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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > May > 07
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Blanton Museum names Ned Rifkin, former Smithsonian Under Secretary of Art, as its new director
Ned Rifkin, former Under Secretary for Art at the Smithsonian Institution, has been named the new director the University of Texas’ Blanton Museum of Art, university officials announced Thursday.
Rifkin, 59, replaces Jesse Otto Hite who retired in 2008 after 30 years with the museum. With Rifkin’s appointment, the Blanton Museum will move from the College of Fine Arts and report to the UT Provost’s office.
The university’s Ransom Center, a rare book and manuscript library and museum, also reports to the provost’s office.
Rifkin will also will hold the position of full professor of art and art history and hold the position as special advisor to UT president William Powers.
At the Smithsonian, Rifkin served as the top administrator overseeing eight art museums, a position he held from 2004 to 2008. During his tenure at the Smithsonian, Rifkin oversaw the renovation of an historic building for the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. He had previously been director and chief curator at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum after serving as director of Houston’s Menil Collection from 2000 to 2002 and the High Museum in Atlanta from 1991 to 1999.
Rifkin received a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s and doctoral degrees in art history form the University of Michigan.
A champion of contemporary art and public art, Rifkin organized a major exhibit of the work of minimalist painter Agnes Martin while he was director of the Menil. When he was director of the Hirshhorn, Rifkin commissioned conceptual artist Olafur Eliasson to reconceive the entrance to the historic museum building by shifting the front entrance to a different side of the building.
“I’m interested in all contemporary creativity,” Rifkin told an interviewer last year. “Art is a part of culture. Culture is what we make collectively. Artists are a kind of beacon.”
Photo courtesy Smithsonian Institution.
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Bion Tsang, Anton Nel celebrate Brahms’ birthday with a free download
Two of Austin’s most luminous musicians, cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Anton Nel, are celebrating Brahm’s birthday with a nifty little gesture.
Last year the duo recorded Brahams’ four Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall for their second CD ‘Bion Tsang and Anton Nel: Live in Concert, Brahms Cello Sonatas and Four Hungarian Dances,’ to be released this summer by Artek Recordings.
But before the CD’s release and in honor of Brahms’ birthday — which is May 7 — Tsang and Nel offer a free MP3 download of Hungarian Dance No. 5 at www.biontsang.com. The download is available May 7-31.
Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 is one of those classical pieces that’s infiltrated popular culture, and can be heard in many different arrangements, from orchestra versions to solo instruments. It was wildly popular during Brahms’ lifetime as well.
Here’s a video clip of Tsang and Nel performing the Hungarian Dance No. 5 at Jordan Hall:
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Weekend Arts Pix
Today-Sunday
‘Romeo and Juliet.’
Shakespeare’s most popular play has inspired countless interpretations (think ‘West Side Story’). But now Austin Shakespeare gives ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a Mexican American twist. Set in 1940s Central Texas, this new take features zoot suit-wearing men and swing-dancing women speaking Shakespeare’s own poetry with a good dose of colloquial Tejano Spanish. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays through June 7. Special Mother’s Day matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday. Sheffield Hillside Theatre, Zilker Park. Free. www.austinshakespeare.org.
Friday
‘Happy Birthday Moon’ and ‘Hunger Makes a Fine Sauce.’
The first time Austin artist Nathan Green had a solo show at Art Palace Gallery, he sold every single one of his vibrant, fantastical and sometime cynical paintings. Now, Green is back with a whole new series of paintings, ‘Happy Birthday Moon.’ Simultaneously on view is Kara Hearn’s video work ‘Hunger Makes a Fine Sauce.’ Opening reception: 8 to 10 p.m. Friday. Regular gallery hours: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays Art Palace Gallery, 2109 E. Cesar Chavez St. Free. www.artpalacegallery.com.
Friday-Sunday
‘Cinderella.’
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Ballet Austin re-stages its glittering production of the classic fairy ‘Cinderella,’ choreographed by Stephen Mills and set to the music of Alexander Glazunov. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. Long Center, 701. W. Riverside Drive. $24-$74. www.balletaustin.org.
Saturday and Sunday
‘Oceana,’ Pulling from folk traditions around the globe, Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles create a new musical theater spectacle that celebrates the ocean through the journey of a mythical figure name Gulf Girl. Some nudity and adult content. Opens 8 p.m. Saturday. Shows continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays, Vortex, 2307 Manor Road. $10-$30 (sliding scale). 478-5262, www.vortexrep.org.
‘Art of the Pot.’ Seventeen ceramic artists — including Austin’s Lisa Orr, Claudia Reese, Ryan McKerley and Marian Haigh — show their functional art pottery. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday Westlake High School, 4100 Westbank Drive. Free. www.artofthepot.com.
Sunday
‘Ladyfriends.
Indie music presenters Church of the Friendly Ghost kicks off the first of four monthly concerts that features female artists who are blurring the boundaries of media art, performance art and music. This month it’s songwriters Amy Annelle and Amanda Mora, sound artist Aditi Tahiti and performer Lisa Cameron. 8 p.m. Sunday. Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road. $5. www.churchofthefriendlyghost.org.
