Art & Design

Riva Lehrer's 2010 charcoal mixed-media collage portrait of Alison Bechdel, author of the Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip and the memoirs Fun Home and Are You My Mother?

Arts

20 Artists In Inaugural Class Of Disability Futures Fellows Receive $50,000 Grants

5:12pm October 14, 2020

by Elizabeth Blair

A new fund created by the Andrew W. Mellon and Ford Foundations awards unrestricted grants to fellows working in a range of disciplines including architecture, dance, multimedia and journalism.

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Models walk the runway during the Chanel Womenswear Spring/Summer 2021 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on Oct. 06, 2020.

Arts

'We Must Keep On': Paris Fashion Week Exudes Hope In Uncertain Times

9:00am October 09, 2020

by Allyson Portee

The fashion industry is reeling in the pandemic; marketing budgets have been slashed and magazines are thinner. But houses moved forward with a handful of physical runway shows and lots more online.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Pledges $250 Million To Reimagine Monuments In U.S.

3:55pm October 08, 2020

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, about the initiative to spend $250 million in grants to reconsider monuments across the U.S.

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The MacArthur 'Genius Grant' winners for 2020.

Amidst Global Troubles, MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winners 'Provoke And Inspire'

4:11pm October 06, 2020

by Petra Mayer

This year's MacArthur Fellows — recipients of what's commonly called the Genius Grant — include artists, scientists, dancers and more. They'll each receive a no-strings-attached $625,000 award.

Hundreds of people gather at the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, Va., in July. The Mellon Foundation says it will spend $250 million over five years to re-imagine commemorative spaces in the U.S.

Arts

Mellon Foundation Pledges $250 Million To Rethink Nation's Monuments

2:20pm October 05, 2020

by Reese Oxner

The new project will fund efforts to create new monuments, as well as contextualize or relocate existing ones, to tell a "more inclusive story of our history."

A page from The Book of Wood: Rose of Sharon, Jesus Heals Woman Bleeding, Judas Kiss, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, 1932, paint on carved wood, mounted on wood panels

Arts

'Every Piece I Carve Is A Message': Elijah Pierce Aimed To Do God's Work In Wood

9:00am October 01, 2020

by Susan Stamberg

An exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia showcases the art of barber, Baptist preacher and self-taught woodworker Elijah Pierce.

Get Well Soon! is an online artwork of more than 200,000 comments from the GoFundMe website. Visit the Get Well Soon! site.

Arts

Artists Turn GoFundMe Comments Into A 'Get Well Soon!' Card For A Sick System

1:53pm September 29, 2020

by Neda Ulaby

"We're thinking about it as an archive of well wishes, but an archive that shouldn't exist, that exists because of a terrible structural inequality that we all face," says artist Sam Lavigne.

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Arts

Debbie Millman: Why Does Design Matter?

9:30am September 25, 2020

by NPR/TED Staff

For Debbie Millman, host of the podcast Design Matters, design is everywhere. She joins Manoush to explore ideas and curate talks about the role of design in our lives.

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(Left) During the coronavirus pandemic, cleaning has become more intense and important. Gloves used for cleaning photographer Celeste Alonso's house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Right) Plants on Alonso's balcony.

Photographer Uses Instant Images To Make Sense Of Life In Isolation

6:31am September 20, 2020

by Laura Beltrán Villamizar

When Argentina went into strict lockdown in March, Celeste Alonso was isolated in her home in Buenos Aires. She has been asserting what control she can over daily life, one Polaroid at a time.

Arts

If You Have To Wear A Mask, It Might As Well Be A Masterpiece

4:35pm September 17, 2020

by Susan Stamberg

Many museums are still closed, but their gift shops are doing lively face mask business. You can mask up with a Monet, a van Gogh or, perhaps best suited to These Times: Edvard Munch's The Scream.