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), […]
Artist Spotlight: Ofelia Esparza
As you might know, we’re spotlighting several of the artists we’ve added to our new curriculum here on the blog (see more on how we’ve updated and diversified here). And we wanted to learn even more about Ofelia Esparza after featuring her 2018 artwork, Altar to el Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (the […]
Artist Spotlight: Meet Edmonia Lewis
We wanted to spotlight several of the new artists we’ve added to our curriculum (see more on how we’ve updated and diversified here). And, after linking to an article about her on our Facebook page earlier this year, we wanted to start with Edmonia Lewis, one of the first commercially-successful African-American sculptors. Though parts of […]
Creativity for the Open Spaces: Remembering Marta Becket
Vast, empty spaces are often fuel for an artist’s creative fire. A break from the typical hustle of any sort can often create new breakthroughs for many creatives (just ask any LA artist if a trip to the desert did them good). But it takes a special sort of person to settle in a type […]
Artist Spotlight: “Artivist”/Sculptor Courtney Mattison
Meet artivist Courtney Mattison. Artivist? Yes. In Mattison’s own words, she’s an “artivist”–artist + activist. As a sculptor, Mattison’s background in art and marine biology has inspired her to not just create artwork based on underwater ecosystems, but given her a desire to do something to use her gifts as an artist to draw attention […]
Lucinda Oakes’ Beautiful Trompe L’Oeil Redefines “Craft”
Looking for something that looks “straight outta the 18th century”–but not actually straight out of the 18th century? Lucinda Oakes is your lady. Oakes, a Sussex, U.K.-based artist, designer, and muralist, specializes in trompe l’oeil painting that looks as if it walked out of your favorite period piece. Oakes is no […]
Artist Spotlight: Garip Ay and Ebru
First of all, watch this video of artist Garip Ay recreating Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night on dark water. Just watch it. If that’s not talent, I don’t know what is. What’s even cooler than this video is the story behind ebru, the specialized sort of “water painting” seen in the […]
Toepfer’s Board-Ups Rely on Art
We’re used to seeing art in unlikely places. From cave paintings to graffiti and street art, art crops up where we seem to least expect it. Artist Chris Toepfer harnesses that seemingly-unquenchable artistic spirit that thrives in unexpected places and uses it for good. Toepfer and his organization The Neighborhood Foundation aim to […]
More Than Meets the Eye in Kukula’s “Haute Debutantes”
While we’re on the subject of art and fashion (which we are–I suppose it’s an Art Docent Program Fashion Week of sorts–so if you missed our article on artlexachung, check it out here), it’s only fitting that we discuss Kukula’s Haute Debutantes. Nataly Abramovitch–better known as Kukula–is a young Israeli artist living and working […]