Art & Design

Books
Arts

Encore: NPR's 'Life Kit' shows you how to get into poetry

4:59pm April 05, 2022

It's Poetry Month! If you've ever thought about giving poetry a shot but find it dense or difficult to understand, NPR's Life Kit has got this guide for you on how to read poetry.

Beauford Delaney's last known self-portrait. The then-70-year-old Delaney portrays himself as wide-eyed, lithe and youthful, and clad in African attire not unlike that of a Maasai warrior. It is the only known self-portrait canvas in which Delaney present

Arts

Knoxville and Paris make plans for Beauford Delaney's art to get its due

10:19am April 05, 2022

by Ambriehl Crutchfield

Knoxville, Tenn. is building a museum for the works of Beauford and Joseph Delaney.

Queue Listen Now

Early opera recordings on wax cylinders 1900–1904, recorded by Lionel Mapleson.

Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

5:22am April 05, 2022

by Jennifer Vanasco

The New York Public Library recently received a machine that will read cracked and scratched wax cylinders — which include some of the earliest recorded audio.

Arts

Life Kit: How to get into poetry

5:02pm April 03, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

It's Poetry Month and NPR's Life Kit has a guide to writing and appreciating poetry.

Arts

It's National Poetry Month. Here's how one TikTok poet finds his creative spark

5:02pm April 03, 2022

NPR's Miles Parks kicks off Poetry Month with TikTok poet Donovan Beck. His poems have gotten millions of views on TikTok.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins reads his poem 'Introduction to Poetry'

8:24am April 02, 2022

To welcome National Poetry Month, we take a listen to former Poet Laureate Billy Collins read his poem, "Introduction to Poetry."

Visitor experiencing Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe (2018), part of the 2022 exhibition One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Arts

Dots all, folks—at the Hirshhorn, artist Yayoi Kusama immerses viewers in infinity

12:59pm April 01, 2022

by Susan Stamberg

Yayoi Kusama, the 93-year-old Japanese artist, is famous for her immersive infinity rooms. Starting April 1, the Hirshhorn in D.C. will be displaying two of these dazzling works.

Queue Listen Now

Several pyramids in the morning light in the royal burial grounds in Meroe, Sudan.

Chester Higgins' camera brings a 360 degree view to Black life

3:47pm March 31, 2022

by Jon Kalish

Acclaimed African-American photographer Chester Higgins has made dozens of trips to Africa since the 1970's to document the continent's history and culture. Now 75, he has no plans on slowing down.

Ralph Lauren honors HBCUs in new collection with Morehouse and Spelman Colleges

4:18pm March 30, 2022

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post, about the significance of Polo Ralph Lauren's collaboration with the HBCUs Morehouse and Spelman Colleges.

Mothers of Gynecology honored in Black maternal health conference in Montgomery

4:41pm March 28, 2022

by Cristela Guerra

Artist Michelle Browder's sculpture of enslaved women who were experimented on by "father of gynecology" Dr. Sims was highlighted in a conference on Black women and maternal health in Montgomery, Ala.

Queue Listen Now