“The Internet generation is rediscovering granny’s knitting needles — and the yearning to make, or own, authentic handicrafts has propelled virtual craft fairs from a niche pursuit into big business.” (Only, the people running the craft websites don’t have time for handwork anymore.)
Month: May 2012
Edvard Munch – Beyond The Screaming
“It might be unfair to categorize Edvard Munch as a one-hit wonder. His 1894 painting Vampire sold for $38 million in 2008, and plenty of art critics are interested in his lesser-known work. Still, he fits rather well into the conceptualist-revolutionary category.”
Is Portland The Next Big Art Town?
“Philosophically, they’re less about art’s being–art objects displayed and for sale–than they are about artists becoming–creating circumstances free from market pressures and the need to hobnob with the rich (who are, after all, the only people able to buy even modestly priced art with any regularity).”
Harvard, MIT To Offer Free Online Course Collaboration
“Harvard’s involvement follows M.I.T.’s announcement in December that it was starting an open online learning project, MITx. Its first course, Circuits and Electronics, began in March, enrolling about 120,000 students, some 10,000 of whom made it through the recent midterm exam.”
Rethinking How the Blues Survived
“While it is certainly true that the music was forged in part by the legacy of slavery and the insults of Jim Crow, the iconic image of the lone bluesman traveling the road with a guitar strapped to his back is also a story about innovators seizing on expanded opportunities brought about by the commercial and technological advances of the early 1900s.”
Holland Cotter: I Wouldn’t Spend $120M On The Scream
“After studying and writing about art for 40 years I see too many other options, options that would allow me to put together an encyclopedic mini-museum for the same dollars. That museum, filled with art that could be bought, even in these over-the-top times, for comparative bargain prices.”
Royal Ballet Director: Stop Denying That Dance Has An Anorexia Problem
“Royal Ballet director Monica Mason has claimed that any dance company leader who says they have never worked with an anorexic performer is lying.”
UK Culture Minister Says Ministry Is Not Being Abolished
“Minister for the arts Ed Vaizey has accused Labour’s shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman of ‘concocting’ a rumour that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is set to be abolished.”
Tunisian TV Station Convicted On Morals Charge For Airing Persepolis
“A panel of five Tunisian judges Thursday convicted TV magnate Nabil Karoui of ‘disturbing public order’ and ‘threatening public morals’ by broadcasting the French movie Persepolis. … Karoui was fined $1,600.”
Classical Musicians Happily Pay To Get Recorded
Performers and composers now regularly spend tens of thousands of dollars to get a professional-quality master tape delivered to a record label – often one of the small, innovative outfits that have sprung up over the past few years. There’s no money to be made from the recordings, but musicians say the resulting exposure is worth the investment.