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Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History Announce New Saturday Hours and Summer Programming

April 23, 2019Announcements, Seasonal Announcementswebmaster

Contacts
Emily Willson
Carnegie Museum of Art
willsone@cmoa.org
412.622.3328

Sloan MacRae
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
macraes@carnegiemnh.org
412.353.4678

Pittsburgh, PA—Following visitor feedback and market research, Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History announce extended Saturday hours this summer. As a cultural hub in Oakland, the museums are a destination for people of all ages during the summer months. This initiative broadens visitors’ options to experience the expansive collections, vibrant programming, and provocative exhibitions of both museums.

“As part of our strategic plan, we’re working on ways to become more visitor-centered,” says Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) Henry J. Heinz Acting Co-Director Sarah Minnaert. “Extending the museum’s Saturday hours will help us further engage the community we serve, aid our long-term strategic goals as an organization, and differentiate the museums in an increasingly competitive cultural marketplace.”

People stand outside on a patio with lights overhead.

Photo: Bryan Conley

The museums surveyed more than 1,700 visitors in 2018, capturing nearly equal numbers of members and non-members. The visitors overwhelmingly favored Saturday evenings, specifically the three-hour period from 5 to 8 p.m. that the museums will implement. Saturdays historically attract the most visitors to the Oakland museums, and Saturday visitors tend to spend more time in the galleries.

Beginning after Memorial Day, the museums will be open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., as well as Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exceptions of July 27 and August 3. The museums will also be free to active U.S. Military personnel with up to four guests, as part of the Blue Star Museums program, which extends until Labor Day.

CMOA docents will offer specialized tours (free with admission) on Saturday evenings throughout the summer. The inaugural event on June 8 will investigate themes of love and lust in the museum’s collection. The museum will also launch a summer of film, showing rarely-screened art films from its collection throughout the season.

CMNH will offer new tours, live animal encounters, and two augmented reality experiences on Saturday evenings. Additional summer programming will be announced soon.

“Expanding our public hours makes us more relevant,” says Dr. Eric Dorfman, Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. “Saturday evenings at the museums are perfect for date nights, meet-ups with friends, and engaging intellectually and emotionally with science and art after the school buses are gone.”

The Café Carnegie, the museums’ acclaimed restaurant under the direction of James Beard Award semi-finalist Sonja Finn, will offer its Thursday menu on Saturday evenings. The café will offer a selection of favorites like the skirt steak chopped salad, le hot dog, and the wild gulf shrimp roll. The kitchen will close at 7:30 p.m., but the bar will be open until 8 p.m.

For more details about exhibitions and programming, see the websites of Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

About Carnegie Museum of Art

Support

Major support for this exhibition is provided by Ritchie Battle and the Hurtt Foundation.

General operating support for Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Mission

Carnegie Museum of Art creates experiences that connect people to art, ideas, and one another. The museum is committed to global engagement and regional advancement. We champion creativity and its importance to society with experiences that welcome, inspire, challenge, and inform. Our core activities—collecting, conserving, presenting, and interpreting works of art—make those experiences possible. Our collection of over 30,000 works emphasizes art, architecture, photography, and design from the 19th century to the present. One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art was founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. To learn more, please call 412.622.3131 or visit cmoa.org.

About Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Mission

To use our collections and scientific expertise to create knowledge that inspires an understanding of natural heritage, communicate and unity and interdependence of humanity and nature, and advocate for the protection of the earth and its inhabitants, while encouraging participation in the natural sciences.

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Carnegie Museum of Art Announces Exhibitions and Programming for January–June

January 11, 20192019 Exhibitions, Announcements, Carnegie International, Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts and Design, Fine Art, Heinz Architectural Centerwebmaster

Contact
Emily Willson
Carnegie Museum of Art
willsone@cmoa.org
412.622.3328

Pittsburgh, PA (January 9, 2019) Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) announces four new exhibitions, dynamic social programming, and engaging educational opportunities for 2019. The exhibitions represent a wide range of artistic styles and periods, from decorative arts and design and contemporary art to classic Impressionism favorites.

“I’m proud of the variety this year,” says Henry H.J. Heinz II Acting Co-Director Catherine Evans. “They show the dynamic and varied experiences you can have at a museum—from seeing Ruth Root’s fabulous patterns to studying the serial painting techniques of Monet to learning about the latest breakthroughs in accessibility design. Museums should be a place for discovery and inspiration, and I think 2019 embodies that spirit.”

New Exhibitions

Ruth Root

April 19–August 25
Forum Gallery

The 81st installment of CMOA’s Forum series will debut a new body of work by acclaimed New York–based painter Ruth Root. For the last two decades, Root has fashioned unruly paintings that push the boundaries of the medium and delight in the pleasures of pattern and shape. For this new series, curator Eric Crosby invited Root to mine CMOA’s collection of artworks and design objects as inspiration for her digitally printed fabrics, which suspend irregular sheets of painted plastic. Through a visual dialogue with the museum’s collection, her eye-popping works personify the wonder of painting.

Ruth Root, digital fabric design for Untitled, 2017; Image courtesy the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.

Influencers: The Pritzker Architecture Prize

May 4–September 2
Heinz Architectural Center

Since its establishment in 1979, the Pritzker Architecture Prize has become the most esteemed prize in architecture worldwide; awarded to individual architects for their total body of work, the Pritzker is frequently referred to as the Nobel Prize for Architecture. To mark the prize’s 40th anniversary, Raymund Ryan, curator, Heinz Architectural Center, presents work from the museum’s collection done by Pritzker laureates. Bolstered by several recent acquisitions, these drawings, models, furniture, and photographs are presented in collaboration with the annual summer camp to stimulate the imaginations of museum visitors and camp participants alike.

Hans Hollein, Stadtstruktur (City Structure), 1959, ink on paper, Carnegie Museum of Art. Gift of the Drue Heinz Trust. 2018.23.

Monet and the Modern City

May 25–September 2
Gallery One

Monet and his contemporaries responded to the urban industrial landscape through works that convey the power and promise of modernization. Organized by curator Akemi May, this exhibition contextualizes Monet’s famous Waterloo Bridge series with other artists’ work from the time, exploring Monet’s process of serial painting and the enduring theme of industry in art. Carnegie Museum of Art’s own Waterloo Bridge painting is presented alongside two others from the series, thanks to the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and the Worcester Art Museum, and captures the range of moods and colors that serial painting can produce. Other notable works include pieces by Camille Pissarro, Jean-Emile Laboureur, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, which provide a broader frame of reference for the urban industrial landscape as subject.

Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, London, 1903, Carnegie Museum of Art.
Acquired through the generosity of the Sarah Mellon Scaife Family. 67.2

Access+Ability

June 1–October 6, 2019
Heinz Galleries

Access+Ability highlights some of the extraordinary research and designs developed during the past decade with and by people who span a wide range of physical, cognitive, and sensory abilities. Fueled by demand and advances in research and digital technologies, a proliferation of functional, life-enhancing products is creating unprecedented access. Low-tech designs that assist with daily routines, digital technology like eye-tracking devices for communicating and editing, and sensors that stabilize tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease, plus innovations in all-terrain wheelchairs, are augmenting the potential for people to access the world in ways previously unimaginable. These objects—some of which are still in prototype stage, and many of which are available commercially—represent the future of accessibility design.

Access+Ability was organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The CMOA presentation of Access+Ability is organized by Rachel Delphia, the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design.

Earring Aid, Bedazzled, 2014. Designed by Elana Langer. Swarovski crystals, e6000 glue, hearing aid. Gift of Elana Langer. Photo: © Hanna Agar.

Ongoing and Educational

Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018.

Open through March 25
Presented by Bank of America

The second-oldest exhibition of global art, the Carnegie International opened with excitement in October of last year. This sprawling show, which permeates the museum’s exhibition spaces and reaches into its collection galleries, sees its final three months arrive with a variety of activities: visiting artist lectures by Jeremy Deller, Ulrike Müller, and Thaddeus Mosley; a Tam O’Shanter Drawing Session with Beverly Semmes; a Sound Series concert produced by Josiah McElheny, John Corbett, and Jim Dempsey with the Andy Warhol Museum; and drawing sessions with Yuji Agematsu and Tavares Strachan. See the works of Carnegie Prize–winner Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Fine Prize–winners Postcommodity before the exhibition closes in March.

Social Programs

Ongoing

People engage with art on many levels. The social programming at CMOA aims to bring new faces into the museum and create opportunities for discovery and inspiration. These programs range from the FEAST dinner series—which pairs a local chef with a theme from the Carnegie International for a unique dining experience—to monthly Third Thursday, a themed 18+ event that invites local artists and vendors to create programming relevant to the current exhibitions. An important piece of the museum’s mission of connecting people to art, ideas, and one another, social programs offer an avenue to build engagement and respond to the community.

Summer Camps

June 10–August 16

Following a winter and spring of educational programming, including the exhibition of work by students from The Art Connection, the museum will launch a full calendar of summer camps. Camps offer a unique opportunity to dive deeper into all aspects of art-making, creativity, and collaboration through week-long programs. As part of the museum’s ongoing mission of educating and inspiring, summer camps provide the structure and materials for young people to engage their own creative process. Using the museum’s collection as a resource, campers of all levels and abilities explore through classic and modern art techniques, styles, and practices.

Our Mission

Carnegie Museum of Art creates experiences that connect people to art, ideas, and one another.
We believe creativity is a defining human characteristic to which everyone should have access. CMOA collects, preserves, and presents artworks from around the world to inspire, sustain, and provoke discussion, and to engage and reflect multiple audiences.

Our world-class collection of over 30,000 works emphasizes art, architecture, photography, and design from the 19th century to the present. One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art was founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. Learn more: call 412.622.3131 or visit cmoa.org.

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The Carnegie International Opens with Crowds and Revelry

October 15, 20182018 Exhibitions, Carnegie International, Contemporary Artwebmaster

Contact

Emily Willson
Carnegie Museum of Art
willsone@cmoa.org
412.622.3328

Jen Joy
Sutton
jen@suttonpr.com
212.202.3402

Carnegie Prize awarded to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Fine Prize awarded to Postcommodity

The opening weekend of the Carnegie International buzzed with enthusiastic crowds, inventive programming, and the much-anticipated awarding of prizes.

Carnegie International: October 13, 2018–March 25, 2019
Presented by Bank of America

Pittsburgh, PA (October 15, 2018) After three years of preparation, Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018 opened on Saturday with great fanfare, presenting a lavish array of artist projects and programs to the public. The day began with coffee service by Art Labor in their immersive Hammock Café, followed by a Karen Kilimnik Programme featuring a collage of ballet scenes and a video pastiche of the artist’s favorite musical moments from World War I and II films. Both days featured performances by the jazz musician Dr. Aaron Johnson, interpreting Postcommodity’s monumental installation in the Hall of Sculpture, and screenings of Tacita Dean’s seamlessly edited 16mm film of actor Stephen Dillane’s Event for a Stage (screening every Monday). A Tam O’Shanter Drawing Session with painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye on stage with flamenco dancers and musicians gave around 150 participants the opportunity to make their own work in the museum’s opulent Music Hall.

On Friday, October 12, at the glittering Fête, two awardees received the prestigious Carnegie Prize and Fine Prize, which recognize exceptional artists whose work is exhibited in the International.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Received the Carnegie Prize

Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977, London, UK, lives London, UK), who paints the figure to create timeless modern characters on canvas, created a new installation of fictitious portraits for this edition of the International.

The Carnegie Prize includes a $10,000 award and the Medal of Honor, designed by Tiffany & Co., cast by J. E. Caldwell & Co., and first issued to Winslow Homer at the 1896 International.

Postcommodity Received the Fine Prize

Postcommodity (formed 2007, lives Albuquerque, NM, Santa Fe, NM, Phoenix, AZ, USA) transformed the grand Hall of Sculpture with materials of Pittsburgh’s industrial past—glass, coal, and steel—and with performances by local musicians who will interpret the monumental floor installation as a graphic score.

The $10,000 award is part of a $5 million gift made by The Fine Foundation in support of the International since 2008.

The winners of the Carnegie and Fine prizes at the 2013 Carnegie International were New York–based painter Nicole Eisenman and South African photographer Zanele Muholi, respectively.

Members of the 2018 Jury of Award included three International colleagues who shared in curator Ingrid Schaffner’s travel and research: Carin Kuoni, director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, New York; Ruba Katrib, curator at MoMA PS1, New York; and Magalí Arriola, an independent curator based in Mexico City. They were joined by the museum’s own Ellen Kessler, board chair; Douglas (Woody) Ostrow, board member; Catherine Evans, The Henry J. Heinz II Acting Co-Director; and Eric Crosby, Richard Armstrong Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

All told, nearly 6,000 visitors attended the opening weekend.

“CMOA is thrilled to host so many guests from Pittsburgh and around the world for the opening of our flagship exhibition of contemporary art,” said Catherine Evans and Sarah Minnaert, The Henry J. Heinz II Acting Co-Directors at CMOA. “Curator Ingrid Schaffner’s visionary work is an enormous accomplishment, as is that of our dedicated staff. Together, they have brought this Carnegie International into stunning fruition.”

“We’re proud to deepen our commitment to the arts in Pittsburgh by being the presenting sponsor of the 57th edition of Carnegie International,” said Terry Laughlin, Vice Chairman and Head of Global Wealth Investment Management, Bank of America. “At Bank of America, our support of the arts reflects our belief that the arts matter: they are a powerful tool that can provide pathways to greater cultural understanding that can help economies thrive, help individuals connect with each other and across cultures, and educate and enrich societies.”

“This International has some real standouts… It makes me feel very, very excited. I am a Pittsburgh native and it gives me pride that such great artists are showing here at this institution,” said Phyllis Lally Seevers of New York City, a visitor to the exhibition.

The Carnegie International will be open through March 25, 2019. For schedules of daily activities and special programs (film screenings, drawing sessions, artist lectures, docent tours, and more), please visit cmoa.org. We look forward to seeing you at the museum!

Support

Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018 is presented by Bank of America. Major support has been provided by the Carnegie International Endowment, The Fine Foundation, and the Keystone Friends of the 2018 Carnegie International. Additional major support is provided by the Friends of the 2018 Carnegie International, the Jill and Peter Kraus Endowment for Contemporary Art, The Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Louisa S. Rosenthal Family Fund

General operating support for Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. The programs of the Heinz Architectural Center are made possible by the generosity of the Drue Heinz Trust. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Carnegie Museum of Art

The Carnegie International: Notes from the Curator

October 8, 20182018 Exhibitions, Carnegie International, Contemporary Artwebmaster

As the artists and installation crew ready the Carnegie International for its October 13 opening, curator Ingrid Schaffner shares some of the ideas that informed the making of the exhibition.

Contact

Emily Willson
Carnegie Museum of Art
willsone@cmoa.org
412.622.3328

Jen Joy
Sutton
jen@suttonpr.com
212.202.3402

Curator stands in gallery beside ceramic glazed tiled artwork

Curator Ingrid Schaffner stands in front of Sarah Crowner’s Wall (Wavy Arrow Terracotta), 2018. Photo: Bryan Conley.

Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2018) Since she began her research in May 2015, curator Ingrid Schaffner has traveled to 23 countries on 5 continents, visiting with artists and absorbing the currents and concerns of contemporary art in all its richness and variety. It has taken more than three years to shape those encounters into the rigorously crafted whole that opens on Saturday, October 13. Now Schaffner invites the public to explore the exhibition and interpret the art.

The 57th edition of the Carnegie International offers visitors an abundance of encounters with the work of artists and collectives from around the world. The exhibition explores what “international” means at a moment when questions of nations, nationalism, boundaries, and border crossings are becoming ever more urgent. At the same time, the exhibition is very much of its specific place and time: Pittsburgh, 2018; local visitors will recognize the art of familiar, Pittsburgh-based artists. Bridging shifting terrains and forging surprising linkages, the exhibition invites visitors to make their own connections in the presence of art and other people.

Schaffner offers four interpretative themes to guide these explorations:

Children respond to art with immediacy and directness—with curiosity, delight, and sometimes boredom.
Politics connects art to the world at large.
Beauty delivers on art’s promise—albeit sometimes in forms that appear downright ugly.
Sound signifies art as lived experience.

The Carnegie International offers visitors an opportunity to imagine what the future might be. Schaffner invites visitors to open themselves to ideas and feelings the exhibition may spark; “I hope people will use all their senses, make their own meaning, and revel in the creative work of interpretation the exhibition invites.”

Support

Major support for the Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018 has been provided by the Carnegie International Endowment, The Fine Foundation, and the Keystone Friends of the 2018 Carnegie International. Additional major support is provided by the Friends of the 2018 Carnegie International, the Jill and Peter Kraus Endowment for Contemporary Art, The Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Louisa S. Rosenthal Family Fund.

Carnegie Museum of Art

Carnegie Museum of Art creates experiences that connect people to art, ideas, and one another. The museum is committed to global engagement and regional advancement. We champion creativity and its importance to society with experiences that welcome, inspire, challenge, and inform. Our core activities–collecting, conserving, presenting, and interpreting works of art–make those experiences possible. Our collection of over 30,000 works emphasizes art, architecture, photography, and design from the 19th century to the present. One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art was founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. To learn more, please call 412.622.3131 or visit cmoa.org.