Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

In case you haven't heard, 2008 Smithonian Magazine Museum Day is Saturday September 27.

That means, if you print this Museum Day admission card and bring it to participating Museum Day locations on Saturday, you and a guest will get free general admission. (The admission card is also available in the September 2008 issue of Smithsonian magazine.)

Click here to find your local participating museums.

Here are the ones listed in Maryland:

• American Visionary Art Museum - Baltimore


• B&O Railroad Museum - Baltimore


• Brookside Gardens - Wheaton


• Calvert Marine Museum - Solomons


• Carroll Museums, Inc. - Baltimore


• Chesapeake Children's Museum - Annapolis


• College Park Aviation Museum - College Park


• Evergreen Museum & Library - Baltimore


• Fire Museum of Maryland - Lutherville


• Havre de Grace Maritime Museum - Havre de Grace


• Historic St. Mary's City - St. Mary's City


• Historical Electronics Museum - Linthicum


• Homewood Museum - Baltimore


• Ladew Topiary Gardens - Monkton


• Maryland Historical Society (MdHS) - Baltimore


• Montgomery County Historical Society - Rockville


• Montpelier Mansion - Laurel


• Mount Clare Museum House - Baltimore


• National Museum of Dentistry - Baltimore


• Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum - Ocean City


• Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Historic Park - Piney Point


• Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture - Baltimore


• Salisbury Zoological Park - Salisbury


• Sandy Spring Museum - Sandy Spring


• Schifferstadt Architectural Museum - Frederick


• St. Clement's Island Museum - Colton's Point


• The Children's Museum of Rose Hill Manor Park - Frederick


• The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House - Baltimore


• Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art - Salisbury


• William Paca House and Garden - Annapolis

And here are the ones listed for Washington, DC:

• Anderson House - The Society of the Cincinnati - Washington


• Decatur House Museum - Washington


• Dumbarton House - Washington


• Dumbarton Oaks Museum & Dumbarton Oaks Gardens - Washington


• Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences - Washington


• National Archives Experience - Washington


• Rock Creek Park Nature Center - Washington


• Sewall-Belmont House and Museum - Washington


• Smithsonian American Art Museum - Washington


• Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Washington


• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Washington


• Smithsonian National Postal Museum - Washington


• Smithsonian National Zoological Park - Washington


• The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. - Washington


• The Kreeger Museum - Washington


• Woodrow Wilson House - Washington

Art Exhibition: The Collector by Shu-Yun Chang (張書芸)

I just heard about an art exhibition inspired by a book -- The Collector by John Fowles -- and I had to post it:

The Collector
Shu-Yun Chang’s 1st Solo Exhibition in London
29. September - 12. October
Lazy Gramophone Gallery
Upstairs at The Macbeth
70 Hoxton Street, London N1 6LP (MAP)

Inspired by Fowles' novel, Shu-Yun Chang has produced her new collection of illustrations to explore the unrequited love leading to destructions. In order to collect, the subject views the loved one as an object. Gaze, stalk, collecting, possessiveness and despair in her works show a series of obsessive actions that are generally considered to be dangerous. Due to her strong interest in popular culture, it is easy to find the influence of manga, anime or rock music in her works. For example, the dual-piece of work "You’re A Star in Nobody's Eyes but Mine", named after a line of the band The Killers’ song, is the start of this journey toward the ideal love of a twisted mind and shows the wishful thinking derived from gaze. As the exhibition title suggests, the audiences are invited to the collection of a collector’s inner thoughts.

Click here to view a PDF of the exhibition flyer.

Hidden in the Shadow of the Master by Ruth Butler

Just read about Hidden in the Shadow of the Master: The Model-Wives of Cezanne, Monet, and Rodin by Ruth Butler from Patrica Cohen's September 3, 2008 New York Times book review titled "Author Gives Voice to Artists’ Silent Muses, Their Wives."

This is a book about the long forgotten wives of three brilliant nineteenth-century French artists whose works are known around the world -- Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Auguste Rodin.

Butler, a professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and the author of an award-winning Rodin biography (Rodin: The Shape of Genius), is clearly qualified to write such a book.

Through careful research, Butler creates detailed portraits of Hortense Fiquet, Camille Doncieux, and Rose Beuret the model-wives, respectively, of Cézanne, Monet, and Rodin. Who were these ordinary women? What role did they have in their husbands' achievements? Why have they been so ignored by historians? Butler answers these questions and more in this fascinating book.

Click here to download an excerpt in PDF format.

I've got to get a copy!

Books for Artists

I still haven't received any recommendations for books on Non-profit Management, and I've been sorting out the Consulting Books I was told to read, and these Books for Artists came with the highest praise:

• Art Dealer's Field Guide: How to Profit in Art, Buying and Selling Valuable Paintings by Ron Davis
• Art Market Research: A Guide to Methods and Sources by Tom McNulty
• The Artist's Marketing and Action Plan Workbook by Jonathan Talbot
• The Business of Art by Lee Caplin
• The Business of Being an Artist, Third Edition by Daniel Grant
• Corporate Art Consulting by Susan Abbott
• Fine Art Publicity, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide for Artists, Galleries, and Museums (Business and Legal Forms) by Susan Abbott
• Selling Art Without Galleries: Toward Making a Living from Your Art by Daniel Grant

What do you think?

Any others I should tell my artist friend to read?

Or are some of these listed above not worth reading?

Books for Artists

I'm trying to help an artist friend get his business going.

Anyone have any suggestions for books for artists on art as a business?

I don't have a clue where to begin so any advice would be appreciated!