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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Paa Joe

Friday, November 21, 2025 | Karl Cole

Apprenticed to a coffin-maker at the age of 12, Paa Joe became one of the most honored Ghanaian coffin or abebuu adekai (“proverb boxes”) artists of his generation. ...

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Curator's Corner

August Is National Dog Month: Kofun Period

Monday, August 11, 2025 | Karl Cole

I am not a “cat person” at all, but I absolutely love doggies of all sorts, big and small. I get my almost weekly dose of cuteness when I visit my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and get ...

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Curator's Corner

I cannot think of a more joyous April sendoff than art that features dancing in celebration of International Dance Day. The International Theater Institute began International Dance Day on April 29, 1 ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Classic Maya, Jaina Island

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 | Karl Cole

Classic refers to something that, over time, has been judged to be outstanding and of the highest quality of its kind. That would certainly be a good way to describe the magnificent Maya culture in Me ...

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Curator's Corner

What Was Happening in the 20s?

Monday, January 6, 2020 | Karl Cole

As a celebration of the new year, let’s look back at what was happening in the ‘20s of centuries past. ...

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Curator's Corner

Hispanic Heritage Month: Maya Culture

Friday, September 27, 2019 | Karl Cole

For today’s Hispanic Heritage Month post, let’s look at the Maya culture. The early Pre-Classic Mayans occupied Chiapas in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala until between 400 and 50 BCE, whe ...

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Curator's Corner

Hispanic Heritage Month: Zapotec

Monday, September 23, 2019 | Karl Cole

We’re going to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th through October 15th) with a blog series featuring art gems from a variety of cultures in Mexico. The cultures of ancient Me ...

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Curator's Corner

The Malagan: New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Thursday, April 21, 2016 | Karl Cole

Since I first saw the Rockefeller collection of Oceanic art at the Metropolitan Museum in the early 1990s, I have been enthralled with the sophistication of sculpting, inlay, painted decoration, and c ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

Endlessly Engaging (Ancient) Egypt

Monday, December 7, 2015 | Karl Cole

Naturally occurring pattern always fascinates me, especially when there’s a good art history story behind it. I present you with three ancient Egyptian vessels, all with different, random patter ...

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Curator's Corner

You Think You Know Ancient Egypt?

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | Karl Cole

At first glance this small sculpture would lead the viewer to believe that it was firmly within the realm of ancient Egyptian art. It actually belongs to a culture that bordered dynastic Egypt, and tw ...

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Curator's Corner

Cross-Cultural Similarities: Cambodia

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 | Karl Cole

I am really not convinced that aliens came to Earth in ancient times and seeded cultures with the same aesthetic ideas, despite programs on NatGeo or TLC that still propose such scenarios, comparing t ...

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Curator's Corner

What's Old is New: Badarian Ceramics

Monday, July 11, 2011 | Karl Cole

I don’t usually go Gaga over ceramics (well, wait, yes I do!), but when we added this image to our collection I had a “never knew that” moment. Most art history texts cover the ancie ...

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Curator's Corner

Not Your Typical Mummy: Roman Period

Thursday, May 12, 2011 | Karl Cole

I’m a big fan/geek when it comes to portraiture. This may stem from the fact that I can’t paint a portrait of someone without it looking like a bad cartoon, but I digress. Additionally, I& ...

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Blogs

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Artist Birthday: Paa Joe

August Is National Dog Month: Kofun Period

International Dance Day 2024

Gem of the Month: Classic Maya, Jaina Island

What Was Happening in the 20s?

Hispanic Heritage Month: Maya Culture

Hispanic Heritage Month: Zapotec

The Malagan: New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Music

Endlessly Engaging (Ancient) Egypt

You Think You Know Ancient Egypt?

Cross-Cultural Similarities: Cambodia

What's Old is New: Badarian Ceramics

Not Your Typical Mummy: Roman Period

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Tags

Always Stay in the Loop