Explore Whimsy, Warts, & More at Toadtopia, the Crocker’s Latest Art Spot
Has your little one dreamed of hopping along an enchanted forest floor, or shrinking down to the size of a fairy or forest creature? If so, you’re in luck: the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento’s latest Art Spot is made just for them! Toadtopia, created by Molly Devlin and S.V. Williams, is a surreal world for […]
Get Lost in Meow Wolf’s Artistic Multiverse(s)
If your idea of a contemporary art experience still takes place within the stuffy “white cube” of a gallery, then you clearly haven’t met Meow Wolf. The explosively popular Santa Fe-based collective-turned-multimillion-dollar-corporation is slowly working on transforming the way viewers interact with art, one psychedelic location-specific experience at a time. What exactly is Meow Wolf? […]
Take It In and Take It Slow During Slow Art Day
What’s a yearly practice that can make you a better person and only happens every spring? It’s not tax day: it’s Slow Art Day, and it’s coming up! Slow Art Day, a day dedicated to slowing down when viewing art, falls on April 6 of this year. Its name pretty much says it all: on […]
10 Artist Quotes To Spark Your Creativity
It’s no surprise that artists tend to be some of the most notable quotables. And since discovering how artists talk about their work can often inspire creative people of any sort, we decided it was high time to put together a collection of some of our favorite quotes from our favorite artists, many of whom […]
Artist Spotlight: Wendy Red Star
As part of our efforts to spotlight artists that are included in our new curriculum, this week, we’re exploring the artwork of Wendy Red Star. Red Star’s 2016 Coyote Decoy with Pendleton Blanket is featured in our new bonus 5th-6th grade Native American Art unit. In addition, we’d seen some of Red Star’s artwork on display at […]
8 Groundbreaking Women Artists We’re Celebrating This International Women’s Day
You’ve definitely heard of Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe. And you’ve probably heard the names Mary Cassatt and Grandma Moses. But what about Rosa Bonheur? Faith Ringgold? Helen Frankenthaler? Though the title phrase “women artists” can be a tenuous term (because why not just call these women what they are: artists, without any qualifiers needed), […]
Celebrate Youth Art Month This March!
As many of you already know, as it’s officially March, Youth Art Month, (YAM) is upon us! We’re always particularly excited when March rolls around, but we have a feeling that this year’s celebrations are going to be extra exciting. For those of us who aren’t super familiar with how Youth Art Month came around, here’s […]
Popular Saints & Attributes in Western Christian Art Cheat Sheet, Part II
By now, you’re probably an expert at identifying the Christian figures featured in Part I of this guide (and if you haven’t read through it, you can do so here!). In Part II, we’ll be helping you identify even more Christian saints in western religious art, specifically looking at saints who lived after the time […]
Bugs, Snails, & Precious Stones: How 3 Western Paint Colors Were Traditionally Made
Ever wonder how some of your favorite artists created their colors on canvas? It’s only been relatively recently in western art history (that is, around the 19th century) that paints began being mass-produced. Just how did western painters make or acquire their paints prior to then? The history of color and paints is a long, […]
Yes, A Cat Just Attacked & Damaged A 17th-Century Painting
Yes, you did read that headline right. As we here at the Art Docent Program know by now, damaged and attacked works of art tend to always grab our attention (see for reference another big headline from just last month when a teenager smashed multiple works at the Denver Art Museum). However, the biggest new […]