Walmart now means ART!

Everyday low prices have made possible a new American Museum in Walmart’s home town of Benton, Arkansas. Sponsored and financed by Walmart family member Alice Walton. Without a long history of interest and appreciation of the arts, the Walmart family has provided the world with a new destination to go to (and is also enabling free admission). The next time you shop Walmart, think of the artistic value your shopping is contributing to. We have probably not seen such a major new museum since the opening of the new Getty Museum in California.

Visit the museum’s site:

http://www.crystalbridges.org/


There is a story in the Maine Antique Digest  about this Museum:

  http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/index.html?id=2986

Addition at the Gardner Museum

Although contemporary art is not what comes to mind when we think of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Fenway Court) in Boston, they are much in the news this month with the opening of the addition to their building, designed by architect Renzo Piano. The Gardner Museum had restrictions about alterations to the building/collection, and this new addition is starkly different from the old building. An interesting counterpoint - much as this same architect did with the Morgan Library in NYC.

You can see the story of this new addition at:

http://www.buildingproject.gardnermuseum.org/design/new-building

And a WBUR story/slideshow at:

http://www.wbur.org/2012/01/19/gardner-tour


Can't wait to see it in person!

(Here is the courtyard, designed by Isabella Gardner to resemble a Venetian courtyard.)

A New Year Begins

To students following this blog, welcome (or welcome back)!

Over the holidays, I have neglected this activity, so I will be making a number of entries, just to catch up - both with current art world news, and a report from some museum visits during the holiday season.