A Seattle art student goes to the Ballard locks to take photographs. Police and Homeland Security officers descend, demanding identification. They show up at his home demanding ID. Why, when dozens of others at the locks are busy snapping pictures? Could it be the way he looks?
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Earliest Village In American Northwest?
Workers in western Washington state unearth one of the earliest villages ever discovered in the Pacific Northwest. “Among the artifacts to surface from the grounds of Tse-whit-zen — a likely former winter village of the Klallam peoples of the upper Olympic Peninsula that carbon dating so far shows could be as old as 1,719 years — are remnants of a longhouse and at least two other tribal houses crafted from cedar. Discovery of such structures is significant, Larson said yesterday, because they may be among the oldest remnants of homes ever found in the Northwest.”
More Arts Study Numbers
From the recent Americans for the Arts study: “Arts businesses – both for-profit and nonprofit – comprise 4.3 percent of all U.S. businesses and employ 2.99 million people. California was found to be the bellwether of the country’s arts industry, with more arts-related businesses – 89,719 – than any other state. New York ranks a distant second with 45,671.”
Recalling Old American/European Controversies
“Old controversies over the influence of the European avant-garde on American art seem almost quaint, if indeed somewhat paranoid. Yet some of those old polemics were characterized by a ferocity that is worth recalling, if only as a measure of how radically some things have changed for the better in this country, at least in the realm of high art.”
Why Was Austin Missing From Arts City Study?
When people think of arts cities in Texas, most think of Austin. So why wasn’t Austin on the recent list of best arts cities in a study by Americans for the Arts? “Austin was not on the initial list because it and other midsize urban areas such as Portland, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham were not included in the study. So the American-Statesman requested follow-up research from the advocacy group. With midsize areas counted, according to data provided Tuesday by Americans for the Arts, Austin would rank third in the country with 3.46 arts businesses per 1,000 residents. The Santa Fe and Bellingham, Wash., areas would rank Nos. 1 and 2.” [sign-in requires first name: Use “access”]
The Perfect Mistress
Priscilla Morgan is “that rare kind of patron whose phone book is more important than her pocket book. She has always been a curator of people selecting from her impeccable taste and nurturing more with friendship, encouragement, ideas and moral support than with money, though she has given plenty of that, too, over the years. She admits to having had “the most extraordinary men” in her life, including her former husband (“one of the great naval aviator heroes of the Pacific”) and the countless artists who attended the frequent gatherings at her garden apartment—from Buckminster Fuller, Willem de Kooning and Richard Lindner to Christo and Saul Steinberg. But after that Bastille Day 1959, her center was Isamu Noguchi.”
Zero Sum Game – Libeskind Sues Over WTC Job
Architect Daniel Libeskind is suing the developer of the World Trade Center site. “In court papers filed July 13, Mr. Libeskind claimed that Mr. Silverstein owes his firm $843,750 for the architectural work it performed on the Freedom Tower between July and December of 2003. Mr. Silverstein allegedly last offered around $225,000 for the work, a figure that Mr. Libeskind has called “insulting,” and which he has said is in retaliation for the way his vision for the skyscraper clashed with that of Mr. Silverstein’s architect on the project, David Childs, of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.”
Study: Movie Ratings Are More “Lenient”
“A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health has found that a decade of ‘ratings creep’ has allowed more violent and sexually explicit content into films, suggesting that movie raters have grown more lenient in their standards.”
Same-Sex Dance
Russell Halley and Jorge Guzman are “pushing against limits set by the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association, which requires that a competing couple consist of a man and a woman. The two dancers say that the rules are archaic and that they have proved that two men can dance powerfully and still be artistic. Moreover, they ask, if questions of gay identity and inclusion are being engaged in the workplace and in the bonds of marriage, then why not in professional and amateur sport?”
UK Ballet Stars Of The Future?
The graduation performances of the Royal Ballet School and the English National Ballet School show evidence of solid training. “The so-called Billy Elliott effect seems to be working; at both performances, there was a strong presence of boys, with four going into the Royal and Birmingham companies, and one into English National Ballet next season.” But where’s the star power?