Blogs

Curator’s Corner

Spring Is in the Air

Monday, April 5, 2021 | Karl Cole

Please come on spring, that’s what I say! And what better way to anticipate the blooming and blossoming than a gorgeous impression of early spring? ...

Curator’s Corner

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Monday, January 25, 2021 | Karl Cole

Seated in the “position of royal ease” (rajalilasana in Hindu), this portrayal of the bodhisattva Guanyin mirrors hundreds of other versions of the subject in Chinese art. The pose was inf ...

Curator’s Corner

Auspicious Friend for the New Year

Monday, January 4, 2021 | Karl Cole

Pine trees are one of the three “auspicious friends”—plants (along with bamboo and plum blossom) that help welcome the New Year in Japan. Pines are auspicious because they survive an ...

Curator’s Corner

The Month of Frost

Monday, November 30, 2020 | Karl Cole

It’s the last day of November 2020. In Japan, the historical (traditional) calendar was based on the Chinese lunar calendar, which meant that months began three to seven weeks later than the Gre ...

Curator’s Corner

Kittens and Bunnies

Monday, November 16, 2020 | Karl Cole

It’s been a crazy year with this awful pandemic going on, and an equally crazy last two weeks with this nutty election. I think we all need some kittens and bunnies to recoup our mental health. ...

Curator’s Corner

Realism of Ceramics Artist Ah Leon

Monday, August 31, 2020 | Karl Cole

I was blown away the first time I saw this artist’s work, and I’m certain you will have the same reaction. We all know about the great ceramic tradition of Eastern cultures such as China, ...

Curator’s Corner

Second Leader of the Kanō School

Monday, August 24, 2020 | Karl Cole

At the end of this week, August 28, we remember the anniversary of the passing of Kanō Motonobu (1476–1559) of the illustrious Kanō School. Not really a “school,” the Kanō School was ...

Curator’s Corner

Rethinking Romanticism Part 2

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 | Karl Cole

This week’s Rethinking Romanticism series continues with romanticism in Japanese art. The Kamakura period (1185–1333) was a particularly turbulent, civil-war-ravaged era in Japan. It is th ...

Curator’s Corner

My Rethinking Classicism series continues with landscapes of the Southern Song style. The early Song period (900s CE) witnessed the rise of a great school of landscape painting that endured as the mea ...

Curator’s Corner

Rethinking Classicism Part 2

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 | Karl Cole

I’m continuing my investigation into different ways of interpreting classicism in art with a look at a classic style from India. Most major encyclopedic museums likely have in their collections ...

Curator’s Corner

World Watercolor Month: Yosa Buson

Monday, July 27, 2020 | Karl Cole

If any artists could be called the “masters” of watercolor, it would be the artists of Asia—particularly far eastern Asia (Japan, China, Korea)—who, for centuries, used in ...

Curator’s Corner

July Gem of the Month: Chitrakathi

Monday, July 6, 2020 | Karl Cole

July is World Watercolor Month. Watercolor is a medium I’ve always admired (as you know from my drooling over Winslow Homer’s and John Singer Sargent’s gorgeous watercolor works), bu ...

Curator’s Corner

Pride Month 2020, Part 3

Monday, June 22, 2020 | Karl Cole

My Pride Month series celebrating and recognizing LGBTQI+ artists continues, acknowledging their accomplishments and contributions to the art world. Today’s post features the work of photographe ...

Curator’s Corner

Gem of the Month: Udomsak Krisanamis

Monday, June 1, 2020 | Karl Cole

Whenever I uncover an artist whose work makes me stop and say “Wha--? Wow?” then you know I am going to post about that artist. This artist’s work reminds me of the union between Abs ...

Curator’s Corner

Mail Art

Monday, May 18, 2020 | Karl Cole

SchoolArts magazine is currently inviting all art teachers to enter Pushing the Envelope: A Mail Art Gallery Show. The theme of the online exhibit is Quaranteaching in a Pandemic. Art educators are in ...

Curator’s Corner

Fuji (Wisteria) Matsuri

Monday, April 27, 2020 | Karl Cole

In Japan, April 21 to May 6 is the time of the Fuji Matsuri, or “Wisteria Festival.” During the festival, traditional music and dance are performed at the Kameido Tenjin shrine on the outs ...

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Spring Is in the Air

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Auspicious Friend for the New Year

The Month of Frost

Kittens and Bunnies

Realism of Ceramics Artist Ah Leon

Second Leader of the Kanō School

Rethinking Romanticism Part 2

Rethinking Classicism Part 3

Rethinking Classicism Part 2

World Watercolor Month: Yosa Buson

July Gem of the Month: Chitrakathi

Pride Month 2020, Part 3

Gem of the Month: Udomsak Krisanamis

Mail Art

Fuji (Wisteria) Matsuri

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