With the help of some super fancy smancy x-ray techniques, researchers have discovered a hidden portrait of a peasant woman beneath the “Patch of Grass” painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Click here to read the article.
I’m sure that with the success of the fluorescence spectroscopy x-ray many more hidden paintings will be discovered in years to come.
Before living in China I felt that I needed certain material things in order to be satisfied. Seeing how people live in impoverished communities throughout Asia has dramatically changed this viewpoint. When presented with limited resources, human do amazing and resourceful things.
The exhibit Design for the Other 90%, takes human ingenuity one step further. The Cooper-Hewitt describes the focus of the exhibit best:
“Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.”
The show was originally exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York City, but is now currently at the Walker Art Center from May 24th to September 7th.
After reading about this exhibit I couldn’t help but think that this would be an incredible lesson for students of all ages to take part in. Not only does it provide a clear link between art and science, but it also addresses issue of social justice, race, and inequality.
My husband and I are currently vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard for a few days. Here, you can’t walk two feet without encountering some sort of nautical themed art. While I can appreciate the beauty of tall ships with billowing sails, the subject matter has never quite spoken to me. So I started thinking to myself that surely there must be some piece of nautical artwork that I have made an emotional connection with. After giving it a bit of thought, one piece of art immediately jumped to mind: John Singleton Copley’s Watson and the Shark. Normally I am repulsed by images of violence. I am always the one in the movie theater covering my eyes during the bloody parts. But, something about the horrible, life threatening scene of this painting gets me.
Prior to writing this post had I never explored the story behind this painting. So after doing a bit of research I found the more information posted on the National Gallery of Art’s website site. Along with giving the painting’s story, the site also has information on the artist, explanations of the work’s formal artistic characteristics, as well as a discussion on Copley’s artistic influences. The artistic influences section goes into great detail about different artists who may have served as sources of inspiration for Copely. This section is a fascinating read.
I miss listening to public radio. Living in China you don’t have the opportunity to tune into your favorite episodes of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, Speaking of Faith, or Prairie Home Companion while taking a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. You miss so many interesting stories by not having a car. For example, if we weren’t driving up from Philly to visit family we would have missed Soterios Johnson’s piece about the Brooklyn Museum’s Coptic art collection. It turns out ONE THIRD of their collection is fake. So what is the Brooklyn Museum going to do about it? Have an exhibition of course. For those of you who like reading online articles click here for more information. For those of you who are auditory learners, check out the radio show.
While driving home after having some yummy mussels and fries with friends, my husband and I were listening to WHYY’s Radio Times. They had a fascinating interview with the author of The Forgers Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century, Edward Dolnick. To describe it would be a great disservice. Take my word for it, either download the radio show or buy the book right away.
When I was a little girl I used to always look at my father’s National Geographic magazines. I was always captivated by the amazing images of wildlife, landscapes and people from far away lands. For a brief period of time I wanted to work for them. But sadly, the cost of cameras, lenses, and developing steered me away from pursuing photography in college and into graphic design.
Recently, my husband got a new fancy smancy SLR camera. It’s soooo nice! One day, while chatting with my dad over about the recent camera purchase, my father mentioned that National Geographic has a whole photography tips section on their website. They give easy to understand tips and suggestions on shooting all the things their photographers are known for: people, travel and action shots. They also have galleries and biographical information on their photographers. Jodi Cobb took the photo used in this post.
On a non-art related note, I also recently discovered that National Geographic has a series of short survival guide videos. I’m sure these will come in particularly handy as I combat the urban jungle of Shanghai.
Hello. My name is Kim and I am an addict. Or to be more specific, a recent Word Press Addict. My wonderfully amazing and blog savvy husband set me up with this Word Press website as part of my second anniversary present. Yes, he is that awesome! Since getting my site a few days ago I have spent countless hours and many a late night looking through *all* the design templates that Word Press had to offer. After downloading several candidates that had simple and pleasing typography, I decided to settle on this one. It’s not all that fancy, but it will do.
I have entered the blogging world very slowly and kind of reluctantly. If you want a visual metaphor, picture dragging your husband to a one day shoe sale at Macy’s. I have given my husband and author of the art education blog Carrot Revolution plenty of unnecessary crap about his late night blogging habits over the last three years. I used to think that my husband was unique in his addiction, but many of our friends are equally as passionate about their presence on the internet. In fact, they are so into blogging, that some of us wives lamented one night and decided that we were going to form a widows of bloggers support group. But then slowly overtime, each of them went over to the dark side (sorry for the Star Wars reference) got blogs of their own. So as the last hold out, I have now officially given into the Force (oy, again!). Now, I will be the first one to admit that I am not a blogger or a writer. So please forgive my grammatical errors and bad subject/word agreements. Instead, kindly direct your attention to the content. In the weeks, months, and maybe years to come, I plan to fill these pages with art resources, ideas, and stories for art educators and students. I hope that you will find these pages useful and inspiring!
