Manual Issue 9

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This issue of Manual—themed Out of Line—is a collection about the way that lines disrupt, point outward. In poetry, the attention to detail one takes in crafting a line is all about making the line disappear, making something it holds to take front stage…. The space between the lines creating the image… the space around that argues for the importance of all that the lines hold. Out of line—or “you got me fucked up,” as someone might have said in my youth. A way to say, “the thing you think you know, ain’t right.” The thing said, done, imagined: a crossed line. These lines we draw are all about history.
—Reginald Dwayne Betts, from the introduction to Issue 9: Out of Line
 

From the Files: Art historian Amber Lopez ponders the bill of sale for an enslaved person named Sam; archivist Douglas W. Doe digs up outrage about Private Parts.

Double Takes: Stefano Bloch and Namita Vijay Dharia map the meanings of Your House is Mine (All City); Jared A. Goldstein and Mimi Cabell survey the legal and emotional boundaries of Carey Young’s Declared Void; Fida Adely and Lucinda Hitchcock champion Blue Bra Lady as political protest; Sheida Soleimani and Kate Irvin sing the praise of an Iranian dervish cap.

Artists on Art: Posters by Douglas Kearney and Craig Taylor.

Portfolio: Loose Links & Clear Couplings.

Object Lessons: Jeffrey Moser draws on mist as method in Cloudy Mountains, attributed to Mi Youren; Jan Howard considers drawing and disruption in the work of Shahzia Sikander.

How To: Make your own Sol Lewitt Wall Drawing 328​.

Manual: a journal about art and its making, a twice-yearly publication, uses the collections, exhibitions, and collaborations of the RISD Museum as an impetus for essays and interviews, artist interventions, and archive highlights. A fusion of academic arts journal and design magazine, Manual is a resource for engaged conversations about art, design, and the impact of creative making by curators, artists, scholars, and educators. 

Issue 9: Out of Line is supported in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional generous support is provided by the RISD Museum Associates and Sotheby’s.

Out of Line complements Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now, presented in collaboration with the British Museum. Lead sponsorship for the exhibition is provided by a grant from the Robert Lehman Foundation and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Programming support is provided by the Museum Associates, National Grid, Site Specific, and Radical Media with additional support from Sotheby’s and MOO. Lines of Thought was developed and toured the UK with the support of the Bridget Riley Art Foundation.

RISD Museum Director: John W. Smith
Manual Editor-in-Chief: Sarah Ganz Blythe
Editor: Amy Pickworth
Art Director: Derek Schusterbauer

Graphic Designer: Tatiana Gomez Gaggero
Photographer: Erik Gould

Printer: GHP
ISSN 2329-9193
 

About the RISD Museum
The RISD Museum was founded on the belief that art, artists, and the institutions that support them play pivotal roles in promoting broad civic engagement and creating more open societies.

Established in 1877 as part of a vibrant creative community, the RISD Museum stewards works of art representing cultures from ancient times to the present from around the globe. Interpreting our collection with the focus on the maker, we deeply engage with art and artists to present ideas and perspectives that can be inspiring and complex. We aspire to create an inclusive environment that builds meaningful relationships across communities. We believe art is for everyone.