American Art Online Audio

a catalogue of audio recordings of lectures and conversations with artists, scholars and others

with content focusing on representational art listed by source name

and presented free of charge

 

 

Marymount Manhattan College

David Gilbert, a professor of communications at Marymount Manhattan College, worked with his students in 2005 to produce unofficial audio guides for art exhibited at MoMA. The audio guides are available as podcasts and they may be played on iPods while touring the museum. RocketBoom features a June 8, 2005 video interview with Dr. Gilbert and two of his students, explaining the project. BBC News television reported on it June 2, 2005 [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]and Randy Kennedy of the New York Times also reported on the audio guides in a May 28, 2005 article titled "With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the Museum Tour."[Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.] Audio guide segments include Max Beckmann's Family Picture, Tom Wesselmann's Still Life Number 30, Robert Rauschenberg's Bed, plus others. Accessed May, 2015
 
 

Metropolitan Museum of Art

An audio tour of the exhibition John Baldessari: Pure Beauty (11/15/10), part of the Museum's Audio Guide Program, was made available for visitors to download onto their own MP3 players, at no charge, from the Museum's website and from iTunes. The John Baldessari: Pure Beauty audio program is introduced by the Museum's Director, Thomas P. Campbell, and narrated by Marla Prather. It features a new interview with Baldessari -- recorded specifically for the Metropolitan's presentation of this exhibition -- as well as commentary from his students Barbara Bloom, James Casebere, and David Salle. [Link not found as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

Millard Sheets Center for the Arts

A 31 track podcast tour was provided by Millard Sheets Center for the Arts in the the Millard Sheets Gallery website. The Millard Sheets Gallery began as the Fine Arts Program of the L.A. County Fair -- art exhibitions have been an integral part of the Fair since its founding in 1922. Each year, the exhibits produced for the Fair have featured artists from not only Los Angeles, but also California, the nation, and throughout the world, and have presented contemporary as well as historical art in a variety of styles and media. In 1998, the Millard Sheets Gallery was incorporated as a nonprofit organization with the purpose of helping to fill a gap in the cultural opportunities available for Pomona-area residents. Since then, the Gallery's vision is to become a year-round arts venue, offering the people of Southern California an opportunity to experience diverse and progressive art exhibitions combined with lively educational programs, with the goal of encouraging new generations of art enthusiasts. [Link not found as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

Mississippi Museum of Art

For its 2008 exhibition This Mississippi Story, the Mississippi Museum of Art offered a 12-part audio guide tour for visitors that could be listened to on a Web page or downloaded before visiting the Museum. The tour coukl be played on an iPod or other portable device at the Museum. The audio tour was created by Acoustiguide. The Museum says of the exhibition: "This Mississippi Story exhibition portrays the history and culture of Mississippi through art, reflecting the national and international context of that story as well." The Museum says about the audio tours: "These tours give you in-depth, background information on the works of art you will see in the Museum's exhibitions, as well as information on the artists who created the work, the time period in which the art was made, and the broader context of life in that particular time period."(Link found expired as of 8/13/09 audit. Source site may contain this content via a revised URL)
 
 

Museum of Contemporary Craft

As of 2013 the Museum of Contemporary Craft provided on the Programs page of its website an archive with audio recordings of lectures. Accessed June, 2015.
 
 

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Mcast Audio providesd audio commentary for some of the exhibitions on view at the museum. Curators and other experts talked about the exhibitions and the works included in them. For The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890 - 1950, Emily Ballew Neff, MFAH curator of American painting and sculpture and curator of The Modern West exhibition, Barry Lopez, nature writer and author of one of the essays in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, and Richard Francaviglia, historian, geographer, and professor at the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies and the History of Cartography at the University of Texas at Arlington, talked about the exhibition and some of the works in the show. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, FL

The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg provided podcasts on its web site which could be downloaded by viewers. Examples are: Herb Snitzer: Celebrating Fifty Years in Photography, including talks with Chief Curator Jennifer Hardin; Compelling Visions: Florida Collects Folk Art presented by Chief Curator Jennifer Hardin. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture provided podcasts of lectures. Some lectures feature art included;
[Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

Museum of Modern Art, New York

MoMA offered the online service MoMAudio, featuring Modern Voices, "commentaries by dozens of curators, artists, critics, and conservators who share their perspectives on select artworks in the Museum's collection," Several covered artworks are by American artists. Website visitors could download the complete Modern Voices audio program for use with a portable MP3 player. The museum also offered Modern Kids which "offers four fun ways for children to explore works of art in the Museum's collection," and Special Exhibitions "providing audio commentary for many special exhibitions on view at the Museum." MoMA Audio is a collaboration between The Museum of Modern Art and Acoustiguide, Inc. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

MuseumPods the Social Media Network

MuseumPods offered "...Candid conversations with museum staff regarding technology, art, and exhibitions." with a Museum Podcast Directory with dozens of podcasts. (8/13/09 advanced search failed to locate content on source's site)

 

Nasher Museum of Art

The Barkley L. Hendricks page from the Nasher Museum of Art contained links to a video and podcast for the exhibition. In the podcast Curator of Contemporary Art Trevor Schoonmaker, artist Barkley L. Hendricks and other discussed "Barkley Hendricks: Birth of the Cool." [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art website contains an "Audio and Video" section including audio files concerning exhibitions and audio podcasts from an iTunes feed concerning American Art. There are several titles relating to African American Art. Following are number references from a list of 300 podcasts archived from November, 2011 to June, 2015: 102 [51 minutes], 111 [51 minutes], 113 [51 minutes], 153 [1 hour 12 minutes], 188 [44 minutes], 208 [1 hour 3 minutes], 270 [1 hour 13 minutes], 276 [1 hour 7 minutes], 277 [56 minutes], 278 [59 minutes], 281 [54 minutes], 283 [1 hour 3 minutes], 284 [1 hour 9 minutes], 285 [1 hour], 286 [59 minutes] Accessed July, 2015.
 
Note: As of a TFAO July, 2015 audit, the following audio titles could no longer be found from  NGA's Collecting of African American Art lecture series: "A Historical Overview," with Jacqueline Francis, independent scholar, 59 minutes, February 8, 2009; "A Peculiar Destiny: The Mission of the Paul R. Jones Collection," with Amalia K. Amaki, professor of art history, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and Paul R. Jones, collector, 84 minutes, February 24, 2008, "Reflections on Collecting," with Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and Dr. Walter O. Evans, collector, 83 minutes, February 17, 2008. References to the titles are retained for researchers. [TFAO is saving the citations for use by researchers.]

 

National Public Radio

National Public Radio provides archives of its radio program series. Many of the audio shows are accompanied by images of artwork being discussed. Examples include:

 

Nebraska Public Television / Museum of Nebraska Art

Nebraska Public Television archived MONA Moments on Nebraska Public Radio, written and narrated by Ron Roth, Director of the Museum of Nebraska Art. In the site's search box, visitors entered "mona moments" and chose "NET Websites" to access 137 episodes as of November 2008. The NPTV website said that Moments "...are designed to "educate and inform NPR listeners on Nebraska's visual art heritage, and to promote MONA." Each Moment, with 2 to 7 minutes of audio, has a separate web page containing a link to enable the viewer to replay the audio broadcast, a complete transcript of the audio, plus a thumbnail image of the art subject being covered to provide context. The thumbnail image is linked to a larger image with a caption on a separate page. The audio version of each Moment as presented on NPR is delivered on the Web in RealOne Player .ram file format. (8/13/09 advanced search failed to locate content on source's site)
 
 

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications

Listen to "When Things Speak: The Maquette" from NET Radio, February 1, 2015, which discusses "...Elizabeth Dolan's working sketch of a prairie woman...." Accessed December, 2015.
 
 
 

New Mexico Museum of Art

In October-November, 2006, Timothy Rodgers, Ph.D., Chief Curator New Mexico Museum of Art, presented in conjunction with the exhibition: Collecting Modernism: European Modernism the the Munson Williams-Proctor Art Museum a series of lectures including "A New Deck of Cards: the Armory Show" within its page for multimedia. Also included on the page were links to an audio tour titled "Courtyard Murals" and an audio tour for the exhibition How the West Is One, with 20 tracks relating to works in the exhibition. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

Odeo.com

Man Ray: Surrealist Meets Architect Published on Oct 28, 2006 in Arts. Odeo says: "Who contributes more to the public perception of a building, the architect or the photographer? For Harwell Hamilton Harris, a California architect in the 1930s and 40s, the photographer who helped make Harrisâs buildings famous was one of the 20th centuryâs most celebrated Surrealists -- Man Ray. Man Ray embraced the new ideas of art and culture, he was one of the leading spirits of DADA and Surrealism and the only American artist to play a prominent role in the launching of these two influential movements. He had never photographed architecture when Harris commissioned him to photograph three of Harris' most interesting houses. Man Rayâs architectural photos were unlike anything Harris had ever seen -- and Man Ray never photographed architecture again. We, who are interested in architecture and art, are the better for Man Rayâs short, but memorable side trip into architecture, when two great artists -- one a mild-mannered modernist, and one a Dada Surrealist -- met on sunny hillsides in Los Angeles and Berkeley and created works of art, in architecture and photography. For more information about Man Ray and his art, read Ingrid Schaffner's book, The Essential Man Ray (2003,The Wonderland Press, Harry. N. Abrams, publishers). To see Man Ray's work online, visit www.manraytrust.com. And see what's surreal at www.tedwells.com. Photograph of the Weston Havens House, Architect: Harwell Hamilton Harris; Photo by Man Ray, Copyright Man Ray Trust" [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]
 
 

Orange County Museum of Art

The Orange County Museum of Art is enabling individuals to use iPods and other MP3 players to better appreciate its exhibitions. For the Museum's Villa America exhibit (June 4 - October 2, 2005), the OCMA web site contained a 25-part audio tour of the exhibit which could be be downloaded by individuals before they visited the exhibit. The museum also made iPods available onsite for the use of visitors. Villa America explores the evolution of American art through masterpieces of America's foremost artists of the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition begins with a look at key American modernists working in Europe and New York during the first quarter of the century. In these early years, artists such as Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Gerald Murphy and Georgia O'Keeffe, to name just a few, were reshaping American art. (8/13/09 advanced search failed to locate content on source's site)
 
An audio tour module for Grant Wood's Return from Bohemia was available via Resource Library's article Villa America: American Moderns, 1900­1950 [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]
 
Through grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Getty Foundation the museum is placing its permanent collection online in a creative manner. A feature of the Collection Online is a section named "highlighted artists." As of March 2007 "highlighted artists" includes representational artists William Wendt, Ed Ruscha and Helen Lundeberg. For each artist there are sections including a brief biography, images of artworks, photo archives, audio and video clips, quotes and readings about the artist, and resources consisting of links to other websites. (Link found expired as of 8/13/09 audit. Source site may contain this content via a revised URL)
 
 
 

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The museum's first podcast was an overview of Granville Bruce: Old Texas on exhibit July 30 through October 30, 2005. It was produced by Buster Ratliff, PPHM Operations Coordinator, and includes a gallery talk by PPHM Curator of Art, Michael Grauer. Personal impressions of the exhibit are expressed by Shianne McCracken and Ryan Brantley, both students at West Texas A&M University and employees of the museum. See an article and an essay on the exhibit in Resource Library, a publication of TFAO. Organized by the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Granville Bruce consists of 70 oils, watercolors, and drawings, most of which are borrowed from the artist's family. The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum features podcasts regularly to its website through its Exhibits (Link found expired as of 4/24/09 audit. Source site may contain this content via a revised URL)page. As of early 2006 podcasts were not archived online.
 
 

Parrish Art Museum

The Parrish Art Museum provided on its website a page titled "Audio Guides." As of 12/6/10 the audio gudies included: WLIU Teen Tours through the Arts: Fairfield Porter, March 2009; WLIU Teen Tours through the Arts: William Merritt Chase, February 2009. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]
 
 
 

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

In connection with the exhibition The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World, held November 17, 2012 - April 7, 2013 at PAFA, the Web page for the exhibition includes an interview [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]
 


Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art provides numerous "Audio Tours," which are self guided tours of objects in the collections. Many cover American art history. Accessed June, 2015.
 
 

Portland Museum of Art

The Portland Museum of Art offered podcasts of Museum programs and exhibitions: For 2008 podcasts included:
In a 8/13/09 TFAO audit, the above content was not available on the podcasts page. The page included 2009 podcasts and two December, 2008 podcasts.
 


PBS

Artist Romare Bearden drew on his interests in religious ritual and classic literature to create beyond what the camera could capture in his depictions of urban African-American life in the 20th century. Jeffrey Brown reviews the artistic achievements of Bearden, which are celebrated in an exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This 8-minute audio clip is from a 1988 NewsHour with Jim Lehrer segment. Another 10-minute NewsHour segment includes a 1986 Charlayne Hunter-Gault interview with Romare Bearden.Accessed June, 2015.
 
Reclusive janitor by day, visionary artist by night, outsider artist Henry Darger moved through life virtually unnoticed. But after his death, a treasure trove was discovered in his one-room Chicago apartment: a staggering 15,000-page novel and hundreds of illustrations that continue to inspire artists around the world. Listeners take an interactive audio tour through several of Henry Darger's works, led by Brooke Davis Anderson, director and curator of the Contemporary Center at the American Folk Art Museum. Ms. Anderson is responsible for the care and cultivation of the contemporary objects by self-taught artists in the permanent collection as well as new acquisitions and exhibitions. She is also involved with programming and collaborative initiatives of The Contemporary Center and its special division, The Henry Darger Study Center. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center / Museum of Modern Art

 
MOMA received from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture a set of CD-Rs containing artists' lectures digitized from analog recordings of Skowhegan's artist faculty. The lectures were originally intended for use by the School's students and other artists. Through a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation the lectures were digitized and placed on DR-Rs, then disseminated to institutions including MOMA, where they are available to researchers. [audio material not found as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]

 

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