Masters Series Events
The TMA Masters Series consists of public programs featuring world-renowned artists, scholars, musicians and others who are invited to share their knowledge and talents at the Museum. Held in the grand Peristyle Theater, the lectures and performances are oftentimes free of charge.
About the Peristyle
A classical concert hall whose name means “an area surrounded by columns,” the Peristyle’s most distinguishing architectural feature is a curving row of 28 Ionic columns which surround the main seating area, arranged in tiers reminiscent of theaters of ancient Greece. Designed by architect Edward B. Green, the 1,750-seat Peristyle was built as part of the Museum’s 1933 major expansion.
Wally Caruana, Aboriginal art expert
Wally Caruana was senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra from 1984 to 2001 and has written widely about Aboriginal art. He will discuss the emergence of the Aboriginal art movement and its significance today. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
June 6, 2013 | 6 p.m.
An Evening with Jaume Plensa
A famed artist and poet from Barcelona, Spain, Jaume Plensa created TMA’s newest addition to the Welles Sculpture Garden: Spiegel (“mirror”), composed of two crouching giants given shape by a steel latticework of letters and characters, white during the day and lit up at night. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
March 14, 2013
Gary Tinterow
Gary Tinterow, the new director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and 28-year veteran of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, will discuss Édouard Manet’s fondness for Spanish art and for the artist Diego Velázquez in particular. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
October 11, 2012
An Evening with Fred Wilson
Conceptual artist Fred Wilson discusses his work with museums, in which he brings out historical and racial complexities in often familiar objects. A distinguished visiting fellow at Skidmore College, Wilson has twice represented the U.S. at the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
June 15, 2012
John Clarke: Vesuvius and the Villa: New Discoveries in Pompeii
One of the world’s top scholars on ancient Pompeii, John Clarke of the University of Texas at Austin, discusses findings of a major study of a huge luxury villa that dates 50 BC–AD 79. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
April 12, 2012
Jay Shafer: Tumbleweed and the Tiny House Movement
The founder of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company—a component of TMA’s Small Worlds exhibition—and a recognized leader in the small living movement, Jay Shafer discusses the growing movement toward living smaller and simpler. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.
March 8, 2012
Concert: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: For True
Fresh off appearances on Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and the prestigious Montreux, Newport and Playboy Jazz Festivals, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue are the hottest act in contemporary jazz. Co-sponsored by the Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Society.
October 25, 2011
Pieter Biesboer: Frans Hals’ Van Campen Family Portrait in a Landscape
The emeritus curator of paintings at the Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem, the Netherlands) sheds light on the history and importance of this new acquisition by the Toledo Museum of Art. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors and the Mellon Foundation.
October 13, 2011
International Museum Day Presentation: Museums and Memory
Directors from three major Midwest museums—Brian Kennedy (TMA), Graham Beal (Detroit Institute of Art), and David Franklin (Cleveland Museum of Art)—discuss the state of these grand “temples of art.” Moderated by art journalist and blogger Judith Dobrzynski.
May 18, 2011
An Evening with Frank Stella
Artist Frank Stella and TMA director Brian Kennedy reunite for a discussion of the exhibition Irregular Polygons (April 8–July 24, 2011). Moderated by Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes. Co-sponsored by the TMA Ambassadors.