants visitors to take part in the experiment. The DMA has compiled exciting new materials on the selected works of art found in the Summer Spotlight tour that visitors can access via their Wi-Fi enabled phone or media player. These video clips, audio excerpts, images, and much more will give visitors new insight into their favorite works of art as well as recent additions to the collections. And visitors shouldn’t worry if they don’t have a Wi-Fi enabled phone or media player; they can borrow one from the DMA’s Visitor Services Desk. Details on this innovative experiment can be found at DallasMuseumofArt.org.
Promotional and creative support for Summer Spotlight provided by Dallas Film Society, Ovation TV, Time Warner Cable, The Big 96.3 KSCS, KVIL-FM Lite 103.7, and Dallas Child.
About the Dallas Museum of Art
Located in the vibrant Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) ranks among the leading art institutions in the country and is distinguished by its innovative exhibitions and groundbreaking educational programs. At the heart of the Museum and its programs is its encyclopedic collections, which encompass more than 23,000 works and span 5,000 years of history, representing a full range of world cultures. Established in 1903, the Museum today welcomes more than 700,000 visitors annually and acts as a catalyst for community creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse spectrum of programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings and dramatic and dance presentations. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
www.dm-art.org
