It’s not an easy line to walk, and there’s a question of how far back they should go to “restore” the original work. Now, some conservation studios are also starting to work with contemporary artists, especially those who work in materials that can, er, “morph” over time, so that the art remains in good shape for centuries. – The Observer (UK)
Author: ArtsJournal2
If You Ever Wondered How Crocheting Became Hip, Del Pitt Feldman, Who Just Died At 90, Was The Artist Behind The Trend
Feldman took the classic doily craft and turned it into fashion and art. She sold her creations mostly “at Studio Del, a boutique she opened in 1965 on East Seventh Street in Manhattan’s East Village. The garments — including open-weave vests, string bikinis, minidresses and capes — seemed to capture the freewheeling spirit of the neighborhood and of the 1960s counterculture. Her clientele included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Grace Slick and Andy Warhol.” – The New York Times
Have Publishers Learned Anything From The ‘American Dirt’ Debacle?
Though we’re not sure why they would, considering the book’s sales, Slate takes a gander at what publishers are saying about #ownvoices books. Or, well, they’re not; they mostly seem to think the book was simply positioned for the wrong market. “‘You can’t be Twitter woke and Walmart ambitious,’ the assistant editor quipped.” Wow, OK. That certainly says something about what publishers are thinking. – Slate
AT&T Paid Billions For A Satellite TV Service That Audiences Are Fleeing By The Millions
DirecTV must have seemed like a good deal in 2015. Now, it’s absolutely hemorhagging subscribers – nearly 3 million last year alone. It’s been a dizzying fall. “DirecTV was an invention of Hughes Aircraft Co., which was founded by eccentric aviator Howard Hughes in 1932. … The service launched in 1994, attracting customers in rural areas that lacked cable TV coverage. Within a decade, DirecTV had 13 million customers. Its groundbreaking NFL Sunday Ticket package proved a big hit with sports bars and die-hard football fans.”- Los Angeles Times
Peter Serkin, Pianist Who Forged His Own Path, Has Died At 72
Serkin, who “was descended from storied musical lineages on both sides of his family,” seemed at an early age destined to follow their path. But he found the expectation a burden, and went on a new path. “Like many who came of age in the 1960s, he questioned the establishment, both in society at large and within classical music. He resisted a traditional career trajectory and at 21 stopped performing, going for months without even playing the piano.” When he returned, it was as a performer who could mix the old and the new. “He played almost all the piano works of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Wolpe. He also introduced dozens of pieces, including major works and concertos, written for him by composers like Toru Takemitsu, Charles Wuorinen and, especially, his childhood friend Peter Lieberson.” – The New York Times
Making The Leap From Documentary To Feature Film Takes Way, Way Too Long For Women
Liz Garbus and Todd Phillips both won Sundance awards for documentaries in 1998, and they’ve both been working filmmakers ever since. But Phillips is about to go to the Oscars with an obscene number of nominations for The Joker while Garbus opens her first feature at Sundance. “‘I don’t know Todd’s trajectory, and if he tried to make more docs’” said Garbus. ‘But I had a script I was carrying around in my pocket for a long time after The Farm that I couldn’t get made. So why are there more female documentary filmmakers? Because the pay is less. The threshold for entry is less. The budgets are less. I don’t think women are inherently better documentary filmmakers.'” – Los Angeles Times
Protests Against The New ‘West Side Story’ For Hiring A Dancer (Briefly) Fired From City Ballet For Sexual Harassment
Sure, there’s been a lot of buzz around this Ivan van Hove production, with new choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. But: “There’s another buzz gathering around the show—and not because two dancers’ injuries forced the postponement of opening night from Feb. 6 to Feb. 20. It is instead the controversy over the production’s choice to cast dancer/actor Amar Ramasar as Bernardo. Ramasar was fired from New York City Ballet in 2018 for sharing aggressively lewd text messages and nude photos and videos of female company members without their consent with some of his fellow male dancers at NYCB.” – American Theatre
Mary Higgins Clark, Queen Of Suspense, Has Died At 92
All 56 of her books were bestsellers, according to her publisher. “In her memoir, Kitchen Privileges (2002), Ms. Higgins Clark described herself in her younger years as ‘aching, yearning, burning’ to write, certain that she would succeed but needing guidance. She eventually found it in a writing class at New York University. The professor suggested that his students seize upon a situation that they had experienced or read about and begin by asking the questions ‘Suppose …?’ and ‘What if …?'” – The New York Times
Australia Must Change Its Laws To Protect Aboriginal Artists From Artistic Carpetbagging
The Indigenous Art Code, established in 2008, is a voluntary code “designed to protect artists by getting dealers to commit to treating them fairly and honestly. Sanctions can be imposed on dealer members who have acted unethically. But the code has no power to regulate private dealers who are not members. [The Minister for Indigenous Australians] said it was not working.” – The Guardian (UK)
Right Place At The Right Time: Audience Member Steps In Save ‘Macbeth’
When the actor playing Lady Macduff injured her knee a few minutes into a performance at the Watermill Theatre in England, the production stopped – until a woman who toured nationally as Lady Macduff last year, and who happened to be in the audience, stepped in. Emma Barclay “will continue in the role for the next few performances” as well, the theatre announced. – The Stage (UK)