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Restoring Art Scrolls

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2026| 2 Comments »

Photo: Robin Lubbock/WBUR.
Detail of “The Immortal Magu with Wine Vessels” ink on silk scroll.

My mother had some silk scrolls from her 1930s travels in China. When my husband and I were downsizing, we were unable to interest John or Suzanne — or an auction house — in taking them. Fortunately, Niece Kate was up for it. I was so glad we could keep them in the family.

Today’s story is about the unique skills it takes to restore old scrolls — in this case, one that was donated to Wellesley College by a former student.

Artemisia Luk at WBUR’s “The Artery” reports, “In 2022, Yuhua Ding discovered a damaged Chinese scroll sitting in storage at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum. Underneath its many stains and cracks, she recognized a familiar figure: the Magu deity from the 16th-century Ming Dynasty.

“Ding is an assistant curator of collections and academic affairs at the Davis. Her research focuses on ancient Chinese art and antiques. Seeing ‘The Immortal Magu’ in poor condition, she was determined to preserve the piece.

“The artwork was donated to Wellesley by Lois Levin in 1983.  She had graduated from the college in 1942 and wanted to make the work available to students. …

“To repair the hanging scroll, Ding sought the help of conservator Jing Gao and Studio TKM Associates, a conservation studio in Somerville [Massachusetts] that restores artistic and historic works on paper. Gao trained at the Palace Museum in Beijing, and he is a world-renowned conservator of Asian paintings.

“ ‘Scrolls look so simple. You think to yourself, “Oh, it just rolls up,’ you know?” ‘ said Deborah LaCamera, partner and senior conservator at Studio TKM Associates. ‘But the structure of a scroll is so intricate and so precise that you really can’t make a functioning scroll if you’re not an expert.’ …

“In 1988, Gao became the first and only conservator for Chinese paintings in the United States upon joining the University of Michigan’s Museum of Art. He became a conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1995. …

” ‘He cannot really retire,’ joked Ding. ‘There are only several Chinese conservators in the United States, and they’re all in high demand. Especially in painting. People will wait for the right hands to touch it.’

“Gao lent his spare Fridays for the year-long process of restoring “The Immortal Magu.” First, Gao dismantled the original scroll, removing the old backing paper and replacing it with several layers of new backing and a custom-made silk mount. …

“When examining the ink painting of Magu, LaCamera and Gao used raking light and microscopic photography to identify creases, cracks, and stains. Upon close examination, they found several inconsistencies in the silk density and weaving patterns, clear signs that the painting had been restored twice before.

” ‘Art conservation is essential to understanding the process of art making and to reveal hidden stories of art,’ explained Ding.

“Juxtaposed against a large black frame, the cream-colored silk scroll stands out in the small exhibition room. … A woman with long fingernails sways with her feather cape. She is enveloped by the branches of a tree and three wine jars that rest by her feet. …

” ‘The number of Magu paintings in the Ming Dynasty are very rare,’ explained Ding.

“For the final stage of ‘The Immortal Magu’ restoration process, Ding and curatorial intern Berit Raines visited the Somerville studio to watch Gao in action. Gao used a traditional pressing stone to flatten the fibers of the backing paper, a process that took nearly eight hours. …

” ‘This project really, firmly established that this is the field that I want to go into,’ said Raines, a junior at Wellesley College. …

“On April 8, Ding will moderate a conversation with Gao, LaCamera, and Raines at Wellesley College. They’ll share insights and reflections from the year-long conservation project on ‘The Immortal Magu.’ “

More at the Artery, here.

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Snow Art Extraordinaire

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 21, 2026| 3 Comments »

Photo: Simon Beck.
Simon Beck makes giant, transitory earth art using snow in the mountains or sand on the beach. Especially with beaches, it’s a race against time.

Here’s an artist who knows “you can’t take it with you.” And that’s OK. To him, all art vanishes. His just vanishes sooner.

Maggie Penman writes at the Washington Post, “Simon Beck’s work is, by its nature, temporary. For two decades, Beck has been using his feet to make intricate designs in fresh snow and on beaches. A former mapmaker, Beck designs many of the drawings ahead of time on paper. Then he spends 12 hours alone with a compass, walking in snowshoes to create complex patterns. Some designs resemble snowflakes, stars or flowers. Others include messages or peace signs.

“ ‘In mapmaking, you’ve got something in existence on the ground, and you’ve got to reproduce it in small scale on paper by measuring it,’ Beck said. ‘Making one of these drawings is the same process in reverse.’ Beck mostly works in France, but his art is seen all over the world on social media.

“At 67 years old, Beck has made nearly 700 artworks in sand and snow, and he said he aspires to make at least a thousand. The first time he tried making a pattern in the snow, in 2004, it was just an experiment. He started occasionally posting his snow and sand art. After a few years, he realized how many people were connecting with his work, and he started to dedicate himsel more seriously. He can work in the snow only from late October until early March, so he has a short season to make as many drawings as he can.

“The patterns can be as large as three soccer fields. After they’re done, Beck photographs them, often using a drone or by perching high on a nearby slope. Then, the drawings melt or are swept away by the wind or skiers — or they’re covered by fresh snow. The ephemeral nature of his work is part of the point. … He’s made hundreds of patterns in the same spots, and every time it snows, he has a fresh canvas.

“When Beck works in sand on beaches, the timetable is even shorter.

“ ‘When the tide starts going down, you have to wait until it’s dry before you can start drawing,’ he said. ‘Typically, you’ve got about five hours to get the drawing done before the tide comes in and starts covering it up.’ …

“ ‘The record was 75 people watching me,’ he said. … The skiing wasn’t very good that day, so dozens of people stopped to watch as Beck completed his work, yelling ‘Bravo!’ and applauding and taking photographs, he recalled.

“Often, though, Beck starts working on a snow drawing around 11 a.m. or noon, and doesn’t finish until around midnight, taking pictures of it the next morning. He eats a hearty breakfast before he starts: two big bowls of porridge with banana. He brings snacks with him for when he gets hungry while working, but he doesn’t take breaks. …

“By the time he finishes, he’s pretty hungry. …

“Beck usually works alone, but doesn’t mind the solitude. He listens to classical music while he works. ‘The Earth is beautiful, and the snow is beautiful, and winter is beautiful,’ Beck said.”

More at the Post, here.

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Henri Rousseau Reexamined

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 20, 2026| 3 Comments »

Art: Henri Rousseau.
“The Rabbit’s Meal” (1908), oil on canvas; The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

In my college days, it was a treat to visit the Barnes Foundation in Marion, Pennsylvania, where Barnes’s will specified it should remain forever. He hated art experts and was as determined as one can be — considering “you can’t take it with you” — to keep his collection away from museums.

After a long conflict among many players, the collection nevertheless ended up with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where an effort was made to maintain the groupings of works the way the will required.

The art critic who wrote today’s feature describes a recent exhibit. Writing at Hyperallergic in January, Judith Stein says, “If you’ve ever tried to puzzle out what’s happening in Henri Rousseau’s haunting ‘Sleeping Gypsy’ (1897) at the Museum of Modern Art, then you’re already familiar with the artist’s extraordinary ability to tantalize viewers. That painting of a lion and a slumbering woman is on view in Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets at the Barnes Foundation, now in the company of nearly 60 more works — many equally mesmerizing.

“Self-taught, self-confident, and inscrutable, Henri Rousseau … began painting before retiring as a toll collector for the city of Paris in 1893. It was at this point that he became a professional, though impoverished, artist.

“The title A Painter’s Secrets is not a ploy. Curators Christopher Green and Nancy Ireson freshly contextualized many artworks in the light of his personal story, and conservators conducted revelatory technical studies that, among other findings, exposed areas of long obscured, nuanced color. The grumpy-faced baby in ‘The Family’ (c. 1892–1900) is enlarged in the catalog to underscore Rousseau’s shrewd observational skills. …

“It’s startling to discover the top section of the four-year-old Eiffel Tower in the distant background of ‘Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris’ (1893–95), one of the small works that the enterprising painter sold to his neighbors. Other surprises are eerie. Sheltered within a barely visible structure in ‘Carnival Evening’ (1886), a disembodied head spies on a pair of costumed revelers.

“A Painter’s Secrets incorporates several of the Barnes Foundation’s 18 Rousseau paintings, temporarily installed alongside loans of thematically related examples. Visitors can compare their ‘Scouts Attacked by a Tiger’ (1904) with the savage animals in dramatic struggles depicted in the Fondation Beyeler’s ‘The Hungry Lion Throws Itself Upon the Antelope’ (1898–1905) and the Cleveland Museum of Art’s ‘Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo’ (1908). …

“ ‘Rousseau is not so much a storyteller as a story-giver,’ Christopher Green notes in his catalog essay. Will the naked damsel with knee-length blond hair in the Barnes’s ‘Unpleasant Surprise’ (1899–1901) be rescued by the hunter shooting at the ferocious bear about to maul her? Will the beautiful flute player in the Musée d’Orsay’s ‘The Snake Charmer’ (1907) be able to keep the venomous serpents at bay? …

It was Rousseau’s fellow artists who initially recognized his genius.

“An ambitious painter, he courted official patronage in vain. Picasso, who both admired and gently mocked Rousseau, first discovered his work in 1908, when he came across the ‘Portrait of a Woman’ (1895) in a bric-a-brac shop selling canvases for reuse. Framed on one side by voluptuously patterned, cinched drapery, his model stands on a balcony in front of an enfilade of potted flowers, overlooking a distant mountain range and a delicately colored sky. Unsurprisingly, Picasso bought it and kept it until his death. …

“While you’re at the Barnes, you can find other works by Rousseau from the permanent collection in nearby galleries, installed unchanged since 1951 as components of founder Albert Barnes’s provocative art ensembles. Once you’re there, prepare to be sidetracked by the abundance of work by Picasso, Cézanne, Matisse, and Renoir. A Painter’s Secrets is a rare opportunity to situate Rousseau in this lineage and, in the process, to absorb his innovative (and far from ‘naive’) use of pictorial space and color, and his enchanting imagination.”

There’s a great array of Rousseau’s paintings, here, at Hyperallergic. No firewall. Subscriptions encouraged.

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When Disaster Struck Lacquerware Arts

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2026| 2 Comments »

Photo: Kentaro Takahashi.
Kazuo Yamagishi inside his studio in Kanazawa in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan. Like many lacquer artisans, he was displaced from his original home in Wajima after the 2024 earthquake.

When my husband was working for a company that did a lot of business with Japan, I was often sent on a search for a nice business gift since his Japanese contacts gave him such beautiful ones. I could never compete with the lacquer trays and picture frames and the way they combined utility and artistry. But those beauties can’t compete with the museum-quality lacquer described in today’s article.

Patricia Leigh Brown writes at the New York Times, “Deep in his heart, Kazuo Yamagishi, a lacquer artist designated a Living National Treasure of Japan, does not reside in a nondescript beige apartment complex in a packed area of Kanazawa, the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture on the country’s main island.

“His real home, the one before he was displaced, is captured in a lacquer tray with delicately carved red lines inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl stretching across the horizon of its ebony surface. The work is meant to recall ‘the quality of the sunset in autumn,’ he said — the walks he would take along the shore in Wajima, his once-breathtaking small city, as the early evening light shimmered across the Sea of Japan.

“That was before a massive earthquake on New Year’s Day 2024 washed away his wooden home and studio, as it did those of hundreds of other Wajima artisans in this Holy Land of Lacquerware at the tip of the Noto Peninsula about two hours north of Kanazawa. …

“Wajima holds a singular place in the lacquer firmament, prized for its exceptional durability and honed by craftspeople whose family know-how goes back five generations and more. The strength of Wajima-nuri — designated a ‘Traditional Craft of Japan’ by the government — derives from the sap of the urushi tree, from which lacquer originates, reinforced with fine powdery local clay containing microfossils. …

“Today, many craftspeople remaining in Wajima are working out of 85 emergency prefabricated lacquer studios financed by the Japanese government, at a cost of $8.5 million. More than 3,000 housing units have been built to shelter residents, including artisans. … ‘The temporary studios are quite small, and they can’t go back to doing what they did before the quake,’ Shigeru Sakaguchi, the mayor of Wajima City, said in an interview. ‘But they need to keep producing to survive.’ …

“It is a slow craft in a fast world, learned through years of hands-on apprenticeships. … Each piece, including utilitarian bowls, art objects and more, requires over 100 steps and a retinue of specialists — from shapers of the wooden bases to artisans who apply layers of lacquer to produce a veneer thick enough for artists like Yamagishi to carve or incise.

“He and other surface decorators are masters of challenging techniques like ‘chinkin,’ which involves deftly embedding gold, silver or platinum powder into hand-carved dots and grooves. … Each layer of lacquer, known as urushi, needs high humidity and warm temperatures to harden in a box or room called an urushi miro.

“The sparkle of this natural material is difficult to convey without seeing it in person: Jewel-like motifs appear to float on glossy polished surfaces and then dissolve into the depths of the material. ‘Artists see the depth of surfaces as something only lacquer can achieve, with layers and layers of light,’ [Masami Yamada, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s curator of Japanese art] said. …

“A year and 10 months after the quake, the road to Wajima — which had buckled, complicating rescue efforts — remains a roller-coaster patchwork of construction barricades and earthmovers. But it still boasts panoramic vistas of the Sea of Japan, lush rice terraces and cedar forests. …

“The peninsula’s geographic isolation has protected it from modernization efforts, unlike so many other parts of Japan, said Masanori Aoyagi, director of the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art and the country’s former commissioner for cultural affairs. ‘It has a preserved quality, sustaining its own ecosystem of nature and kogei’ (pronounced ‘ko-gay’), he said, using a term for Japanese traditional crafts. ‘It’s a fragile and vulnerable land and culture that really deserves care.’ …

“As Wajima rebuilds … the nurturing of young talent is a top concern. Kunie Komori, a Living National Treasure who harvests bamboo from nearby hills and hand-weaves it for his lacquer art, directs the Ishikawa Prefectural Wajima Urushi Art Technical Training Center, which closed for nine months from quake damage. It received government support to house its 34 students, only two of whom are from Wajima.”

More at the Times, here. Wonderful visuals.

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How Original Art Benefits Health

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2026| 9 Comments »

Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Exhibit at Concord Art, November 30, 2021. Researchers have found that visiting galleries and museums to look at original art is good for your nervous system.

The other day, I was talking with a staff member here about her plans for the weekend, and she told me she wanted to go into Boston Sunday and visit an art museum or gallery. I am always impressed when anyone drives to Boston: the one-way streets are confusing and the parking is awful. She surprised me by saying, “Parking’s the easy part. There’s a lot of free street parking on Sundays.”

After reviewing today’s articles, I can hardly wait to tell her that what she was doing for fun is also good for her health.

Rhea Nayyar wrote recently at Hyperallergic about new research suggesting that museums and galleries are “non-clinical spaces for preventive health promotion. … Supporting existing research on the benefits of viewing original artwork versus reproductions, a new study found that seeing authentic art can help drop cortisol levels, among other positive effects on the nervous system. …

“ ‘The Physiological Impact of Viewing Original Artworks vs. Reprints: a Comparative Study‘ was conducted by researchers from the Department of Psychological Medicine at King’s College in London working in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute of Art.

“Fifty adults between the ages of 18 and 40 participated in the experimental study — one half was made to view five authentic paintings with their wall labels in a gallery setting for a 20-minute period, while the other half was shown high-quality reproductions of those paintings in a similarly curated setting. All participants had their heart rate and skin temperature monitored, and they provided saliva samples before and after the viewing sessions.

“The selected works (and subsequent reproductions) were all late 19th-century figurative paintings by European artists from the Courtauld’s collection: ‘Jane Avril in the Entrance to the Moulin Rouge‘ (c. 1892) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère‘ (1882) by Éduoard Manet; ‘Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil‘ (1874) by Éduoard Manet; ‘Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear‘ (1889) by Vincent van Gogh; and ‘Te Rerioa (The Dream)‘ (1897) by Paul Gaugin.

“The recorded data showed that those who viewed original artwork had higher heart rate variability patterns compared to the reproductions group, indicating that authentic viewing experiences contribute to a more receptive and adaptable nervous system. The post-viewing saliva samples also yielded a 22% cortisol decrease among the original art group, as well as a measurable drop in two of four recorded inflammatory proteins. …

“[The researchers likened] the stimulated but calming response elicited to that provoked by exercise or meditation.”

That supports University of Pennsylvania research described by Hyperallergic‘s Elaine Velie in 2022.

“ ‘Art museums have great potential to positively impact people, including reducing their stress, enhancing positive emotional experiences, and helping people to feel less lonely and more connected,’ researcher Katherine Cotter told Hyperallergic.

“The study, titled ‘Art Museums As Institutions for Human Flourishing,’ was published in the Journal of Positive Psychology by Cotter and James O. Pawelski of the University of Pennsylvania. Their work is encompassed in the burgeoning field of positive psychology, which studies ‘the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive.’ Drawing on research from different academic disciplines, the study is part of an initiative that examines how the arts and humanities affect ‘human flourishing’ — a comprehensive framework that takes into account both ‘ill-being’ (living with disease, disorders, or in negative states) and ‘well-being’ (practicing positive health habits). …

“Cotter and Pawelski compiled and reviewed over 100 research articles and government and foundation reports. They discovered that visiting a museum reduced stress levels, frequent visits decreased anxiety, and viewing figurative art lowered blood pressure. They also found that museum visits lowered the intensity of chronic pain, increased a person’s life span, and lessened the likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia.”

More at Hyperallergic, here, and here.

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Artist Models Struggle to Make a Living

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Isa Farfan/Hyperallergic.
A series of sketches created by Melody Lu during a life drawing session.

I’ve always been fascinated by how many different kinds of jobs there are in the world, but I’ve seldom delved into what it feels like to be in an unusual job. I know how it feels to be a waitress, a school teacher, and an editor, and that gives me sympathy for workers in those fields. Other people feel the same. It seems that generous tippers in restaurants have often known firsthand what it means to be on the other end.

Now Isa Farfan at Hyperallergic has given us a glimpse into the life of art models. It was a revelation to me.

“Aaron Bogan, a professional art model and illustrator originally from New Jersey, moved to New York City last year from the Bay Area, attracted in part by what he described as an ‘abundant’ modeling scene. For the past 20 years, Bogan has been a life drawing model, a physically demanding contract-based profession.

“ ‘Figure models are the blue-collar workers of the arts,’ Bogan said. ‘I don’t think anybody knows the amount of physicality and mental fortitude it takes to do what we do on stage.’

“In California, Bogan was part of the Bay Area Models Guild, which claims to represent some of the highest-paid figure models in the country, negotiating a minimum $50 hourly wage for their models. Though Bogan said he finds himself working more hours in New York City than ever before, he is earning just $22 an hour, above the minimum wage but below the living wage at standard full-time hours. On the night he spoke to Hyperallergic, Bogan had worked intermittently from 9 am until around 10 pm. He said he models six or seven days a week.

“A typical three-hour open drawing session begins with artists filing into a studio arranged expectantly toward an area where a model will disrobe. Nude, the model contorts into poses, ranging from sitting cross-legged on the stage to elaborate stances involving chairs, poles, and, for Bogan, katana swords. The relationship between the model and the student is demarcated by a stage, and for the artist, tucked behind a sketchbook or easel, the hours go by quickly, almost prayerfully. For the model, the work can be a gratifying form of artistic expression or meditation, but the postures are physically exerting. Standing poses, Bogan said, led him to develop a painful ulcer on his leg, which required a $430 emergency room visit earlier last October. He went back to work the next day.

“ ‘We’ve all been through pain on the inside and outside, and we bring it all on the stage,’ Bogan said. ‘We’re all smiling, and we’re all doing everything on stage, but nobody knows that when you’re on stage, it looks like you’re stoic, but on the inside, you’re breaking.’

“Despite playing a consequential role in visual arts institutions across the country, art models, also known as figure models or life drawing models, are struggling to cobble together a living between unreliable hours and varying wages, according to nine models interviewed by Hyperallergic. Many of the models, most of whom are artists themselves, reported feeling overlooked in the art world despite their prevalence in educational institutions.

“On Wednesday, December 17, members of the Art Students League, which currently contracts 80–90 models depending on class needs, will vote on a new board. As the institution marks its 150th year, the newly formed Art Students League Model Collective is asking incoming leadership to hear their concerns for improved labor conditions, including raising their $22/hour rate, offering more stable working hours, and providing up-to-date heaters and amenities. 

“The models interviewed by Hyperallergic, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of losing work, also hope that sharing their stories will lead to increased respect for the profession. 

“Anna Veedra, an art model who does not work for the Art Students League, is leading the push for change at the institution through her advocacy organization, The Model Tea Project. Veedra is sending a survey to art models across the country, an initiative she told Hyperallergic would ‘provide the model community with data to match their lived experience.’

“Veedra said she prefers flying to California to take jobs, including at animation studios, rather than working in New York, where institutions like Parsons and the New School pay around $20–25 an hour, according to models who work there. …

“In preliminary data shared with Hyperallergic from 41 models heavily concentrated in New York City and at the Art Students League, over half of the respondents reported being unable to save any money for retirement or emergencies.

About half of the models said they relied on public assistance programs, including food stamps and Medicaid.

“Most models surveyed by Veedra earned below $35,000 per year, including supplemental income. Some models Hyperallergic interviewed had other jobs. A few relied on bookings entirely. 

“In a statement, a spokesperson for the Art Students League said the atelier-style institution was ‘committed to providing a safe and inclusive working environment for the models who devote their time and expertise to aiding the practice of life drawing in our studios.’

“ ‘Models are vital members of our community and the League’s administration regularly holds meetings where models can share feedback and voice concerns,’ the spokesperson said. The institution did not answer questions about whether it had plans to raise pay for models or confirm its hourly rate for models. 

“The Art Students League was established in the 1870s in part to increase opportunities for artists to draw life models. A century and a half later, models are hoping it could set a high standard for the industry.

“One model who works at the Art Students League and spoke to Hyperallergic called the pay ‘insulting for the type of work that it is.’ Another model said he felt the institution ‘completely take[s] us for granted.’ 

“Robin Hoskins, an art model from Cincinnati who works at art schools across New York City as an independent contractor, said she became so ‘desperate’ that she was searching for retail jobs earlier this year. … She wishes people would appreciate the elegance and stamina required to pose for artists.

“ ‘We’re human beings, you know, and we want to be understood and appreciated for the work we’re putting in,’ Hoskins said. ‘But, most importantly, we need to be able to have a dignified wage and be able to earn a decent living, just like anyone else in any other successful profession.’ ” 

More at Hyperallergic, here. No paywall. Subscriptions encouraged.

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Art Photos

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2026| 6 Comments »

Photos:John and Suzanne’s Mom.
Joy Muller-McCoola’s fiber art piece “Rising,” at Lexington Art.

Textile artist Ann often digs me out of my rut to go see some fiber art and afterward have a nice lunch somewhere close by. Most recently, we went to a beautiful show at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society in Lexington, Massachusetts.

I was drawn to the piece above because I love islands. This one is emerging from the sea in an unspoiled form. It felt hopeful. Below is one called “Sky with 7 Sheep.” It practically leapt from the wall.

After that, you can see the lovely “Light Breaking on Water,” by Ann Scott. And Sandra Mayo’s “The Way We Touch the World,” with the gloved hands, was intriguing.

What do these pieces mean to the artists? one wonders. What do they mean to me at a moment in time? And do meanings change?

That got me thinking that I never posted pictures of some works that I liked last fall at Concord Art. So I’ll add them now and wind up with my own attempt at an artsy photo. We can call it “Dawn at the Gym.”

Here is Nancy Mimno’s “Dragon.”

Sarah Bossert created “Four and Twenty Blackbirds.”

Below, Carol Rabe’s “Late Night Snack.”

“Dawn at the Gym.”


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Using Art to Train the Attention

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Met Museum via Wikimedia Commons.

When a woman in Minneapolis died at the hands of government forces recently, I was impressed with a wise Twitter comment about how much you really have to look at something before speaking. @JeninYounesEsq began by saying, “I’m a former defense attorney and currently a civil liberties attorney with no political dog in this fight. I watched the video at least 10 times from different angles and at different speeds and waited to offer an opinion, which I still reserve the right to change if additional information changes the calculus.”

I thought about that when reading a Sarah Bahr “Times Insider” piece at the New York Times. It’s about how we all can train ourselves to notice more.

Bahr says, “When the New York Times reporters Larry Buchanan and Francesca Paris read about a Harvard art history professor who directed her students to spend three hours looking at a painting or a sculpture of their choice, they were intrigued. The assignment was designed to force students to slow down, to really focus on what is in front of them.

“So, Mr. Buchanan and Ms. Paris, who work on [the Times] Upshot desk, wondered: Could they recreate this experience virtually for Times readers?

“ ‘That is the hope of the series: Can we train you to focus? Can we help you think about these things in slightly different ways?’ said Mr. Buchanan, who has a fine arts background and whose work often explores the intersection of art and journalism.

“The first edition in the series titled ‘Test Your Focus: Can You Spend 10 Minutes With One Painting?‘ was published in July of [2024] — and readers, it turned out, were up for the challenge. One in four readers stuck with that painting, James Whistler’s 1871 ‘Nocturne in Blue and Silver,’ for the full 10 minutes — or, at least, kept it open in their browsers.

” ‘Giving readers a small but mighty reminder that you can slow down is a pretty powerful thing,’ Mr. Buchanan said of the more than 750,000 readers who spent some quality time with Whistler. ‘We were surprised how many people stayed.’ (The highest success rate of the series to date, he said, has been one of the Unicorn Tapestries from the late Middle Ages.)

“Each new installment in the series, which arrives on the first Monday of each month in the inboxes of newsletter subscribers and also appears online, draws from a mix of well-known and lesser-known work. Past challenges have included an Indian painting made in the foothills of the Himalayas in the early 1800s; Pieter Bruegel’s ‘Hunters in the Snow‘; and Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’ … The most recent edition features the Dutch artist Margareta Haverman’s ‘A Vase of Flowers.’

“Mr. Buchanan, Ms. Paris and Nico Chilla, a graphics multimedia editor at the Times who produces the interactive elements of the series, introduced their first abstract work in April: Lee Krasner’s ‘The Seasons.‘ A technical glitch meant that some readers initially saw a blue square for 10 minutes, but many stuck with the exercise anyway.

“After producing the series’s initial Whistler piece, Mr. Chilla, who has a background in digital design, worked with Mr. Buchanan and Ms. Paris to solicit feedback from readers about their experiences.

“ ‘The time was visible always in the first one, and people didn’t like that,’ he said of the on-screen timer, which they removed after the first challenge. ‘And we initially had a few prompts for how to look at the artwork, but a lot of people complained: “The words are getting in my way.” ‘ …

“Though the pieces offer ultraclose zoom capability, overall, they are purposefully free of distraction.

“ ‘We really want simplicity — just you and the image,’ said Mr. Buchanan, adding that the team had vetoed developing a challenge around a sculpture (for now), fearing that the 360-degree viewing experience required to fully take it in would be too distracting.

“For the team that works on the series, the project has been an enlightening experience. Mr. Buchanan said he had begun noticing subtle things in his own life, like how cracks zigzag across the sidewalk, or the way light hits the water, or the way a plant is squeezed against a rock. …

“Ms. Paris, who proudly proclaims herself the ‘art newbie’ on the team, adopted the exercise in real life, spending an hour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Théodore Géricault’s 1818 painting ‘Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct.’

“ ‘It was a great hour,’ she said. ‘I like to think it’s made me linger a little longer with art and nature. It’s not life-changing, but I’ve never regretted the extra time I spent looking.’ …

“Readers’ comments have also been gratifying, Mr. Buchanan said. One man even devised his own version of the challenge: Look at a single piece of art for a total of 100 hours. He sends Mr. Buchanan periodic updates about his quest via email.

“ ‘I love that this has taken on a life of its own,’ Mr. Buchanan said.” More at the Times, here.

Would you want to try this, too? Maybe at a blog that has great art or photos. Rebecca at https://fakeflamenco.com/, for example, often does intriguing things with her camera. And Artist Meredith Fife Day has looked carefully for hours at the ficus she has painted in all its moods.

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Harlem’s Studio Art Museum Reopened

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 10, 2026| 2 Comments »

Photos: Isa Farfan/Hyperallergic.
A light well at the recently reopened Studio Art Museum in Harlem.

Suzanne and Erik lived in Harlem before they moved to Rhode Island. They loved their apartment, and they loved being able to enjoy so many of the things New York City has to offer. One of the attractions of Harlem itself was the Studio Art Museum, which now has an impressive new building, after being closed from 2018 to 2025.

Isa Farfan writes at the art magazine Hyperallergic, “The Studio Museum in Harlem has a new, stunning home.  The 57-year-old New York institution, dedicated to artists of African descent, [has] inaugurated its new building. …

“Founded by a group of artists and activists, the museum closed its 125th Street location in 2018 to undergo construction of a new building, the first specifically created for the arts institution. The Studio Museum originally opened at a site on Fifth Avenue before moving to its current home on 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in the 1980s, the former New York Bank of Savings building. The striking 82,000-square-foot (~7,618-square-meter) new building at the same site was designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson. …

” ‘I have truly missed having our physical space,’ Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden told Hyperallergic. ‘In the years we’ve been closed, our visitors, friends, members, and artists have made it known how much they miss us; everywhere I go.’

“The museum is debuting a series of inaugural exhibitions, including ‘Tom Lloyd,’ a one-gallery career survey of the artist-activist’s flashing light sculptures. Works from the museum’s approximately 9,000-item collection span three galleries as part of the exhibition ‘From Now: A Collection in Context,’ which will feature a rotating display.

“Though the construction was delayed in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Studio Museum Curator Connie Choi told Hyperallergic that the extended timeline gave the institution a chance to look deeper within itself.

” ‘It allowed us the opportunity to do a deep dive into understanding our collection holdings, to do research, conservation, and framing,’ Choi said. ‘We’ve also done a deep dive into our institutional history in a way that we haven’t been able to do before.’

” ‘We thought very hard about how to be present while closed,’ Golden added. During its seven-year closure, the institution launched several collaborations, including the traveling exhibition ‘Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum.’ …

“Choi said she’s most excited about the Lloyd survey, noting that he was the first artist to participate in the museum’s studio program.

” ‘It’s a space of contemplation, even as the works themselves are blinking and exciting,’ Choi said. ‘We are hoping that people can slow down; they are coming off of 125th street, which is the busiest street in Harlem, into a space that allows a moment of rest and respite and contemplation of artwork.’ “

More at Hyperallergic, here. The photos of the new building really make me want to see it.

Elizabeth Catlett’s “Mother and Child” (1993) on display in “From Now: A Collection in Context” at the Studio Art Museum.


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Bob Ross Art Breaks Records

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 9, 2026| 2 Comments »

Photo: Bob Ross Inc./AP.
The late Bob Ross encouraged millions of Americans to make and appreciate art through his show The Joy of Painting, which has aired on PBS stations since 1983.

I once got an art kit from public broadcasting painter Bob Ross for my older granddaughter, a big fan. She was happy with the kit, but she did admit later that Ross made everything look easier on television than it really was.

Now we know that many other people not only liked Ross’s art, but want to support the medium where it was presented.

Rachel Treisman writes at National Public Radio (NPR), “The first of 30 Bob Ross paintings — many of them created live on the PBS series that made him a household name — have been auctioned off to support public television.

“Ross, with his distinctive afro, soothing voice and sunny outlook, empowered millions of viewers to make and appreciate art through his show The Joy of Painting. More than 400 half-hour episodes aired on PBS (and eventually the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) from 1983 to 1994, the year before Ross died of cancer at age 52. …

“His show still airs on PBS and streams on platforms like Hulu and Twitch. It has surged in popularity in recent years, particularly as viewers searched for comfort during COVID-19 lockdowns. … But his artwork rarely goes up for sale — until recently.

“In October, the nonprofit syndicator American Public Television (APT) announced it would auction off 30 of Ross’ paintings to raise money for public broadcasters hit by federal funding cuts. It pledged to direct 100% of its net sales proceeds to APT and PBS stations nationwide. Auction house Bonhams is calling it the ‘largest single offering of Bob Ross original works ever brought to market.’ …

“The first three paintings sold in Los Angeles on Nov. 11. for a record-shattering $662,000. Bonhams says the works attracted hundreds of registrations, more than twice the usual number for that type of sale. …

“Said Robin Starr, the general manager of Bonhams Skinner, the auction house’s Massachusetts branch, ‘These successes provide a solid foundation as we look ahead to 2026 and prepare to present the next group of Bob Ross works.’

“The next trio of paintings will be auctioned in Massachusetts in late January. The rest will be sold throughout 2026 at Bonham’s salesrooms in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. …

“Congress voted in July to claw back $1.1 billion in previously allocated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), leaving the country’s roughly 330 PBS and 244 NPR stations in a precarious position.

“CPB began shutting down at the end of September … and several local TV and radio stations have also announced layoffs and closures.

” ‘I think he would be very disappointed’ about the CPB cuts, [Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross, Inc.] said of Ross. … I think this would have probably been his idea.” Kowalski, whose parents founded Bob Ross Inc. together with the painter in 1985, said Ross favored positive activism over destructive or empty rhetoric. …

“The Ross auction aims to help stations pay their licensing fees to the national TV channel Create, which in turn allows them to air popular public television programs. … Bonhams says the auction proceeds will help stations — particularly smaller and rural ones — defray the cost burden of licensing fees, making Create available to more of them. …

“The 30 paintings going up for sale span Ross’ career … include vibrant landscapes, with the serene mountains, lake views and ‘happy trees’ that became his trademark.

“Ross started painting during his 20-year career in the Air Force, much of which was spent in Alaska. That experience shaped his penchant for landscapes and ability to work quickly — and, he later said, his desire not to raise his voice once out of the service.

“Once on the airwaves, Ross’ soft-spoken guidance and gentle demeanor won over millions of viewers. His advice applied to art as well as life: Mistakes are just ‘happy accidents, talent is a ‘pursued interest,’ and it’s important to ‘take a step back and look.’ …

“In August [before any talk of a public television fundraiser] Bonhams sold two of Ross’ early 1990s mountain and lake scenes as part of an online auction of American art. They fetched $114,800 and $95,750, surpassing expectations and setting a new auction world record for Ross at the time. Kowalski says that’s when her gears started turning.

” ‘And it just got me to thinking, that’s a substantial amount of money,’ she recalled. ‘And what if, what if, what if?’ “

More at NPR, here. A few days ago funder CPB announced it was shutting down. But, by hook or by crook, public tv will carry on.

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Saving New Deal Murals

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2026| 6 Comments »

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
“The Wealth of the Nation,” by Seymour Fogel, 1942, located in the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, Washington, DC.

I’m a huge fan of the giant New Deal murals that gave brilliant artists work to do in lean times. I suppose the art has always been in danger of being covered over or removed as post offices and other public building have been remodeled. But right now the danger seems to be coming from the federal government’s current push to rewrite history.

Gray Brechin writes at the Living New Deal website that the federal government aims to sell the “Sistine Chapel” of New Deal art.

The murals of Ben Shahn, Brechin says, “in the old Social Security Administration headquarters in Washington, DC, were a problem, a docent privately told me when I toured the building in 2012.

“The building, which faces the National Mall, was by then occupied by the Voice of America. Visitors from around the world made reservations to tour the building as had I. Some of Shahn’s murals, painted when the building opened in 1940, the guide told me, suggested to visitors that poverty and racism existed in the land of the free.

“But Shahn and other artists commissioned to embellish the building also showed how Roosevelt and Frances Perkins’ Social Security programs had not only alleviated those problems, but had distributed America’s abundance so as to give everyone, rather than a few, a richer and more secure life than they had known before the New Deal. 

“Shahn’s fresco series ‘The Meaning of Social Security,’ is the most prominent of the murals in the now renamed Wilbur J. Cohen Building. Other artworks also carry themes of security and American life, among them ‘The Security of the People’ and ‘Wealth of the Nation’ by Seymour Fogel, ‘Reconstruction and Well-Being of the Family,’ by Philip Guston and granite reliefs by Emma Lu Davis.  Some artworks were inaccessible when I toured the building.  

“With Voice of America workers abruptly evicted on March 15 of this year [2025] and the agency itself facing extinction, the public is now forbidden access to the building altogether. The current administration hopes to speedily dispose of it and three others in the vicinity by the end of the year. A buyer could demolish the building. … Planning guidelines, reviews and preservation itself matter little if at all.

“As Timothy Noah explains in the New Republic … the General Services Administration (GSA), which owns the Cohen Building has itself been gutted in the administration’s drive to, in Grover Norquist’s words, ‘drown the government in the bathtub.’

“That Shahn’s murals depict a harsh reality worried me well before the administration began editing displays and signage that cast a less than a flattering light on US history at the Smithsonian Museums, National Parks, and other federal institutions. That federal buildings could be sold wholesale also concerned me more than a decade ago when the US Postal Service began quietly disposing of historic post offices, many of them containing New Deal art. 

“One of those buildings, now in private hands, is the monumental Bronx General Post Office for which Ben Shahn and his wife Bernarda Bryson painted thirteen murals in 1937 depicting laboring Americans while Walt Whitman, painted at one end of the once-stately lobby, lectures those workers on their responsibility to democracy. Closed in 2013 and sold twice since then, the future of that structure, like the old Social Security Building, remains unclear, with development plans in the works.

“Once among America’s foremost painters, Ben Shahn’s artistic stock fell with the rise of abstract and pop art after World War II. Abstraction had little room for the kind of social realism in which Shahn and Bryson were masters.

“A recent exhibition at New York City’s Jewish Museum spanning Shahn’s career was testimony to Shahn’s lifelong concern for social justice and the issues addressed by the New Deal.

“Dr. Stephen Brown, a Jewish Museum curator, says that ‘Ben Shahn is one of the great American artists of the twentieth century who believed in the value of dissent and the essential function of art of a democratic society.’

“Himself an immigrant from Lithuania, Shahn’s two great mural cycles depicting his hopes for his adopted country are closed and off limits to the very public which paid for and ostensibly owns them. Gracing buildings that the present administration values only for the real estate beneath them, Shahn’s art and that of others … now face an uncertain future.”

Brechin adds that if anyone wants to help save the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, they may “sign and share the petition.” More at Living New Deal, here.

I have previously written about reviving hidden or forgotten New Deal murals — as in one post about Harlem, here.

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Papier Mâché In Kashmir

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 5, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Fahad Shah.
In Srinagar, India, Syed Maqbool Rizvi paints intricate floral patterns on a decorative box made of papier-mâché. The ancient craft is dying out.

In reading about traditional crafts in danger of dying out as its elderly practitioners die, I keep thinking about recent posts on young artists taking crafts in new directions. (Consider the Navajo weaver, here, and the bojagi artist, here.) I wonder if such an evolution can emerge in a politically turbulent place like Kashmir. Ancient decorations now cover more than boxes, but who will take it to the next level? The current popularity belies the unsustainable bottom line for the workers themselves.

Reporting from India for the Christian Science Monitor, Fahad Shah writes, “Papier-mâché dates back hundreds of years in Kashmir. Local folklore credits the 14th century Sufi saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani with bringing the craft to this Himalayan region from Iran, and it flourished under a series of sultans, quickly becoming a symbol of Kashmir’s cultural identity.

“But for a long time, the art form was limited to decorative boxes and other items molded from paper pulp. … These days, the iconic designs popularized by traditional papier-mâché items can be found on bags, leather jackets, and home decor. Artisans apply their intricate designs on unconventional materials like steel, glass, and porcelain, using industrial paints for durability.

“This creative evolution has expanded papier-mâché’s market appeal, with a new generation of clientele emerging – a group that includes interior designers, a local urban bourgeoisie, and international buyers. …

“It’s a relief – of sorts – to the Kashmiri artisans who have watched similar local crafts die out in recent years. To be sure, papier-mâché artisans continue to struggle with low wages and a lack of new talent entering the craft. Yet Hakim Sameer Hamdani, an architectural historian and design director for the Kashmir section of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, says the industry itself is performing better now compared with 20 or 30 years ago. …

“He says, ‘The internet’s role, especially social media and WhatsApp, in design inspiration and market expansion has further driven demand, allowing artisans to reach global buyers directly and removing middlemen.’

“In Srinagar city, Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, papier-mâché art adorns the walls and ceilings of everything from Sufi shrines and mosques to homes and hotels. It can also be spotted in the windows of boutiques, where tourists and locals alike browse ornate bags or leather jackets. Mohammad Ismail, a retired educationist in Srinagar who collects papier-mâché art, says artists are always innovating.

“In papier-mâché, ‘the main focus is the design,’ he says, as he leaves a shop with a newly purchased bag. ‘It is the color and the pattern, whether it is on a glass or paper, that is authentic.’

“Around the world, demand for classic papier-mâché designs – applied to modern products – is growing, says Rahul Dhar, founder of e-commerce platform Treasures of Kashmir. He’s been selling Kashmiri handicrafts since 2020, and in the last few years, interest in papier-mâché jewelry has surged on his platform. …

“For artists, customer enthusiasm doesn’t always translate into prosperity. From his home in a historic neighborhood of Srinagar, Syed Maqbool Rizvi paints intricate floral patterns on a decorative box. His day started at 9 a.m. and will end at midnight. Despite having a loyal customer base that he communicates with via WhatsApp, he only earns the equivalent of about $5 for an entire day’s labor.

“The award-winning, seventh-generation papier-mâché artisan will be the last in his family to master the craft. His children – a son and a daughter – have chosen different paths.  

“ ‘There were many families known for this craft, but their children have moved on,’ Mr. Rizvi says. ‘Everyone looks for private jobs these days – who can afford to sit from morning till night for this kind of work?’  

“Government loans during the pandemic helped, he says, but it’s become almost impossible to make ends meet through papier-mâché alone. 

“Historian Bashir Ahmad Maliyar, whose doctoral thesis examined the evolution of Kashmir’s Mughal-era arts, crafts, and trade, says it will take more aggressive interventions to reverse the decline in active artisans.

“Without policies that ensure fair wages, incentivize arts education, and promote the region’s crafts, ‘papier-mâché will vanish within 10 to 20 years,’ he says. ‘People may still practice it in isolated ways, but once the art dies, reviving it will be difficult.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here.

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This Navajo Weaver Experiments

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Peter Ellzey.
DY Begay in her weaving studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2022.

Traditions often gain strength and durability when the spirit behind them is reinterpreted through a new generation’s sensibilities. A case in point: the way the weaving and dyeing of Diné artist DY Begay has enriched a traditional Navajo craft.

Sháńdíín Brown and Zach Feuer at Hyperallergic recently interviewed the artist.

They write, “For over four decades, artist DY Begay expanded the expressive range of Diné (Navajo) weaving, transforming the form into a language that is entirely her own. She is a Diné Asdzą́ą́ (Navajo woman), born to the Tótsohnii (Big Water) clan and born for the Táchii’nii (Red Running into Water/Earth) clan. Her maternal grandfather is of the Tsénjíkiní (Cliff Dweller) clan and her paternal grandfather is of the Áshįįhí (Salt People) clan. 

“Begay is a fifth-generation weaver who was raised in Tsélání (Cottonwood) on the Navajo Nation, where her family’s sheep flock still resides. Rooted in Diné Bikéyah (Navajo homelands) — from the cliffs of Tsélání to the horizon of the Lukachukai Mountains — her work reflects the blended hues of sunsets, mesas, and mountain ranges, while her use of wool from her family’s flock and natural dyes binds her practice to the land she seeks to honor and protect.

“After graduating from Arizona State University in 1979, Begay moved to New Jersey and immersed herself in the fiber art world of New York City. She studied historic Diné textiles at the Museum of the American Indian, whose collections later became part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Most of these pieces were created by Diné weavers whose names were not recorded, likely women. She also took inspiration from the work of artists such as Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, and Lenore Tawney — all of whom trained in modern Western traditions yet studied Indigenous weaving practices. …

“When she returned to Tsélání in 1989, her grandmother, Desbáh Yazzie Nez (1908–2003), saw her weavings and urged her to develop her own compositional sensibility. Begay quickly gained recognition at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market as well as the Santa Fe Indian Market, yet she felt restless in her practice. By 1994, that questioning crystallized into a breakthrough: She began developing color hatching, a method of creating subtle gradations and nuanced color interactions that transformed the solid, banded designs of conventional Diné weaving. …

“In August, Begay spoke with us over Zoom from her home in Santa Fe. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Sháńdíín Brown and Zach Feuer
“In Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DY Begay, the first book dedicated to you and your recent retrospective at the NMAI, you write about watching your mother and grandmother weave in the hogan. …

DY Begay
 “I don’t remember the very first time I picked up weaving tools and set a loom on my own. I was very young. I do remember standing behind my mother’s loom, watching her pull colored yarns over and around the warps. Her fingers moved swiftly in and out, pressing the wefts into place. Within minutes, geometric shapes stacked and formed into the outline of a Ganado-style weaving. At that age — maybe four or five — I could not quite comprehend how those shapes came together. I was always perplexed and in awe. Everything happened so fast in front of me as her hands composed lines and rows of colored yarn. 

“I grew up surrounded by weavers: my maternal grandmother, my mother, and my aunts. Someone was always at the loom, often positioned in a very central place inside the hogan. And we lived in the hogan when I was growing up, and everybody else did too.

“I watched my mother create stepped patterns with hand-dyed yarns, moving with precision and grace. Teaching came through showing. It was a physical action. The word that I always remember, and is still used today, is kót’é — ‘like this.’ My mother said ‘kót’é, kót’é.’ …

SB & ZF
“Do you remember the moment when you first began weaving yourself — whether your family set up a loom for you or you started working on theirs?

DB
“I was very curious. I tried to hold my mother’s tools, but they were too big for my hands. … Eventually, she allowed me to sit with her once in a while and said ‘kót’é, kót’é.’ I began to get used to the natural action of tapping with the combs. I was about eight years old when I had my own loom. I don’t remember its size. My mother prepared the warp and I used leftover yarn from her bin. I do remember finishing my first weaving, maybe two colors. It was pretty decent for a first attempt. It was a good learning situation because my mother was there. She would sometimes unweave certain parts and we would go on. …

“Most finished weavings, maybe two by three or three by three feet, and some saddle blankets, were taken by my father and my grandfather to the local trading posts to exchange for food, fabric, or whatever was needed. My mother never went to the trading post herself — we didn’t have a vehicle then, so transportation was by wagon or horses. They would roll up the weavings, pack them, and take them to the trading post. …

“In weaving ‘Pollen Path,’ I wanted to share a cultural belief. Among the Diné, we sprinkle corn pollen to honor a new day, to seek blessings, and to bring balance into our lives. Corn itself is a sacred plant. The pollen is collected in late summer, when the tassels of the corn begin to pollinate. We gather it in the early morning, just before the sun rises. For me, ‘Pollen Path’ reflects peace, beauty, and gratitude for life.

“The project began in the summer of 2007, a very good year for growing plants that I use in dyeing my wool. My sister, Berdina Y. Charley, planted local corn seeds she received from our Táchii’nii (Red Running into Water/Earth) relatives. I believe these were heirloom seeds from our Táchii’nii family. …

SB & ZF
“How do you translate the experience of walking in beauty, through the landscapes of Diné Bikéyah (Navajo Country) and more specifically your home of Tsélani (Cottonwood), into the two-dimensional form of weaving?

DB
“Not only do I have my Tsélani landscape embedded in my mind, but I frequently photograph the surrounding textures at various times of the day to capture different lighting as it reflects on the terrain. …

SB & ZF
“Can you tell us about your color palette and the process of dyeing the wool? Is it essential for you to use and make dyes that are from the earth?

DB
“I have been practicing and experimenting with natural dyes for quite a while, and I love using local plants to create my color palette. It is both essential and traditional in my culture to use what the earth provides to create dyes for our yarn.

“My palette comes from many sources. I work with common plants such as cota (Navajo tea), chamisa, rabbitbrush, and sage. I also use non-native materials like insects, fungi, foods, and flowers. Each has its own season, and I collect plants according to the time of year.

“The process itself is an experiment every time. I’ve studied many dyeing methods and learned to be attentive to formulas that help obtain and preserve the colors. For me, making dyes from the earth is not only practical but also deeply connected to tradition and creativity.”

More at Hyperallergic, here. No paywall. Subscriptions encouraged.

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Unknown Art Group Takes Over

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on November 29, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Charlie Rubin/Kasmin, New York.
An example of sculpture by Alma Allen, ‘Not Yet Titled‘ (2024). He is the artist chosen by a conservative art group to represent the US in the 61st Venice Biennale.

With all the sinister goings-on in the world, you might think that something strange in the art world would be the least of our worries. But this creepy story really got under my skin, and I’m wondering what the artists among you have to say about it.

Ben Davis reports at Artnet that the administration “has picked its artist for the 61st Venice Biennale. After months of speculation and much confusion, the artist to represent the U.S. will be Mexico-based sculptor Alma Allen, in a pavilion organized by curator Jeffrey Uslip. The sponsor is the American Arts Conservancy (AAC).

“But what is this organization, now vaulted front and center of the international art conversation, which no one I know has ever heard of? I was perplexed. So I took a spin around the internet to get a sense of what its chops were. Here are some observations.

“If no one has heard of the Tampa-based AAC, this is because it was founded only in July of this year. The press release is so poorly edited that it repeats the same quote by executive director Jenni Parido twice.

“The fact that this gaffe stands, four months later, as AAC takes on the most high-profile job in the arts, might put into question their professionalism in organizing a major international art exhibition. …

“Parido is an enigma on the art scene. According to her LinkedIn, her primary work experience is as the founder of Feed Pet Purveyor, a Tampa vendor specializing in natural foods for pets, which she ran from 2014 to 2023. …

“Frank Bardonaro was named president of the AAC board of directors in late August; he’s the CEO of the Houston-based Brock Group, a conglomerate that provides scaffolding, insulation, and the like for industrial and commercial customers. John Mocker, who serves as board secretary, is head of a pipe distributor, LB Industries.

“Mocker distinguishes himself as arty in this company because his biography identifies him as a collector of ‘American and international art.’ I’m interested! All I was able to find out, though, was that he also had a bit part in the unknown 2024 Abigail Breslin feature Chapter 51 directed by photographer Tyler Shields. …

“Ryan Coyne joined the AAC board as treasurer in September. He is best-known for running Starboard, a digital marketing, media, and government relations business. Among other things, it owns BizPac Review, which promises ‘breaking news and analysis unfiltered by the liberal bias that has eroded the media’s credibility.’ Starboard is probably best known for purchasing Parler, the right-wing Twitter clone, in 2023. Coyne also runs We the People Wine, ‘America’s Favorite Patriotic Wine.’

“Finally, AAC vice president Janet Steinger is a socialite married to superstar Palm Beach personal-injury lawyer Michael Steinger. …

“ ‘The Conservancy brings together a national network of curators, scholars, educators, artists, and patrons who believe in the transformative power of the arts,’ AAC boasted when it launched. Let’s take a look at what that means. The advisory board includes: curator Jeffrey Uslip, who is helming the Alma Allen pavilion in Venice, socialite Mackenzie Brumberg, socialite Nicola Verses … Nicole McGraw, a Palm Beach art dealer and former CEO of Jupiter NFT Group [now] ambassador to Croatia … artist Brendan Murphy, who made a diamond-encrusted spaceman sculpture for a Four Seasons in Riyadh … photographer, artist, and Web3 entrepreneur Brandon Ralph. …

“One name on the advisory board list, Madison Wright, remains an unknown, as the AAC site does not identify or provide links for its advisory board, just names. ‘Mathew Taylor’ and ‘Michelle Taylor’ are also listed. ‘Mathew’ seems to be a misspelling of ‘Matthew.’ It probably refers to a filmmaker who goes by both M.A. Taylor and Matthew Taylor, depending on whether he is directing films about conservative politics or art. He has directed both Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible (2019), about the famed father of conceptual art, and Government Gangsters (2024) [about] Kash Patel‘s book about a deep state conspiracy. …

“The other big initiative AAC is pushing is the ‘Passport to Patriotism: America 250’ exhibition, which it says will happen next year. ‘Children ages 5–15 are invited to submit original works that express what patriotism means to them,’ for possible inclusion. …

“The ‘children’s art’ used to illustrate the contest has the hallmarks of very bland A.I., including [one] where Lady Liberty has six fingers, and the stripes on the flag inexplicably flip colors. …

“A bare-bones official website for the U.S. pavilion now exists. On Instagram and Facebook, AAC posted a short statement about the vision of the show.”

Maybe I read too many murder mysteries, but the thin online presence of these entities sure do suggest the shell companies I’m currently reading about in a novel by Richard Osman.

More at Artnet, here.

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Bojagi Textiles from Korea

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2025| 3 Comments »

Photo: John and Suzanne’s Mom.
Chunghie Lee‘s bojagi style “No-Name Women Paper DuRuMaGill”: photo images silk-screen-printed on Korean mulberry paper dyed with ground oriental ink stick. At Lexington Arts in Massachusetts.

My friend Ann, the textile artist, put me on to a new/ancient type of quilting and fabric art. It’s from Korea and it’s called bojagi.

According to the websit for Beyond Above Publications, “Bojagi (Bo-Jah-ki), or wrapping cloth, is the ancient Korean folk tradition of making pieced textiles for both everyday and ceremonial use. Originally made by anonymous housewives to fulfill a practical need along with an artistic impulse, Bojagi and its techniques have recently gained attention outside of Korea due to the increasing interest in the value of handmade items, as well the use of recycled materials and the politics of sustainability in textiles and contemporary art.”

I would never know about this type of thing, but Ann is on every email list imaginable for textile art in Greater Boston and beyond. So one day I headed over to Lexington Arts and Crafts to see contemporary bojagi by artist Chunghie Lee.

Apart from appreciating Lee’s skillful needlework, I was struck by her use of sustainable materials: previously used fabrics, mulberry paper, and ground-up ink sticks for red and black dyes. Especially moving was her focus on “no-name women,” the anonymous people behind this technique to make scraps of cloth go far. Women unknown and unappreciated.

You have to look closely to see them. Lee brings them into her work with silk screens of old-time photos, barely visible. Which is why for this piece I am showing you only a close-up.

Close-up of silk bojagi “no-name women” piecework by Chunghie Lee.

Here is more detail from the publishing company Lee founded with Jiyoung Chung, a visual artist inspired by the Joomchi papermaking tradition.

“From traditional women’s work to contemporary sustainable textiles, bojagi works include delicately pieced and hand-stitched traditional bojagi, reinterpreted bojagi, wearable pieces, installations, and wall hangings.

This uniquely Korean art form made by anonymous ancestors has evolved from functional works into a contemporary art form that is embraced worldwide.

“Since the late 14th century, every household, from the royal palace to the thatched-roof hut in a mountain village, has found these wrapping cloths indispensable. The tradition of making and using bojagi was established during the Josun Dynasty (1392 – 1910), when women were restricted from leaving their households. To spend the long, tedious hours of the day, girls were taught to sew at age ten, and needlework became a big part of their lives as they moved into  adulthood. This folk art tradition was the only escape from the sequestered lifestyle of Korean women, and provided them with an artistic outlet for creative expression.”

Chunghie Lee adds, “I see this patchwork as a metaphor for human life. We may feel ourselves to be as random pieces of fabric, alone and without meaning, but God’s hand places us together in a beautiful composition, which has great harmony and meaning. As artists of all nationalities, generations and heritages, we discover we are all alike, and have been saving and making beautiful things with discarded fabric and other materials. In the eyes of artists, fabric scraps can be transformed and repurposed to fulfill the design and vision of the creator.”

More on bojagi at the website for publishing company Beyond Above, here. Follow Lee on Facebook, here.

Below, Chunghie Lee’s contemporary version of Korean piecework, followed by her careful stitching for “No-name Woman with Head Covering.”

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