Features

Woman sitting at desk with large microscope while holding pen with art supplies in background
2019

Art Talk with Paleo Artist Mary Parrish

Scientific illustrator Mary Parrish spent much of her career turning what she described as the “mangled, frozen, gray rocks” of fossils into the living, breathing flora and fauna they once were. A paleo artist who recently retired after 37 years with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural...
quote by Kehinde Wiley
2019

#WisdomWednesday: Kehinde Wiley

"You throw yourself into moments of fear, and on the other side of it—if you survive—are the rewards." — Kehinde Wiley Browse the blog for more quotable creative inspiration .
Headshot of Chinese-American cartonnist Gene Luen Yang
2019

#FlashbackFriday: On Fear and the Superhero

"Let your fear drive you to do your homework. But no matter what, don’t ever let your fear stop you." — Gene Luen Yang I'm a comic book guy, so I'd like to talk about another comic book guy. Dwayne McDuffie was one of my favorite writers. When I was growing up, he was one of the few African...
A tattooed arm belonging to a suicide survivor

Ask the Question

Are you okay? These three words may seem simple on paper or screen, but when spoken with kindness to people in pain, they can transform worlds and save lives. This...
Shirin Neshat
2019

#FlashbackFriday: Shirin Neshat--A Mystical, Spiritual Quality

These days, much of the visual imagery we have of Muslim culture comes from news publications. They are by turns tragic and heart-breaking, gruesome and bloody. These are images of death, destruction, and violence from a region of the world that most of us only know through its conflicts. But that...
self-portrait of photographer Gordon Parks holding a camera
2019

Spotlight on 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...
quote by Vince Kadlubek of Meow Wolf
2018

#TuesdayThought: Vince Kadlubek of Meow Wolf

"Creativity's not something that we can feel sorry for. It's something that we should invest in because it's going to return on that investment." -- Vince Kadlubek, Meow Wolf Read our story on the artist collective and immersion experience Meow Wolf in the new issue of NEA Arts magazine .
Acrobat standing atop another acrobats shoulders

Investing in Creativity

Call it installation art. Call it immersive storytelling. Call it theater, or theme park, or just straight-up weird. Meow Wolf can accurately be described in innumerable ways while still remaining...
African-American man standing in front of his mural.
2018

From the Archives: Jetsonorama: The Healing Power of Art

“What… is an old black doctor doing wheatpasting images of Navajo people along the roadside on the reservation?” According to a blog post Dr. Chip Thomas wrote last year, that’s the question he is asked most frequently. To be fair, it’s a valid question. The answer, in many ways, revolves around...
a native american woman with long dark hair surrounded by a selection of handwoven baskets featuring photographs and snippets of texts
2018

#ThrowbackThursday: Art Talk with Shan Goshorn

"I don’t consider myself a basket maker. I don’t consider myself a photographer. I don’t consider myself a jeweler. I don’t consider myself someone who works in glass. I consider myself an artist that chooses the best medium to express a statement." — Shan Goshorn While Shan Goshorn—a newly minted...

Pages