News

President Trump’s repeated threats to destroy Iran’s treasures of art and architecture make the United States seem as debased as ISIS‌ or the Taliban.

Featured on nytimes.com

The wars and insurgencies that battered the Middle East over the last decade delivered not only a horrible toll of death and displacement, but also a wasteland of cultural destruction, reducing to rubble the Assyrian gates of Nineveh, the Great Mosque of Aleppo and countless other treasures, ancient and modern.

Featured on npr.org

Visitors to the Denver Art Museum can currently see 120 different paintings by Claude Monet from all over the world. But how did they get there — like, literally get there?

These scammers of the art world concocted elaborate ruses that read like fiction, but all are true.

Featured on news.artnet.com

“It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in,” wrote Raymond Chandler in the classic detective novel The Big Sleep. Chandler wasn’t talking about the art world specifically, but the sentiment captures some of its well-heeled, occasionally unscrupulous dealings.

This was a year of highs that included political protest in the art world, a historic Whitney Biennial, inspiring monuments and a revamped MoMA.

Featured on nytimes.com

Unexpected Delights

From retrospectives to debut shows, and, yes, even the MoMA reopening, art held our attention with innovation and variety.

1. MoMA’s Reopening

Art schools have been slow to adapt to the digital revolution. Now, they're finally catching up.

Featured on news.artnet.com

Are you a sculptor? A painter? An illustrator? For decades, art students starting out have asked themselves these questions. But these categories could look very different in the near future, as art schools belatedly attempt to incorporate new technology into their curricula. 

Featured on forbes.com

The overflow crowd at Christie’s auction house broke into applause when the gavel fell on the blockbuster art sale of the decade. On the evening of November 15, 2017, a little-known Saudi prince, bidding over the phone, agreed to pay $450.3 million for “Salvator Mundi,” a 500-year-old portrait of a solemn Jesus Christ hyped by Christie’s as the “The Last da Vinci.” No matter that many art scholars believed the work was a product of Leonardo’s studio rather than the master himself.

Featured on cnn.com

A trip to the theater, museum or art gallery could help you live longer. And the more often you get that culture fix the better, a new study suggests.

The Garden & Arts Center has been hosting the Lubbock, Texas National Arts Program for 30 years! They have such a long history of offering the employees of this city an opportunity to share their work and deepen connections with one another. What an amazing accomplishment it is to have brought forth the talents of their community for so many years. Longtime member of the GAC, BriAnna Cruz, did a wonderful job coordinating the show this year and even after thirty years says that she and all the GAC staff are excited and energized for NAP shows to come!

The walls of Boston’s City Hall were graced with the artworks of city employees and their family members from October 7th through November 29th for the 3rd Annual National Arts Program Exhibition. John Crowley who is the longtime Curator and Exhibitions Coordinator for Boston's City Hall Galleries, coordinates the NAP exhibit. This show helps foster a passion for the arts in their employee community and we are thrilled that Mr. Crowley has taken it upon himself to coordinate this exhibit which uplifts and honors so many of the hard-working City of Boston employees and their families.

Kerry Sobol, Director of Patient Experience and Commitment to Excellence (C2X), stepped in and ran the whole show for the 7th Annual University of Maryland Medical Center NAP Exhibit! With approximately 8,000 people invited to participate; promoting and organizing this show is quite an undertaking. Kerry and her staff handle it beautifully every year. This year there were 184 pieces of art hung throughout the University of Maryland Medical Center Atrium lobby for all to enjoy.

Featured on forbes.com

There’s a reason so many people find the art world to be impenetrable and elitist  - it’s designed to be. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting my local art gallery; it’s a great place to take the kids, and often, I discover beautiful and thought-provoking pieces. But sometimes, I feel downright frustrated by the works that have been chosen for inclusion.  

Separating originals from fakes has become a risky business but new tools help spot the cheats

Featured on ft.com

In a market blighted by fakes and forgeries, art experts have faced legal action and even death threats for refusing to authenticate works as original. After years of mounting pressure, specialists are responding by establishing an organisation to give them confidence to express opinions without fear of retaliation.

Featured on npr.org

Step into one of the nation's top art museums, and most of the works you'll see were made by men.

The Baltimore Museum of Art has decided to make a bold step to correct that imbalance: next year, the museum will only purchase works made by female-identifying artists.

This post is written by Carrie Leibrand, Communications Specialist for the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.

The Sarasota Art Museum showcases how a museum’s architecture can both shape a space and stand up as its own work of art

Featured on architecturaldigest.com