Vancouver

Vancouverite nabs Canadian design prize

Vancouver designer Omer Arbel has captured the Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement from the Canada Council for the Arts.  CBC News, August 4, 2010

Toronto

Paper, scissors, mock

“By turns whimsical, impertinent and disdainful, an intriguing exhibition of photo collages created by middle-class Victorian women reveals a barely hidden contempt for patriarchy and power.”  Globe & Mail, August 5, 2010

Yellowknife

N.W.T. court carvings out of sight

“Unique Inuit carvings that depict some of the earliest court cases in Canada's North have been locked away for over a decade, for lack of a safe place to display them.” CBC News, August 4, 2010

San Francisco

San Francisco Deals With Graffiti Artists by Co-Opting Them

This city has for years taken a tough stance on graffiti, doling out stiff fines and sometimes jail time" - with limited success. "Now city officials are trying something different. San Francisco is partnering with street artists - who ply their wall-painting skills legally - paying them to paint buildings." Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2010 (includes slideshow)

New Haven

Backers of Yale Italian Paintings Show Lament Loss of ‘Eye’

Richard L. Feigen’s Italian paintings show at Yale is part of a campaign to bring connoisseurship back into the academy.  New York Times, August 5, 2010  

New York

Tim Nye, Gallery Owner, Finds Art After the Internet

A former high-tech mogul now nurtures an art scene with his own style of “happenings.”  New York Times, August 5, 2010  

Washington, D.C.

US Pledges To Make Artist Visas Easier To Get

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) will reduce to two weeks the processing of petitions for those coming in under visas specific to artists and athletes. Washington Post, August 4, 2010

Playa Vik, Uruguay

Talking With the Architect Carlos Ott About the Sculptural Retreat He Designed

The architect, who usually designs buildings for corporate clients, discusses his rare residential project.  New York Times, August 5, 2010  

London

UK Clampdown On Art Imports Riles Dealers

UK customs officials tighten rules for bringing artwork into the UK "in bond" and this "has sent shockwaves" through the art world. The Art Newspaper, August 5, 2010

Christie's Reports 46 Percent Increase In Sales In 2010

Christie's has said it expects global confidence in the art market to continue as it announced a 46% rise in sales in the first half of 2010.  BBC, August 5, 2010

Rome

Fighting Over Graffiti in Rome
An American attorney living in the city has recruited squads of volunteers, Italian and foreign, to "clean up after graffiti artists who have swathed the city's palazzos and piazzas in tentacles of spray paint." But some Romans see all that spray paint as continuing a local tradition that stretches back to antiquity - and reclaims their city from the tourist hordes. Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2010

Singapore

A Long Parade of Cultures Leaves a Rich Trail in the Art of Sumatra

Traces of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and more are easily found, as the exhibition "Sumatra: Isle of Gold" at the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore shows.  New York Times, August 5, 2010