Local Richmond mural artist, Colleen Hall, painted a wonderful airplane mural in the room of a child with cancer. This was all organized by A.S.K. foundation and was featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Join discussion...

Matthew Bakkom is the curator of the newest (and one of the few) art galleries in downtown Minneapolis. The old Shinders building was transformed into the gallery by artists such as Ralph Burnett. "It's been sitting empty for a year and a half and a group of artists and i thought we should do something," says Bakkom. The art in Bakkom's gallery is not traditional, but contains more contemporary and locally inspired pieces that pushes boundaries and makes politcal statements. Bakkom, Burnet, and the whole team that transformed this old building into an art gallery hope that this will help clean up 8th and Hennepin and the surrounding neighborhoods. Join discussion...

The main question in the art community relating to President-elect Barack Obama, is whether he will help the arts more than President George Bush did. Obama has already mentioned plans to help the art community. Our art and our culture…that’s the essence of what makes America special, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House,” said Obama. He plans on having a three person advisory that will review the two main agencies that provide funding for the arts, the NEA and NEH. Although these are great improvements from what Bush did, many people are saying that Obama can do more. A coalition of arts organisations, including the American Association of Museums, Americans for the Arts, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies submitted a report to Obama’s office recommending further measures to improve government support of the arts. One of the most important suggestions was the increase of the NEA's annual budget to 319.2 million dollars. Category: Join discussion...

"I was a wreck," says the 18-year-old, who spoke on the condition that his real name not be used. "Then I started painting." After he picked-up a paintbrush, Leon says he learned through art to cope with erratic behavior, low self-esteem, and an undisciplined lifestyle that almost caused him to drop out. Leon is not an art class, art history, or has ever had his art work critiqued. Instead, Leon interacts with Patricia Isis, a school art therapist who provides individual and small-group counseling services with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida. rained in both art and psychology, Isis uses painting, sculpture, dance, music, and other art forms to help at-risk students identify and reconcile emotional conflicts. "The artwork is never judged or criticized," says Isis. "No, no, no--that's art class. We validate, explore, strengthen. Art therapy is their medicine." "By using the creative process of art, we can improve and enhance their mental and emotional well-being." CareerBuilder.com, one of the nation's leading recruitment resources, identified art therapy as one of the top 10 "hot jobs" for 2007, based on demographic shifts, legislative changes, business trends, and consumer behavior."You can see from how a child is drawing, how they are developing neurologically, cognitively, and emotionally." Join discussion...

Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center has recently celebrated it’s fifth anniversary of the art showcase “Illuminations”. The art show began in one waiting room and has spread to 13 total. The idea sprang from a cancer patient at MGH, Ed Sullivan, an artist whose works were featured in the Mt. Auburn Hospital’s exhibit “Art for Life.” Sullivan died before “Illuminations” began and it was his wife who offered the idea to MGH’s Clinical Director. Many people have enjoyed the art while waiting for chemo or their family members. One woman, Jeanne Nevard, a photographer and watercolor painter, claims that art helped her fight through her cancer. It is said that there is something miraculous, and even healing, in art and the personal connection one makes interpreting a piece of work (though science has not proved this yet). If anything, the patients, family, and staff at MGH have all been relieved by the unique pieces which can help divert their minds for even a moment from the sometimes uneasy hospital environment. Join discussion...

For the next 25 years, a collection of conceptual artist, Sol LeWitt's work will be displayed in a three story mill on the campus of Massacusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. There are hundreds of LeWitt's pieces being shown throughout the building. Unfortunately, LeWitt died last year shortly before the completion of this project Join discussion...

Marceau was a mime in the 1950s and 1960s and was part of the only troupe of mimes in the world at the time. He was also a part of may silent films and also was part of the production of a few films. However he was said to have died at the age of 84 september 23. Join discussion...

Mike Gallagher will sell his surfboards, called Metaboardz, at a fundraiser for a local school in California, Newport Harbor High School. Gallagher had been designing abstract images for over 30 years, though initially he used a typical canvas for his surface. However, within the last year, influenced by the surfing-oriented community, Gallagher has taken his abstractions and placed them on surfboards. Three other men help to make these Metaboardz so that they can be enjoyed on the water, not just on a wall. Greg Noll forms the boards’ shape, Mike Hill takes Gallagher’s images and adjusts them so that Greg Martz can put the images on the boards. Martz then glasses and finalizes the Metaboardz. The price range for these original boards is from $2,600 to $6,000. Join discussion...

Running from January 18 until February 14, "The Art of Politics: Documenting Social Change," is a photography show that is being presented at the McIninch Art Gallery at the Southern New Hampshire University. This exhibit consists of photographs that try to set the stage for this year’s political election. By using photos of previous candidates and their campaigns, the photographers can present many controversial themes that are being debated this year, such as war, human rights, immigration, and health care. The show helps viewers to examine these issues on a national, and sometimes global level, but still keeping it on a somewhat local scale. Those who choose to visit this exhibition are able to see how photography is impacting politics today, and how it has evolved as a form of art throughout the years. Join discussion...

"Art and wealth are rarely strangers—one person’s history of art is another’s sociology of conspicuous consumption," states Adrian Ellis of London's The Art Newspaper. Recent changes in wealth distribution toy with the art world in a myriad of ways. The art market, now vibrant, and the museum building boom introduce a vital issue to the artistic community: the relationship between active private collectors and public museums. Lately, on a global scale, "new museums and galleries that are conceived, funded and run privately" have sprung up, creating a phenomenon similar to that which occured in the U.S. Guilded Age. The collections are permanent, and act as significant additions to "the cultural fabric of the city", encompassing a "range of curatorial, conservational, public and scholarly programmes." Founders of such institutions do not believe that donation to public institutions affords any degree of control - their draw backs include limited opportunities for display, and even lack of conservational standards. However, these new institutions are "often erratic in their governance," and the art represents acquisitive interests of a single person, a "passionate and single minded interest" - the complete opposite of public museum's universalist impulses. As economic inequalities widen, the class of art collectors is growing; there will be not halt to privately funded museums in the future. Join discussion...