Art, design, and visual culture

Arts and Crafts
Fri, 2025-03-21 08:30

‘Little Beasts’ Is a First-of-Its-Kind Museum Collaboration Reveling in Art and the Natural World

During the 16th and 17th centuries, major developments in colonial expansion, trade, and scientific technology spurred a fervor for studying the natural world. Previously unknown or overlooked species were documented with unprecedented precision, and artists captured countless varieties of flora and fauna in paintings, prints, and encyclopedic volumes...
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Arts and Crafts
Thu, 2025-03-20 09:26

Robert Peterson Summons Black Resilience and Tenderness in Vibrant Portraits

In characteristically glistening blue hues, Robert Peterson’s striking portraits invite us into emotionally complex inner worlds...
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-19 15:40

A Visit to Amy Sherald’s Studio Revels in Her Commitment to Beauty

From the studio to her childhood bedroom in Columbus, Georgia, to the museum, a new film from Art21 presents a broad portrait of Amy Sherald. The artist is perhaps best known for her depiction of former First Lady Michelle Obama and her signature images of Black Americans rendered in grayscale...
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-19 12:30

Resketch Upcycles Misprints and Unwanted Paper into Reclaimed Notebooks

Although recycling paper uses less water than manufacturing the material from wood pulp, the process still requires significant energy and resources. The team behind Resketch has found a way to skip that step altogether...
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-19 09:38

Vintage Postcard Paintings by David Opdyke Demonstrate an Ecological Future in Peril

The first known postcard printed as a souvenir can be traced to Vienna in 1871, followed by commemorative cards for famous events like the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889 and the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. It wasn’t long before a fashion for picture postcards took the U.S. by storm throughout the first half of the 20th century...
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Arts and Crafts
Tue, 2025-03-18 17:35

Salvador Dominguez Confronts Identity and Labor Through Woven Pipe Cleaner Vessels

“I was among the first in my family to go to college,” artist Salvador Dominguez says. “Years after graduating, I began to realize the biggest challenge was going to be sharing the work I make with those closest to me.” ..
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Arts and Crafts
Tue, 2025-03-18 12:30

Ocean Census Expeditions Discover More Than 800 New Marine Species

Involving more than 800 scientists from more than 400 institutions worldwide, Ocean Census has embarked on ten expeditions and numerous workshops—so far—with a sole aim: discovering new species in the “world’s greatest frontier.” ..
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Arts and Crafts
Tue, 2025-03-18 09:06

Mandy Barker’s Cyanotypes Revive a Pioneering Botanist’s Book to Warn About Synthetic Debris

“In 2012, I found a piece of material in a rock pool that changed my life,” artist Mandy Barker says. “Mistaking this moving piece of cloth for seaweed started the recovery of synthetic clothing from around the coastline of Britain for the next ten years.”..
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Arts and Crafts
Mon, 2025-03-17 15:04

Who Shot Me? Help Identify the Anonymous Photographer Who Captured 1960s San Francisco

Between 1966 and 1970, a San Francisco-area photographer captured thousands of images documenting civil rights demonstrations, protests against the Vietnam War, Grateful Dead concerts in Golden Gate Park, and so much more. Their archive is a veritable treasure trove of the era’s counter-culture and evidence of their willingness to put themself in the middle of the action to get the perfect shot. ..
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Arts and Crafts
Mon, 2025-03-17 12:00

Porcelain Vessels Are Portals Through Time and Space in Paintings by Sung Hwa Kim

In the late 17th century, during Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, a particularly rotund, plain white porcelain vessel rose to popularity. Nicknamed “moon jars” for their milky glaze and spherical form, the earliest examples were finished in wood-fired kilns to add character to their minimalist surfaces. Treasured and reproduced by skilled artisans throughout the centuries, the classic style continues to influence contemporary artisans...
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Arts and Crafts
Mon, 2025-03-17 08:26

Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery

While Heather Rios’s slices of layer cake look ready to stick a fork into, you may want to think twice. Formed of polymer clay and finished with embroidery, the artist pairs the sweets with a vintage plate—and sometimes a fork—in playful trompe l’oeils...
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Arts and Crafts
Fri, 2025-03-14 14:30

Through Knotted Installations, Windy Chien Reinterprets the Hitching Post

Since the 1800s, hitching posts have shaped a history anchored in utility and community. Scattered throughout towns and outside common areas, the sturdy objects offered a secure point to tie down horses, especially during social events or gatherings. San Francisco-based artist Windy Chien reinterprets this functional object in her ongoing Hitching Post series...
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Arts and Crafts
Fri, 2025-03-14 10:45

This April, Thousands of Kites will Paint the Sky for an International Festival of Flight

For 16 days this spring, an international kite festival will soar above the beaches of Cervia. Artenvento returns to northern Italy from April 19 to May 4 with more than 200 participants from 50 countries and five continents...
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Arts and Crafts
Thu, 2025-03-13 14:43

Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma’s Minimal Portraits

When Jose Lerma encountered “Reception of the Grand Condé by Louis XIV” by Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, he found himself drawn to the figures tucked far behind the crowd. Known for his meticulous realism, Gérôme rendered these small characters with minimal brushstrokes, a decision that has influenced Lerma’s work for more than a decade...
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Arts and Crafts
Thu, 2025-03-13 09:06

Melissa Calderón Preserves Neighborhood Memories in Bold Textured Thread

On expanses of beige linen, Melissa Calderón immortalizes pockets of a neighborhood or domestic space. Combining imagery from her childhood in the Bronx with her family’s native Puerto Rico, the artist translates familiar landscapes and sights into vivid embroideries, preserving her memories in thread. ..
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-12 18:02

Keita Morimoto Lingers in the Artificial Light of Urban Nights

Cities are constantly in flux, but Keita Morimoto (previously) invites us to linger in their transitions a little longer. The artist renders corner stores, vending machines, and lampposts that illuminate spaces that might otherwise go unnoticed. Either unoccupied or inhabited by just one or two people, Morimoto’s scenes are dimly lit but not eerie and invoke the environments most of us engage with for just a moment...
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-12 12:00

In ‘KAUANI,’ Indigenous Mexican Flora Flourishes in Glowing Lanterns

In Nahuatl, an Aztec language indigenous to Mesoamerica still spoken by more than a million people throughout Mexico, kauani means “to flourish.” Designers Inés Quezada and Inés Llasera, co-founders of Tornasol Studio, conceived of a series of luminaires inspired by native flora in celebration of the region’s rich botanic diversity...
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Arts and Crafts
Wed, 2025-03-12 09:41

Regal Portraits Evoke Myth and Power in Simone Elizabeth Saunders’ Hand-Tufted Textiles

Emblazoned with vibrant patterns and words like “TRUTH” and “LOVE,” Simone Elizabeth Saunders explores Black identity in relation to kinship, power, and survival. Her hand-tufted textiles (previously) merge cultural narratives and history with mythology, nostalgia, and personal experiences. ..
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Arts and Crafts
Tue, 2025-03-11 17:14

Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

Many of us are familiar with titans of the Dutch Golden Age like Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and more. Yet fewer of us have probably heard of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), renowned during her lifetime for her original style but under-acknowledged through the centuries in the canon of Western art history...
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Arts and Crafts
Tue, 2025-03-11 13:14

Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns

Beauty and nature’s resilience are at the core of Vasilisa Romanenko’s work. The Connecticut-based artist paints faithful depictions of common yet dignified birds amid clusters of fruits and flowers, exploring the power of opulence in times of upheaval...
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Art, design, and visual culture

Art, design, and visual culture

The best of art, craft, and visual culture since 2010.

‘Little Beasts’ Is a First-of-Its-Kind Museum Collaboration Reveling in Art and the Natural World

Robert Peterson Summons Black Resilience and Tenderness in Vibrant Portraits

A Visit to Amy Sherald’s Studio Revels in Her Commitment to Beauty

Resketch Upcycles Misprints and Unwanted Paper into Reclaimed Notebooks

Vintage Postcard Paintings by David Opdyke Demonstrate an Ecological Future in Peril

Salvador Dominguez Confronts Identity and Labor Through Woven Pipe Cleaner Vessels

Ocean Census Expeditions Discover More Than 800 New Marine Species

Mandy Barker’s Cyanotypes Revive a Pioneering Botanist’s Book to Warn About Synthetic Debris

Who Shot Me? Help Identify the Anonymous Photographer Who Captured 1960s San Francisco

Porcelain Vessels Are Portals Through Time and Space in Paintings by Sung Hwa Kim

Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery

Through Knotted Installations, Windy Chien Reinterprets the Hitching Post

This April, Thousands of Kites will Paint the Sky for an International Festival of Flight

Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma’s Minimal Portraits

Melissa Calderón Preserves Neighborhood Memories in Bold Textured Thread

Keita Morimoto Lingers in the Artificial Light of Urban Nights

In ‘KAUANI,’ Indigenous Mexican Flora Flourishes in Glowing Lanterns

Regal Portraits Evoke Myth and Power in Simone Elizabeth Saunders’ Hand-Tufted Textiles

Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

Vasilisa Romanenko’s Lush Portraits Wrap Common Birds in Decadent Patterns

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