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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

Saturday

Artist Mary Frank Mingles the Real with the Mythical

Frank's vision hovers between the natural world and the world of imagination. Every major museum in New York has collected her works, which include sculptures, drawings, paintings and works on wax.

Artist Mary Frank Mingles the Real with the Mythical

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Culture

New Space Promotes Intersection of Art, Science

A new creative space dedicated to experimental collaboration between artists and scientists opens in Paris. Le Laboratoire is the brainchild of Harvard bio-medical technology professor David Edwards. Besides teaching, Edwards writes fiction and works in theater.

New Space Promotes Intersection of Art, Science

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Monday

Middle East

Graffiti Artists Decorate Bethlehem Barrier

Palestinians blame Bethlehem's economy and tourism decline on Israeli checkpoints and Israel's massive security wall that now separates the area from Jerusalem. This Christmas season, artists use parts of the concrete barrier as their canvas.

Graffiti Artists Decorate Bethlehem Barrier

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Saturday

Exhibit Explores Visionary Painter's Landscapes

A retrospective of J.M.W. Turner's work — the most comprehensive ever in the United States — explores the depth of the 19th-century British artist, who bucked tradition to become his country's greatest landscape painter.

Exhibit Explores Visionary Painter's Landscapes

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Wednesday

National

'Cartographia' Showcases Maps as History, Art

Vincent Virga's Cartographia is a rare collection of 250 color maps and illustrations drawn from the world's largest cartographic collection at the Library of Congress. The collection spans everything from maps of ancient Mesopotamia, to maps of the human genome.

Listen to this 'Talk of the Nation' topic

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Monday

Culture

Bioartists' Flesh Sculptures Draw Fans and Critics

A group of artists is making the evolutionary leap to the next medium: life. Bioartists create by engineering living tissue and even living beings. They've grown and eaten a steak from frog tissue, and created a rabbit that glows in the dark. Now they're teaching others to do the same.

Bioartists' Flesh Sculptures Draw Fans and Critics

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Sunday

National

Newark Mayor Fed Up with Cheap Box Houses

A building boom in Newark, N.J. has produced rows of bland, cheaply made houses. Frustrated with these "Bayonne boxes," Mayor Booker has enlisted a group of architects to come up with better, more varied, housing for the city.

Newark Mayor Fed Up with Cheap Box Houses

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Wednesday

National

Some Say Memorial Design Misrepresents MLK Jr.

After decades of planning, construction of a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. is set to begin this April on the National Mall. The fact that a Chinese national was commissioned to create the main sculpture, however, has some King supporters reeling.

Some Say Memorial Design Misrepresents MLK Jr.

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Tuesday

Culture

In a Booming India, Artists and Their Market Adapt

Affluent professionals in India are doing what the affluent always have done: collecting art. But as prices soar, the quality of art — and of conservatorial facilities — isn't necessarily keeping pace.

In a Booming India, Artists and Their Market Adapt

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Monday

Gift Brings Van Gogh's 'Ox-Cart' to Oregon Museum

A dark, early painting by Vincent Van Gogh is coming into public view for the first time in more than 50 years. An Oregon family donated the work, described as priceless, to the Portland Art Museum.

Gift Brings Van Gogh's 'Ox-Cart' to Oregon Museum

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Saturday

Culture

Onlookers Watch Art Transfer at Museum

The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City opens a new building Saturday. Before the opening, the art has to get inside. One of the features of the new building is a loading dock in the front, where passers-by can watch the paintings and sculptures get transferred from trucks to the building.

Onlookers Watch Art Transfer at Museum

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Thursday

Politics

What the Writers Strike Means for Politicians

Most late-night television shows are on hold as the writers strike continues. Does this mean presidential candidates are getting less free exposure from interviews? Are their goofs and gaffes flying under the radar?

What the Writers Strike Means for Politicians

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Culture

Curtain Goes Up on Broadway; TV Airs Reruns

The curtain will go up Thursday on most of the Broadway shows that have been closed for 19 days by a stagehands strike. Stagehands and theater producers reached a tentative agreement Wednesday night on the fight, which has kept more than two dozen shows in the dark.

Steve Inskeep and Jeff Lunden discuss the end of the stagehands strike on Morning Edition

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Tuesday

Culture

Detroit Museum Accused of 'Dumbing Down' Art

The Detroit Institute of Arts, which owns one of the most significant collections in the world, has reopened after finishing its $158 million renovation. The museum is trying to make the art more inviting, but not everyone likes their approach.

Detroit Museum Accused of 'Dumbing Down' Art

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