Latest news with #Impressionist
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Liverpool Claude Monet exhibition 'will bring his work to life'
An exhibition designed to "bring to life" more than 400 paintings by the renowned Impressionist artist Claude Monet has come to Monet, at Liverpool Exhibition Centre, uses projection technology to allow visitors to experience pieces including Water Lilies, Impression, Sunrise, and Poppies at Argenteuil."What we have done is to imagine if we went with Monet to all the different locations he painted all over Europe," said the exhibition's creative director Mathieu to the exhibition, which runs until 15 August, will see huge projections of Monet's work beamed on to walls and other surfaces. Mr St-Anaud advised people attending the exhibition to "just let go and don't think about art - experience it as an image as Monet felt when he first saw it".Anna Perry, the project's business development director, said Liverpool was chosen to host the first exhibition in Europe following the "overwhelming success" of the UK premiere of Beyond Van Gogh last also said the Liverpool Exhibition Centre team were "phenomenal to work with". Ms Perry praised the city's "culture and acceptance of art and entertainment and the value that people put in it".She said: "It just felt like there was no other place that we could premiere this."It has only been seen in North America before."Ms Perry said the immersive exhibition "really allows people to tap into elements that they might not have been aware that they were going to be exposed to or feel".She added: "They see the artwork around them, they see it on the floor, they hear the sounds, and I think people just get really blown away."Because children can run around "and feel like they've gone inside paintings" it is a great first art exhibition for youngsters, she Perry said Beyond Van Gogh would also return to Monet, who was born in 1840 and died in 1926, is acknowledged as the founder of the Impressionism movement. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
See photos from launch of Wicklow show by four artists with disabilities
The new exhibition features drawings and paintings on paper and canvas by Libby Hendrick, Ruth Fenton, Paddy Burton and Eoin O'Malley, who work alongside tutor/facilitator Orla Callaghan in the services of Kare in Baltinglass and Ardeen Cheshire Home in Shillelagh. Their varied works represent very different journeys of personal exploration, following individual interests and the continuous development of techniques and skills brought about by dedicated application. Libby Hendrick's interests and inspiration come mostly from nature and draw on her love of gardening. Libby finds a quiet stillness in concentrating on a painting, and this quality is reflected in her nature studies and landscapes. In 2023, Libby was selected for the Connecting Artists programme, which culminated in exhibiting her work in Dublin and Belfast. Working on paper using permanent markers to create her studies of paintings and drawings by various artists, Ruth Fenton received a Gaisce Gold award for her project on Picasso in 2022, and at that time, completed several pieces based on his line drawings. Since then, Ruth has been focusing on works from the Impressionist era, particularly portraits and still lives by Matisse. Paddy Burton has a wide range of inspiration for his work, sometimes working from photographs but also from the imagination, on pieces depicting such diverse subjects as public buildings, popular icons and fashion items. Having developed the unique ability to paint with his nose, using dynamic, precise strokes, Paddy works in acrylic on paper. Eoin O'Malley started to paint in 2008 and uses his mouth to hold his brushes. He works mainly in acrylic on canvas, but also in pencil and brush and ink on paper and has developed ways to use his wheelchair to create large-scale floor paintings. He brings an unwavering sense of purpose to all his work, and his achievements have been recognised by many funding awards 'Thanks to everyone who came to the launch of Two x Two, which is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland,' a Courthouse spokesperson said. Two x Two runs until August 3, during gallery opening hours.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Can virtual classrooms make art more interesting for students?
Art and culture have always played a significant role in the all-round development of students. It helps them develop a wider perspective of different histories and cultures across the world. Traditional methods for learning about art were limited to visiting museums, reading books, attending art exhibitions and physical workshops. Today, this has changed due to digital learning and virtual setups. The Internet has made art and cultural education more easily accessible to all. For instance, students in India can learn about Impressionist painting techniques from an expert in Italy, while someone from the East Asia can learn about Indian dance forms. These interactions offer unlimited opportunities for cross cultural exchange. Beyond physical surroundings As students grow older, their external and internal pressures mount, leaving them with little time for art and cultural classes. Currently, most institutions have neither the financial strength nor trained teachers to make multiple options available to students. Virtual classes open up a wide range of opportunities to take on a hobby or pursue as a skill. For example, a student from India can blend the sound of the tabla with an African instrument to create a unique melody. Virtual classes allow the flexibility for students to access them in real time or recorded sessions later at their convenience. One of the biggest challenges in traditional art education was the heavy focus on theory. Virtual classrooms, however, make learning more engaging by integrating modern digital tools such as live demonstrations where students can ask questions and receive real-time feedback. Today, AI has made it possible to experience tours of temples, museums and galleries sitting in the comfort of one's home. Challenges However, virtual interactions do have a few drawbacks. Usually teaching and learning art is a very personal and hands-on experience. A student of classical dance, for example, is guided by a teacher over many years in perfecting the art form. This experience is missed in virtual learning and teachers may also find it challenging to teach without in-person interactions to provide corrective feedback. Another challenge is the digital divide. Not all locations have high-speed internet and many students might face technical glitches or audio disturbances. One more aspect is the lack a structured classroom setup, which gives a focused environment and discipline. Further, physical classes allow peer interaction, which helps learning. Lastly, virtual classes may not give students the kind of engagement that physical art classes provide. The spirited energy, the collaborative environment, and the vibrancy of a physical classroom may be absent in a virtual setup. However, virtual classes can help promote collaborations, community building, and joint ventures that help in broaden artistic perspectives and encourage innovation. As technology continues to evolve, virtual classrooms will play a prominent role in shaping the future of art education. With advancements in AI-powered art tools, interactive 3D models, and immersive virtual exhibitions, learning art will become more dynamic and accessible than ever before. The author is Co-Founder, Routes 2 Roots.
Chicago Tribune
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘City in a Garden' spans decades of local LGBTQ art and activism at the MCA
This summer in Chicago, three of the city's most prominent art spaces are presenting major exhibitions with LGBTQ themes. One is scholarly: 'The First Homosexuals,' featuring hundreds of artworks that explore the creation of homosexuality as an identity between the years 1869 and 1939, at Wrightwood 659. One is historical: 'Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men,' a blockbuster touring retrospective on the Impressionist master, disappointingly retitled by the Art Institute as 'Painting His World.' One brings it all up to date and back home: the MCA's 'City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago,' a messy, exuberant gathering of painting, sculpture, photography, film and ephemera stretching from the 1980s to the present day. Art exhibitions do not happen overnight. They take years of planning, especially when they involve deep research and international loans. A confluence of such shows on a related subject is a rare occurrence, worth paying attention to as evidence of profound cultural shifts. In Chicago right now, the evidence points to the importance and durability of LGBTQ rights and realities, despite aggressive conservative political agendas. Much of what makes 'City in a Garden' so contemporary is the wide embrace of the word 'queer' taken by curator Jack Schneider, who organized the exhibit with Korina Hernandez. Once an insult applied to gays and lesbians, the term was reclaimed starting in the '80s and has since expanded beyond same-sex sexuality to include any sexual orientation or gender identity not corresponding to heterosexual norms — but also, more broadly, to a general refusal of categorization and mainstreaming. So 'City in a Garden' is only partly a survey of art made by artists who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender; it is also, more experimentally, a consideration of artworks that are themselves queer in one way or another. Sometimes the relevance is clear, like a quartet of photos taken by Doug Ischar in 1985 of men tanning and embracing on the Belmont Rocks, a gay beach scene the artist documented as much as belonged to. Diana Solis, Patric McCoy and Luis Medina also photographed their own communities and spaces. But sometimes the criteria for inclusion are murkier, as in Catherine Opie's opalescent views of Lake Michigan, one for each season, hung with their horizons in line. Opie rose to prominence for her formal studio portraits of California's queer communities, but she is also a serious landscape photographer, and the curators ask interesting questions by putting that work here. Does Opie reveal something radical about the lake through the way she frames it, as an ever-changing entity of constant fluidity? Could Lake Michigan be queer? Throughout the show, tension recurs between fabulousness and death. It probably could not be otherwise, given that the show's timeline begins amid the AIDS crisis; too many of the artists, and those they pictured, did not survive that era, or they did but died years later from complications related to living with HIV/AIDS. Roger Brown's 1983 disco painting of a skeleton in a naughty leather cap embodies both extremes. Chiffon Thomas' silicone cast of a torso — blackened with charcoal dust, pounded with nails and braced with rebar — exists somewhere painful but consensual between S&M culture and transition surgery. Even Nick Cave's gorgeous 'Soundsuit' from 2008, a sculpture that outfits its wearer in a head-to-toe bodysuit of crochet doilies, includes an upper-body cage abloom in tin flowers. That might not be death, but it's a whole lot of difficulty and claustrophobia masked by beauty. Likewise Guanyu Xu's takeover of his parents' Beijing dining room from the 2018 photography series 'Temporary Censored Home': though living in Chicago as a gay man, Xu had not come out to his parents and could only fully inhabit their apartment when they were out and he fleetingly filled a room with images of his foreign life and work. Some of the most exciting artworks here are strange, hybrid things. Faysal Altunbozar's bird feeders-cum-dildos offer hilarious tribute to one of Chicago's most scenic cruising spots, the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary. Mary Stoppert's puzzling sculpture of a spiked hand emerging from a white calla lily, all expertly carved from a single block of wood, teases delightfully. It is unclear what exactly Jeanne Dunning has photographed in 'The Pink,' a 6-foot-tall photograph of a glistening, oozy red substance that nauseates with its subcutaneous fleshiness but might be just grapefruit segments. William J. O'Brien clutters a table with his own weight in mementoes and his unabashedly bright, ugly ceramics in a speculative self-portrait arguably more accurate than a typical likeness. At the heart of the exhibition are local collectives. Some used artsy tactics for political action, others political tools for art making. From 1993-95, the group Haha maintained a storefront in Rogers Park that grew hydroponic greens and herbs for HIV/AIDS patients, providing free biweekly meals and events. In 2004, the Pilot TV collective came together in a Bridgeport three-flat over four intense days to temporarily create a cooperative 'transfeminist' television studio, producing 35 talk shows, cooking classes, dramas and more. Most crucial of all was ACT/UP Chicago, part of a national grassroots network whose members worked tirelessly, creatively and at great risk to bring attention to the AIDS crisis as it was being fatally ignored by the U.S. government. A sprawling, glam newspaper collage by Hunter Reynolds commemorates the chapter's work, as does a display case full of ephemera, the highlight of which is a T-shirt showing a woman with her face buried in another woman's crotch under the words 'Power Breakfast.' Designed by Mary Patten and Jeanne Kracher, it was a fundraising bestseller. Imaging the future of trans healthcare — and plastering it across the MCA'City in a Garden' ends on a dreamy but utterly knowing note. How could it not, given the extraordinary advances in queer rights and protections achieved since the Reagan era and the enormous threats currently posed by the Trump administration? Four cheery architectural renderings from Edie Fake's 'Memory Palace' series fictionalize bold storefronts for real organizations from Chicago's LGBTQ past that, like the abortion counseling service Jane, necessarily existed mostly underground. In many places in the U.S. today, they have to all over again. The final artwork is Paul Heyer's shimmery painting of a cowboy, larger than life, gently crouching to scoop water from the ground. It would be simply romantic except for five huge white circles that sit atop the image and threaten to obliterate it. That must never happen, and with shows like 'City in a Garden' to help remember and envision, it surely won't.
The Star
17-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
The great dinosaur egg hunt
AT the foot of Sainte Victoire, the mountain in Provence, France, immortalised by Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne, a palaeontologist brushes meticulously through a mound of red clay looking for fossils. These are not any old fossils, but 75-million-year-old dinosaur eggs. Little luck or skill is needed to find them: scientists believe that there are more dinosaur eggs here than at any other place on Earth. The area, closed to the public, is nicknamed 'Eggs en Provence', due to its proximity to the south-eastern city of Aix en Provence. 'There's no other place like it,' explained Thierry Tortosa, a palaeontologist and conservationist at the Sainte Victoire Nature Reserve. 'You only need to look down to find fragments. We're literally walking on eggshells here.' Children searching for dinosaur eggs at the Mount Sainte-Victoire site, near Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Around 1,000 eggs, some of them as big as 30cm in diameter, have been found here in recent years in an area measuring less than a hectare – a mere dot on a reserve that will span 280ha once it is doubled in size by 2026 to prevent pillaging. 'We reckon we've got about one egg per square metre. So there are thousands, possibly millions, here,' said Tortosa. 'Eggs' is not in the business of competing with other archaeological sites – even though Tortosa finds the 'world record' of 17,000 dinosaur eggs discovered in Heyuan, China, in 1996 vaguely amusing. 'We're not looking to dig them up because we're in a nature reserve and we can't just alter the landscape. We wait until they're uncovered by erosion,' he said. 'Besides, we don't have enough space to store them all. We just take those that are of interest from a palaeontology point of view.' Despite the plethora of eggs on site, the scientists still have mysteries to solve. Those fossils found so far have all been empty, either because they were not fertilised or because the chick hatched and waddled off. 'Until we find embryos inside – that's the Holy Grail – we won't know what kind of dinosaur laid them. All we know is that they were herbivores because they're round,' said Tortosa. Fossilised dinosaur embryos are rarer than hen's teeth. Palaeontologists discovered a tiny fossilised Oviraptorosaur that was at least 66 million years old in Ganzhou, China, around the year 2000. But Tortosa remains optimistic that 'Eggs' holds its own Baby Yingliang. 'Never say never. In the nine years that I've been here, we've discovered a load of stuff we never thought we'd find.' Tortosa showing dinosaur eggs found at the site. — AFP Which is why experts come once a year to search a new part of the reserve. The location is always kept secret to deter pillagers. During a recent visit, six scientists were crouched under camouflage netting in a valley lost in the Provencal scrub, scraping over a few square metres of clay-limestone earth, first with chisels, then with pointy-tipped scribers. 'There's always something magical – like being a child again – when you find an egg or a fossilised bone,' specialist Severine Berton said. Their 'best' finds – among the thousands they have dug up – include a small femur and a 30cm-long tibia-fibula. They are thought to come from a Rhabdodon or a Titanosaur – huge herbivores who roamed the region. In the Cretaceous period (89-66 million years BCE), the Provencal countryside's then-flooded plains and silty-clayey soils offered ideal conditions for dinosaurs to graze and nest, and perfect conditions to conserve the eggs for millennia. The region, which stretched from what is now Spain to the Massif Central mountains of central France formed an island that was home to several dinosaur species found nowhere else in the world. Alongside the endemic herbivores were carnivores such as the Arcovenator and the Variraptor, a relative of the Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame. In 1846, French palaeontologist Philippe Matheron found the world's first fossilised dinosaur egg in Rognac, around 30km from Eggs. Since then, museums from across the world have dispatched people to Provence on egg hunts. Everyone, it seems, wants a bit of the omelette. Despite efforts to stop pillaging, problems persist, such as when a wildfire uncovered a lot of fossils in 1989 and 'everyone came egg collecting', Tortosa said. Five years later the site was designated a national geological nature reserve, closed to the public – the highest level of protection available. The regional authorities are now mulling over ways to develop 'palaeontology tourism', a move Tortosa applauds. 'France is the only country in the world that doesn't know how to promote its dinosaurs,' Tortosa said. 'Any other place would set up an entire museum just to show off a single tooth.' — AFP
