Call for Nominations: Eldredge Book Prize
Deadline: January 15, 2026
The Smithsonian American Art Museum invites nominations for the 2026 Charles C. Eldredge Prize. Single-author books devoted to any aspect of the visual arts of the United States and published in the three previous calendar years are eligible. To nominate a book, send a letter explaining the work’s significance to the field of U.S.-American art history and discussing the quality of the author’s scholarship and methodology. Self-nominations and nominations by publishers are not permitted. Please send all nominations to eldredge@si.edu.
Learn more at americanart.si.edu/research/awards/eldredge.
Tag: American art
Forgotten Histories of New Deal Art in Florida — Living New Deal Webinar (Mar. 25, 2025, 5PM PST/8PM EST)
Forgotten Histories of New Deal Art in Florida
Tuesday, March 25, 5:00PM PST/8:00PM EST
Here is the link to register for the webinar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forgotten-histories-of-new-deal-art-in-florida-tickets-1257489247189?aff=oddtdtcreator
Description:
As one of the largest and oldest states in the American South, Florida, the Sunshine State, is a powerhouse of industry, leisure, entertainment and politics in the twenty-first century. It is also crucial for understanding the diverse history of New Deal art and public works. This webinar describes how New Deal emergency relief and recovery programs impacted Florida, particularly programs that funded the construction of public space and public access to art.
Co-hosted by Dr. Mary Okin, Living New Deal’s Assistant Director and head of the Advocating for New Deal Art initiative, and Jeff Gold, Member of LND’s New York City Chapter, the webinar features Dr. Mary Ann Calo and Dr. Keri Watson in conversation with one another about their research into Florida’s New Deal history. The talks will center on confronting the complex legacies of New Deal public works and public art programs in Florida in the twenty-first century, and the challenges of researching this era of Floridian history, as both scholars reconstruct the regional diversity, range of local participants, and just how many of Florida’s New Deal projects survive.
Speakers:
Dr. Mary Ann Calo is the Batza Professor Emerita of Art and Art History at Colgate University where she taught courses on the art of the United states, Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Arts and Public Policy. She is the author of numerous publications on the critical and institutional contexts that shaped discourse on African American art in the interwar decades. Her recent book, African American Artists and the New Deal Art Projects (Penn State University Press, 2023), explores the African American community’s participation in the “projects” in terms of intersecting issues of race, access, and opportunity. The book includes extensive archival research and new insights into the history of the Federal Art Project in Florida.
Dr. Keri Watson is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Central Florida and a specialist in the history of American art. Her most recent book Florida’s New Deal Parks and Post Office Murals (History Press, 2024) introduces general audiences to the history of New Deal public works with a general audience, exploring the rich history of state parks and post offices built in Florida between 1931 and 1946 under the auspices of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration, Civil Works Administration, Works Progress Administration, and Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture. Looking at Florida’s Depression-era parks and post offices in concert elucidates how the natural and built environments work together to constitute the cultural landscape and provides insight into the role of the federal government in Florida’s construction as an exotic and tropical paradise.
Jeff Gold, Living New Deal New York City Chapter
Jeff Gold is an urbanist who has earned his living as an acquisitions editor, a partner at new media partnership JIA, and director of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility (IRUM), an eco-transport nonprofit. He also chairs the steering committee of the Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign and serves on the board of the National Jobs for All Network. And he’s active in electoral politics at the local, state, and national level.
Webinar: “Hidden Histories: Rediscovering the Federal Art Project at the Saint Louis Art Museum”
Greetings,
I’m writing to announce the free Living New Deal webinar “Hidden Histories: Rediscovering the Federal Art Project at the Saint Louis Art Museum” at 5 PM Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
To register, click on the link below
We invite you to join us for a webinar with John Ott, Professor of Art History at James Madison University, and Amy Torbert, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of American Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and co-curator of the current exhibition The Work of Art: The Federal Art Project, 1935–1943. Their conversation will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the planning process for this show, relate forgotten and untold stories from our nation’s artistic past, and illuminate neglected contributions from women, immigrant, and minority artists.
Co-curated with Clare Kobasa, SLAM’s associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, The Work of Art presents a remarkable collection of artworks created amidst the hardship of the Great Depression. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched a series of national initiatives for the visual arts as part of the New Deal. The largest and most ambitious program, the Federal Art Project (FAP) (1935–43), put more than 10,000 artists on the federal rolls. The resulting artworks decorated municipal spaces, toured the nation in travelling shows, and eventually found homes in institutions across the country.
When the FAP ended in 1943, the Saint Louis Art Museum received a trove of 256 prints, drawings, watercolors, and paintings. This exhibition draws from this rich collection to explore how this federal program expanded opportunities to create and encounter art in many different communities, some of which had historically lacked the necessary infrastructure and support for the arts. By displaying work made by African American, Asian American, female-identifying, and immigrant artists, The Work of Art testifies to and keeps alive the New Deal’s ambition to nourish individuals and communities of every kind through the arts. Organized by geography, this showcase also reveals the complexities of the nation’s creative landscapes and art’s capacity to bridge communities near and far.
CFP: Disabilities and American Art Histories, American Art
Call for Papers:American ArtCommentaries
Disabilities and American Art Histories
Deadline: April 1, 2025
Co-organizers Laurel Daen and Jennifer Van Horn invite short essays that explore the intersections of disability studies and the histories of American art, architecture, and design; center disability in compelling and innovative ways; foreground critical disability studies methodologies; and conceptualize disability broadly. For details, visitjournals.uchicago.edu/journals/amart/cfp-disabilities-and-american-art-histories. The articles will be published in American Art, the peer-reviewed journal co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the University of Chicago Press, in 2026.
CFP: Thinking Art History and Black Studies Together, American Art Journal
Call for Papers:Thinking Art History and Black Studies Together
SAAM American Art Journal
Deadline: March 1, 2025
Co-organizers Tiffany Barber, Ariel Evans, and Cherise Smith invite short essays that investigate the methodological intersections between art history and Black studies, understood as both theory and practice; document the institutions and individuals who have championed them; and exemplify how thinking art history and Black studies together expands the roots and aims of both disciplines. For details, visit journals.uchicago.edu/journals/amart/cfp-thinking-art-history-and-black-studies-together. The articles will be published in American Art, the peer-reviewed journal co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the University of Chicago Press, in 2026.
Call for Nominations: 2025 Charles C. Eldredge Prize
Call for Nominations: 2025 Charles C. Eldredge Prize
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Charles C. Eldredge Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the museum for outstanding scholarship in the field of American art. A cash award of $3,000 is made to the author of a recent book-length publication that provides new insight into works of art, the artists who made them, or aspects of history and theory that enrich our understanding of America’s artistic heritage. The Eldredge Prize seeks to recognize originality and thoroughness of research, excellence of writing, clarity of method, and significance for professional or public audiences. It is especially meant to honor those authors who deepen or focus debates in the field, or who broaden the discipline by reaching beyond traditional boundaries.
Single-author books devoted to any aspect of the visual arts of the United States and published in the three previous calendar years (2022, 2023, 2024) are eligible. To nominate a book, send a one-page letter explaining the work’s significance to the field of American art history and discussing the quality of the author’s scholarship and methodology. Nominations by authors or publishers for their own books will not be considered. The deadline for nominations is January 15, 2025. Please send to: Eldredge@si.edu. Further information about the prize may be found at americanart.si.edu/research/awards/eldredge.
JOB: Registrar, David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland
Position Number: 130060
Title: Program Manager
Functional Title: Art Registrar
Category Status: 35-Exempt Contingent Category 2
Applicant Search Category: Staff
University Authorized FTE: 1.000
Unit: ARHU-David C. Driskell Center
Campus/College Information:
Founded in 1856, University of Maryland, College Park is the state’s flagship institution. Our 1,250-acre College Park campus is just minutes away from Washington, D.C., and the nexus of the nation’s legislative, executive, and judicial centers of power. This unique proximity to business and technology leaders, federal departments and agencies, and a myriad of research entities, embassies, think tanks, cultural centers, and non-profit organizations is simply unparalleled. Synergistic opportunities for our faculty and students abound and are virtually limitless in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas. The University is committed to attracting and retaining outstanding and diverse faculty and staff that will enhance our stature of preeminence in our three missions of teaching, scholarship, and full engagement in our community, the state of Maryland, and in the world.
Background Checks
Offers of employment are contingent on completion of a background check. Information reported by the background check will not automatically disqualify someone from employment. Prior to any adverse decision, finalists have an opportunity to provide information to the University regarding the background check.
The University reserves the right to rescind offers of employment or otherwise decline or terminate employment if the information reported by the background check is deemed incompatible with the position, regardless of when the background check is completed.
Offers are contingent on providing proof of employment eligibility in the United States no more than 3 days after the initial start date. If this proof is not provided within this timeframe, the offer may be rescinded or employment terminated.
Position Summary/Purpose of Position:
Serving as a member of the senior administrative team of the David C. Driskell Center, the Registrar supervises all aspects of registration activities pertaining to the permanent collections, loans, implementation of policies and procedures for acquisition, documentation, inventory, management, and disposition of the permanent collection and other objects in the Center’s custody. The Registrar also manages collections storage and will be the lead staff member on an upcoming migration to a new collections management database.
This is an in-person position. Telework may be available up to two (2) days per week, subject to approval.
Benefits Summary
Top Benefits and Perks: Exempt Benefits Summary
Minimum Qualifications:
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in an appropriate area of specialization; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
EXPERIENCE: 3 years of relevant professional experience.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, & ABILITIES:
– Demonstrated knowledge of professional museum practices, including registration methods, safe object handling and art preservation, packing and shipping, storage of art, security measures, and object numbering techniques.
– Knowledge of and demonstrated skill in collection management databases, Microsoft Word and Excel, and Adobe Photoshop.
– Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and written and verbal communication skills.
Preferences:
-MA in Museum Studies or related field preferred.
– Experience in the field of Collections Management, including long-term department and museum planning, supervising staff, and writing and managing budgets.
– Experience with loans, both international and domestic, is a plus.
– Some knowledge in the areas of artwork and items in the Museum’s care is preferred.
Additional Information:
This is a grant-funded, term position for three years. Salary range is $58,656 – $70,000.
Candidates must be able to provide proof of eligibility to work in the USA. No visa sponsorship is offered for this position.
The University also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including 22 Days Annual Leave; 15
Days Sick Leave; 3 Days Personal Leave; 15 Paid Holidays; Tuition Remission; Health, Dental, Vision and Prescription coverage.
This is an in-person position. Telework may be available up to two (2) days per week, subject to approval.
People who identify with historically marginalized groups based on gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality are especially encouraged to apply.
Job Risks: Not Applicable to This Position
Physical Demands:
Creating an object’s condition report may require prolonged standing and lifting of large/heavy art objects.
Posting Date: 10/31/2024
Closing Date:
Open Until Filled Yes
Best Consideration Date 12/06/2024
Diversity Statement:
The University of Maryland, College Park, an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, creed, marital status, political affiliation, personal appearance, or on the basis of rights secured by the First Amendment, in all aspects of employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
Terra Foundation for American Art Convening Grants
Letters of Inquiry Due:
March 18, 2024
Convening Grants
Terra Foundation convening grants support programs that foster exchange and collaboration, such as workshops, symposia, and colloquia.
Programs should advance innovative and experimental research and professional practice in American art and address critical issues facing the field. We also welcome requests for convenings intended to inform projects in their early stages, which will benefit from the learning and practice that can be developed through dialogue.
This program is open to organizations within and outside of the United States. Convenings held in person and/or online are eligible for support.
Apply Here on our site: https://www.terraamericanart.org/what-we-offer/grant-fellowship-opportunities/convening-grants/
Terra Foundation for American Art Convening Grants
The Terra Foundation for American Art invites applications to its Convening Grants.
The next deadline for Letters of Inquiry is Friday, December 8, 2023; for programs taking place after September 1, 2024.
The Terra Foundation for American Art offers a wide range of grant opportunities for organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art.
Terra Foundation Convening grants support programs that foster interdisciplinary dialogue, exchange, and collaboration, such as workshops, conferences, as well as more experimental formats for gathering. Programs should advance innovative and experimental research and professional practice in American art and address critical issues facing the field. We aim to support local, regional, and global networks to foster intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogues, broaden the exchange of knowledge, and expand collaborative opportunities.
This program is open to organizations within and outside of the United States. Convenings held in person and/or online are eligible for support.
For more information about eligibility, application procedures, funding, and to apply, please visit the Convening grants webpage.
www.terraamericanart.org/what-we-offer/grant-fellowship-opportunities/convening-grants/
LEC: “Race Matters: Cultural Politics in the 1960s” webinar series on Zoom in September
We hope you can join us for this exciting webinar series hosted by the WPI, Race Matters: Cultural Politics in the 1960s
The 1960s was a tumultuous moment in American history as racial equality movements propelled sweeping changes to the body politic. This critical juncture in the nation’s race relations captured the public’s attention as the media delivered the unfolding drama to their doorsteps. The turbulent racial climate spurred the artist’s Romare Bearden’s pivotal turn to collage and return to Black figuration.
This webinar series presents new insights into the work of Bearden and his contemporaries. His fellow artists, who came from diverse racial backgrounds, joined Bearden in responding to the tenor of the times and tackling Black subject matter and/or racial themes in their work. The series will expand our understanding of how racial concerns were articulated during this watershed decade.
About the Webinars:
Tomorrow I May Be Far Away — with Bridget R. Cooks
Thursday, September 7, 1pm ET
In this talk, art historian Bridget R. Cooks addresses Romare Bearden’s ability to engage the Black and mainstream art worlds during the 1960s and ’70s. During this time, his art was revered as exemplary of American art and Black art in different institutional contexts delineated by race. Cooks discusses how Bearden navigated his presence in both worlds through his art and exhibitions.
Bridget R. Cooks is a scholar and curator of American art. She serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Irvine. She is most well-known as the author of the book, Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum.
Romare Bearden, the South, and the Southern Black Arts Movement— with James Smethurst
Thursday, September 14, 1pm ET
This talk will discuss the place of the South, what Romare Bearden described as the “homeland of my imagination” in Bearden’s work. It will also consider the impact of Bearden and his work on the Black Arts Movement in the South during the 1960s and 1970s.
James Smethurst is a Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of The New Red Negro: The Literary Left and African American Poetry, 1930-1946; The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s; The African American Roots of Modernism; Brick City Vanguard: Amiri Baraka, Black Music, Black Modernity; and Behold the Land: A History of the Black Arts Movement in the South.
Bearden and Harlem in the 1960s — with Maya Harakawa
Thursday, September 21, 1pm ET
This talk explores Romare Bearden’s evolving relationship with Harlem in the 1960s, a decade when Bearden depicted Harlem in his art, joined the neighborhood’s cultural council, curated exhibitions in Harlem, and protested reductive curatorial approaches to Harlem’s history. In addition to discussing Bearden, the talk will also focus on the artistic landscape of 1960s Harlem and highlight the neighborhood’s role in defining artistic practice at a moment of profound social and artistic change.
Maya Harakawa (she/her) is assistant professor of art history at the University of Toronto. A specialist in art of the African Diaspora in the United States, she is currently writing a book on art and Harlem in the 1960s.
Witness: Rauschenberg Reflects the Tumultuous 1960s — with Helen Hsu
Thursday, September 28, 1pm ET
Deploying methods of collage, innovated with solvent transfer and screenprinting techniques, Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) appropriated from, intervened in, and disrupted the ever proliferating mass media imagescape. “Witness” presents examples of the artist’s work from the 1960s that crystallize the decade’s cultural reckonings and historical crises. Rauschenberg’s remaking and reinvention of collective visual sources invites viewers to critically engage with shifting conditions of recognition and obscurity, recasting the encounter with an artwork as a form of creative participation.
Helen Hsu is the Associate Curator for Research at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. She was formerly an assistant curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and is an alumna of Stanford University.
ACRAH 