Submitted by: Joy Kestenbaum,
ARLIS/NY 2001 Chair
jkestenb@pratt.edu or jkestenb@juno.com
tel: (w) 718-636-3714
fax: (w) 718-399-4401
Officers for 2001:
Chair:
Joy Kestenbaum
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect: Paula Gabbard
Past-Chair: Clayton Kirking
Treasurer: Jenny Tobias
Member-at-Large (Membership): Tom McNulty
Member-at-Large (Advertising): Leslie Preston
Web Manager: Christina Gjertsen
Newsletter Editors: Alexandra de
Luise and James Mitchell
Officers for 2002:
Chair: Paula Gabbard
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect: Deborah Kempe
Past-Chair: Joy Kestenbaum
Treasurer: Caitlin Kilgallen
Member-at-Large (Membership): Heather Topcik
Member-at-Large (Advertising): Leslie Preston
Web Manager: Jim Viskochil
Newsletter Editors: Alexandra de
Luise and James Mitchell
In January an informal invitation was extended from ARLIS/NY to ARLIS/NA to host the annual conference in New York in 2004. A more formal invitation was extended in March, which Deborah Kempe, as Northeast Regional Representation, presented to the Board of ARLIS/NA.
ARLIS/NY Board met four times in 2001: January 23rd, April 25th, September 22nd, and November 19th. The fall season began with the tragic events of September 11. The ARLIS/NY Board Meeting scheduled for that evening at NYU’s Bobst Library had to be cancelled. Several of the board members either work and/or live in the Greenwich Village area that, for several days after the 11th, was closed off to traffic and non-residents or those not working in the area. The board meeting was rescheduled for September 22nd and held at the Cooper Union Library.
The biggest challenge for the 2001 Chair was filling the positions of chapter newsletter editor and web manager. Patricia Siska, newsletter editor for five years, resigned in November of 2000. Fortunately, Alexandra de Luise and James Mitchell agreed to share the responsibilities of editor. Two newsletters were printed in 2001, in August, a double Spring/Summer issue (Vol. 22, Nos. 1-2) and, in December, a Fall issue (Nos. 3-4). Christina Gjertsen, our original web manager who had launched the site, resigned in the summer; in the fall Jim Viskochil, a new ARLIS/NY member working at the Brooklyn Museum, volunteered to take on the responsibility. He opened a geocities account, transferred the files, and the website was again linked from the ARLIS/NA chapter website. Jim and the Chapter board members have been discussing the website and plans for developing it will continue in 2002.
The total number of members for 2001 who paid the renewal fees is 142. Tom McNulty, 2000-2001 Member-at-Large for Membership, with the help of other Board members, continued to update the mailing list, eliminating those who had moved away or were no longer actively involved with ARLIS. We have also contacted several long-term members requesting that they pay their renewals. The mailing list and membership directory had not been updated for some time. Plans are underway to recruit new members; we are still hoping to produce a new membership directory.
The mid-year balance of the treasury was $3926 (July 2), with an income of $2693 and expenses of $2950. Jenny Tobias, our out-going treasurer, reported that the ARLIS/NY bank balance as of 12/31/01 was $2949.87.
The chapter awarded the ARLIS/NY Celine Palatsky Award to Helen Kim from the Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to attend the 29th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, March 30-April 4, 2001.
On March 9 Joy Kestenbaum as chair and other ARLIS/NY members who are also members of the NY Technical Services Librarians attended the NYTSL annual spring reception held at the New York Public Library for which ARLIS/NY donated $50.00.
The Chapter basket raised $236.00 for the Silent Auction of the ARLIS/NA 29th Annual Conference held in Los Angeles. Additional contributions from ARLIS/NY members brought in approximately $341, for a total of some $577.
Chapter Meetings:
The chapter’s first business meeting of 2001 was held at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Culture and Design on February 22nd, organized by ARLIS/NY member Greta Earnest, Chief Librarian at Bard. Approximately 45 members attended. We toured the new library facilities and the exhibition, “Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000,” the latter with Dr. Pat Kirkham, a recipient of a 2001 ARLIS/NA George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award for the accompanying catalogue. Bard hosted a generous reception.
ARLIS/NY members had a busy spring season. After returning from the ARLIS/NA conference, “2001: An LA Odyssey,” Chair Joy Kestenbaum arranged a visit to the Japan Society on May 3 to view the exhibition, “Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architect’s Other Passion.” Annie Van Assche, Curator of Education, showed us the society’s C.V. Starr Library and then led us through the galleries and spoke to us about Wright’s longtime involvement with Japanese culture as an admirer, collector and dealer of Japanese art.
On May 13-14 a few members attended the first ARLIS/NA Northeast Regional Meeting in Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr, co-sponsored by our chapter and the ARLIS/Delaware Valley Chapter. How Soon Is Now? Art Information Professionals in the 21st Century was the theme of the session. We thank the members of the ARLIS/Delaware Valley Chapter for organizing this informative event and Clayton Kirking, the ARLIS/NY 2000 Chair, for coordinating with them.
On Saturday, June 9, ARLIS/NY chartered a bus to take thirty-five members and guests to Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, Long Island. We were greeted by Lorraine Gilligan, Executive Director of Planting Fields Foundation, and toured Coe Hall, a 62-room Tudor Revival Mansion with Lorraine and her knowledgeable docents. In the afternoon we lunched in the gardens and enjoyed the surrounding landscaped grounds, the Garden Library, the Hay Barn and other outbuildings. The Chair received many positive responses and thanks for arranging this excursion.
The chapter’s Fall business meeting was held at the Dahesh Museum at 601 Fifth Avenue and 48th Street on September 24th. David Farmer, Director of the Museum, greeted us and introduced Roger Diederen, the Museum’s Associate Curator and curator of the current exhibition, “Telling Tales I: Classical Images from the Dahesh Museum of Art.” We were fortunate to have Diederen give us a guided tour of this exhibition. The chapter provided the food and drinks and, at the request of the Museum administrator, was asked to cover the expenses for the use of the space. Sixty members turned out for this evening event, although it took place only two weeks after 9/11.
The Holiday party held at the Whitney Museum of Art on Friday, December 7th was arranged by ARLIS/NY member and former chair (1998) Carol Rusk, Librarian of the Whitney’s Francis Mulhall Achilles Library. About twenty-five members toured the exhibition, “Over the Line: the Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence” with Elise Pustilnik, of the Whitney’s External Affairs/Membership Department. Afterwards, about sixty of us attended the party in the Museum’s annex. Raina Lampkins-Fielder, the Acting Associate Director/Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education, greeted us all. After there was some brief chapter business, with Joy Kestenbaum, Chair, introducing our new ARLIS/NY member and webmaster Jim Viskochil, and the newly elected officers, and thanking the outgoing officers. Members enjoyed the wine, sodas and beautifully decorated baskets of hors d’oeuvres generously provided by Maxwell L. Anderson, the Museum’s Director, and other favorite dishes or sweets brought by members. Afterwards, many of us stayed to see other exhibits, as the Museum is open late on Friday evenings.
Joy Kestenbaum
ARLIS/NY, Past-Chair
Art & Architecture Librarian/Assistant Professor
Pratt Institute
Feb. 2001