College Art Association conference

This week I am in New York for the annual conference of College Art Association, a 99-year old organization that puts visual art at the forefront of its mission. Also known as CAA, the organization publishes two journals, Art Journal and The Art Bulletin, online publications, offers professional standards for resumes and cvs for artists and art historians, and offers myriad services to artists and art historians at every stage of their professional career. Of particular interest for students, CAA publishes two guides to art history and art studio programs (seniors, if you are interested in grad school and not borrowed these books from me, please come by and see me. They're great starting points for researching art programs!). Membership includes visual artists and art historians -- academics and independents -- as well as curators and other museum staff.

I attend the conference every year and participate in events of two organizations: Historians of British Art and Public Art Dialogue. Today, I visited the Bard Graduate Center for a discussion with curator and founding director Susan Weber about her research on the English architect and designer William Kent. Earlier, I attended a session on college and university museums and pedagogy. So far, the conference has been superb. I look forward to tomorrow's activities, especially the session on public art and community that I am co-chairing with Greg Mueller from Gustavus Adolphus College.

More to report soon! In case you're interested in reading reports from other conference attendees, read the CAA blogs here.