Swiss Museum Calls for the End of Lockdown

Some museums in Basel, Switzerland, had issued for a quick reopening as museums are necessary for the “mental well-being of all” and as long as public health precautions are in place, their reopening do not pose a threat to the public.

The museums arguments were that typical visits do not accumulate a grand abundance of visitors and, while the world is in such a strange and uneasy time, visiting the museums are important to people’s cultural benefit as well as their mental health.

Most governments across Europe have proposed for stricter lockdown measures as well as curfews in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Museums are struggling financially to stay open as a second major lockdown was placed. They are hoping to end the lockdown on museums before spring, but the vote on whether or not to end the lockdown won’t be until June.

Museum curators continue to argue the importance of the community being engaged with its cultural history and how the continuation of a lockdown may halt the education and culture which comes with visiting the museums.

Resources: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/swiss-museum-directors-demand-lockdown-end-1234582259/

Mummy with Gold Tongue Found in Egypt

A mummy with a golden tongue found at the Taposiris Magna Temple. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

At the Taposiris Magna Temple in western Alexandria, Egypt, archaeologists discovered 16 burial shafts. In one of those shafts, they discovered a mummy who found a gold foil tongue in its mouth.

This practice of being buried with a “golden tongue” was to ensure that the dead would be able to speak to the court of Osiris in the afterlife in order to decide the deceased’s fate.

Led by Kathleen Martinez of the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, she identified two important finds in the mummies. She reported to CNN that one of the mummies “bears gilded decorations showing Osiris, the god of the afterlife, while the other wears a crown decorated with horns and a cobra snake on the forehead.”

Findings of funeral masks and marble masks that date back to the Roman and Greek periods show the importance of preserving one’s soul in the afterlife and ensuring those people get to meet with the Gods in death in order to live a fulfilling and harmonious eternity. These findings also show the amount of great craftsmanship that went into such creations that were going to be buried with the dead rather than be on display for everyone to see. It shows us how important both life and death were to this culture.

Resources:

Mysterious Mummy with Golden Tongue Is Unearthed In Egypt

Stolen Picasso from Athens Gallery May Still Be in Greece

Pablo Picasso’s Head of a Woman was among the works stolen from the National Art Gallery in Athens. Courtesy National Gallery in Athens

About a decade ago, two thieves stole several pieces of artwork, including Picasso’s Head of a Woman, at the National Gallery in Athens. Since the break-in, museum curators have heightened their security system but new research suggests that the painting may still be in the country.

Head of a Woman was painted in 1939  using a cubist style. The painting has a muddy, blue-green background and the head of the woman is made using sharp, geometric lines and shapes. She wears a white shirt and has black hair. Like most Picasso portraits, the composition of her face is all awry as her mouth is placed on her right cheek and her nose extends below her mouth.

The painting itself was gifted to the National Gallery in 1946 in recognition of the resistance of the Nazi agenda in Athens. 

The heist itself is among one of the biggest that Athens has ever seen. Security footage shows the two men removing the paintings from the walls and setting off alarms away from the paintings to stray away the guards. Eventually, two men were arrested for the heist, but the leader behind this group has not been found.

Authorities were hoping to retrieve the stolen pieces to return to the museum to celebrate its recent renovation. The National Gallery is scheduled for reopening on March 25th to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence.

Resources:

Picasso Stolen from Greece’s Largest Public Museum May Still Be in the Country

Photography From a Different Perspective

Taking pictures in games has become essentially just as important to me as actual photographs. They still carry that same feel of capturing a moment in time where you stopped to appreciate where you were. I wondered how serious other people took this medium of photography (if we can even call it that) and I’m glad that Gideon Jacobs is here to answer that question! Take a look how he explains video game photography and its importance. 

https://www.artforum.com/slant/gideon-jacobs-on-photography-and-video-games-84963

Names in Numbers

http://www.kindrdmagazine.com/nick-cave-using-materials-that-range-from-twigs-to-crystals-to-rainbow-colored-hair-the-artist-makes-sculptures-that-for-all-their-beauty-are-visceral-and-necessary-critiques-of-racial-injustice/

Nick Cave, a black artist who tackles the social injustices of racism with the power of art, creates an intricate piece of work from 7,000 name tags that spells out the well known phrase “Love Thy Neighbor”. It symbolizes the connectivity of the community he lives in and how he shares his space with others that he cares about. The piece comes out to be around a “70-foot-long mosaic” that is an inspiring sight for all to appreciate. We will always need more representation of our POC and LGBTQ artists, no matter the substance, so check him out.

Elderly and Artsy

https://www.artsy.net/news

For anyone who follows the art enigma, Banksy, you will be glad to know he’s created another piece which seems to be inspired by the pandemic held world we live in today. Around December 10th, he posted on his Instagram a picture of his work, which depicts an old lady sneezing and her dentures following suit. The street artist is known for making art relevant to our world and how he perceives it, so checking out more of his work would never hurt. I personally gained interest in the artist back in an art history class as a freshman and loved him ever since, so I think his works are something to take a look at!

https://www.artsy.net/news

Coloring for A Painter’s Home

The “Black Painter’s Academy” was created by Azikiwe Mohammed and is planned to be an educational establishment to help give art students the most in-depth artistic learning experience, without them ever spending a dime. However, there’s still a long way to go in order to fund an entire profit-free institution and all it’s supplies. So, with the minds of a few artists and respectively Alva Calymayor, they came up with the idea to produce coloring pages with the talents of many minorities. You can download them for $10 on their website and with their fundraiser having reached over $22,000, there’s a bright future for Mohammed and Calymayor’s dream. I admire this creative idea, not the first thing I would’ve thought of but I’m glad a lot of people are into books and coloring.

Artists Contribute to a Coloring Book Benefiting the Black Painters Academy

Hello World!

Here at Greensboro College, students and faculty are expanding the ways in which we share our student’s perspectives on Art and their experiences in the creation of their artwork, with the world.

We have had the idea to create a virtual student platform for some time, we envisioned it to be a place where critical ideas, individual musings, virtual exhibits and other relevant news could be collected and shared. Perhaps it was our current situation with Covid-19, and all of the disconnectedness we have been feeling as a result, that got us to finally commit to this endeavor. However it began, we are excited to venture into this new territory and hope you follow along as it develops.

We welcome discussion and invite you to also follow us on our Social Media pages as well as contact us for more information on anything you find here.

Enjoy!