ArtPourri

Postal News — The new 64-cent Butterfly stamp is the first in a new series of postage stamps designed to be used on cards that have an irregular shape requiring additional postage.  Participating manufacturers will print a silhouette image of a butterfly on their envelopes for easy identification.  Acclaimed artist Tom Engelman used images of mounted butterflies to inspire the stamp art he created by computer.  The result is a highly stylized, simplified image of a monarch rather than an exact replica. 

Jazz Returns – The National Gallery of Art’s (D.C.) popular summer tradition, Jazz in the Garden is now in its 10^th consecutive season.  The free concerts feature an array of jazz artists performing a range of styles every Friday evening in the Sculpture Garden, rain or shine. 

Director Named – The Miami Art Museum has named Thomas “Thom” Collins as the Museum’s new director.  An arts administrator, art historian, educator and author with more than 15 years of experience at several of America’s top museums, he will begin his tenure on August 16.

NEA News – To help military families with their Blue Star Museum visits (free through Labor Day 2010), the NEA offers a free downloadable publication, Imagine!  Introducing Your Child to the Arts, which gives parents practical ways to share the arts with their children.  With a specific focus on encouraging young children (ages 3-8) to discover the arts, the guide presents parents with activities and suggestions on visual arts, music, theater, media arts, dance, folk arts and literature. Military families planning summer vacations can also visit the Blue Star Museum Map to help plan their next trip.  http://www.nea.gov/news/news10/blue-star-museums-3.html.

Sculpture Displayed — Earlier this year Lincoln Center paid tribute to Mayor Michael Bloomberg (NYC) at its annual spring gala by offering to move a work by Alexander Calder to any place in NYC of his choosing for 90 days.  As a result, Le Guichet (The Box Office) will be displayed in the Osborne Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which is celebrating its centennial year, through the end of summer.  Note that the garden is closed on Mondays.

Art/Nature Park Opens — 100 Acres:  The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park has opened adjacent to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  It is one of the largest museum art parks in the country and the only one to feature the ongoing commission of site-specific artworks.  100 Acres will present art projects, exhibitions and discussions designed to strengthen the public’s understanding of the unique, reciprocal relationships between contemporary art and the natural world.

Book Club Selections – The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Online Book Club has announced the summer selections:  The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and My Antonia by Willa Cather.  Visit www.mfah.org/bookclub to participate.

Milestones – Acclaimed illustrator Donald Moss has died in Farmington, CT, at age 90. For 30 years he was the premier artist for Sports Illustrated, was named “Sports Artist of the Year in 1986 and won many honors and awards for fine art paintings as well as for his sports art.

—Influential German artist Sigmar Polke has died at age 69 in Cologne, Germany.  In 1963 he founded the painting movement “Kapitalistischen Realismus” with fellow artists Gerhard Richter and Konrad Leug.  Polke was the recipient of many awards and was represented by the Michael Werner Gallery.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 20 No. 9 — July 2010