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Curator's Corner

Japanese Fashion: Yamamoto Kansai

Monday, December 11, 2023 | Karl Cole

Having studied fashion history in college, I’m always keen on researching unconventional designers. Kansai Yamamoto certainly fills that bill. His outstandingly avant-garde designs helped advanc ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Lori Weitzner

Monday, October 16, 2023 | Karl Cole

Some of the major developments in the design world during the 2000s have involved the use of sustainable materials, ecologically friendly production processes, and upcycling otherwise wasted materials ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Mary White

Monday, April 12, 2021 | Karl Cole

As long as I’m pining for the greenery of spring to emerge, I’ll indulge in one of the wonderful art works in our collection that brings that pining to mind. As you know, I’m a big f ...

Curator's Corner

California Bound

Monday, August 12, 2019 | Karl Cole

I’m going to California, namely Los Angeles, on vacation to visit dear friends in a couple of weeks. And what artists come to mind when I say “Los Angeles,” you might ask? Well, ...

Curator's Corner

National Mobility Awareness Month

Monday, May 21, 2018 | Karl Cole

By the early 21st century, it is certainly no longer questioned that industrial design and art have learned how to go hand-in-hand. I think we also agree that most creative efforts—from chefs to ...

Curator's Corner

What's New Is Old

Thursday, June 29, 2017 | Karl Cole

I am a really big fan of art made from stainless steel, particularly in the field of the miscellaneous arts. Stainless steel tableware started being made early in the 1900s. At this time, Bauhaus ...

Curator's Corner

What's in a Snake? part 3

Wednesday, February 8, 2017 | Karl Cole

Today’s post in my Snakes in Art series shifts to modern design. I guess a chair is an example of a good serpent! There’s something both ironic and logical in the combination of a serpent ...

Curator's Corner

World Watercolor Month

Friday, July 8, 2016 | Karl Cole

July is World Watercolor Month. I’m always happy to celebrate a medium in which I am really not terribly good. I have a feeling it’s because I’m an impatient Virgo who can’t st ...

Curator's Corner

Music

Monday, January 18, 2016 | Karl Cole

An artist picking up his artwork from the latest exhibit in the Davis Art Gallery, In Vision: 2D and 3D Landscape, proposed an idea for an exhibition of art related to jazz music. I’m sure the a ...

Curator's Corner

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Friday, November 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

First of all, let me clarify the use of “utilitarian” or “decorative arts.” These are unfortunately terms art historians are stuck with from the 1800s art history gods in Weste ...

Curator's Corner

Calligraphy/Typeface as Abstraction

Monday, September 23, 2013 | Karl Cole

Abstraction is defined as the reduction of form to simple (geometric, or organic) or decorative (a word I hate) shapes. I’ve blogged briefly about calligraphy in the past, but I rarely get a cha ...

Curator's Corner

The Windsor Connection

Monday, June 10, 2013 | Karl Cole

My nephew just repainted our kitchen table and chairs. It occurred to me that the chairs are modern day versions of the Windsor chair. Our chairs even have the elegant h-stretcher joining the legs, an ...

Curator's Corner

Art in Everyday Continued

Monday, April 16, 2012 | Karl Cole

My abhorrence of the term “craft” has led me to make April “non-craft month.” I aim to show how there is art in everyday life. I started out two weeks ago with the beautiful wo ...

Curator's Corner

Not What You Would Expect!

Monday, December 20, 2010 | Karl Cole

I really don’t usually go Lady Gaga over the International Style of architecture. However, I was recently scanning some Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) buildings into our collection, and was ...

Curator's Corner

Modern Furniture Design

Friday, June 26, 2009 | Karl Cole

When I was in graduate school, I was extremely fortunate to be a TA (teaching assistant) to the Furniture art historian. What a learning experience that was! As an art history major, I tended to think ...

Curator's Corner

World's Oldest Ceramic Vessels

Monday, December 8, 2008 | Karl Cole

Most people think of ancient Greek painted ceramic vessels when you mention the word “ancient pottery.” What I think of are the sophisticated, elegant, and beautiful ceramic vessels of one ...

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Japanese Fashion: Yamamoto Kansai

Gem of the Month: Lori Weitzner

Gem of the Month: Mary White

California Bound

National Mobility Awareness Month

What's New Is Old

What's in a Snake? part 3

World Watercolor Month

Music

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Calligraphy/Typeface as Abstraction

The Windsor Connection

Art in Everyday Continued

Not What You Would Expect!

Modern Furniture Design

World's Oldest Ceramic Vessels

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