Wait, Scotland has a historical chronicle done in needlework like the Bayeux Tapestry? Yes, but this one wasn't completed until eight years ago, and the history it depicts runs from Robert the Bruce's victory in 1314 to Andy Roddick's in 2013. - The Guardian
Phil Kennicott: "Countries, like travelers, want to make sense of things, which is why we reach for an image — a quick metaphor, a ready-made analogy — that will seal history in amber, give it a moral, cast it as a fable." - Washington Post
The thief grabbed Monet's The Voorzaan and Westerhem Island (1871) from the Zaans Museum, just north of Amsterdam, on Sunday morning. When a passerby tried to stop the culprit and his accomplice from escaping, a shot was fired but both hero and painting were unharmed. - Artnet
These were not smash-and-grab operations. He sought out experts to advise him on which cultural treasures to ship back to Paris. Napoleon wanted to expand the art collection in the Louvre palace. - Christian Science Monitor
Inevitable in the TikTok-driven universe? "NFT markets like Atomic Hub, Nefty Blocks and OpenSea are filled with creators barely old enough to drive. They promote their work not through blue-chip galleries or auction houses but on social media." - The New York Times
Artist Martine Gutierrez plays all the parts of goddesses, queens, and other icons on bus shelters in NY, Boston, and Chicago. "I think confusion is delicious," the artist says. - The New York Times
The owner "said he was in a state of shock after the famed artist confirmed the model stable was one of 10 artworks left in Norfolk and Suffolk during his so-called Great British Spraycation." Now, how to keep it safe? - BBC
As four Mi'kmaw artists painstakingly sew and bead an outfit that replicates 180-year-old regalia, they wish they knew more about the woman who made the original." - CBC
And Black joy in particular. The museum's founder, poet and photographer Andrea Walls, "sees the Museum of Black Joy as a inheritor of the Black Arts Movement." - NPR
European museums have been reevaluating for a while (and not just since Black Panther), but now "the question for U.S. institutions, which aren’t directly tainted by colonialism in Africa, is to what extent they should investigate their own collections." - Christian Science Monitor
The CDC has released official guidelines, and some nonprofits are offering money, to get artists to create vaccination messages that bypass the traditional messages, and maybe have an even stronger impact. - Hyperallergic
Might those wishing to curry favor with the Biden White House buy the paintings? The administration has set guidelines, and prices and buyers are supposed to remain secret - in theory. - The New York Times
“With regret, I have accepted the resignation of my deputy leader, Melvyn Caplan, who led the mound project. We have also instigated a thorough internal review to understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again.” - The Guardian
"In today's Buffalo, … many locals are now filled with a kind of confidence and optimism that defies population trends and poverty rates. That swagger is best exemplified by a mural on the northern edge of downtown that proudly states 'KEEP BUFFALO A SECRET'." - Bloomberg CityLab
