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A few weeks ago, while exploring the Hudson Valley like every other Brooklynite who would rather go upstate than visit Manhattan, I came across a stash of vintage Thanksgiving postcards at a bookshop in Saugerties that made me chuckle and smile. These rather elegant, if sometimes disturbing (um, is that a fork and knife sticking out a living turkey?) images were all created roughly from 1900 to 1920 and often incorporate gold foil and other holiday details. While all of these cards are bathed in the reigning myths of the era about the holiday — which was historically taught as some type of kumbaya of Puritans and the Wampanoag in lieu of its genocidal reality — we can look back and laugh at prevailing attitudes and how many of these same misconceptions of peace-loving settlers remain.
Enjoy these paper relics of yesteryear. We hope you enjoy the holiday whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving or Unthanksgiving or just chilling on your day off.
The Latest
Opportunities in December 2021
From commissions to residencies and fellowships for artists, curators, and teachers, a list of opportunities that artists, writers, and art workers can apply for each month.
Recently Discovered Forrest Bess Paintings
It is one thing to be a visionary and another to be one whose work holds your attention for a sustained period of time.
Unlikely Journal for Creative Arts Releases New Issue, Calls for Guest Editors and Submissions
“Following Sonorous Bodies” is available online. The journal also seeks guest editors for themed issues, books, and more, as well as contributors for Issue 8, “Birds & Language.” Proposals are due December 15.
The Many Faces of Gillian Wearing
Regardless of which way the camera is pointing, Wearing shows a lively — and altogether merciless — interest in how people choose to tell their own stories.
Jonathan Feldschuh’s Visions of a Subatomic World
Feldschuh understands that the actions and interactions of particles can be formulated mathematically but not illustrated visually.
Tamil-Canadian Artist Shan Vincent de Paul’s NFT Collection Has a Twist
These multimedia works debuting on Voice include a “Death Mechanism” and allow fans to collect the artist’s origin story, told specifically for the metaverse.
Two Latinx Artists Take On Gentrification from the Perspective of Those Displaced
Shellyne Rodriguez and Danielle De Jesus powerfully respond to the continued attacks on their neighborhoods with works that validate and uplift elements of everyday urban Latinx life that are usually devalued.
Required Reading
This week, I’ve included a lot of humor because with the recent news on the coronavirus variant, we can all use it.
Washington University in St. Louis Announces MFA Virtual Open House
On December 13, learn about the Sam Fox School’s graduate programs in Visual Art and Illustration & Visual Culture, as well as the university’s competitive financial aid packages.
How is This Possibly the Right Time for a Fabergé Show at the V&A?
So legendarily precious and complex are the Fabergé eggs that they have become a byword for insane expenditure.
Why Was An Artist “Swarmed” By Police During a Miami Art Fair Performance?
While performing a piece for Satellite Art Show, Xxavier Edward Carter was approached by a group of officers who threatened him with ten years in prison.
A Portal Tracks Objects Acquired by German Institutions Through Colonialism
Gerke Dunkhase estimates that only half of the Benin bronzes in Germany are logged on the portal so far, calling the current database a “prototype” of what’s to come.