White Alice II

“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).” — Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 2, The Pool of Tears

I was most curious about this piece new piece at the Milwaukee Art Museum. White Alice II by Timothy Rollins and KOS, an offest lithograph with silkscreen and collage, hand-painted with gesso. Beginning in 1981, Tim Rollins collaborated with a group of young people he called the Kids of Survival, originally comprised of middle school students from the South Bronx school where Rollins was a teacher. Since then, a number of students of various ages have contributed to the work which is often inspired by literary texts and current events.

Art in Bloom 2023

"All art is but imitation of nature." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A lot of the arrangements this year featured the same textures, colors, and flowers. I was also surprised by the art that was selected, but the installation above was my favorite.

Scandinavian Design in the United States

“We have a great deal to learn from Scandinavia…” — Gore Vidal

Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980 is the first exhibition to explore the extensive design exchanges between the United States and Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland during the 20th century…Scandinavian Design investigates timely themes such as the contributions of immigrants to their adopted societies, the importance of international exchange, the role of cultural myths, and designing for sustainability and accessibility. Spanning from the arrival of Nordic immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th century through the environmentally and socially conscious design movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the exhibition showcases more than 180 objects, including furniture, textiles, drawings, ceramics, jewelry, glass, and product designs that reflect the far-reaching effects of the Scandinavian and American cultural exchange.

Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980 is co-organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Nationalmuseum Sweden and the Nasjonalmuseet in Norway” (Milwaukee Art Museum).

2022 Year in Review - Instapuzzle

“Celebrate endings for they precede new beginnings.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

🥂 Cheers to the colors of 2022: January blues • February’s lovely, rosy hues • The wearing o’ the green in March • Sunny yellow to offset April showers • May’s lilacs and violets • Pure whites befitting a June bride • Every heart beats true for the red, white, and blue in patriotic July • The spectrum of August • Down to earth in September • Orange you glad it’s October? • November in black and white • The festive colors of the holidays in December.

🥂 Cheers to a new challenge in 2023: Creating an Instapuzzle — a series of image that when viewed together create one seamless visual. I practiced with this post and hope to accomplish this goal next year.

Beyond Monet

« Il faut capter la lumière et la jeter directement sur la toile . » — Claude Monet.

Always New: The Posters of Jules Chéret

“Designing posters is not only a commercial pursuit but also a philosophical endeavor.” ― Fang Chen

“Posters by the French artist Jules Chéret (1836–1932) caused a sensation in 19th-century Paris. Known as the father of the poster, Chéret was one of the first artists to bring colorful, large-scale advertisements to Paris streets, creating what critics called a “museum in the open air.” People strolling down the boulevards were captivated not only by Chéret’s vibrant images, but also by how frequently his new designs appeared. Chéret had developed new printing methods that allowed him to meet the fast pace that advertisers demanded to promote their latest entertainments and products. The ephemeral nature of these posters contributed to the popular idea that rapid change was central to modern life.

Always New: The Posters of Jules Chéret presents 109 posters, prints, and drawings by Chéret that reflect the French interest in novelty at the end of the 19th century. Drawn from James and Susee Wiechmanns’ gift to the Museum of more than 600 works by the artist, the exhibition is organized into five sections that highlight the various pleasures his posters publicized: performances, fashion, the press, real and imagined travel, and consumer products. Always New brings Chéret into focus as a master of his medium and demonstrates how these posters reflect larger societal issues in their depictions of everyday Parisian life” (mam.org).