Blog – Ellen Kwatnoski

STARE… IT IS THE WAY TO EDUCATE YOUR EYE, AND MORE. STARE, PRY, LISTEN, EAVESDROP. DIE KNOWING SOMETHING. YOU ARE NOT HERE LONG.

– WALKER EVANS

Let’s stir up the mulch of inspiration — the sparking, loamy source of the creative process. At times, my mulch-stirring will have direct bearing on what I’m writing, and at others, none at all. Or, more likely, I just haven’t yet found the connection. Let me know what inspires you . . .

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Museums

American Cool – Do You Qualify?

It’s the inevitable question you ask yourself after—and during—your tour of the “American Cool” exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. What is cool? Who is cool? The curators of this lively show have come up…

Museums

Made in America – American Masters from the Phillips Collection, 1850 – 1970

Entering this ambitious exhibition, I immediately headed for the third floor where I knew I’d find artists at the heart of this modern collection: Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, John Marin, and Mark Rothko. It’s not that I didn’t want…

Museums

Costume is Character: Hollywood Costume at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Just in time for Oscar buzz, your intrepid art blogger drove to Richmond, Virginia to scope out the century of film costumes now showing at the VMFA. This sweeping exhibition, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, includes cinema…

Museums

A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the National Museum of American Art

Just under the wire—I managed to see this show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art, the Portrait Gallery’s conjoined twin museum, before it closed January 5. The title of the show—marking the 30th anniversary of the…

Museums

Yes, No, Maybe – Artists Working at the Crown Point Press

Between the years of 1972 and 2010, Crown Point Press in San Francisco was one of the finest printmaking studios in the country, turning out stunning works by many leading artists. The perfect finished print, though, rarely gives us a glimpse…

Museums

Leger: Modern Art and the Metropolis, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia's Museum of Art's massive show, "Leger: Modern Art and the Metropolis," brings to mind Banksy, the poltergeist graffiti artist who bombed New York City recently with what has been described as a brilliant self-promoting PR campaign…

Ellen Boyers Kwatnoski

Stories of Secrets Kept and Told

STARE… IT IS THE WAY TO EDUCATE YOUR EYE, AND MORE. STARE, PRY, LISTEN, EAVESDROP. DIE KNOWING SOMETHING. YOU ARE NOT HERE LONG.

– WALKER EVANS

American Cool – Do You Qualify?

Made in America – American Masters from the Phillips Collection, 1850 – 1970

Costume is Character: Hollywood Costume at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the National Museum of American Art

Yes, No, Maybe – Artists Working at the Crown Point Press

Leger: Modern Art and the Metropolis, Philadelphia Museum of Art