Blogs

Curator's Corner

Black History Month: Nick Cave

Monday, February 8, 2021 | Karl Cole

February 4th was artist Nick Cave’s birthday, so let’s celebrate his art for African American History Month. ...

Curator's Corner

Black History Month: David Butler

Monday, February 1, 2021 | Karl Cole

Let’s begin honoring African American History Month this year with the work of vernacular artist David Butler. His art reflects the long tradition of African-Caribbean influence in the art of ma ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Monday, January 25, 2021 | Karl Cole

Seated in the “position of royal ease” (rajalilasana in Hindu), this portrayal of the bodhisattva Guanyin mirrors hundreds of other versions of the subject in Chinese art. The pose was inf ...

Curator's Corner

Art for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Elizabeth Catlett

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 | Karl Cole

In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I am recognizing an African American artist who was as committed to equality—especially for African American women—as MLK and expressed it ...

Curator's Corner

A Pioneer Abstract Sculptor: Barbara Hepworth

Monday, January 11, 2021 | Karl Cole

January 10th was the birthday of one of the great pioneer abstract sculptors of the late 1900s, Barbara Hepworth. Her sculpture has always been a tribute to the materials in which she worked. She ...

Article

For five years, I taught fine and digital art to a specific population of grade-oriented, high-achieving, private high-school students. Most of these students were not planning on ever using a paintbr ...

Article

Nonobjective Sculpture

Monday, January 4, 2021

Students’ creativity is so often stifled by insecurity in their artistic abilities. As with any subject, it’s important to allow our students a means for success. I wanted my students to e ...

Article

Teaching Abstract Composition

Monday, January 4, 2021

Give students a sheet of 12 x 18" (30 x 46 cm) dark charcoal paper and some drawing supplies: vine, charcoal block, a charcoal pencil, and a tortillion—but no erasers. Ask them to draw some ...

Article

Revisiting O'Keeffe

Monday, January 4, 2021

Standing with my dry-erase marker in front of fourthgraders, I start drawing that one flower...it has a circle in the center, five petals, a stem, two leaves, some grass, and a sun in the corner. I as ...

Article

Editor's Letter: Realism/Abstraction

Monday, January 4, 2021

Up until last March, I was a docent at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. Our governor shut the state down quickly because of the coronavirus and, as a result, all of the museums were clos ...

Curator's Corner

Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu

Monday, January 4, 2021 | Karl Cole

Pine trees are one of the three “auspicious friends”—plants (along with bamboo and plum blossom) that help welcome the New Year in Japan. Pines are auspicious because they survive an ...

Curator's Corner

National Pear Month: Luis Meléndez

Monday, December 21, 2020 | Karl Cole

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared December as “National Pear Month.” I did not realize that pears have as much potassium as bananas. And they are certainly interesting a ...

Curator's Corner

Winter's Almost Here: Ruth Cyril

Monday, December 14, 2020 | Karl Cole

Winter is near. Although I’m often drawn to brilliant color palettes in landscapes, I find this winter example just as enticing to walk into. Remember the common wisdom established by Song ...

Curator's Corner

National Illinois Day

Monday, December 7, 2020 | Karl Cole

Being an art historian originally from Illinois, you just know that I have to celebrate National Illinois Day with some art. I chose two fascinating artists from Chicago. ...

Article

Honoring Kindness

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” is one of my favorite quotes from Aesop. It’s from the fable The Lion and the Mouse, where the spared mouse later frees the ...

Article

Planting Acorns

Wednesday, December 2, 2020 | Craig Hinshaw

Flint, Michigan, has seen better days. Loss of manufacturing coupled with the Flint water crisis has taken its toll. In 1913, General Motors attempted to build 1,000 houses in one year for the influx ...

Request
Catalog
or Planner

Blogs

Topics

Most Popular

Tags

Black History Month: Nick Cave

Black History Month: David Butler

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Art for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Elizabeth Catlett

A Pioneer Abstract Sculptor: Barbara Hepworth

Art Education Is a Dark Horse

Nonobjective Sculpture

Teaching Abstract Composition

Revisiting O'Keeffe

Editor's Letter: Realism/Abstraction

Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu

National Pear Month: Luis Meléndez

Winter's Almost Here: Ruth Cyril

National Illinois Day

Honoring Kindness

Planting Acorns

Topics

Share

Most Popular

Tags

Always Stay in the Loop.