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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Ergil Vallo, Ceramic Art

Monday, December 8, 2025 | Karl Cole

A flourishing of ceramic arts is one of the historic traditions of the indigenous American cultures of the Southwest US. These cultures are collectively addressed as “Pueblo”, a refere ...

Curator's Corner

An October Gem: John La Farge

Monday, October 20, 2025 | Karl Cole

John La Farge is a fascinating and multi-faceted artist in late 1800s American art. Trained in painting, he branched out into mural painting, and particularly stained glass. In fact, La Farge received ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Seto Ware

Monday, June 30, 2025 | Karl Cole

Let’s welcome the coming month of July with a gorgeous example of ceramics from Japan. Japanese ceramics have an incredibly long history and tradition of excellence. This tradition dates back to ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Ryōhei Tanaka

Monday, June 2, 2025 | Karl Cole

My gem of the month for June is a fantastic printmaker from Japan, Ryōhei Tanaka. If you ever want to teach a lesson about use of line to depict nature, this artist fills the bill for imagery. His ama ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Pasquale Santo

Monday, May 5, 2025 | Karl Cole

I had a sudden “beauty attack” last week when I looked closely at this artist’s work for the first time. Being a painter myself, I am always flabbergasted by how many artists come an ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Sneha Shrestha (IMAGINE)

Monday, December 9, 2024 | Karl Cole

Ever since this artist painted a mural on the wall next to the entrance to the Davis offices, I have been enchanted with her street art! One of the biggest thrills for me with street art, which I have ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Shirō Kasamatsu

Monday, October 28, 2024 | Karl Cole

Ukiyo-e was a woodblock print aesthetic that was popular from the late 1600s to the mid 1800s. The genre developed a visual vocabulary that documented the entertainments of Japanese urban centers, par ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Naoki Takeyama

Monday, September 9, 2024 | Karl Cole

If you are fascinated by the ancient art form of cloisonné enamel, then you will be even more excited to see the art of Naoki Takeyama. His enameled copper works are simply stunning! ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Pieter Aertsen

Monday, July 29, 2024 | Karl Cole

I have presented quite a few posts about still-life painting over the years because (1) I like doing still life paintings myself and (2) still life is one of the first types of painting lessons many y ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Kyoko Tokumaru

Monday, June 10, 2024 | Karl Cole

Kyoko Tokumaru is a brilliant sculptor who creates organic forms in ceramics, fashioning complex pieces out of hard-to-work-with porcelain. Like many contemporary clay sculptures, Tokumaru’s wor ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Pieter de Hooch

Monday, May 13, 2024 | Karl Cole

Gardens are probably not in full bloom as yet, but I cannot resist showing this idyllic garden genre scene by Pieter de Hooch. Did you ever want to crawl right into a painting to experience the atmosp ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Paul Sérusier

Tuesday, April 9, 2024 | Karl Cole

The “schools” of Pont-Aven and Le Pouldu in Brittany, France, were artist colonies even before the “star,” Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), showed up in 1886 and 1889, respectiv ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Kumi Sugaï

Monday, March 18, 2024 | Karl Cole

Abstraction was not an invention of Western artists in the early 1900s. The following definitions indicate that abstraction has been part of art throughout the world since the cave paintings of pre-hi ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Joan Mitchell

Monday, November 27, 2023 | Karl Cole

As a fiend for color in painting, it will come as no surprise that I absolutely worship the work of Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell. It’s very confusing to me—no, it’s i ...

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: Robert Hudson

Monday, September 11, 2023 | Karl Cole

Robert Hudson’s birthday was on the 8th of September, and seeing this piece again made me elect him to my vaunted Gem of the Month club. His art is part of the West Coast assemblage phenomenon t ...

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Gem of the Month

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Gem of the Month: Ergil Vallo, Ceramic Art

An October Gem: John La Farge

Gem of the Month: Seto Ware

Gem of the Month: Ryōhei Tanaka

Gem of the Month: Pasquale Santo

Gem of the Month: Sneha Shrestha (IMAGINE)

Gem of the Month: Shirō Kasamatsu

Gem of the Month: Naoki Takeyama

Gem of the Month: Pieter Aertsen

Gem of the Month: Kyoko Tokumaru

Gem of the Month: Pieter de Hooch

Gem of the Month: Paul Sérusier

Gem of the Month: Kumi Sugaï

Gem of the Month: Joan Mitchell

Gem of the Month: Lori Weitzner

Gem of the Month: Robert Hudson

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