Live from LA

I’m in Los Angeles for the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums. I’m not only attending programs, I’m also a presenter, which comes with a degree of anxiety.

My session, “Cultivating Communities: Museum Outreach in Healthcare Settings,” was among those offered in the first time slot. That’s not all bad; I had less time to stress in anticipation.

Joining me on the panel were Anna Kichorowsky from the Austin Museum of Art, Texas, and Sheri Levinsky from the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York City.

Anna chaired the panel, and her excellent organizational skills kept us on track as we prepared for the trip to LA. Before meeting face-to-face, we had two conference calls and jointly edited and merged our three Power Point presentations online (thanks to a way-cool program). Once in LA, we met to review our presentation and then got together again the next morning. Our meetings and preparations contributed to our camaraderie and also to the success of our panel program.

Anna’s remarks focused on the Austin Museum of Art’s ARTventures program at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas; Sheri talked about the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s partnership with the New York City Department of Education Hospital Schools; and I presented the Woodson Art Museum’s Treasuring Memories program, offered with Aspirus Hospice & Comfort Care, and SPARK!, cultural programming for people with memory loss.

A receptive audience appreciated our commitment to deliver information that could be put to use to create sustainable, effective, and inspiring museum-healthcare partnerships in their own institutions and communities. Attendees asked excellent questions and also shared experiences.

Since presenting on Sunday, many colleagues have thanked us and also let us know that they can’t wait to get back to their museums to make contact with local hospitals and medical centers to start collaborating. Knowing that we created a spark made the planning and even the stressing worthwhile.

I head back to Wisconsin as this blog entry is posted. I’m confident that the messages Anna, Sheri, and I delivered will resonate with those who attended our session. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with talented and caring colleagues from other parts of the country who share my passion and commitment for outreach programs that touch and serve those in the healthcare system.

A Howling Good Time

Taking a professional portrait photograph isn’t easy. The subject poses for the camera and multiple shots often are required from various angles and light settings just to get the photograph right.

If the subject is a young child, this process is that much more difficult, especially if the child has to hold a pose for any length of time.

Now change the subject to a dog and add an audience of up to 50 elementary students, their teachers, chaperones, and visitors to the mix, and you have a feel for what it was like for photographer Butch McCartney during his residency at the Woodson Art Museum last week.

Over a four day-period, Butch demonstrated his photographic techniques to more than 1000 students and visitors. He explained how dogs don’t easily pose and so you just have to take what they give you.

While observing Butch at work, I realized there’s a lot more to it than waiting for an energetic pooch to give you something to shoot. Check out this video and you’ll know what I mean.



Butch uses certain tricks to capture his canine subjects’ attention. As dog owners maneuvered their pets into good positions, Butch would begin to howl and yelp, which made most dogs stop, stare at him, and turn their heads in an inquisitive fashion.

Needless to say, students and visitors had a howling good time and Butch enjoyed himself as much as we enjoyed having him at the Art Museum.

You can view some of the photographs Butch took while in residence at the Woodson Art Museum by following this link.

Another (A)Typical Week

If I’ve learned anything working at the Woodson Art Museum, it’s that there is no such thing as a typical week. What’s going down this week in my office?

Working on a National Endowment for the Arts grant application for an exhibition that opens January 29, 2011: Good Designs: Stories from Herman Miller (he of the furniture design company).

Reviewing applications submitted for currently available part-time security guard positions.

Handling accounts payable matters. (I prefer handling accounts receivable!)

Drafting the events calendar copy for the summer exhibitions: The New Reality and Peanuts at Bat. An unusual pairing visually and copy-wise.

Prepping the first-go-round of Birds in Art opening weekend hospitality materials that we send to artists in early June. This year we’re doing it all electronically so it will take a bit more doing.

Helping with Butch McCartney’s evening “Man’s Best Friends” photo sessions. They started on Monday night and have been great fun thus far – or so I hear from Erin, Andy, Shari, and others. I don’t meet and greet the dogs and their owners until Thursday night. Wow! We had almost 150 people call to schedule a session for their dogs, and only had spots for about fifty. In the photo at right, schoolchildren get to know Carole Olson's therapy dog, Newton, a Newfoundland that's bigger than the kids!

Working with our designer, Richard Wunsch, on early Birds in Art preliminary ad concepts since deadlines for Bird Watcher’s Digest, Birder’s World, and Southwest Art are quickly approaching.

Putting together preliminary income and expense figures for the July 2010-June 2011 operating budget.

Checking out the Google Alerts that pop up daily related to the Woodson Art Museum and/or Birds in Art. Artists found out last Friday if their work was selected for the 35th annual exhibition this year, and many of them are posting their joy (or disappointment) on their blogs.

Plus updating Woodson Art Museum information on various websites, contacting media reps about Butch’s artist residency, keeping up with incoming e-mails. My favorite one is from a photo editor at Midwest Living, which is going to do a text/photo “item” on the Woodson Art Museum in their September/October issue. My cup ranneth over for joy when I read that one!

Just another (a)typical week.

Bow-Wow-Wow

If you haven’t been to the Woodson Art Museum lately, you’re missing out big time –especially those of you who, like me, love dogs.

The galleries are filled with wagging tails and tongues, canine and human smiles, perky and floppy ears, and paws down my favorite – the head tilt in inquisitive attention to a human’s question (see images below of Elliot Erwitt’s pug photo and my version with my canine pal, Dexter). Bottom line: I’m paws over tail about Elliott Erwitt: Dog Dogs and Canine Beauties: Sleeping or Otherwise, on view through June 20.

People, it only gets better!

Butch McCartney, the photographer featured in Canine Beauties: Sleeping or Otherwise, sets up his studio at the Museum May 11 – 14. Schoolchildren will be bow-wowed as he demonstrates his dog-attention-grabbing photography skills. Butch’s models will be a mix of Therapy Dogs of Central Wisconsin (TDI Chapter 184) during the day and Museum visitors’ dogs at three evening programs that will capture our Best Friends on film.

Come, Sit, Stay, and Enjoy the exhibitions and next week’s artist-in-residence. It’s sure to be a dog-good time!

For more information on Butch’s and the week’s schedule, call 715.845.7010.