IA&A – International Arts & Artists

Alumni Spotlight: André Onofre Limírio Chaves

May 7, 2024May 6, 2024 by Caroline

We love catching up with our wonderful J-1 exchange visitors and hearing about how their programs impacted their lives and careers. Today, we are excited to share our J-1 scholar, André’s, experience. André is a Doctoral student in Science and Culture in History at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. With plenty of passion and experience in the museum and cultural spaces, Andre landed himself a very exciting curatorial internship at The Frick Collection in the spring of 2023.

What were some projects you worked on during your time at The Frick?
My main task was to organize the documentation and published material on the Spanish painting collection. My supervisor was putting together a new catalog about these paintings so I had the opportunity to study and research the works of Francisco Goya and El Greco. I carried out research in institution’s archive and also in the Frick Art Reference Library. I was able to organize and research documents and bibliographical materials for four paintings.

Were you able to visit other cultural institutions around New York?
I had the opportunity to visit the best museums and galleries in New York. I visited Neue Galerie, The Met, Jewish Museum, Guggenheim, Sotheby’s, TEFAF, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum, Natural History Museum, New York Historical Society, Spanish Society, MoMa, and Morgan Library. My first time walking at the Central Park, seeing The Met and other museums was so important for me, so special. My favorite part of The Met is the American Wing, as I got to see how American art has developed from the colonial period to the present day.

Do you have a favorite moment or experience from your program?
My favorite moments were when I went to Sotheby’s auction house and the TEFAF Art Fair, where I could understand how the art market in NY is, the role of researchers in this process, and being able to see incredible works of art. My second favorite moment was my visit to the exhibition “Juan de Pareja – Afro Hispanic Painter” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the entire curatorial and educational team had a guided tour with the curator of the exhibition. In such a way, I was able to understand the concept of the exhibition from the beginning to the end, observing the role of the curators in the creation of the exhibitions.

What is one of the most exciting things you learned?
I had the opportunity to learn from the best curators in the USA, who gave me tips on how to organize an art exhibition, how to describe the objects, how to read a painting in order to understand the compositions, the state of conservation, and also the artists’ intentions. I learned a lot with The Frick’s curators. For me, who lives in a country with few museums of European art, it was an enriching and unique experience, as it is a way of understanding art beyond the academic world.

Since the end of his program almost one year ago, André is back in his home country of Brazil, in Belo Horizonte. He is in the last few months of his PhD while also working as a document historian at the Minas Gerais Court Archive. At 7 years old, the archive is relatively new.

He is using his experience and new knowledge from his internship to create catalogues, videos, articles, and social media posts to publicize their archive and share them with the public.

“A lot of important documents from 18^th, 19^th, and 20th centuries were lost because of improper care or bad conditions or simply being thrown away. Professionals decided to create a space to preserve and organize these documents. It’s important to show Brazilians and international researchers the importance of these documents and why they should be saved because they hold an important piece of Brazilian history.”

Thank you for talking with us, André! We loved hearing about the important work you are doing to preserve and share history through art.

Want to share your story with us? Send us an email to get started!

Growing as an Artist Through Cultural Exchange

April 14, 2023March 7, 2022 by Caroline

Welcome back to our first blog in…a while! Did you miss us? We’d like to welcome you back with a spotlight post on research scholar, Patrick Quarm. Originally from Ghana, Patrick is exploring his creativity and learning about personal development as a Studio Fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven, CT.

Founded in 2018, NXTHVN is a groundbreaking institution that combines the best of arts and entrepreneurship. Through access, education, programming and impact investing, NXTHVN launches the careers of artists and curators and strengthens the livelihood of its local community. Cornerstone programs include its renowned fellowship to educate and accelerate emerging and underrepresented artists, paid arts apprenticeships for local teens and business incubation to nurture cultural and capital value in the neighborhood.

Here’s what Patrick had to say about his program so far!

Can you tell us about some of your responsibilities and duties at NXTHVN?

Part of the program requirement is being in the studio and working on paintings that are connected to my current and ongoing research about social evolution and hybrid theory. I am required to be present for seminars organized with professionals to teach us about the art world and how to navigate it as a young and upcoming artist. I have been assigned an apprentice who I mentor and meet with twice a week for 3 hours. Working with an apprentice, teaching and mentoring, has been one of the best responsibilities of the program.

What are some new skills you are learning?

The program allows me to have the freedom to create what I am interested in as an artist and gives me the freedom to experiment with ideas, tools, and materials. I have gained a lot through the professional development seminars and discussions [like] the art of negotiating with a potential gallery interested in working with me, being able to talk about my work intellectually, and write a good artist statement.

What is your final goal for your program?

At the end of the year, my main goal is to see my work develop [and] gain access to galleries, collectors, and museums. Through these institutions, an artist is able to build his career. It’s been such a great experience and I am looking forward to learning more before the end of the program.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Patrick!

Remembering John Hechinger Sr.

February 21, 2020January 18, 2020 by Christie Chang

Hechinger died on his 84th birthday on January 18, 2004. Today, we’re honoring him on what would have been his 100th birthday.

A fifth-generation Washingtonian, Hechinger attended Lehigh and Yale Universities and served in the United States Air Force in the China-Burma theater in World War II. Over the years, Hechinger actively participated in numerous civic and philanthropic organizations, including the United Way Fund, the Washington Urban League, the Boys Club of Washington, and Columbia Hospital for Women. A strong civil rights advocate, he created a diverse workforce and was appointed in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson as chairman of the first D.C. City Council. He was also passionately involved in the handgun control movement and Business Executives for National Security.

Until his retirement in 1996, John Hechinger Sr. headed the Hechinger Company, a hardware and building materials chain established by his father in 1911. When the company moved to new headquarters in 1978, he found the corridors and workplaces efficient but sterile: “The building seemed to rebuke the fantasies that a hardware store inspires. For anyone whose passion is to work with his or her hands, a good hardware store is a spur to the imagination and a source of irresistible delights.”

Hechinger began acquiring works for his collection after displaying Jim Dine’s Tool Box—ten screenprints combining tools with images from pop culture—in his office and noticing the positive impact the art had on his employees.

"I felt that if I could show my associates how so many artists had celebrated the handsaw or the hammer or the paintbrush, they would be aware of the intrinsic beauty of the simple objects that they handled by the tens of thousands. They were not only the focus of their workdays, but our company’s very lifeblood. I hoped that the art would cause them to feel that what they were doing was of greater value."

As Hechinger discovered early on, the collection’s narrow focus strikes a rich and diverse vein in contemporary art, with tool-inspired paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and folk art, primarily from the post-World War II era. Spanning a wide range of styles and themes, the collection honors common tools, where form and function are inextricably linked. The exhibition showcases emerging talent as well as renowned artists and photographers such as Berenice Abbott, Arman, Jim Dine, Walker Evans, Jacob Lawrence, Fernand Léger, Claes Oldenburg, and Wayne Thiebaud, among others. All share a deep affinity for everyday things, and it is this quality that makes their work so evocative.

“In a sense, once a tool is in hand, it disappears. We care only about how well it functions, not its form. In the hands of an artist, however, the form of a tool is a vehicle for communicating an infinite range of ideas and associations, from purely visual analogies to complex human feelings.”

Hechinger was particularly interested in art that was immediately understandable and engaging to all audiences, hence making this unusually-themed collection extremely popular everywhere it has been shown. It is filled with art that provides an accessible “point of entry” for those unfamiliar with contemporary art to begin to understand the range of ideas, creativity, forms, and materials that comprise the art of today.

Artist and architect Kevin Deck fondly remembers Hechinger as a “gracious, gentle, lover of art that was kind enough to encourage a young artist. I was only in Mr. Hechinger’s presence once, when I dropped off [my print] Wiskers at his home. I was a 19-year-old kid and was a bit nervous and in awe but remember his gracious manner, his kind and encouraging words about my art and talent. My mother Billie was with me and reminded me that he compared Wiskers to the work of Jim Dine. She also recalled him saying that he had a special place picked out in his home to display my work.”

In seeking a posthumous home for his collection, Hechinger chose IA&A because of the organization’s commitment to preserving the integrity of and public access to the collection. Since IA&A took ownership of the collection, works from the collection have been exhibited in 65 museums and cultural institutions throughout the US over the past 19 years. Nationally touring exhibitions organized by IA&A include Tools as Art (2001-2008), Tools in Motion (2005-2013), ReTooled (2014-2020), and Making Your Mark (2021-2023). Selections from the collection are also on view in IA&A’s offices and have been exhibited at IA&A at Hillyer (2007, 2008, 2010, and 2018).

Having seen how easily the public relates to the collection and its theme, we are grateful to John Hechinger Sr., not only for the collection and for demystifying contemporary art, but also for helping art return to a place where it can be appreciated by all.

"In Washington, I think, the name Claes Oldenburg generally brings to mind his large-scale public art installations, such as his Typewriter Eraser (made in collaboration with Coosje van Bruggen) that our city safeguards in our National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. The artist's fascination with everyday objects brought to life in this scaled-down size—a measly 2.5 feet in height when compared to his sculptures, which can be more than 20 feet tall—makes this lithograph particularly intimate and exciting. When the lithograph was originally created in 1965, Oldenburg couldn't have imagined the many ways that our electrical outlets would come to control our lives. So his melting yet enticing version of the plug, drawn with prongs that look almost like popsicle sticks, makes me think of our contemporary thirst for more and more ways to split our energy."

—Teddy Rodger, Public Engagement and Events Manager

Claes Oldenburg, Three-Way Plug, 1965, offset lithograph with airbrush, 32 × 24 ½ inches.

"I first encountered Shimomura's work in 2015 and was very excited to find one of his earlier works in the Hechinger Collection. I love his playful use of traditional and pop culture references that reflect his experiences as a third-generation Japanese-American. When you’re doing laundry, the rinse cycle is arguably the most important step because it washes away the detergent and dirt. There’s a lot happening in Rinse Cycle, but the dripping black paint and telling glances of the women make you wonder what 'dirt' is being washed.”

—Christie, Marketing and Communications Manager

Roger Shimomura, Rinse Cycle, 1988, acrylic on canvas, 60 × 24 inches.

“I'm intrigued by the artist's use of surrealism—particularly the nails in the porcelain vase—to portray the fragility of the earth. I ponder the image through an environmental lens and the current fragile situation that we're in. The looming hammers seem disproportionately large tools to the task they accomplished. Strong art sparks questions and The Reconstruction has got me thinking. Was the artist interested in where humans will go next if we discover reachable, habitable planets before it's too late?”

—Daniel, Development Associate

Ron English, The Reconstruction, 1992, oil on canvas, 48 × 34 inches.