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Curator's Corner

To Mask or Not to Mask

Monday, August 2, 2021 | Karl Cole

The word “mask” gets an emotional response from some folks in these days of pandemic. I wonder, if the masks we're asked to wear looked like these following examples from Davis Digital&rsq ...

Davis Desk

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: Papua New Guinea

Tuesday, May 25, 2021 | Karl Cole

Oceania is a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean that covers one-third of the earth’s surface. Contained in Oceania are the cultural-geographic areas of Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polyn ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Nan Madol

Monday, February 4, 2019 | Karl Cole

Because 2019 is well into my eleventh year posting this blog, I’ve decided to initiate a new monthly feature for this year: Gem of the Month. As a fellow art historian, I know all too well their ...

Curator's Corner

Temple on Active Volcano's Slopes! Pura Besakih

Monday, December 4, 2017 | Karl Cole

I’m naturally concerned for Pura Besakih (Mother Temple). It is situated on the slopes of Mount Agung, which is currently causing havoc with its eruption in Bali. It survived a major eruption of ...

Curator's Corner

I had originally intended to post something about the month of January. That idea seemed lame to me when this piece by the late Hannah Wilke caught my eye (especially after I found out the backstory) ...

Curator's Corner

What Type of Balance? You Decide.

Monday, November 14, 2016 | Karl Cole

I probably shouldn’t be using the word Balance after the latest election. Let’s ignore that by doing some visual exercises. I’m always intrigued with the issue of “balance&rdqu ...

Curator's Corner

Letters Are Beautiful

Thursday, October 13, 2016 | Karl Cole

I learned long ago how venerated calligraphy is in some cultures, and we speak of that in many of our Davis books. A short while ago as I was reading about contemporary Iranian artist Parastou Forouha ...

Curator's Corner

The Beauty of Line: Papua New Guinea

Monday, October 3, 2016 | Karl Cole

What better way to explore the idea of beautiful lines than with Oceanic art. Oceania is a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean that covers one-third of the planet's surface. Contained in Oceania are the ...

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 ...

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

The Essence of Essence

Monday, August 3, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’ve been reading manifestos by several early modernist artists from Europe recently (Kandinsky, Boccioni, Doesburg), and a recurring thought comes out in all of their writings. It is the idea t ...

Curator's Corner

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Monday, February 2, 2015 | Karl Cole

In our art history survey, we are now at the end with the 1900s. The big “revelation” in Western art starting very late in the 1800s and flowering in the early 1900s was abstraction. Abstr ...

Curator's Corner

Sophisticated Sculpture = New Guinea: Yimam People

Monday, March 30, 2009 | Karl Cole

In January, I visited the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel, Switzerland, and I saw dozens of these elegant, monumental Yipwon figures. When you think of sculpture known for delicate and intricate ca ...

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To Mask or Not to Mask

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: Papua New Guinea

Gem of the Month: Nan Madol

Temple on Active Volcano's Slopes! Pura Besakih

January/Hair

What Type of Balance? You Decide.

Letters Are Beautiful

The Beauty of Line: Papua New Guinea

The Malagan: New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

The Essence of Essence

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Sophisticated Sculpture = New Guinea: Yimam People

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