Art and Museums
Rebecca Louise Law: Awakening on View at Honolulu Museum of Art
‘A dried flower holds time. A fresh flower holds a moment, and both are equally special. The beauty of a dried flower is being able to revisit it and observe it as a preserved object of the earth, a perfect form of nature that holds onto its fragility.’ Since 2003 Law has been collecting every flower and every remnant of dust left by flowers. She now has a collection of over 1 million preserved flowers exhibiting in the USA, 250,000 flowers exhibiting in Asia and Australia and a collection of over 500,000 flowers exhibiting in Europe. This body of material keeps growing and with each new exhibition an extra layer of flowers is added to the existing material. Any recent installations have utilised the artist's vast collection of materials, amassed since the start of this pioneering practice, alongside locally sourced materials." Editor's Note: Pua: What is Pua in Hawaii? The federal government's CARES Act provides a separate program for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that extends eligibility to individuals who normally do not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits. more »
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: Van Gogh and Me
Rose Madeline Mula Writes, Van Gogh and Me: I knew about Van Gogh's demons. That should have given me a clue that trying to paint will drive you crazy. As we all know, despite Vinny's amazing talent, he became so deranged that he lopped off an ear. I once took a course titled, Watercolor Without Fear. It was wonderful. Following the instructor's excellent guidance I actually produced a fairly respectable painting of a rose that first evening. It was intoxicating! more »
From the Frick Madison Museum Archive: Giovanni Battista Moroni's Portrait of a Woman
“Curator Aimee Ng: We had the pleasure of getting to know this compelling portrait very well in 2019, when it was one of the highlights of Moroni: The Riches of Renaissance Portraiture, the special exhibition that introduced this artist to American audiences. At that time, the portrait was considered one of the finest by Moroni in private hands. We are thrilled to now include it in our permanent collection, thanks to Aso’s great generosity.” Giovanni Battista Moroni (1520/24–1579/80) spent his career painting in and around his native Bergamo, in Lombardy, then part of the Venetian Republic. His portraits are celebrated for the psychological presence and lifelikeness of the sitters, as well as his extreme attention to detail, particularly to his subjects’ clothing and accessories — sumptuous fineries that signal wealth, status, and fashion." more »
Roberta McReynolds Writes: My Rainbow Has 64 Colors
Roberta McReynolds Writes: "Not a Christmas went by without the hope of discovering a brand-new box of 64 crayons to unwrap. Opening the lid released that unforgettable whiff of waxy pigments, and revealed the first glimpse of rows of those perfect tips on display that had never yet touched paper. The body of each stick was double wrapped in paper to lessen the chance of breakage. Those little paper shrouds bore the official name of each color. It was necessary to peel back the paper as the crayons wore down with usage. As I picked at the edge of the stiff paper it would inevitably slip under my short fingernails and stab the tender quick. Tearing back the paper in uneven strips ruined the perfect appearance in my eyes. One time I removed the entire paper from every single crayon to make them all uniform, and soon discovered how difficult it was to discern the differences in the darker colors. I regretted the disaster I’d created and immediately began longing for my next new box of crayons." more »