News

Apr 16, 2015

Cheap Stay, Free Art — Why Hostels Are a Hot Spot for Emerging Artists

Featured on yahoo.com

Travelers have long sought to connect with local culture by exploring the art scene in places they visit. That concept is robustly embraced these days not just in museums and galleries, but in a somewhat surprising venue — hostels.

Apr 16, 2015

Junk Rethunk recycled art at Philadephia Zoo

Featured on mcall.com

Trash that has been reinvented as conservation-minded art has taken over the paths in the Philadelphia Zoo.

A 35-foot, 9,000 pound tree with butterflies made from motorcycle tires greets visitors while a pair of 300-pound polar bear cubs fashioned from used spark plugs cavort around the Zoo’s sign.

Throughout the park, visitors find a pink crocodile molded from wads of used chewing gum, a rhinoceros fashioned of old silver-plated platters and giant blue gorilla made from recycled car doors.

Apr 15, 2015

'Original pixel art': Age-old craft of cross-stitch finds edgy audience

Featured on herald-review.com

Call it subversive stitchery. Alternative embroidery. Today's home samplers include everything from Kanye West tweets to tattoo designs.

Jamie Chalmers, a burly, bearded fellow who lives in Bedford, England, calls himself a "manbroiderer." He runs a blog and wrote a book, "Push Stitchery: 30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Stitched Art" (Push Stitchery/Lark Crafts, 2011).

Apr 14, 2015

Under warm sun, people and their dogs PAWS for Art at Wheaton Arts

Featured on pressofatlanticcity.com

Human visitors and their canine friends streamed onto the outdoor grounds of the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center on Sunday for the center’s annual PAWS for Art event.

Apr 14, 2015

New Study Shows Blue Is Art World's Most Popular Color

Featured on news.artnet.com

Blue has become the go-to color for tech companies—just take a look at the apps on your smartphone. The trend is explained by the color's evocative power in branding, as these fool-proof web-designinfographics explain. But, as a recent study shows, the art world, too, might be afflicted with “Blue fever."

Apr 13, 2015

Union County employees and their families invited to exhibit artwork

Featured on nj.com

Since 2002, employees of the County of Union and family members have participated in a unique program that gives them the opportunity to display their artistic creations. In its ongoing effort to recognize and encourage creative and artistic accomplishment, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, in partnership with The National Arts Program, is pleased to announce the thirteenth annual exhibition of artwork by County of Union workers and their families.

Apr 13, 2015

Autism and a gift for art

Featured on deseretnews.com

For 25 years, Cory Norton has worked with children who have varying mental disabilities, including many with autism. Invariably, when people learn of his work with the autistic, they assume the same thing: “They think these kids are like ‘Rainman,’ ” says Norton. “They think I’m working with a bunch of Kim Peeks.”

Apr 10, 2015

Cash-Strapped Museums are Selling Their Art

Faced with budget cuts and debt, museums turn to “deaccessioning”

        

Featured on smithsonianmag.com

Fueled by deep pockets and hungry collectors, the art world is hitting record sales. But behind the scenes, there’s a dirty little secret—some of the art is coming from cash-strapped museums that are selling their art rather than saving it.

Apr 09, 2015

Carilion Clinic Gets Everyone Involved

Only in their second year with the program, NAP Coordinator Marie Webb and the Healing Arts Committee at Carilion Clinic have done another tremendous job of finding new ways to incorporate everyone in the hospital’s artistic community.
 
This year, Marie, along with the committee decided to take the voting for their “People’s Choice” award completely online.  In order to accomplish this, each of the art pieces submitted were individually photographed and then uploaded to a page on Carilion’s website devoted entirely to the show.
Apr 09, 2015

Twenty four Years & Still Going Strong in Hartford

A message from Lena Rodriguez, the President/CEO of the Community Renewal Team (CRT), who run the National Arts Program® in Hartford, CT was printed inside the program for the show.  Rodriguez states that, “It has truly been a labor of love for CRT to participate in the National Arts Program®. As a human service agency, our work helps people move from poverty to independence. We strive to give individuals and families the tools and skills they need to become self-sufficient and meet challenges in their lives. We believe that art can help us reach this mission.
Apr 09, 2015

Artists at Adventist Midwest Health are Motivated to Create

Susan Kett is the coordinator for the NAP show at Adventist Midwest Health in Illinois. This was their third annual show and once again Sue did a terrific job bringing the hospital community together for this uplifting event.  The November 6th reception was standing room only and included a buffet, live music and wonderful speeches from the hospitals leadership.
 
Three years ago Sue was committed to bringing this show to the Adventist Midwest Health System employees and has since been dedicated to making it a great success.
Apr 09, 2015

New York Program Offers Teens a Choice: Jail Time or Art?

Young New Yorkers helps youth become valued members in their communities.

Featured on bet.com

A New York-based program is giving prosecuted teenagers a new lease on life by offering them a paintbrush instead of handcuffs. Through the Young New Yorkers program, 16- and 17-year-olds can avoid spending time behind bars by developing their artistic ability instead.

Apr 09, 2015

Art Without Boundaries: Whole-brain therapy for patients

Featured on ktvb.com

A local nursing home is seeing great success with a special form of art therapy, and now it's being offered to people with motor or cognitive challenges in our community, free of charge.

Mary Jussel is a certified Mneme (pronounced Nemma) therapist who works with residents at Good Samaritan Society - Boise Village.

They call it Art Without Boundaries.

Apr 08, 2015

Where do hotels buy their art?

Featured onmarketplace.org

Aaron Bachler, an amateur photographer, recently received an email from his mother, who was staying at a hotel at the Grand Canyon. She thought the art hanging on the walls looked like her son's work. "She said, 'Boy, these look a lot like yours,'"  Bachler says. "And I thought: Where do these hotels buy, y'know, that kind of artwork?"

The answer begins with the hotel owner — and the "brand" of the particular hotel.

Apr 08, 2015

‘Water is not rubbish': Rio art exhibit uses trash to fix pollution problem ahead of Olympics

Featured on pbs.org

(Transcript)

HARI SREENIVASAN: When Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games back in 2009, the organizers made a promise: To clean up 80 percent of the trash and sewage in the notoriously polluted Guanabara Bay.

But just last week, with less than a year and a half before the games are set to open, Rio’s mayor Eduardo Paes, said the promised cleanup would not be completed in time.