The Thinker: A CMA Blog

#CMAKatzChat: Cooking tips on Twitter from Provenance Chef Partner Douglas Katz

September 6, 2013 by RGoodwin

Spend a virtual lunch break with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Join us on Friday, September 13 at 12:15 p.m. for a live Twitter chat with CMA’s Provenance Chef Partner Douglas Katz! Until 1 p.m., Katz will be answering questions and handing out tips about transitioning summer-to-fall recipes and discussing Provenance’s new prix fixe menu devoted to Sicilian cuisine (available at Provenance beginning September 11). We’ll also be giving away gift certificates to the restaurant during the chat, so you don’t want to miss this!

Tales and Textiles: Spotlight on Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900 (Part I)

September 6, 2013 by RGoodwin

In Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250–1900, the most distinguished areas of the world highlighted include textiles from Islamic lands including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Spain, and Turkey. Beginning the first week of September, we will spotlight a different period within the collection here on the CMA blog. This week: Islamic Spain.

Curator Conversation: Tantra in Buddhist Art

August 14, 2013 by kmiers

The Eastern religious practice of Tantra emphasizing ritual, meditation, and visualization is the subject of the second exhibition in the museum’s new Focus Gallery. Tantra in Buddhist Art features twenty works of art that illustrate the spiritual practices of Tantra in the Buddhist context and document its spread across Asia from the seventh to 17th centuries. Inspiration for this exhibition began with a magnificent piece from a bequest to the museum. Hevajra was part of a gift from John and Maxeen Flower and is the defining piece of Tantra in Buddhist Art. We spoke with Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, the George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, about how she built the exhibition around Hevajra and the history of Tantric Buddhism.

Curator Perspective: Damián Ortega: The Blast and Other Embers

August 5, 2013 by kmiers

Currently on display in the east wing glass box gallery, Damián Ortega: The Blast and Other Embers highlights the striking suspended sculpture The Controller of the Universe. Additionally, this exhibition features the Tool Bones series, which were created specifically for this exhibition. We sat down with Reto Thüring, associate curator of Contemporary Art, to find out more about the exhibition.

MIX Photo Blog

August 1, 2013 by kmiers

The museum's first Friday of the month cocktail parties, MIX at CMA, have been going strong since they began last October. With each month featuring a different theme, the events have consistently drawn upwards of 1,000 people and have gotten the attention of the New York Times Travel section for their innovative programming.

Carrie Mae Weems Goes Afro-Chic

July 25, 2013 by kmiers

Barbara Tannenbaum, Curator of Photography, provides background on the Afro-Chic video by Carrie Mae Weems, on display through September 29 as part of the artist's retrospective, Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video.