Let It Dough!

Some inspiration by Christoph Niemann for you bakers. New York Times, December 16, 201O

Toronto

Whyte: The world rendered as an alien landscape

“Wanda Koop is a landscape painter, at least for the most part, though that loose categorization might mess with your expectations a little bit. For the past three decades, Koop, a creative force hailing from Winnipeg, has been painting moody, indistinct scenes that call forth notions of post-apocalyptic nightmares or an inevitably bleak, hyper-industrialized near-future — which looks an awful lot like our present.”Toronto Star, December 22, 2010

Questions & Artists: Shannon Gerard’s expresses her Unspent Love through multi-crafting

“Toronto artist Shannon Gerard is upping the ante with Unspent Love, a project that exists as a handmade book edition, free Web comic, wheatpasted wallwork and slowly evolving animation. Gerard talks with Leah Sandals about different ways of moving from the one to the many.” National Post, Ampersand, December 20, 2010

Sacramento

Hit-run knitters darn cute, Crocker museum chief says
"It began as a series of guerrilla strikes — the culprits sneaking out under cover of darkness, taking to the streets, tagging fire hydrants and sign poles. With yarn." Then they hit the Crocker Art Museum, which posted the result on their Facebook page. "Museums by their very nature tend to be rather staid, bureaucratic institutions," said Lial Jones, executive director of the Crocker. "Frankly, it's kind of fun to have a yarn bomb piece in front of the museum."  Sacramento Bee, December 22, 2010

Los Angeles

A Deal To Preserve, Care For Watts Towers

"The ink is nearly dry on a $150,000 deal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) to oversee the restoration and preservation of the city's Watts Towers." The Art Newspaper, December 21, 2010

New York

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Islamic collection

All of the 12, 335 items in the Islamic Art collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art are now available online.  Many other collections are well documented as well.  Images are available for many.  ARLIS-L, December 22, 2010

Boston

Outdoors Ramble Around the Expanded BMFA

Lee Rosenbaum gives a video tour of the exterior of newly renovated Boston Museum of Fine Art. CultureGrrl, Dec. 21, 2010

London

Warning: UK Artists Need To Freshen Their Thinking

"British contemporary art's current fame is a product of long years of prosperity when political questions about justice and equality seemed to have vanished from modern culture. But this year real life was radicalised and that will become even more true in 2011. So where does this leave modern art?" The Guardian (UK), December 22, 2010

True Grit - London's National Gallery Changes The Way It Deals With Snow

"The problem first came to light when equipment detected high levels of calcium chloride from de-icing mixtures trodden into the exhibition room floors by visitors. Experts say once this goes into the air as a fine dust, it can contribute to a blackening affect, creating irreversible damage to the paintings." BBC, December 22, 2010

Christie's Had Record Sales In 2010; Sotheby's Sales Doubled

"Christie's will announce record global sales of £3.2 billion ($5 billion) for 2010 next month. The figure includes both auction sales and private sales, and just nudges ahead of the company's previous high of £3.1 billion in 2007. Sotheby's will announce its figures in dollars, and its website indicates that its global auction sales have almost doubled last years, reaching $4.3 billion, not including private sales." The Telegraph (UK), December 21, 2010

Athens

Athens Art Fair Canceled

"The situation in Greece is not improving and as time passes all the consequences of an economic crisis such as strikes and fuel shortages are starting to be felt." The Art Newspaper, December 21, 2010

Kabul

Graffiti art brightens war-torn Afghan capital

A new Afghan art collective called Roshd, or “growth,” has brought street art and graffiti to the conservative Muslim nation’s capital, starting with a mural on a three metre (10 feet) high wall in an industrial park. Ottawa Citizen, December 21, 2010

International

Random Acts Of Art - Artists Get Out In The World

"Whether it's a spontaneous rendition of Handel's Hallelujah chorus amid a busy shopping day at Macy's, or thousands of dancers simultaneously executing the same choreography in multiple far-flung cities,or a clutch of actors suddenly morphing into vampires in the middle of a hungry lunchtime crowd - all caught on video and posted online - artists are trying to break old habits and startle, surprise, and seduce new audiences." Christian Science Monitor, December 22, 2010