SECAC 2002 Visual Resources Curators Group Make plans now to attend the 2002 joint Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) and Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) annual meeting in Mobile, Alabama, October 23-26, 2002. The University of South Alabama (USA) will be the conference host institution. Conference City Historic Mobile, Alabama is celebrating its 300th anniversary during 2002 and numerous events will be available to conference participants. Mobile served as the first capital of Louisiana from January 1702 to December 1720, when it was the original gateway to Louisiana. The city claims to have the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States and its motto is "Laissez les bon temps rolleux" or "Let the good times roll." The Mobile Museum of Art will be celebrating the opening of its new building with the exhibition, "Picturing French Style: 300 Years of Art and Fashion." Another major exhibition,"American Accents, 1670-1945: Masterworks from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, featuring the Rockefeller Collection," will be at the Gulf Coast Explorium. Four historic period house museums (Oakleigh House, c.1833, Greek Revival; Bragg-Mitchell House, c.1855, Italianate; Charlotte-Conde House, c.1822, Federal; and Richards-DAR House, c.1860, Italianate) will be available for tours that will dovetail with the architectural theme of the Visual Resources Curators sessions, roundtables, and workshops. Special Conference Events On Thursday evening at the SECAC Artist Invitational Exhibition Opening, keynote speaker Paul Sprague will speak on the architecture of Louis Sullivan. On Friday evening keynote joint speakers Joyce and Max Kozloff will speak at the reception held on the University of South Alabama campus. On Saturday evening the traditional end-of-conference party will be held on the historic sternwheeler riverboat, the Cotton Blossom. Please see the conference website <http://www.furman.edu/secac/mobile.html> for additional information. Conference Hotel The Adams Mark Hotel (64 S. Water Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602; tel: 251-438-4000) will be the conference hotel for the 2002 SECAC/SESAH conference. The room rate for the conference is $86.00 single, $91.00 double, $95.00 triple, and $100.00 quadruple plus tax. The hotel is a modern high-rise with shops, restaurant, pool, fitness center, bar, and other amenities. It is located diagonally across the street from the Mobile Museum, Explorium, and Cinemax complex. It is also across the street from the Mobile River and the River Park and Mobile Convention Center and the Mobile Steamboat Company, which features river rides on the Cotton Blossom riverboat. Conference Registration Registration for the conference will be $90.00 in advance and $100.00 after September 15. Student registration is $30.00 in advance and $45.00 after October 1. The registration fee includes all SECAC and SESAH sessions, Friday shuttle to Mobile Art Museum, USA Campus, USA Reception, and Saturday SECAC Breakfast Meeting. All registrants, including program participants, must be a member of either SECAC or SESAH with the exception of students who are attending sessions only and who do not wish to receive SECAC mailings. Students who are participants are required to pay membership fees. Registration payments should be made only if accompanied by official registration forms. For SECAC membership information, contact SECAC, P.O. Box 508, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514-0508; tel: 919-933-1777; e-mail: [log in to unmask]; URL: <http://www.furman.edu/secac/>. Visual Resources Curators Group The SECAC annual conference provides visual resources curators (VRC) the opportunity to present papers and to participate in roundtable discussions. In conjunction with SECAC/SESAH offerings this year, the VRC group will organize its sessions around architectural and educational themes with a possible roundtable discussion of cataloging architecture using the VRA Core Categories and a roundtable on developing a VR continuing education curriculum. Jenni Rodda, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and John Taormina, Duke University, will be the VRC program co-chairs. Those wishing to submit a session or paper proposal should contact either co-chair by May 31: Jenni Rodda Co-Chair, SECAC VRC Institute of Fine Arts, New York University 1 East 78th Street New York, New York 10021 tel: 212-992-5872; fax: 212-992-5807; e-mail: [log in to unmask] John Taormina Co-Chair, SECAC VRC Dept. of Art and Art History Duke University Box 90764 Durham, North Carolina 27708-0764 tel: 919-684-2501, fax: 919-684-4398, e-mail: [log in to unmask] -- John J. Taormina Curator of Visual Resources Dept. of Art and Art History Duke University Box 90764 Durham NC 27708-0764 Tel: 919-684-2501 E-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.duke.edu/web/art/ Editor, Visual Resources Association Bulletin http://www.vraweb.org