ArtPourri

Holiday Stamps Issued – The U.S. Postal Service has issued stamps for the 2011 holiday season.  Inspired by 1950’s-era ornaments, the festive Holiday Baubles Forever stamps feature four colorful ornaments sure to add to the joys of the season.  These baubles also may inspire fond memories of beloved ornaments from childhood.  Art Director William Gicker used illustrations by Linda Fountain of Hilton Head Island, SC, to create the ornaments shown in the stamp art.  And for many years the Postal Service has issued traditional Christmas stamps featuring the Madonna and Child.  The 2011 stamp, with Richard Sheaff as art director, presents a detail from a painting by the Italian master Raphael entitled Madonna of the Candelabra.  The circular painting dates circa 1513 and is in the Walters Art Museum collection in Baltimore, MD.

 Ancient Discovery Reported – Science magazine has reported that excavations in 2008 at Blombos Cave, South Africa, have revealed a processing workshop where a liquefied ochre-rich mixture was produced and stored in two abalone shells 100,000 years ago.  Ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones and hammerstones form a composite part of this production toolkit.  Possible applications include decoration and skin protection.  www.sciencemag.org.

Memorial Dedicated – Thousands of people gathered recently in Washington, D.C., for the dedication of a memorial to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King—the first monument to honor an African-American in the area of the National Mall.  The memorial encompasses four acres and 14 of Dr. King’s most notable quotations are engraved on a 450-foot crescent shaped granite Inscription Wall.

Winners Announced – ArtPrize celebrates a diversity of ideas, voices and the work of hundreds of artists.  Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and from all backgrounds sought out their favorite works and voted online for ArtPrize 2011.  Jurors, experts in their field, came from across the country to select the works they felt best represented a particular category.  In all, 18 winners were awarded nearly $500,000, with the top prize of $250,000 going to Mia Tavonatti of Santa Ana, CA, for her mosaic entitled Crucifixion.

Anniversary Celebrated – NOMA 100 is the culmination of a five-year acquisition project, celebrating the New Orleans Museum of Art’s 100^th anniversary.  Noma 100:  Gifts for the Second Century features 110 newly acquired objects by Anish Kapoor, Keith Sonnier, Matthew Barney, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Kathe Kollwitz and Gabriel Münter.  It reaffirms the museum’s commitment to collecting outstanding works and highlights the dedicated support of the museum’s benefactors.  Opening Nov. 12 through Jan. 22.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 22, No. 1 — November 2011