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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

Housing Projects And Empty Lots. How Chanell Stone Is Reframing Nature Photography

Chanell Stone photographs places like overgrown lots and green spaces at public housing projects, often including herself in the frame. Above, "In search of a certain Eden," 2019, Brooklyn. Chanell Stone hide caption

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Chanell Stone

The Picture Show

Housing Projects And Empty Lots. How Chanell Stone Is Reframing Nature Photography

Chanell Stone wants to change how people think about nature photography. "As Black people, it feels like these rural spaces aren't for us," she says. "I want to turn that idea on its head."

Thursday

President Biden Revokes Trump's Controversial Classical Architecture Order

The skyline of Washington, D.C., including the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol and National Mall, as seen on June 15, 2014. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Architecture

President Biden Revokes Trump's Controversial Classical Architecture Order

The announcement from the White House was included in an executive order that revokes a number of Trump's actions as president. Trump had aimed to promote traditional design for federal buildings.

In One Art Exhibition, Women Are 'Taking Space' They've Long Deserved

Deborah Willis, I Made Space For a Good Man, 2009, Lithograph, gift from the collection of Winston and Carolyn Lowe in honor of Brandywine founder, Allan L. Edmunds, 2019.18.35 Deborah Willis/Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia hide caption

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Deborah Willis/Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

Art Where You're At

In One Art Exhibition, Women Are 'Taking Space' They've Long Deserved

Works by female artists are center stage at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in an exhibition called Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale.

Wednesday

'Black Art' Chronicles A Pivotal Exhibition And Its Lasting Impact On Black Artists

Amy Sherald, who painted the official portrait of Michelle Obama, appeared in the film Black Art: In the Absence of Light. HBO hide caption

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HBO

Fine Art

'Black Art' Chronicles A Pivotal Exhibition And Its Lasting Impact On Black Artists

A 1976 exhibit of art created by African Americans was the first major show by a Black curator and serves as a starting point for the HBO documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light.

'Black Art' Chronicles A Pivotal Exhibition And Its Lasting Impact On Black Artists

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Monday

The Met Considers Selling Its Art To Stave Off Financial Shortfall

Visitors wear masks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in October. The museum's director says the Met is considering selling art to pay for operating expenses. John Minchillo/AP hide caption

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John Minchillo/AP

Coronavirus Updates

The Met Considers Selling Its Art To Stave Off Financial Shortfall

New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art faces a shortfall of $150 million. Museum Director Max Hollein tells NPR that the Met is considering selling art to cover operating expenses.

The Met Considers Selling Its Art To Stave Off Financial Shortfall

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Happy Birthday To The Phillips Collection, America's First Museum Of Modern Art

After the deaths of his father and brother in 1917 and 1918, Duncan Phillips found solace in art. His wife, Marjorie Phillips, was a painter. They opened The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., in 1921. They are pictured in the Main Gallery, circa 1920. The Phillips Collection hide caption

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The Phillips Collection

Fine Art

Happy Birthday To The Phillips Collection, America's First Museum Of Modern Art

The Washington, D.C., gallery turns 100 this year. Susan Stamberg has fond memories of visiting back in the '60s: "It was like visiting a really rich uncle with fabulous taste and a collector's eye."

Happy Birthday To The Phillips Collection, America's First Museum Of Modern Art

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Sunday

Vanessa Leroy Once Used Daydreaming To Escape. Now, It's The Heart Of Her Photography

Vanessa Leroy says attending a racial justice protest in 2014 helped her realize she wanted to be a photographer. She photographed a helicopter that day, saying, "I took it out of the context that it was originally in to make it feel you're entering into this dream space where you're about to navigate all of these memories and past experiences." Vanessa Leroy hide caption

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Vanessa Leroy

The Picture Show

Vanessa Leroy Once Used Daydreaming To Escape. Now, It's The Heart Of Her Photography

"There isn't a lot of space for dreaming in an oppressive world," says Leroy, "so I use photography as a tool to create a space where I can freely navigate the various facets of my life."

Artist Lucas Samaras Opens New Virtual Exhibition, 'Gestures And Constructions'

Lucas Samaras, Untitled, 2008-2020, inkjet print © Lucas Samaras/Courtesy Pace hide caption

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© Lucas Samaras/Courtesy Pace

Photography

Artist Lucas Samaras Opens New Virtual Exhibition, 'Gestures And Constructions'

Samaras helped transform the Polaroid into fine art. After escaping the Greek Civil War as a child, he became part of the New York art world's inner circle. His new show is on view at Pace Gallery.

Artist Lucas Samaras Opens New Virtual Exhibition, 'Gestures And Constructions'

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Friday

Julia Watson: What Can We Learn From Indigenous Design Developed Over Generations?
Courtesy of TED

TED Radio Hour

Julia Watson: What Can We Learn From Indigenous Design Developed Over Generations?

For generations, Indigenous people have used slow but sophisticated technology to build elaborate structures. Architect Julia Watson says their designs can guide our response to the climate crisis.

Julia Watson: What Can We Learn From Indigenous Design Developed Over Generations?

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Purple Is The New Red: How Alert Maps Show When We Are Royally ... Hued

A guide to county risk level tiers on California's COVID-19 site. covid19.ca.gov hide caption

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covid19.ca.gov

Purple Is The New Red: How Alert Maps Show When We Are Royally ... Hued

Traditionally, red is the color associated with alarm, but in California, Colorado and Ohio the worst COVID-19 tiers are purple. So how did purple become the cautionary color of the pandemic?

Purple Is The New Red: How Alert Maps Show When We Are Royally ... Hued

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It Takes Time
Brankospejs/iStockphoto

TED Radio Hour

It Takes Time

We live in an era of instant gratification. But some things — to reach their full potential — simply cannot be rushed. This hour, TED speakers explore what we can learn from ideas that take time. Guests include zoologist Lucy Cooke, neuroscientist Matthew Walker, architect Julia Watson, and NASA engineer Nagin Cox.

It Takes Time

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Tuesday

'An American Project': For Decades, Dawoud Bey Has Chronicled Black Life

Combing Hair, Syracuse, N.Y., 1986, High Museum of Art, gift of Eric Ceputis and David W. Williams, 2017 Dawoud Bey hide caption

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Dawoud Bey

The Picture Show

'An American Project': For Decades, Dawoud Bey Has Chronicled Black Life

Bey has spent more than 40 years documenting Black Americans, from Harlem to Louisiana. The first museum retrospective of his work is now touring the country.

'An American Project': For Decades, Dawoud Bey Has Chronicled Black Life

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Thursday

With Power, Poise And Confidence, These 'Women R Beautiful'

The Stoop Stare Down (Nia & Afiya, Two Generations in Harlem), Jan. 26, 2020, 3:30 p.m., 42 degrees Ruben Natal-San Miguel/Ruben Natal-San Miguel & Postmasters Gallery hide caption

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Ruben Natal-San Miguel/Ruben Natal-San Miguel & Postmasters Gallery

Art Where You're At

With Power, Poise And Confidence, These 'Women R Beautiful'

Ruben Natal-San Miguel likes to photograph people where they live. He calls his pictures "environmental portraits." Dozens are on view in the exhibition "Expanding the Pantheon: Women R Beautiful."

Tuesday

The Future Of Fashion

Models walk the runway during the Chanel Womenswear Spring/Summer 2021 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in October 2020 in Paris, France. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images hide caption

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Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

The Future Of Fashion

Hello, sweatpants. With scaled-down Fashion Weeks, department stores hurting, and more and more people opting for loungewear rather than workplace attire... where does that leave the fashion business in 2021? Sam talks to Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post, about how the very harsh reality of the pandemic has shifted an industry largely built on fantasy.

The Future Of Fashion

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Saturday

Alyda Gilkey On The Life And Legacy Of Her Son David, Who Put 'Pictures On The Radio'

David Gilkey and his mother Alyda. Layla Miller hide caption

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Layla Miller

Photography

Alyda Gilkey On The Life And Legacy Of Her Son David, Who Put 'Pictures On The Radio'

Gilkey died in 2016 while on assignment in Afghanistan. His mother, Alyda Gilkey, remembers the man behind the lens: an adventurous soul who had a way of putting his subjects at ease.

Alyda Gilkey On The Life And Legacy Of Her Son David, Who Put 'Pictures On The Radio'

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