LISTSERV 16.5 - ARLIS-L Archives

The SECAC annual conference provides visual resources curators (VRC) the opportunity to present papers and to participate in roundtable discussions. Jenni Rodda, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and John Taormina, Duke University, are the VRC program co-chairs. In addition to the following two VRC sessions, 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 workshop.

Visual Resources Curators Session I
Workshop: Issues in Cataloging Architecture
Leaders: Ann Baird Whiteside, University of Virginia; Linda McRae, University of South Florida

The goal of this workshop is to discuss the concepts behind cataloging architecture with the VRA Core in relation to the cataloging guidelines under development by the Visual Resources Association. Discussion will center on the use of specific fields, the use of authority sources, providing names for unnamed buildings, style/period, culture, geographic place names, and creator information. Content rules and issues of specificity will also be discussed. Architecture, by its nature, lends itself to hierarchical structure and discussion about how to handle buildings within larger entities will also be considered.

Visual Resources Curators Session II
Roundtable: Continuing Education in Visual Resources
Moderators: Jenni Rodda, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; John Taormina, Duke University

The Visual Resources Association and the Art Libraries Society of North America are collaborating on the development of an educational program in visual resources and image management, which will culminate in a week-long summer visual resources institute in summer 2003 at Rice University in Houston. This round table will take as its starting point the outline of the proposed curriculum for this educational program. Topics to be covered will include budgets and grants writing, space planning, collections development, general administration, cataloging, and analog and digital image management. Ideas will be solicited for curriculum development and presentation. Discussion will center on the proposed curriculum in order to provide feedback to the joint ARLIS/NA-VRA task force developing the summer institute.

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.

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.

The Adams Mark Hotel (64 S. Water Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602; ph: 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.

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; ph: 919-933-1777; e-mail: [log in to unmask]; URL: <http://www.furman.edu/secac/>.