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Art & Design NPR explores the visual arts including design, photography, sculpture, and architecture. Interviews, commentary, and audio. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Art & Design

Tuesday

Culture

Political Design: Graphic Artists Urge Voter Turnout

This election season, the American Institute of Graphic Arts asked members to design posters encouraging people to vote. The organization is now displaying more than 200 "get out the vote" posters on its Web site. NPR's Melissa Block speaks with some of the designers.

Political Design: Graphic Artists Urge Voter Turnout

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Sunday

Picturing the Homeless, on Their Terms

Gary Clark doesn't call himself a photographer. But he feels compelled to take pictures of homeless people — those "on the edge," as he puts it. His work has brought a rare brand of celebrity to people who usually live anonymously. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports.

Picturing the Homeless, on Their Terms

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Friday

Robert Mankoff, 'New Yorker' Cartoon Editor

Fresh Air

Robert Mankoff is cartoon editor of The New Yorker magazine, and runs its online component, The Cartoon Bank. A new 80th anniversary collection, The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker has just been published. Mankoff wrote The Naked Cartoonist: A New Way to Enhance Creativity. It's a how-to of cartooning and a collection of New Yorker cartoons. This interview was first broadcast Nov. 27, 2002.

Robert Mankoff, 'New Yorker' Cartoon Editor

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Thursday

National

Healing Walls: A Battered Community Turns to Art

For the past 20 years, Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program has transformed 2,500 city walls into art. The latest project gives voice to the victims and perpetrators of crime in north Philly's Badlands community. Marion Winik reports.

Healing Walls: A Battered Community Turns to Art

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Tuesday

Monday

NYC Subway Turns 100

Subway Art: New York's Underground Treasures

The notion that beauty could inspire civic virtue informed the construction of the New York subway a century ago. Now a city program spreads beautiful mosaics, sculptures and other hidden treasures underground. NPR's Margot Adler reports.

Subway Art: New York's Underground Treasures

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Saturday

National

Voting Booth Art Blooms in Bloomington

NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to Lara Weaver in Bloomington, Ind., about the city's new public art project. To encourage people to vote, Weaver enlisted artists to decorate 20 plywood voting booths that will line the streets of downtown Bloomington through Nov. 2.

Voting Booth Art Blooms in Bloomington

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Friday

Monday

Where Science Meets Art

From Microscopes to Large-Scale Sculpture

For sculptor Kendall Buster, there is no distinction between art and science. Trained as a microbiologist, she explores the forms and landscapes seen in a microscope lens through her giant sculptures. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

From Microscopes to Large-Scale Sculpture

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Wednesday

Dan Flavin's Fantastic Lights

Dan Flavin took an everyday object, found in most stores, homes and offices, and made it extraordinary. The late artist used fluorescent lights of varying lengths and colors and arranged them to create light sculptures. NPR's Susan Stamberg visits an exhibit of his works at the National Gallery of Art.

Dan Flavin's Fantastic Lights

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Saturday

Media

'LIFE' Goes On: Photo Magazine Returns

Renowned for its large, iconic photographs, LIFE magazine returned to U.S. newstands this week as an insert in local newspapers. NPR's John Ydstie speaks with LIFE managing editor Bill Shapiro and former LIFE photo editor John Loengard.

'LIFE' Goes On: Photo Magazine Returns

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Friday

Thursday

Opinion

Politics

Drawing Conclusions About the Presidential Race

John Kerry's smile and the Bush-Cheney campaign's fearful rhetoric are among the latest targets for two of America's top political cartoonists. Mike Peters and Mike Luckovich talk with NPR's Renee Montagne about the 2004 presidential campaign.

Drawing Conclusions About the Presidential Race

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Friday

Pop Culture

End of the Road for 'Samurai Jack'?

Los Angeles Times animation critic Charles Solomon delivers an appreciation of the Cartoon Network show Samurai Jack. The network is running what could be the last four episodes of the animated series Saturday night -- even though the show's creators just won an Emmy.

End of the Road for 'Samurai Jack'?

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Tuesday

Art Lovers Flood Suburban Pennsylvania Town

Joel Rose of WHYY reports on how the Pennsylvania community of Merion is handling thousands of tourists who come there to view the art of the Barnes Foundation. The town wants to accommodate the tourists without unduly taxing the patience of local residents.

Art Lovers Flood Suburban Pennsylvania Town

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