“I love how gently the conservators sponge the surface like they’re bathing a gigantic wool, silk, gold and silver baby in a massive bassinet.” (includes video)
Sculptures By ‘Soviet Henry Moore’ Smashed By Orthodox Zealots For Being ‘Blasphemous’
“The exhibition, called ‘Sculptures that We Don’t See,’ showed works by Soviet sculptors that did not see the light of day during the Soviet period because they were non-conformist. The show … included some works with religious themes including a crucifixion bas-relief” by Vadim Sidur which was a target of the vandals.
Gore Vidal – A Life In Feuds
Capote. Mailer. Buckley. Hitchens. “As he put it himself,” writes longtime friend Jay Parini, “‘I am at heart a propagandist, a tremendous hater, a tiresome nag, complacently positive that there is no human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.’ That he was also a brilliant novelist and essayist was often beside the point.”
MacArthur Foundation Makes Big Change In Focus Of Its Grants
“Julia M. Stasch … explains in the organization’s annual report that the emphasis going forward will be on a smaller number of bold and even risky ‘big bets.’ These will be results-oriented, defined-time projects, as opposed to the more open-ended organizational support it has provided in the past.”
That 50-Cent Thrift Store Piece May Be An Original Worth Thousands Or More
“Hurtado has made pictures of a dolphin, a dog, a deer and a sunset — but with contemporary artistic flourishes. That means bold, geometric swaths of primary colors, abstracted elements and quirky additions, such as a wrestling type mask on a young girl. Hurtado then takes this new work and slips it into the thrift-store frame.”
For Government Arts Agencies, A Problem With Contracts And Staffing
“Every weekday for the past two and a half years, Ariel Wilson Cetrone showed up for work in the morning at a small District government agency, poring over grant applications and performance reviews for the arts projects she oversaw. Her name was listed on the staff directory on the agency’s Web site, she had a D.C. government e-mail address, cell phone, and business cards, and put in 40 hours just like everybody else. But she wasn’t like everyone else.”
A Town Buys An Artist’s House And Vows To Restore It, And Then, Well, It’s Complicated
“Henry Varnum Poor, who died in 1970, was once among the country’s best-known painters and potters, and his work is owned by museums across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper Hewitt and the Art Institute of Chicago. He built the main part of Crow House in 1920 and 1921, using chestnut tree trunks as beams and hauling rocks from a nearby sandstone quarry in a Ford Model T.”
The Swiss Movie Fest That Gives Life To Indie Chinese Filmmakers
“Locarno has emerged as one of the most important Western festivals to support Asian film, particularly works without big box-office prospects. For mainland Chinese filmmakers, that kind of affirmation from foreign industry insiders has become more crucial in recent years, as various levels of government under President Xi Jinping carry out the broadest crackdown on free expression since 1989.”
Whatever Happened To Sacred Summer Reading Time?
“The idea of perfecting your inner life by reading the right books over the summer was as much a chimera as the idea of the perfect summer.”
Why Is Stolen Art So Hard To Find?
The thieves are less than brilliant – no Thomas Crown Affair here – and so, often, are those tasked to find them.
‘Cloud Gate’-Gate Is Far From Over
Artist Anish Kapoor to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “Creativity in all walks of life is hard won. It is incorrect to accept that we should allow for it to be undermined or stolen and therefore give it little or no value. Chicago will lose from this thievery. We cannot let this happen.”
The Neuroscience Of Drumming: Why Drummers Drum And What It Does For Them
Drumming ultimately has therapeutic value, providing the emotional and physical benefits collectively known as “drummer’s high,” an endorphin rush that can only be stimulated by playing music, not simply listening to it. In addition to increasing people’s pain thresholds, Oxford psychologists found, the endorphin-filled act of drumming increases positive emotions and leads people to work together in a more cooperative fashion.
“Sesame Street” Move Makes Some Wonder About Future Of PBS
“For Sesame Street in particular, the shift toward streaming has meant a sharp decline in DVD sales, one of the key sources of revenue for the program (which only got about 10% of its funding from PBS). In 2014, Sesame Workshop lost $11 million, and its operating revenues were down by close to 14%. That trend meant it essentially had no choice but to do the deal with HBO.”
Think Accommodating The Arts To Audiences With Disabilities Is Simply About Building Ramps? Here’s A Little Imagination
“In disability circles, we are reminded to always lead with the person first — it’s better to say “a person who uses a wheelchair” vs. “a wheelchair user.” (The only exception is in the deaf community, where many want to be referred to as a “deaf person.”) With artists, I am reminded to always lead with the person and art form, and then add an identifying contextual tag when and where appropriate.”
Audience Engagement? Everyone’s Talking, But What Does It Mean?
“As ongoing technological and demographic changes have altered the relationship between arts organizations and that of artists and the audiences for their work, the value proposition offered during the latter half of the 20th century is in many cases changed and less relevant. Many arts groups therefore struggle with diminishing audiences and instability as the connection between the arts consumer and the arts offerer has frayed.”
The Street Dance Of The Favelas Becomes A Hit – And Reclaims Brazil’s African Heritage
“The spirit of danças da rua (street dances) – whose fusion of hip-hop, samba and the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira are most at home in gritty neighbourhoods – led to the formation of Balé de Rua, which now dazzles audiences in 13 countries.”