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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Ferdinand Bol

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 | Karl Cole

Ferdinand Bol was one of the outstanding history, portrait and still life painters to emerge from the studio of Rembrandt (1606–1669). In addition, he carried on the excellent development of the ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Ernst Wilhelm Nay

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | Karl Cole

Nay, who was forbidden by the Nazis to paint or even buy art supplies after 1937, painted abstractions secretly in a French sculptor’s cellar while serving as a cartographer in the German army i ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Marlow Moss

Thursday, May 29, 2025 | Karl Cole

Marlow Moss was a major figure in abstraction between the world wars. She was very active in the Abstraction-Creation group of abstract artists in the between-the-wars School of Paris, and she was act ...

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Curator's Corner

International Families Day: Alice Mizrachi

Thursday, May 15, 2025 | Karl Cole

During the 1980's, the United Nations began focusing attention on issues related to the family. In 1993, the General Assembly decided in a resolution that 15 May of every year should be observed as Th ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Ynez Johnston

Monday, May 12, 2025 | Karl Cole

Ynez Johnston’s unique style blends modernism and ancient art forms from her travels to Italy, Mexico, India and Nepal. Johnston also created three dimensional pieces in collaboration with her h ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Peter Doig

Thursday, April 17, 2025 | Karl Cole

Peter Doig is a Scottish painter who has lived in Canada, London, Trinidad for 20 years, and now back in London. He focuses on both landscapes and figures, melding art historical and personal referenc ...

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Curator's Corner

Black History Month: Herring, Tolliver, Middleton

Monday, February 3, 2025 | Karl Cole

I’m kicking off National Black History Month with artists I find fascinating. Their styles are extraordinary, and their names are probably not on the tips of every art historian’s tongue&m ...

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Curator's Corner

Welcome to May! Charles Burchfield

Monday, May 6, 2024 | Karl Cole

To welcome the wonderful month of May, let’s look at the work of an extremely unique artist who sought not only to capture what he saw in nature, but also what he felt: Charles Burchfield. He is ...

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Curator's Corner

Wistful about Writing: Tughra

Monday, July 11, 2022 | Karl Cole

I am painfully aware that very few people learn to write in cursive these days. When I was a teaching assistant in grad school, some students couldn’t read my grading remarks because I wrote the ...

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Curator's Corner

Women's History Month 2022: Karin Davie

Monday, March 28, 2022 | Karl Cole

Karin Davie is a Canadian artist who has explored traditional elements of art in a completely novel manner. Her emphasis on the action of line could put her work into the realm of Process Art, althoug ...

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Curator's Corner

Cross-Cultural Connections: Gandharan Style

Monday, September 29, 2014 | Karl Cole

It’s amazing to me how connected the cultures of the world are. One can no longer separate east and west when we see the art of northern India/Pakistan during the early years of Buddhist art. Bu ...

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Curator's Corner

Change Is Always Interesting: Jamb Sculpture

Monday, January 27, 2014 | Karl Cole

Do you ever look at something you’ve seen a jillion times and suddenly have a renewed appreciation for its beauty? That happens to me all the time. While cataloging, I came across images from ou ...

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Curator's Corner

New Year New Art: Emily and Robb Sandagata

Friday, January 10, 2014 | Karl Cole

To start off the new year, I present to you two artists who we are now featured at the Davis Art Gallery in a dual exhibition entitled Unearthed: Emily and Robb Sandagata. Watch them talk about their ...

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Curator's Corner

An Ode to "Swiss"

Monday, November 18, 2013 | Karl Cole

I just returned from a week in Switzerland to visit family. Walking through their churches—stripped of all sculpture, painting, and Biblical stained glass because of the Reformation’s frow ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

Illuminated Manuscript Obsession

Monday, March 4, 2013 | Karl Cole

I’ve posted about manuscripts previously, because I LOVE THEM! That love has since extended to myriad cultures around the globe that produce such artworks. Therefore, in this post I won’t ...

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