Art and Science of Glass

Much of the educational content we've created around the Chihuly Illuminated exhibition focuses on the science of glassblowing, neon illumination, and color. That's made me more curious about the relationships between glass art and science. Here are a few links to related articles I've come across recently:

Glass lenses are, of course, essential to the telescopes that make much of modern astronomy possible. This Wikipedia entry tracks the history of the telescope from its invention in 1608 through the digital age.

Blown-glass vessels are also essential to the science of chemistry. The Ohio State University's Department of Chemistry houses its own Scientific Glassblowing Laboratory. Be sure to check out their online gallery, which shows off some technique that blurs the line between art and function.

This artist creates glass sculptures of disease-causing viruses - an interesting artistic representation of what was first made visible via advanced microscope technology.

Everyone is familiar with neon light, but how does it work? This Scientific American article does a very thorough job of explaining just that.

-Jeff Sims, Educator for Adult Programs, Multimedia Producer

What is CMA’s Policy on Robots?

If I had a nickel for every time a visitor has asked about CMA's policy on robots...
I'd be broke.

But who knows, maybe that will be an issue someday. In a fun bit from radio program Studio 360, artist Marque Cornblatt sent his robot Sparky to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see if they'd let "him" in.

You can watch what happens in this audio slideshow. Follow the link and scroll down to "Robot as Connoisseur" to view it.

- Jeff Sims
Educator for Adult Programs/Multimedia Producer

Exciting Week

Giving you a little technology update at the museum here. This week we installed our new network switches that will power our computer systems. I can't show you everything but I can show you the stack to the right. Many of you won't know what that is, others will. What you should know is without that stack and the wonderful help of our contractors, none of the computers in Beaton Hall would work!

Next week is the final push with a new phone system being installed and at the end of the week staff moves over! This is a very exciting time. I know we have not added too many new photos to the Flickr Construction Gallery, but I hope to add more soon.  I look forward to serving the museum from my new office in Beaton Hall.

~Thomas Deliduka
Director of Information Technology

A Crowing Moment

I am very proud of our incredibly talented staff and relish the opportunity to brag about their many accomplishments. Charles Kleibacker, a renowned fashion designer and our adjunct curator of design, will have his work represented it the Fashion Institute of Technology's upcoming exhibition American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion.

Below is a picture of Charles with Gail Strege, myself, and Geraldine Schottenstein Hoffman at a recent event to recognize Martin and Geraldine Schottenstein Hoffman for the Lifetime Achievement in service to Beth Jacob Congregation.

Congratulations to Charles on yet another in a long list of accomplishments.

Nannette V. Maciejunes
CMA Executive Director

In the Eternal Quest to determine why people visit art museums…

As a not-for-profit cultural institution, we are constantly trying to find out why visitors come here and how we can make ourselves better known to people who may not have visited before.  One way we try to get people here is through major special exhibitions like our upcoming “Chihuly Illuminated.”  But then there’s our permanent collection, which quite honestly is a gem.  We have many world-class works of art that any art museum would be proud to own. 

But of course, I suppose you’d say that I am a member of the same choir that I am now preaching to.  I have been an inveterate art museum-visitor since about the age of six.  I love looking at art (maybe that’s a specific chromosome some people have) and so it follows that I love visiting art museums and art galleries.  But it’s not just the art, it’s the whole experience: the architecture of the building, the way the a museum visit progresses, the people one might meet and the occasional surprises one finds.  Art is a whole world that encompasses life, history, fascinating lives, and so I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to visit an art museum. 

Dominique H. Vasseur
Curator of European Art

From the"ArtJournal": "Why do people visit art museums?"  -- another study….from Rome (no, not New York…but Italia)

Study finds that visitors to a museum housing ancient art tended to describe their experience in cognitive terms, while those at a modern art museum were more likely to report they were emotionally engaged.

Why do people visit art museums? The answer depends on the type of art on display.

Viewing works of art engages both the mind and heart. But whether a museum visit is primarily an intellectual or an emotional activity depends upon the type of art on display, and the era in which it was created.

That's the conclusion of a study from the University of Rome, just published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts. The research team, led by Stefano Mastandrea, reports that visitors to a museum housing ancient art tended to describe their experience in cognitive terms, while those at a modern art museum were more likely to report they were emotionally engaged.

The researchers surveyed 137 visitors to two lesser-known art museums in the city of Rome: The Braschi, which features work from the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s, and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, which contains work dating from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Participants leaving the museums filled out questionnaires in which they described their motivation for visiting that day and answered questions designed to determine what personality profile they fit into.

The majority of visitors at both museums were women, although those at the modern art museum were on average 10 years younger than those at the ancient art museum. Education levels at the two locations were quite similar.

Asked their motives for visiting the museum, visitors at both institutions gave similar answers: The top reason was either "interest in the artists" or "to see the artworks in the original." More interesting were the second-most-frequent responses: At the modern art museum, patrons listed "the pleasure they feel during their visit," while at the ancient art museum, they chose "the desire for cultural enrichment."

Members of both groups scored high on the personality trait "openness to experience," but those at the modern art museum scored significantly higher on the "sensation-seeking" trait. When presented with a list of 10 emotions and asked which of them were elicited by their visit, they scored higher on every one than their counterparts who had viewed 17th- and 18th-century art.

"People who go to modern art museums are willing to go in search of sensation more than people who go to ancient art museums," the researchers conclude.

The good news for museum administrators is that no matter whether they were in search of intellectual or emotional stimulation, the vast majority of visitors reported they were satisfied with their experience. "Whether ancient or modern art museum," the researchers write, "they liked their visit very much."