Healthcare, medicine costs, insurance, etc. have been a hot topic for a long time, and a lot of the problems have consistently not changed for the better. Another thing about healthcare that has not c ...
Read MoreI continue to celebrate winter, my second favorite season after autumn, with yet another snow scene. Eisen Keisai is typical of the artists of the classic Ukiyo-e period (late 1700s to early 1800s), i ...
Read MoreI cannot image a better way than saying “goodbye” to 2025 than with the uplifting, positive sentiments reserved for the pine tree in Japanese and Chinese cultures. There are very few e ...
Read More“Rites of passage” refer to cultures all over the world in which certain birthdays are celebrated as stepping stones to a new period of life. A Japanese example is Shichi-go-san. The n ...
Read MoreThe Kanō School artists—the favored group of painters for the nobility and shogunate—worked in a variety of genre, including traditional yamato-e that included bright patterns and gold lea ...
Read MoreNational Pet Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on April 11. It was founded 2005/2006 by animal advocate and pet and family lifestyle expert Colleen Paige. The day is dedicated to all types of pe ...
Read MoreI’ve posted previously about how poetry can be a visual art form when in the hands of a great calligrapher. I am not ashamed to repeat that assertion with this beautiful example of calligraphy c ...
Read MoreThis month, I’m celebrating aizuri-e, or “blue prints,” from Japan’s ukiyo-e style that flourished during the Edo Period (ca. 1615–1868). The color Prussian blue was intr ...
Read MoreThe Worcester Art Museum is hosting a fascinating exhibit tying kimono design and its importance in the ukiyo-e print aesthetic. Ukiyo-e, meaning “images of the floating (i.e. transient physical ...
Read MorePine 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 ...
Read More
