Near and Far

Yeah for Summer! A fine time for making art, reading, traveling, BBQs, swimming, movies, and more. I hope your Summer is off to a good start. Here are some things circulating the news and web lately.

Art from abroad, and to our shores...

Truly moving. Artwork from the National Museum of Afghanistan is on a 4 city tour across the United States. This collection that spans 3 millenia has much to teach us about history, culture, religion and our human past and is extremely lucky to have survived. “The Soviet-Afghan war, the ensuing civil war and finally the pernicious rule of the Taliban inflicted incalculable losses on active archaeological sites and ancient monuments and artworks. By the time the Taliban were driven from power in November 2001, The National Museum of Afghanistan had lost two-thirds of its collection of 100,000 artworks and artifacts.

But isolated acts of preservation and some lucky circumstances also prevailed. In 1988 a small group of the Kabul museum’s staff hid crates packed with about 600 of its most precious artworks in the vault of the presidential palace. No one was sure how these crates had fared until 2004, when they were retrieved with their contents intact.

Around 200 of these works are in “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul,” at the National Gallery of Art here. At once revelatory and heart-rending, this show, making a four-city American tour, has much to tell about Afghanistan, past and present.”


You can learn more about the collection on tour HERE.

Art far, far away...

Ever wanted to know what types of opportunities are out there for artists who like to draw? Check out this series of drawings/watercolors and diaries from Steve Mumford.

Steve Mumford is an artist who has lived with American soldiers in Iraq to paint their daily lives in the war. No comment on the meaning or potential propaganda element of this activity, what an amazingly interesting subject for making drawings and watercolors from.


An excerpt from Mumford's Baghdad Diaries (referencing the drawing on the left):

Snipers on Haifa Street
"A sniper from 1st Cav, 1-9, positioned on one of Haifa Street's many high-rises. I kept as low as him while drawing.

Many of the snipers take their helmets off despite the danger because they ride down over their eyes."




And locally...


On Robayre’s site , (one one of the founding members of Dekalb’s local art blog: Maker’s Art Group Blog) she posted a link to a site called Scribbler that allows you to make a simple line drawing, then has a computer program mathematically abstract your line drawing in interesting ways.



Surprisingly expressive and a fun thing to check out.


P.S., in Chicago!...



The Jeff Koons show is coming to the MCA in Chicago on May 31st-September 21st. The work of Koons, like him or hate him, will be fun and interesting to check out if you can.
(left: Jeff Koons, Rabbit, 1986)








P.P.S. more locally...

Kishwaukee College artist Hannah Dyer is having her art show at the House Cafe right now. I think her art show stays up through early June-ish, so check it out! Feel free to keep us posted on your art events, news, creations, etc.