“Ms. Westphal’s canvases – which included quilts, kimonos, dresses and baskets – reflected her life and her world travels, and were distinguished by her pioneering use of heat-dying processes to transfer photocopied images onto fabrics.”
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Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.20.18
What They Want
There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of some in the nonprofit arts industry to believe that it is their responsibility to provide to the public art that they think the public needs. This is usually based on little to no understanding of what those needs might actually be. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2018-03-20
Is there an ethical case against deaccessioning by museums?
In response to a post by artsjournal.com blog neighbor Lee Rosenbaum on proposed sales of works by the Berkshire Museum and the Lasalle University Art Museum, I asked via Twitter whether there was a coherent case to be made that … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2018-03-20
Berkshire Museum in Court: Pointed Questions, No Resolution (plus, a push for a deaccession law)
While the Berkshire Eagle’s Larry Parnass rushes off to file his story on the just concluded court hearing on the Berkshire Museum’s art-sale plans, let’s interpret what we’ve learned from Larry’s live tweets on how the proceedings went. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-03-20
Meredith Monk’s Journey
Meredith Monk’s Cellular Songs at the BAM Harvey Theater, March 14 through 18. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-03-20
Old friends
I go back a long way with Laura Demanski, my best friend, who blogged with me as “Our Girl in Chicago” for many years. We met some three decades ago. Back then she was the … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-03-20
Americans Have Signed Up For Streaming Services At A Phenomenal Rate
In less than a decade, the percentage of U.S. households subscribing to a paid streaming video service surged 450% — from just 10% in 2009 to 55% in 2017.
LA’s MoCA Still Silent About Firing Of Head Curator (So We’ll Speculate)
Christopher Knight: “Today, about a week later, we still have no answer as to why MOCA Director Philippe Vergne fired chief curator Helen Molesworth — and we likely won’t. I have a few speculations, which I’ll get to. But the action represents larger stresses vexing the museum world in our New Gilded Age.”
John Oliver’s Gay Bunny Book Parodying Vice President’s Rabbit Book Tops Amazon Charts
On Sunday night John Oliver announced on HBO’s Last Week Tonight that A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a children’s book about a gay bunny, named after a pet rabbit owned by the family of Vice President Mike Pence, would be available immediately. That meant it beat a rival children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President, written by Pence’s daughter Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Karen, by mere hours to the digital shelves.
How The TV Show Portlandia Killed Old Portland
“Portlandia was the moment something shifted and a new kind of person started showing up in Portland, who wasn’t the same kind of hearty doer, but more of a spectator who wants to be entertained by a city,” said Carye Bye, a former Portland-based artist who donated her hand-printed cards to Portlandia.
Now We “Curate” Everything. What A Devaluation Of The Word!
“Curation” lends to the proceedings a certain air of quasi-professionalism. It seeks to claim for the proprietors an exquisitely refined faculty of discrimination, a sense that “objective” higher standards are being enacted and adhered to. The selection that has been made, we are being assured, was not a product of whim or fancy, let alone crass commercialism.
Does A Better-Educated Population Really Make A Better Society? (Maybe Not?)
“Since individuals’ investment in their own education is personally rewarding, you might infer that government investment in society’s education would be socially rewarding. But this is a classic ‘fallacy of composition.’… Yes, schooling is selfishly lucrative—at least for strong students. On a societal level, however, it is shockingly wasteful for students weak and strong. Federal, state, and local government spends far too much money educating Americans.”
Why Artists Are Allowed Inside Museums To Copy The Masters
The oldest of these programs is that of the Louvre, which began during the French Revolution in 1793, reportedly just a month after radical Parisians converted the royal palace into a museum. Back then, it was a rule that any artist who wished to enter the museum and copy from the work of the masters would be given an easel to do so—it’s not surprising, then, that among its alumni are familiar names, like Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Has Now Admitted ‘Dumpster Fire’
America’s (and Twitter’s) favorite dictionary defines dumpster fire as “an utterly calamitous or mismanaged situation or occurrence.” Abby Ohlheiser investigates the history of the term and its spread via (of course) social media and into the mainstream.