Join the Tucson Museum of Art for the TMALearn! Docent Council’s series of lectures examining art and artists that have influenced the world. Art Talks take place every Wednesday from January through March at 1:30 p.m. They are delivered online through Zoom (connection information will be sent to registrants one day prior to each event).
January 6, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Susie Heintz
Meet the Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt. We will view her art, experience her powerful personality and analyze her struggles as a premier female artist. Her relationship with the artist Edgar Degas will be highlighted, and you will determine if Cassatt is thoroughly modern.
January 13, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Patricia Waddell
Yayoi Kusama is the most successful, living, female artist in the world. This talk will explore the context of her art work as it relates to concepts like infinity, obliteration, alternate realities and death. This exploration includes painting, sculpture, fashion, film, poetry, performance and installation artwork.
January 20, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Mary Jo McMullen
Fifteen hundred years ago, the people of the Hohokam Culture in the Tucson and Phoenix basins took the time to add beauty to their lives. Explore with me the ceramics, stone, mineral and shell pieces they created.
January 27, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Harry Hakanson
This talk will examine the revolutionary changes Ballet Russes brought to dance and music at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Ballet Russes’s interdisciplinary approach to ballet brought together innovative composers, dancers, and artists to create amazing ballets.
February 3, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Adrienne O’Hare
Ukiyo-e, are “Pictures of The Floating World”, an evanescent world, a world of fleeting beauty, divorced from the responsibilities of the mundane, everyday world; a hedonistic world of Kabuki, Courtesans and Geisha.
February 10, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Susan Hill
The Virgin Mary has been more of an inspiration to more people than any other woman who ever lived. There is also a large body of art featuring her, picturing the different aspects of her life and her roles. This talk will sample some of the rarest and most interesting works of art depicting the Virgin
Mary.
February 17, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Judy Tracy
Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat two eccentric personalities, but the most iconic and influential late 20th century artists. A look at their individual careers, and their collaboration that intrigued the art world then and now.
February 24, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Chuck Tampio
Largely overlooked for two centuries after his death, Johannes Vermeer is now regarded as one of the most revered artists of all time. His message is uniquely suited for this pandemic age, as he explores the inner worlds of his singular and isolated women.
March 3, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Martin Randall
In the 19th century, artists from the West, Europe and America, started to venture to the East, which had been a forbidden and mysterious region for centuries. These artists brought back images of people, cultures and traditions unlike anything they or their fascinated audiences had ever seen. We’ll be looking at the world of these artist-travelers, who became known as the Orientalists, and journeying with them throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Persia and India, exploring their lives and the extraordinary legacy of art that they left us.
March 10, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Jan Weidenhammer
Fritz Scholder revolutionized Indigenous art. Explore his sometimes uncomfortable “Indian paintings” to learn how this master of color and composition turned stereotypes on their heads and gained notoriety as a mainstream artist.
March 17, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Nancy Jacques
Come explore the interdisciplinary minds and works of artists whose creations are both timeless and ephemeral. See why they are so important for expanding the definition of art itself and joining hearts to science.
March 24, 1:30 p.m.
Presented by Kit Kimball
It is one thing to identify a piece of art as Abstract Expressionism and another to like it. We will explore what Abstract Expressionism is and why it is so important in America’s art history. We will learn what is behind the work of three Abstract Expressionist artists: Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko and Joan Michell. Although their works look quite different, each artist is teaching us the methods and thinking behind their personal style. Will you learn to like it? That will be up to you. But learning more about it will open your mind and possibly your heart!