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EVENTS, MEDIA, AWARDS:
TRANSFORMATIONS 2020: An Exhibition of the Imagination, online from the Pennsylvania Center for Photography, Doylestown, PA (dates approx 11/7/20 – 2/1/21)
Aggregate Animated Shorts 4th Annual Short Film Festival, Aggregate Gallery, Oakland, CA (7/25/20 – 8/7/20) Best in Show award for SHAPING REALITY at the virtual awards ceremony November 8
Graphic Era: A Celebration of the Graphic Arts, Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, MD (4/4/20 – 4/26/20) [see Thoughts post here]
This exhibition has moved online due to COVID-19 closings–you can do a really cool virtual walkthrough here.Fiberart International touring exhibition, Museum of Art/Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO (5/22/20- 7/16/20) This exhibition was, sadly, canceled due to COVID-19 closings.
Hard and Soft 2020, Denton Arts Council, Patterson-Appleton Arts Center, Denton, TX (2/7/20 – 5/9/20) This exhibition has moved online due to COVID-19 closings–see all about it here, including a really nice video walk-through
Fellowship Gallery Exhibition, Federated Church, Chagrin Falls OH (Jan – Feb 2020) — Artist walk-through on Sunday 2/2/20 at 11:15am. All are welcome!
Vogue Knitting Live Columbus, Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus OH (10/31/19 – 11/3/19)
Workshop: Knitting What You See, Potomac Fiber Arts Guild, Potomac, MD (10/10/19 – 10/12/19)
Beyond the Surface: SDA Juried Members Exhibition 2019, part of the Surface Design Association’s 2019 conference in collaboration with the St. Louise Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO (9/20/19 – 10/23/19)
Brew House Gallery Artist Dialogue panel discussion as part of Fiberart International 2019, Pittsburgh, PA (8/17/19)
Exposure Gallery, Surface Design Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, Summer 2019 [link to the article]
“An Interview with Melinda Stees,” Yarn: The Australian Magazine for Creative People, no. 54, June 2019
Fiberart International 2019, Brew House Association Gallery and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA (5/31/19- 8/24/19)
Fiber Art Forum at Fiberart International 2019, Brew House Association Gallery and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA (6/1/19)
The Nation magazine’s OppArt series: YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO (4/24/19)
A Fusion of Art and Music with Barry Stees and Friends, part of the Chagrin Arts 2019 concert series: includes my video featuring four new knitted works accompanying a new composition by Jeffrey Rathbun. Chagrin Falls, OH (4/26/19)
ClevelandClassical.com preview feature on the “A Fusion of Art and Music” concert (4/23/19), and review (5/7/19).
Breaking Barriers: Art as the Messenger, participant in a panel discussion at the Cato Institute (4/17/10): watch the recorded livestream here.
Nuance: Craftsmanship, Imagination and Innovation, Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ (4/13/19 – 5/20/19)
Fiber Art Now blog guest post: One Stitch = One Pixel: The Art Knits of Melinda Stees (2/10/19)
The Nation magazine’s OppArt series: NO WAY TO STOP A WOLF (2/4/19)
Freedom: Art as the Messenger, Cato Institute, Washington, DC (4/11/19- 6/14/19)
Craft Revolution, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (2/2/19 – 3/23/19)
Focal Point, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD (1/24/19 – 2/24/19); Juror’s Choice Award for “Eclipse (feat. Bats!)”
Vogue Knitting Live NYC 2019 Knit Art Gallery, New York Marriott Marquis (1/25/19 – 1/27/19)
Excellence in Fibers IV, Fiber Art Network exhibition-in-print in Winter 2018/2019 issue
Craft Forms 2018, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA (12/8/18 – 1/26/19)
47th Annual Juried Art Exhibit, Valley Art Center, Chagrin Falls, OH (11/2/18 – 12/12/18); Honorable Mention for “How will YOU take a stand? (Unexpected 3D #1)”
Up Close, Artrepreneur (an Orangenius company) online exhibition of winning portfolios; 2nd Prize in Sculpture/Craft category
Textile Art Collective Gallery in Embellish: The Australian Magazine for Textile Arts, #35: “With Inspiration from the Farmyard,” September 2018
NewNow 2018, Artists Archive of the Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH (9/13/18 – 10/18/18)
Figure Study–Hidden Story, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, CA (9/8/18 – 10/21/18)
Art in an Age of Anxiety, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA (8/30/18 – 10/1/18)
The Art of Labor: SDA Juried Members Exhibition 2018, Surface Design Association and San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA (7/22/18 – 10/14/18)
Thread Count: New Directions in Fiber Art, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA (6/2/18 – 7/1/18)
Fiber National 2018, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA; (6/1/18 – 7/29/18); Bunny Clark Award of Excellence for THE START OF IT ALL
Resistance Art in Trumpian Times, Kyo Gallery, Alexandria, VA; (5/25/18 – 9/28/18); Winner of a solo exhibition in 2019 for NO WAY TO STOP A WOLF
Portraying Pets and People, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC (5/3/18 – 5/26/18)
Clearly Human III, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO (4/13/18 – 5/26/18)
Material National Fiber Arts Exhibition, d’Art Center, Norfolk, VA (2/20/18 – 3/29/18)
Surface Design Association Friday Fibers Roundup: Extreme Knitting (3/2/18)
Identity: PEOPLE, Valley Art Center, Chagrin Falls, OH (1/26/18 – 3/7/18)
Meowzy, 3 Square Art, Fort Collins, CO; (1/18/18 – 2/16/18); Gold Award for LAST MEMORY OF BELA
Consilience of Art and Science, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA; (1/26/18 – 3/2/18); First Place award for LINE DANCE AT METAPHASE
Hand in Hand: Craft and New Technologies, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey (1/20/18 – 3/24/18) and Traverse City (4/14/18 – 6/6/18), MI
Anima<>Animus<>Animal, permanent online exhibition at artscenetoday.com (as of 2/19/18)
Subversive/Domestic, Shenandoah Valley Art Center, Waynesboro, VA (12/2/17 – 1/20/18)
Nude Nite Miami-Wynwood, Miami, FL (11/9/17 – 11/11/17)
Cellulart: Bridging Cytoskeletal Research and Art, University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts, Toledo, OH (9/29/17)
Micro/Macro, Sulfur Studios, Savannah, GA (9/22/17 – 9/30/17)
Fin, Fur & Feather, Valley Art Center, Chagrin Falls, OH (9/2/17 – 10/11/17)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Interview: Lalese Stamps of Lolly Lolly Ceramics Discusses Her Wildly Ambitious 100-Day Project, Brand Activism, and the Need for Vulnerability
All images © Lolly Lolly Ceramics, shared with permission In the summer of 2020, Lalese Stamps (previously) found herself in the middle of a boom in her then-fledgling business, Lolly Lolly Ceramics, an experience she recounts in the latest interview … Continue reading
Anand Patwardhan, India’s Most Daring Filmmaker
Last month, the streaming platform OVID dropped a bomb: a full retrospective of the work of Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. Typically shooting and editing on his own, Patwardhan has always been a “one-man show.” With 17 documentaries spanning almost 50 … Continue reading
A Fragrance Bottles Up the Everyday Scents of Former East Germany
LOS ANGELES — The small guardhouse in the Wende Museum’s garden is both spartan and glamorous. Someone has written “common” on a cloth banner, which can be read while squinting through the guardhouse’s smudged window. Stepping around to the other … Continue reading
The Limits of Colorization of Historical Images by AI
For most of the history of photography, if you had a black and white photograph and wanted to see it in color, you had to add the pigment with a paintbrush. Recently though, digital methods, and now artificial intelligence-driven methods, … Continue reading
Artists Collectively Write a Poetry Book During the Pandemic
The Poem is Telling Me I Remember, a new book of poetry and visual art published by Creative Growth, lists anywhere from six to 15 authors below the title of each composition. They worked collaboratively in group settings at Creative … Continue reading
PAIN Activists Say They Were Followed by Sackler-hired Investigators
Mark Allen Henderson, “Snake Bit,” opiate prescription bottles, glass eyes, sculpted rattlesnake head. (image by and courtesy of Mark Allen Henderson) The first time Megan Kapler noticed the stranger watching her from his car was on September 6, 2019, when … Continue reading
NY Museums Can Increase to 50% Capacity Starting April 26
The days of deserted galleries and empty enclosures at New York’s cultural institutions may soon be over. Starting April 26, museums and zoos will be allowed to increase their visitor capacity to 50% after operating with a 25% maximum since August 2020. … Continue reading
Archaeologists Locate Site of Harriet Tubman’s Family Home
Portrait of Harriet Tubman by an anonymous photographer (ca. 1860-1880) (photo via Wikimedia Commons) The long-lost homesite of the famed abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman has been found, the Washington Post reports. Scanning a metal detector over marshy terrain at … Continue reading
RISD Continuing Education Launches 160+ Online Summer Courses
Experience Rhode Island School of Design this summer from anywhere in the world. Choose from online classes with live Zoom sessions or asynchronous learning with no required meeting times. Whether you’re an artist or designer looking to advance your practice, … Continue reading
Lustrous Seas of Layered Glass Are Sliced into Cross-Sections in Ben Young’s Sculptures
“Solitary Catch Awaits,” laminated clear float glass with cast concrete, bronze, and stainless steel frame, 300 x 300 x 180 millimeters. All images © Ben Young Calm bodies of hand-cut glass pool atop jagged concrete in Ben Young’s aquatic sculptures. … Continue reading
Three-Dimensional Botanics and Insects Are Sculpted in Elegant Stained Glass by Elena Zaycman
Detail of “The Tulips” (2021), made in collaboration with Jay Rose. All images © Elena Zaycman, shared with permission From her studio in St. Petersburg, artist Elena Zaycman creates delicate flowers and tropical plants from vibrant stained glass. She strays … Continue reading
Off the Record Confronts Our Understanding of Objectivity
From the jump, Off the Record refuses claims of neutrality. Foregrounding the tradition of artists speaking truth to institutional power, the Guggenheim exhibition confronts the so-called “objective” nature of cultural and governmental systems by unearthing their deeply biased natures. Works … Continue reading
Artist Amy Sherald Depicts a Vast Array of Black Leisure through Monumental and Nuanced Portraits
“A Midsummer Afternoon Dream” (2020), oil on canvas, 106 x 101 x 2.5 inches. All images courtesy of Hauser & Wirth, shared with permission Amy Sherald plumbs the multitudes of Black leisure in The Great American Fact, a series of … Continue reading
Unique Folk Art Recreates the World Before the Armenian Genocide
In the Armenian Museum of America, there’s a curious collection of dioramas that might represent one of the most unique forms of Armenian-American folk art. On the first floor of the Watertown, Massachusetts-based museum is a small model of a … Continue reading
Honoring the Stories of Undocumented Indigenous Women in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — The 21 women featured in the book Diža’ No’ole cover their faces with their hands, turn away from the camera, or peek out from behind bunches of flowers or leaves. They do not hide out of shame, … Continue reading
Laying Down Roots: Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves’s Radical, Botanical Future
According to complex systems theory, common design elements can be observed across natural, technological, and social systems. Order, pattern, and structure can materialize from chaos. In art, this is made evident through the collage; multitudes of disparate images converge within … Continue reading
Why We Need a Feminist Manifesta of the Blockchain
I wrote A Feminist Manifesta of the Blockchain, on Easter Sunday, April 6 as part of an artwork made for Feral File, the NFT platform of media artist Casey Reas. The manifesta, though abstract in its thinking, emerged from political … Continue reading
83% Percent of Emoji Users Want More Inclusive Icons, Survey Says
In recent years, emoji have become more inclusive toward different cultural backgrounds and genders. However, the overwhelming majority of people worldwide think that emoji still fall short of representing their full range of identities, according to a new survey commissioned … Continue reading
Watch a First-of-Its-Kind Program of Films From Southeast Brazil
Cinelimite, a nonprofit dedicated to making Brazilian cinema available in the US, has put together a first-of-its-kind online retrospective of movies from Espírito Santo, a coastal state in southeastern Brazil. The nine films in The World Seen and Dreamt represent … Continue reading
Cape Town Fire Decimates Invaluable Archives of African History
A wildfire that engulfed Cape Town, South Africa, has decimated valuable historic archives of African history at the city’s university. The University of Cape Town (UCT) is home to one of the largest collections of first-edition books, films, photographs, and … Continue reading
Spencer Museum Explores Understandings of the Human Body With Janine Antoni
On April 26 at 5pm (EDT), the Spencer Museum of Art presents “Tending to the Body,” a virtual conversation among artists and other researchers about how to better understand and connect to our bodies through multiple perspectives. A free livestream of … Continue reading
Elaborately Constructed LEGO Universes by Artist Ekow Nimako Envision an Afrofuturistic World
Detail of “Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE” (2019). Photos by Samuel Engelking. All images © Ekow Nimako, shared with permission. Hundreds of thousands of sleek, black LEGO structure the utopic universes by Toronto-based artist Ekow Nimako. Ranging from life-sized figurative sculptures … Continue reading
Moonlit Forests, Fish, and Branches Populate Kirie Silhouettes Cut from a Single Sheet of Paper
All images © Kanako Abe, shared with permission From a single sheet of white paper, Kanako Abe (previously) carves exquisite silhouettes of children and young adults who are awash in seas of fish or occupied by quiet campouts. She utilizes … Continue reading
Flora and Fauna Intertwine in Delicate Mixed-Media Artworks by Teagan White
“Oasis,” watercolor and gouache on paper, 20 inches x 20 inches. All images courtesy of Nucleus Portland, shared with permission Sinuous branches half-submerged in water, fish swimming through the treetops, and plant life spearing small birds compose the intricate entanglements … Continue reading
Lincoln Center’s Plaza Will Be Transformed Into a Giant Green Lawn This Summer
Left: Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza before Mimi Lien’s transformation (photo by Iñaki Vinaixa); Right: “The GREEN,” Lien’s grass-covered installation (rendering by Timothy Leung; all images courtesy Lincoln Center) After more than a year of shuttered theaters, empty stages, and … Continue reading
London’s Science Museum Faces Backlash Over Oil-Sponsored Climate Exhibition
The Science Museum in London is the latest institution to come under scrutiny for its sources of funding after a press release revealed that a forthcoming exhibition on climate technology is sponsored by the oil and gas multinational Shell. Our … Continue reading
The Almond and Pebble That Inspired a Joan Miró
Most people would pass them by without even noticing, but for Joan Miró, the small almond and pebble now in the archive of the Fundació Miró Mallorca were art in the making. “Miró found inspiration in anything, often where least … Continue reading
Vaccinated? Enjoy Free Admission to the Everson Museum
How can a museum draw visitors to its exhibitions while also promoting public health amid a pandemic? The Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, came up with an ingenious solution to this problem: Free admission for patrons with proof of … Continue reading
Get Vaccinated Under the Blue Whale at the American Museum of Natural History
Starting Friday, April 23, New Yorkers can get their COVID-19 jabs directly under the famed blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History. In a press conference this morning, April 19, Mayor Bill de Blasio “whale-comed” the Upper West … Continue reading
Notable Cinematic Portrayals of the Armenian Genocide
This week marks the date we officially commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Many people are not aware that it marked the first time that Western governments, including the US and Canada, launched a humanitarian appeal for an … Continue reading
Zi Yi Wang’s Full-Body Critiques of Consumerism
Zi Yi Wang’s first solo show at Olympia, A thing like you and me, is a meditative journey through a barrage of consumerist imagery. Growing up in Gulin, China, Wang would watch her grandmother, and many of her generation, collect … Continue reading
This ASL “Stop Asian Hate” Shirt Benefits AAPI Organizations
Artist Christine Sun Kim and designer Ravi Vasavan have teamed up with illustrator Meeya Tjiang and Jeff Staple of Staple Pigeon Streetwear to combat the recent dramatic rise in anti-Asian violence. Proceeds from sales of their new “Stop Asian Hate” … Continue reading
SMFA at Tufts Offers Flexible Design and Illustration Certificates
Registration is now open for the School of the Museum of Fine Arts’ Continuing Education Summer Session courses. As an SMFA student, you’ll work with experienced artists/instructors who bring real-world expertise into the classroom, learning in an intimate setting that’s … Continue reading
A Short Documentary Explores the Life of the ‘Artifact Artist’ Who’s Been Excavating New York City’s Trash for Decades
Jordan in his home Descending into old privies, scouring landfills, and sneaking onto construction sites in the middle of the night are habitual activities for urban archaeologist Scott Jordan. For nearly five decades, he’s been excavating the trash and forgotten … Continue reading
RISD Continuing Education Launches 160+ Online Summer Courses
Artwork by RISD Summer Programs faculty Polly Becker for a course called Illustration: The Assembled Image Experience Rhode Island School of Design this summer from anywhere in the world. Choose from online classes with live Zoom sessions or asynchronous learning … Continue reading
Bright, Saturated Color Cloaks Houseplants and Flowers in Kaleidoscopic Photographs
“Artichoke.” All images © Lindsey Rickert, shared with permission In Otherworldly Botanicals, Lindsey Rickert blankets sword ferns, a sprig of eucalyptus, dahlias, and other florals in a wash of vivid, candy-colored light. The Portland-based photographer is known for her portraiture … Continue reading
On the Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Recalling the Hope It Offers
Every April 19, Jews eulogize the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when 750 under-armed, massively outnumbered, and malnourished Jewish militants revolted against their Nazi oppressors. For 28 days, the rebels unexpectedly quelled the onslaught in a battle that has become the stuff … Continue reading
The Absurdly Poignant Poems of Sun Ra
CHICAGO — Twenty-five seconds into Sun Ra’s “Realm of Lightning” (1962), a muddy growl emerges softly, as if from another room, and never quite goes away. Registering between a muted trumpet and a distorted chortle, the sound is dubbed “Space … Continue reading
Kenneth Tam Creates a New Frame for Asian American Masculinity
I grew up watching fellow Asian men over-perform generic models of white masculinity. Whether they played the raunchy everyman or the fitness bro, they seemed to evade Asian stereotypes only to assume white ones, sculpting their bodies and minds in … Continue reading
Mapping Anti-racist Street Art in Minneapolis and Worldwide
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota officer Derek Chauvin in May of 2020, now the subject of an ongoing murder trial in Minneapolis, sent shockwaves around the world, prompting mass protests against racism and police brutality. … Continue reading
The Salacious and Scholarly Poems of Yusef Komunyakaa
The nimble verses of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, a professor in New York University’s graduate creative writing program, brim with erudition. But Komunyakaa’s vast scholarly interests — ancient myths, historical figures and botanical studies — intersect with the … Continue reading
Required Reading
Turns out it’s very expensive to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Reporting for Vice, Rachel Miller writes: While it’s impossible to know exactly how much every queen spends to go on the show, I’d estimate—based on conversations with several former … Continue reading
A Painter of Organized Chaos
Two different memories came to mind while I was looking at the brightly colored abstract paintings and beguiling works on paper in the exhibition Caetano de Almeida, at Van Doren Waxter (March 25–May 15, 2021), which, according to the gallery, … Continue reading
The Art of Looking at, and With, Animals
A pig dozes on a hill of hay, her snout protruding outside the shelter door, her body curled in the dark inside. Birds tweet as the pig snores. A few seconds later, a handful of hamster-size squealers spill out from … Continue reading
A Poet of Isolation and Uncertainty
As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be pleasant to report that Jean Day’s latest collection, Late Human (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2021), provides a gleam of encouragement and inspiration. Not so. Many-voiced, witty, and mercurially … Continue reading
Avedon’s Father, My Mother, and Processing Death
Richard Avedon’s last major exhibition before he died was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was there on the closing day, January 5, 2003. Perusing this enormous retrospective of celebrity portraits, cowboys, and fashion models, I entered a separate … Continue reading
Living and Working in the Korean Diaspora
In an interview with the online journal Studio Potter (September 20, 2019), Ahrong Kim made two statements that stood out to me: My greatest source of inspiration is my grandmother. She was the personal seamstress for the vice president of … Continue reading
“Insurgent Poetry” Outside of MoMA During Second Week of Protests
Urban Plaza is a largely unremarkable public corridor connecting West 52nd and 53rd Streets in New York City’s Manhattan neighborhood, across from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). But today, April 15 — for the second week in a row — … Continue reading
After Budweiser Unexpectedly Paints Over Street Murals in India, Artists Band Together
Street art has always been a way to reclaim public spaces, a means of democratizing art and taking it out of galleries and conventional art spaces. The street art scene in India, though, has been growing steadily over the past … Continue reading
Works by Over a Dozen Self-Taught Southern Artists Gifted to High Museum
Nellie Mae Rowe, “Untitled (Pecking Rooster)” (1981), crayon and pencil on paper (High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of Harvie and Charles Abney; all images courtesy the High Museum of Art) Harvie and Charles (“Chuck”) Abney, a Georgia couple who … Continue reading
Celebrate Earth Day at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Living Earth Festival
In celebration of Earth Day, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents its annual Living Earth Festival, available online and on demand this year. The four-day festival will bring together Native innovators and practitioners dedicated to using Indigenous … Continue reading
Everyday Objects Are Sliced and Re-Assembled into Distorted Sculptures by Fabian Oefner
“Heisenberg Object V – Cortez” (2021), leather, foam, and resin, 30 x 18 x 15 centimeters. All images © Fabian Oefner, shared with permission In Heisenberg Objects, Fabian Oefner (previously) translates quantum mechanic’s uncertainty principle into a sculptural series of … Continue reading
Blue Dunes Ripple Across Mars’ Surface in a New Infrared Composite from NASA
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU A striking new image captured by Mars Odyssey is a stark contrast to the rust-colored, rugged landscape that’s synonymous with the Red Planet. Released last week by NASA, the false-color composite—it’s a patchwork captured between December … Continue reading
Cups of Nun Chai Sheds Light on the Kashmir Often Missing From Headlines
In the summer of 2010, a 17-year-old boy named Tufail Ahmad Mattoo was killed in Srinagar by government forces as he returned home from school. Across Indian-controlled Kashmir hundreds of thousands of people erupted in protests demanding independence from Indian … Continue reading
Brenna Youngblood Revises the Language of Abstraction
LOS ANGELES — A black and white sweater, a hoarder’s worth of buttons, slip-on shoes, a brittle “No Parking” sign. These found materials interrupt the abstracted surfaces of Brenna Youngblood’s paintings in ways that would probably make Piet Mondrian yelp. … Continue reading
An Epic-Length Documentary Tackles Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s latest PBS series, is a hagiography of one of the most popular writers of the 20th century, the tale of a man whose writing, image, and life were regularly the stuff of gossip, jealousy, … Continue reading
A Documentary Rectifies Bill Traylor’s Omission From History
Toward the end of Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts, one of Traylor’s great-granddaughters says she’s glad that he is finally “getting his reward.” Broad appreciation of Traylor’s artistic talent came posthumously, and he suffered as a consequence. He was born into … Continue reading
Raw Portraits of UK Village Win Top Prize at Sony World Photography Awards
UK-based documentarian Craig Easton was just announced by the World Photography Organisation as Photographer of the Year for this year’s Sony World Photography Awards. The announcement was made in a virtual ceremony today, April 15, that featured winners and finalists … Continue reading
Mills College, a Pioneer in the Arts, Closes After 169 Years
SAN FRANCISCO — Ely Daley, a studio arts major minoring in chemistry is in their senior year at Mills College in Oakland. Daley had never heard of the school until they moved to Oakland from Houston about eight years ago … Continue reading
Week in Review: Penn Museum to Repatriate Skulls of Enslaved People; MoMA “Strike” Launches
Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter. Repatriation of Stolen Human Remains At the urging of activists and students, the Penn Museum vowed to … Continue reading
10 Bay Area Artists Will Collaborate on Racial Equity and Climate Justice Projects
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco has announced a new cohort of 10 Bay Area artists who will join the organization for a year-long fellowship. Dubbed the “YBCA 10,” the cohort will collaborate on projects … Continue reading
Mana Contemporary in Jersey City Presents Implied Scale: Confronting the Enormity of Climate Change
That the earth is undergoing a grievous change in climate is the defining crisis of our time. In the spirit of its ongoing concern for the future of our planet, Mana Contemporary will present Implied Scale: Confronting the Enormity of … Continue reading
Yale Center for British Art Presents a Conversation With Shirin Neshat
The Yale Center for British Art’s at home: Artists in Conversation brings together curators and artists to discuss various artistic practices and insights into their work. Artist, actress, director, and filmmaker Shirin Neshat was born near Tehran, Iran, in 1957. … Continue reading
A Sprawling Installation Explores the Power of Protest as It Floats Above a MASS MoCA Gallery
“In the Light of a Shadow” (2021), installation view. Photo by Tony Luong. All images courtesy of MASS MoCA, shared with permission Rocky debris, vintage photographs, and a wooden ship colliding with its own hull are suspended above a 100-yard … Continue reading
Innumerable Spines Cover Amorphous Sea Creatures Sculpted in Clay by Marguerita Hagan
“Blushing,” hand-built ceramic, 3.25 x 5 x 2.5 inches. All images © Marguerita Hagan, by Richard W. Gretzinger, shared with permission Prior to sculpting the prickly lifeforms that comprise her Marine Abstracts series, Marguerita Hagan plunged into the waters surrounding … Continue reading
Vermont College of Fine Arts Creates Meaningful Connections for MFA Students
The innovative spirit of the MFA in Visual Art program at Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is reflected in the ongoing support of its vibrant alumnx network. Pete Driessen, alumnx ’98, and panelist in the newly launched Alumnx Artist … Continue reading
Jordan Eagles Critiques Medical Prejudice Against Queer Men Using Blood and Nostalgia
In April 2020, the CDC made an announcement regarding blood donations: instead of requiring celibacy from gay men for a year before donating blood, the requirement would decrease to three months. Unlike the United States’ healthcare system, AIDS does not … Continue reading
Maya Lin Erects a Ghostly Grove of Dead Trees in Manhattan
A new installation by American sculptor Maya Lin, Ghost Forest at Madison Square Park, will confront viewers with the devastating impacts of climate change head-on. Starting on May 10 and on view through the fall, visitors to the public square in Manhattan … Continue reading
Kevin B. Lee’s New Video Essay Explores Mourning with Minari
Hyperallergic is proud to premiere the newest piece by video essayist Kevin B. Lee. You can stream it here exclusively through July 14 — Dan Schindel, Associate Editor for Documentary On March 15, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari earned six Academy … Continue reading
See a 4,000-Year-Old 3D Map of France
The kids these days find it hard to believe we ever had to make do with something as archaic as folding paper maps for wayfinding. But just wait until they hear about how it was done in the Bronze Age! … Continue reading
Experience a Scottish Concert as It Would Have Sounded in 1512
Acoustics nerds are bouncing off the walls over a new recording of liturgical music that seeks to accurately reproduce the conditions of a long-ruined chapel from Scotland’s Linlithgow Palace to present choral music as it might have sounded in 1512. The recording … Continue reading
The Pandemic’s Impact on Museum Workers’ Mental Health
It has been over a year since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic, but another health crisis has been silently brewing. Experts are beginning to grasp the virus’s devastating effects on our collective mental well-being, particularly for communities … Continue reading
Leaked Email From MoMA Director to Staff Mischaracterizes Recent Protests
The director of the Museum of Modern Art, Glenn Lowry, emailed staff at the New York museum yesterday to present his thoughts on the recent Strike MoMA protests. In the missive, which was leaked to Hyperallergic, Lowry falsely claims that … Continue reading
George Washington University’s Corcoran School Announces New Director
The George Washington University announced on Thursday, April 8, that longtime educator, scholar, producer, and museum professional Lauren Onkey will serve as the next director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, part of the Columbian College of … Continue reading
Join PAFA This Fall for a Unique and Flexible Art-School Experience
The Annual Student Exhibition is an academic capstone event offering PAFA’s emerging artists the opportunity to curate, install, and sell their own work in America’s first art museum. All images © PAFA 100% of students receive merit scholarships; Fall ’21 … Continue reading
An Anxious Bird Braves His Fear of Flying in a Charming Animated Short
Dougal is a nervous little bird with an overwhelming dread for an activity he’s supposed to instinctively enjoy: he’s afraid to fly. A charming short film written and directed by Conor Finnegan follows Dougal as he hunkers down in … Continue reading
Creatures of Hope: Cheery Illustrated Monsters Strut through New York City Streets
Soho (2019). All images © Loe Lee, shared with permission Friendly monsters with enthusiastic grins and pastel fur and feathers have been sauntering through the streets of New York City thanks to Loe Lee. The jolly characters are part of … Continue reading
Stranded: Striking Aerial Footage Flies Over Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall Volcano as It Erupts
A few weeks ago we shared these dramatic photographs of Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano as spews molten rock into the air, and a new short film by French director Stéphane Ridard hovers over the Geldingadalur landform to capture the eruption, … Continue reading
Flowers Mutate into Peculiar Blossoms in 18th-Century-Style Paintings by Laurent Grasso
“Future Herbarium,” distemper on wood, 33.5 x 24 x 4.2 centimeters. Photo by Claire Dorn, courtesy of Perrotin. All images © Laurent Grasso, shared with permission In Laurent Grasso’s Future Herbarium, small bunches of flowers evolve into bizarre forms with … Continue reading
Artists Breathe New Life into Archives
For billions of people — those whose lineages are tied to enslavement, genocide, war crimes, or even extramarital dalliances — documentation of personal histories is limited: births and deaths not certified, family trees missing limbs, wedding photos replaced by oral … Continue reading
Wielding Time and Text, Tiffany Sia Documents Hong Kong’s Resistance
During Hong Kong’s monsoon season, a subtle change in the quality of air is all that separates a sunny day from torrential downpour and gale-force winds. In a city that is constantly shifting and remaking itself, it is fitting that … Continue reading
Tolerance of the Intolerable and the Longevity of Trump Paraphernalia
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Over the past few years I have been travelling to the Carolinas to spend the winter holidays with my parents who split the colder months between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This year, … Continue reading
Stream a Fantastic Program of International Experimental Documentaries
I’ve “attended” my fair share of virtual film festivals over the course of this past year, but none has put together an experience as unique and exciting as Prismatic Ground. Founded by Inney Prakash, and hosted through a partnership between … Continue reading
After Protests, Penn Museum Vows to Repatriate Stolen Remains of Enslaved People
Responding to pressure from local activists, the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia released a statement yesterday, April 12, apologizing for its Morton Collection, which includes stolen crania of enslaved people. The museum also announced an action plan to repatriate the remains to … Continue reading
Ancient Cave Painters May Have Limited Their Oxygen for Creative Inspiration
French artist Marcel Duchamp once scorned the painters of his time as “intoxicated by turpentine,” mocking their outdated adherence to the medium. The artists of the Prehistoric era, it turns out, may have had a similar problem. A new study … Continue reading
Slow Bodies, Racing Hearts: Lucía Vidales’s Paintings of Our Changing Selves
The title of Mexican artist Lucía Vidales’s current exhibition, Sudor Frío (“cold sweat” in Spanish), evokes a paradoxical state: the body is inactive, maybe even immobile, yet perspiring. On view at New York’s PROXYCO are 12 unusual figurations all made … Continue reading
Figurative Wool Sculptures by Nastassja Swift Explore the Memories and Narratives of Blackness
Detail of “Passage, when momma lets my braids flow down my back,” wool, synthetic braiding hair, wood, plaster, resin, satin. Collaborators are Kiki Jewell, Nyja Amos, Grace Jewell. Photo by David Hunter-Hale. All images © Nastassja Swift, shared with permission … Continue reading
ArtYard’s New Arts Complex Houses Exhibition Space and Theater
ArtYard, a non-profit contemporary art center and residency is set to open its newly completed 21,000 square foot home with two floors of exhibition space, and a 162 seat state-of-the-art theater. This arts complex is located in Frenchtown, New Jersey, … Continue reading
Candid Moments Captured in Vintage Photos Are Magnified in Mohamed L’Ghacham’s Murals
“Confinamiento” (2019), Cheste, Valencia, Spain. All images © Mohamed L’Ghacham, shared with permission Whether depicting a birthday party or a child’s first steps, the expressive murals by Mohamed L’Ghacham (previously) enlarge sincere, unposed moments into monumental celebrations of everyday life. … Continue reading
Google Doodle Celebrates the Metropolitan Museum’s 151st Anniversary
A Google Doodle celebrating the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 151st anniversary (courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art) Tomorrow, April 13, marks the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 151st anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, Google created a special “Doodle” for its US … Continue reading
Mississippi Returns Stolen Remains of Chickasaw People in States Largest Repatriation
The colonization of the United States and its formation as an independent nation is a history drowning in the blood of the land’s original occupants. Though the harms are irrevocable, new efforts are being made to undo the persisting sense … Continue reading
SALT Presents Climavore: Seasons Made to Drift by Cooking Sections
Climavore: Seasons Made to Drift, an exhibition and public program at SALT Beyoğlu by Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe), attempts to understand how our bodies circulate through “new matter” as unprecedented substances disrupt all living metabolisms, while … Continue reading
Sarah Friedland Conjures the Distant Memory of Togetherness
A forced, sudden awareness of proximity (let’s call it “pandemic proprioception”) has lodged itself into our brains of late. Bodies in public have always been vulnerable — of course, some more so than others — but even for those previously … Continue reading
First Online Slavery Database Gets a $1.4M Injection From Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $1.4 million grant to Michigan State University for its online database Enslaved.org, the first open-access catalogue focused on the lives of the people implicated in and affected by the slave trade. The … Continue reading
A Grant For New York Photographers Who Don’t Live in NYC
Widline Cadet (a 2020 JGS Fellow in Photography), “Seremoni Disparisyon #1 (Ritual [Dis]Appearance #1)” (2019), archival pigment print (image courtesy New York Foundation for the Arts) Despite what some hardcore Gothamists may think, “New York City” and “New York” are … Continue reading
In Myanmar, Protests Harness Creativity and Humor
Mass protests have been taking place across Myanmar since the military, led by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, overthrew the democratically elected government on February 1, 2021. The country had been ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship from 1962 until 2011, … Continue reading
Early Cheryl Dunye and Other Movies You Can Stream Only on OVID
OVID has one of the best-curated selections of any streaming site, and offers the perfect fare if you’re looking for something off the mainstream beat, or even the kind of films that other arthouse distributors might not have available. The … Continue reading
After Backlash, VICE Removed Altered Photos of Cambodian Genocide Victims
After receiving a complaint from the Cambodian government, the media outlet VICE removed an article from its website that featured colorized mugshots of Khmer Rouge prisoners. The images, restored and edited by artist Matt Loughrey, spurred widespread backlash for altering … Continue reading
Graphite Portraits Distort and Intertwine Subjects to Visualize Metaphors of the Body
All images © Miles Johnston, shared with permission Malmö, Sweden-based artist Miles Johnston portrays subjects whose figures are in states of flux, whether through fragmented bodies, multiplied faces, or limbs contorted into impossible positions. Often depicting Johnston (previously) or his … Continue reading