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

Art & Design

Monday

Friday

Let's Get Crafty With Agar Art!

A flower crafted by Nell Greenfieldboyce, at an American Society for Microbiology event highlighting agar art. Aidan Rogers/Edvotek hide caption

toggle caption
Aidan Rogers/Edvotek

Short Wave

Let's Get Crafty With Agar Art!

Pull out your art supplies because it's time to get crafty--with agar! At the intersection of biology and art lies a creative medium that's actually alive. Scientists and artists practice etching designs on petri dishes with bacterial paint that can grow and multiply.

Let's Get Crafty With Agar Art!

Listen · 11:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1106686014/1200393939" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Securing the (Telfar) bag

Small black Telfar shopping bag Arturo Holmes/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Securing the (Telfar) bag

3... 2... 1... GONE? Already? The Telfar Shopping Bag's been considered the "it" bag the last few years, if you can get your hands on one. It's also making big fashion statements by redefining luxury and accessibility in the fashion world.

Securing the (Telfar) bag

Listen · 9:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1105092405/1198988713" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Must-see art from Senegal's Biennale: Sculptures of sugar, paintings of old postcards

Fishermen haul in a fishing net in the eastern central Atlantic off Senegal. Belgian photographer Pierre Vanneste documents commercial fishing in his black-and-white photos. Pierre Vanneste for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Pierre Vanneste for NPR

Goats and Soda

Must-see art from Senegal's Biennale: Sculptures of sugar, paintings of old postcards

Sidelined by the pandemic, the Dakar Biennale is back. The theme of this year's festival is "Ĩ Ndaffa" — meaning "out of the fire," as artists forge bold visions of the world.

Thursday

San Francisco's transit system is dispensing short stories to commuters

A kiosk distributes a William Shakespeare poem at a BART station in the San Francisco Bay Area. Maria Avila/BART hide caption

toggle caption
Maria Avila/BART

San Francisco's transit system is dispensing short stories to commuters

San Francisco's transit system hopes short stories printed on receipts for riders will benefit both commuters and creative writers.

San Francisco's transit system is dispensing short stories to commuters

Listen · 1:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1103884811/1103884812" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Bruce Talamon on photographing Black excellence in the 1970s

The Jackson 5. Bruce Talamon/Taschen hide caption

toggle caption
Bruce Talamon/Taschen

It's Been a Minute

Bruce Talamon on photographing Black excellence in the 1970s

Name a Black musician from the 1970s and chances are Bruce Talamon has photographed them. The Jackson 5. Aretha Franklin. Marvin Gaye. Donna Summer. Bob Marley. The list goes on.

Bruce Talamon on photographing Black excellence in the 1970s

Listen · 21:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1101795491/1199267126" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Monday

PHOTOS: Congolese artists channel 'Mad Max' and Chewbacca with costumes made of trash

Nada Thsibwabwa poses in a robot-like costume that he created using old mobile phones, in Matonge district, Kinshasa. The country is a major producer of coltan, an ore used in cellphones and other electronics. Colin Delfosse hide caption

toggle caption
Colin Delfosse

Goats and Soda

PHOTOS: Congolese artists channel 'Mad Max' and Chewbacca with costumes made of trash

Using found materials and trash, artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo create getups that draw attention to Kinshasa's woes. Belgian photographer Colin Delfosse snaps their portraits.

Saturday

Friday

Spoken word and sonic rituals: East LA exhibit features Latinx artists using sound

Marcus Kuilan-Nazario's "Macho Stereo" is an homage to his late father, an audiophile. He says his father used to record on this reel-to-reel player. Mandalit del Barco/NPR News hide caption

toggle caption
Mandalit del Barco/NPR News

Performing Arts

Spoken word and sonic rituals: East LA exhibit features Latinx artists using sound

The exhibition spans decades and includes spoken word performances, sound rituals and installations by Chicano and Puerto Rican artists.

Spoken word and sonic rituals: East LA exhibit features Latinx artists using sound

Listen · 4:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1099934998/1100228393" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Art values are booming as New York auctions make billions of dollars in sales

A woman takes a photo of Andy Warhol's 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn' on April 29 during Christie's 20th and 21st Century Art press preview in New York City. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Art values are booming as New York auctions make billions of dollars in sales

Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips total sales have hit more than $2.5 billion for 2022 already, led by works by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso.