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quote by Njideka Akunyili Crosby
2020

#TuesdayThought: Njideka Akunyili Crosby

"You don't exist if you're not represented... I felt a need to claim my own social existence by making the representation happen." — Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Large portrait of George Washington standing
2020

A Portrait of the President as a Not-So-Young Man

Break out the cherry pie: tomorrow is George Washington’s birthday! To celebrate what would have been Washington’s 288th birthday, we’re revisiting what is probably the most famous portrait of our nation’s first president—what’s known as the Lansdowne portrait by Gilbert Stuart, which he painted in...
self-portrait of photographer Gordon Parks holding a camera
2020

From the Archives: The Early Work of Photographer Gordon Parks

When 25-year-old Gordon Parks picked up his first camera around 1937, he had already survived a period of homelessness, tried his hand at composing music, and worked as a waiter on one of Northern Pacific Railway’s luxury trains. He was years away from being Life magazine’s first African-American...
A family sitting in a booth making watercolor shoeprints of their feet
2020

#FlashbackFriday: Art Talk with Public Artist Carolyn Lewenberg

In the spring of 2017, Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) hired Carolyn Lewenberg as its first artist-in-residence. For the next 18 months, Lewenberg navigated the agency’s various departments—which range from public safety to clean energy to transportation—and melded her own...
quote by Hugo Crosthwaite
2019

Notable Quotable: Hugo Crosthwaite

"We are defined by our stories. We present the story that we tell ourselves, or that we tell others, as our portrait." — Hugo Crosthwaite Read more about Hugo Crosthwaite and the 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition here .
a bronze medal with a stylized figure of an eagle in the center encircled by realistic depictions of a sturgeon, a bear's head, a crane's head, an eagle's head, a wolf head, and a moose's head. On the left and right side, sheaves of grain.
2019

First Person with U.S. Mint Medallic Artist Renata Gordon

You probably know that the United States Mint is the sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage in the country. But did you know that the Mint is also responsible for designing and well, minting, commemorative coins, Congressional Gold Medals, and gold and silver bullion coins as well as everyday...
Woman in Native outfit sitting in front of a plains background with a cow skull next to her and an inflatable elk behind her.
2019

#ThrowbackThursday: Wendy Red Star: Owning Your Power

Growing up on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana, Wendy Red Star was immersed in Crow culture and art. Her father was a rock musician, her uncle was a painter, and her grandmother sewed traditional Apsáalooke regalia and beadwork. When reflecting on her childhood, Red Star said that...
quote by Clarissa Sligh
2019

National Arts + Humanities Month Notable Quotable: Clarissa Sligh

"I am often told that my work is at times too personal. But how could it be otherwise? One's life is formed from one's understanding of one's world, is shaped by one's response. To me an artist's life is dedicated to trying to comprehend and communicate with honesty and clarity the emotions...
Painting of a fallen dove tied to a rock
2019

Art Talk with Mouth Painter Mariam Paré

By the time she was 20, Mariam Paré was already an accomplished artist. She had grown up painting and drawing, and was pursuing her bachelor’s degree in fine arts. But when gunfire suddenly erupted while she was driving to visit a friend in Virginia, a stray bullet passed through the car door,...
Life-size lowrider car piñata hanging in a museum
2019

Art Talk with Justin Favela

At first glance, Justin Favela ’s large-scale installations are joyous and exuberant. Each one is formed from hundreds of pieces of cut paper, transforming life-size sculptures and murals of lowriders, desert landscapes, and recreations of well-known artworks into what look like colossal piñatas...

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