The Eye, the Hand, the Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association

8. Art in an Academic Setting: Contemporary CAA Exhibitions

145 As art has allied with the university as the central site of learning and disciplinary identity, the nature and purposes of art schools and exhibitions have changed, points well established by historian Howard Singerman .1 Along with professionalization, a de-emphasis of traditional manual craft skills has occurred; interventions, “biologically attuned art” that includes bioart and synesthetic art, new media, environmental art, and performative practices take place alongside the production of traditional art objects. Contemporary artists often find that the university and its galleries enable necessary access to the expertise provided by professionals in other disciplines, to costly equipment, and to an informed public. In these essential ways university galleries and alternative spaces sustain challenging, often nonmarketable, experimental work in nontraditional media. This chapter focuses on the College Art Association’s role over recent decades in the support of artists, academic venues, and alternative spaces. From its beginnings the College Art Association has been periodically involved with objects of art, artists, and exhibitions, and these three activities have had wide-reaching ramifications. Most significantly, the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association’s 1907 project to assess the conditions of art objects in colleges and universities ultimately led to the founding of the CAA.2 Then, during the lean years of the Great Depression, the executive director, Audrey McMahon, sought help for artists who were unemployed. This was one of a number of factors leading to the establishment of the Works Prog8 Art in an Academic Setting Contemporary CAA Exhibitions ellen k. levy 146 ∏ Ellen K. Levy ress Administration’s Federal Art Project, of which McMahon became New York City regional director.3 The third CAA activity, exhibitions, has attracted recurrent interest from members although receiving only sporadic financial support. The organization launched notable initiatives for exhibitions during the 1930s (see chapter 3). The CAA International 1933 reportedly traveled to eight venues, including Rockefeller Center and the Art Institute of Chicago.4 During the 1950s, the association had two exhibitions traveling abroad and had successfully resisted government attempts at censorship.5 One exhibition was of art in university and museum collections and the other consisted of art by students. Nevertheless, despite significant achievements, only relatively recently has CAA begun to formalize its exhibition process to ensure its future continuity. recent background Board and member interest in having the CAA sponsor exhibitions was renewed briefly in the 1970s and then again in the late 1980s. As artist and critic Louis Finkelstein reported in 1969, “Exhibition of creative work is to be regarded as analogous to publication in other fields.”6 In 1970 Linda Nochlin suggested that provisions should be made for artists to display their works in conjunction with the placement bureau at the annual meetings.7 In 1974, while Anne Coffin Hanson presided as the association’s first woman president, CAA hosted Drawings by MFA Candidates from American Colleges and Universities at Wayne State University , in conjunction with the 62nd Annual Conference in Detroit.8 From the 1960s to the 1990s feminist groups and collectives, such as PAD/D (Political Art Documentation and Distribution), Colab, Group Material, Guerrilla Girls, REPOhistory, ACT UP, and General Idea were active, changing the face of American art.9 In the 1980s, in an AIDS-stricken world, many artists sought opportunities to exhibit work outside the market-determining power structures of the official art world. Artists who resisted the increasing commercialization of the art world found that alternative exhibition spaces and not-forpro fit institutions such as CAA offered newly attractive options. the mfa The 1980s also witnessed a large increase of MFA artists working in academia.10 The conservative right opposed National Endowment for the Arts support of artists , and the outcome was an erosion of public support of art. For many artists the university replaced government grants as a source of patronage. According to Helen Molesworth, ten thousand MFA degrees were awarded in the United States from 1990 to 1995, while, in the 1970s only forty-four MFA programs Art in an Academic Setting ∏ 147 existed in the United States.11 CAA-organized exhibitions of MFA artists were a logical way to assist the growing numbers of artist MFA members. Exhibitions would provide opportunities for emerging artists to show their art publicly and build a professional résumé. Holding shows during the annual conferences would ensure that the work would be seen by art professionals...