World Watercolor Month
July is World Watercolor Month. I’m always happy to celebrate a medium in which I am really not terribly good. I have a feeling it’s because I’m an impatient Virgo who can’t st ...
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Curator's Corner
Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?
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 ...
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Curator's Corner
Calligraphy/Typeface as Abstraction
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
The Windsor Connection
My nephew just repainted our kitchen table and chairs. It occurred to me that the chairs are modern day versions of the Windsor chair. Our chairs even have the elegant h-stretcher joining the legs, an ...
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Curator's Corner
Art in Everyday Continued
My abhorrence of the term “craft” has led me to make April “non-craft month.” I aim to show how there is art in everyday life. I started out two weeks ago with the beautiful wo ...
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Curator's Corner
Not What You Would Expect! Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
I really don’t usually go Lady Gaga over the International Style of architecture. However, I was recently scanning some Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) buildings into our collection, and was ...
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Curator's Corner
Modern Furniture Design: Vico Magistretti
When I was in graduate school, I was extremely fortunate to be a TA (teaching assistant) to the Furniture art historian. What a learning experience that was! As an art history major, I tended to think ...
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Curator's Corner
World's Oldest Ceramic Vessels: Jōmon
Most people think of ancient Greek painted ceramic vessels when you mention the word “ancient pottery.” What I think of are the sophisticated, elegant, and beautiful ceramic vessels of one ...
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