A National Summit on Arts Journalism

Project URL: http://www.aristos.org

Your Name: Louis Torres & Michelle Marder Kamhi

Organization (if any): The Aristos Foundation

Tell us about yourself/your team: We are independent scholars and critics who have long challenged the dominant premises of the avant_garde artworld and championed contemporary artists working in traditional forms. Co_Editor Louis Torres founded Aristos (as a print journal) in 1982, and continues as its publisher. Michelle Kamhi joined Aristos in 1984 as Associate Editor, and became Co_Editor in 1992. Together they have co_authored What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand (2000), and have written peer_reviewed articles for Art Education—the journal of the National Art Education Association (NAEA)—and the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (to which they have also contributed separately).

Michelle has been a frequent speaker and panelist at NAEA conferences, and her Aristos articles are often reprinted in Arts Education Policy Review and cited on weblogs, web portals, and college reading lists. Louis is a frequent contributor to the comments section of prominent arts weblogs (principally in ArtsJournal) and newspaper websites here and abroad. Both are members of the American Society for Aesthetics and the NAEA. Michelle is also a member of the governing board of the University Council for Art Education.

Before founding Aristos, Louis taught English and art and music appreciation at public and private high schools on the East Coast. A graduate of Rutgers University, he earned a B.A. in psychology with a minor in English, did graduate work in child psychology at the University of Minnesota, and earned an M.A. in the Teaching of English at Teachers College, Columbia University. He also served as an advisor to the William Carter Dance Ensemble in the early 1980s. (Carter [1936_1988] was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and a principal guest artist with the Martha Graham Company, among others.)

Prior to joining Aristos, Michelle was a freelance writer and editor, and an editor at Columbia University Press and Houghton Mifflin. A graduate of Barnard College, she earned an M.A. in Art History at Hunter College, CUNY, where she concentrated on classical, medieval, and Renaissance studies but took courses with abstract sculptor Tony Smith and art historian and modernist critic Leo Steinberg. She is currently writing a commonsense guide to visual art.

Joan Altabe has just joined Aristos as its first contributing editor. Her long and varied career includes stints as art and architecture critic of both the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald (2001_2008) and the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald Tribune (1986_2001). She begins work this fall as an art columnist for US_UK Review, a new London_based online magazine. Her article "Old Masters: Overlooked Women Artists" (Gadfly Online, 1/14/02) is cited under "Worth Reading" in the July 2009 issue of Aristos. She is a recipient of three Aristos Awards (see below), despite the fact that she does not necessarily agree with every aspect of our editorial philosophy.

Megan Sleeper is the online journal's first intern. A graduate of Muhlenberg College (2003) with a double major in Art History and studio art, she earned a post_graduate diploma in Fine & Decorative Art at Sotheby's Institute of Art, and an M.A. in Art History at Richmond, the American International University—both in London.

Description of your project: Aristos is a unique critical voice advocating objective standards in arts scholarship and criticism. We argue that the concept of "art" can and ought to be defined; and a clearly stated and consistent view of what art is informs all our writing. Keeping the arts of earlier periods as a firm standard of comparison, we provide a well_reasoned critique of avant_garde work, both modernist and postmodernist. The chief problem with today's arts journalism in our view is the prevailing notion that anything alleged to be art by the artworld is in fact art. As New York Times critic Roberta Smith once put it, she cut her "art_critical eye_teeth" on the dictum "If an artist says it's art, it's art." Most critics share that view, which has served the interests of the artworld but not those of the general public. Aristos seeks to fill that gap. In addition to challenging avant_garde work, we champion contemporary art that, while expressive of its own time, adheres to the standards of earlier art--is well_crafted, concerned with fundamental human values, and intelligible to the ordinary person. Finally, though our view of the essential nature of art owes much to the thought of Ayn Rand (on which, see cultural historian Jacques Barzun's remarks below), we are staunchly independent, and aim to reach a broad audience of general readers, students, and scholars.

Date your Project Launched (will Launch): 2003 (print version: 1982)

How your Project works/What it does: Aristos publishes feature articles, in_depth book and exhibition reviews, and critiques of arts criticism, which elaborate on and apply the principles of our editorial philosophy. (We also reprint pdf versions of past articles from our print journal, under the heading "The Best of Aristos.") Each issue includes a lively "Notes & Comments" section containing pithy exhibition reviews, remarks on the current art scene, and other items. Links to articles in other publications are often included on our home page, under "Worth Reading." To encourage debate on the controversial issues we cover, we also publish Letters to the Editors.

Several ongoing sections document the prevailing avant_gardism and the promiscuous use of the term "art" in contemporary culture. We regularly add new material to these sections (which are extensions of three appendices in What Art Is), providing links to the original sources: (A) "New [Invented] Forms of Art"— more than 200 since the turn of the twentieth century; (B) "Artworld Buzzwords"; and (C) "The New York Times—‘The Arts,'" documenting the inclusion, on the front page of the Times's daily "Arts" section, of articles and reviews on topics unrelated to "the arts," ranging from politics and the war in Iraq to sports, cooking, and health.

Finally, to call attention to noteworthy contrarian observations on the arts by others, we bestow Aristos Awards for "objectivity in arts criticism, scholarship, or commentary" (see www.aristos.org/aris_award_3.htm). Retroactive winners have included professional critics (among them, Joshua Kosman, music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle; and John Zeaman, art critic of the Bergen County [N.J.] Record) , but the majority are columnists (such as Dave Barry of the Miami Herald), editors, scholars, and ordinary people (most notably, Alec Sologob, a guard at the Museum of Modern Art).

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Why is your Project a model for Arts Journalism?: Aristos serves as a model for Arts Journalism in important respects. We insist on and maintain clearly defined and consistent standards regarding the major art forms, and we offer a distinctively contrarian perspective on both avant_garde and traditional contemporary work. Our example can encourage arts editors of existing publications to include a similar perspective and standards in their arts coverage. Not every periodical has to be as single_minded as Aristos, but all should strive for some degree of balance by including reviews and feature articles focusing on traditional contemporary artists, who are largely ignored. Although much of the public__perhaps a majority__prefers contemporary work in the arts that is based in tradition yet expresses a twenty_first_century sensibility (the choreography of Mark Morris comes to mind), Aristos stands virtually alone in offering this audience a consistent alternative to other journalistic sources. It can also be a model for new online periodicals, including ones specializing in single art forms.

Explain (briefly) your business model [Please be specific – this is an important question]: From our inception, we have accomplished a great deal with extremely limited resources. At its peak as a print journal, Aristos was supported by subscription fees from nearly a thousand paid subscribers, including major libraries. In 1986, we formed the Aristos Foundation—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization—and began to receive contributions from subscribers and other individuals, as well as matching gifts from corporations. As an online journal, Aristos continues to receive contributions from a small core of loyal readers, in addition to attracting new supporters. It also receives modest but steady sums through iGive.com and the Amazon.com Associates program. We recently moved their links (along with a PayPal link for direct contributions) to our re_designed home page, where we expect they will generate more activity. Following the model of other nonprofits, we recently launched a sponsorship program. We are soliciting support from a variety of potential sponsors__ranging from small businesses, professional services, and nonprofit organizations (not necessarily arts_oriented) to arts periodicals, art academies, and individual artists. Our first two sponsors are cited on the Aristos home page.

Our plans for the future include various other undertakings. To expand our outreach, we plan to work with our intern to develop a presence on social networking sites, and to contact arts editors at college newspapers, with a view to attracting other interns (potential writers and assistant editors) and younger readers. We also aim to streamline our mailing of publication notices to our select in_house list__which numbers about 2,500 individuals, including editors, critics, scholars, and art teachers, as well as ordinary readers. In addition, we aim to expand the Aristos Foundation's board of trustees to include individuals with business, financial, and legal expertise who can help guide Aristos in its next phase of growth. Finally, though Aristos has been published irregularly since its inception, we aim, with expanded resources, to become a monthly publication.

Anything else we should know? Numerous endorsements attest to our critical independence and our ability to appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. The print version of Aristos garnered praise from the following major periodical review sources and respected cultural figures:

Library Journal: "The value is there, particularly as the point of view is unique . . . controversial and combative" (May 15, 1988).

Magazines for Libraries: "Aristos is not just a passive, idealistic publication; it vigorously challenges modernist scholars and critics. . . . [It is] a scholarly but gutsy little periodical that, because it argues an unfashionable thesis, should be part of serious collections" (6th ed., 1989). "[Its feature articles carry] more weight than those found in more substantial periodicals" (7th ed., 1993; 8th ed., 1997).

Poet Myra Cohn Livingston (1926_1996): "Although my book [The Child as Poet: Myth or Reality?] was reviewed in the New York Times and many professional journals, yours was such an insightful review [Aristos, 1/88] that I am moved to write and thank you" (letter published in Aristos, 12/88).

Jacques Barzun (America's pre_eminent cultural historian): "Reading Aristos has given me much pleasure and instruction" (personal correspondence, March 6, 1995).

More recent testimony regarding the quality of our work comes from reviews and endorsements of What Art Is (and one more encomium for Aristos): Jacques Barzun: During an "In Depth" interview on Book TV [C_SPAN2], May 6, 2001 (last half hour__at 02:37:40), Barzun was asked what he thought of Ayn Rand's work. He replied: "I've not read her work, though I know a good deal about one aspect of it. Her theory of art has been the subject of a large and very interesting and thorough book by Louis Torres [and Michelle Marder Kamhi]. And I was privileged to see some advanced pages of that, and finally I read the whole book, and so I not only remedied my ignorance of the work of Ayn Rand but I admired a great part__not all__of her theory of art." www.c_spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&pr...

Choice magazine (Association of College and Research Libraries—a division of the American Library Association): "Dogmatic followers of Rand will resent their fair_minded criticisms, but their devotion to Rand's basic ideas is unquestioned. Well_documented, a major addition to Rand scholarship, and a humorous debunking of twentieth_century art, museum exhibits, and art theory. [Recommended for] all academic levels [and] general readers" (April 2001).

The Art Book (the review journal of the British Art History Association): "[What Art Is offers] "a balanced critical assessment of [Rand's] arguments, finding justification for those arguments from archaeology, cognitive science and clinical psychology, and applying Rand's ideas to every area of contemporary culture" (September 2001).

Jacques Barzun: "Yours is the kind of work that makes its way slowly but lasts long, both because its subject is perennial and because of the breadth and depth of your treatment." (personal correspondence, October 5, 2001). After reading much of What Art Is for a second time, Barzun wrote a few years later (at age ninety_nine): "I was glad to hear that Aristos continues in existence and that you and it remain pillars in the edifice of art education and appreciation in this country. I agree with you that much put forward as art these days is a product of either charlatanism or invincible ignorance" (personal correspondence, September 10, 2006).