Trump Somehow Mad at Stick Figure
Joel Shapiro sculpture removed at the Kennedy Center, how Snoopy unleashed America's imagination, the untold history of Black American dyeing traditions, and more.
Trump’s National Park Service nonsensically removed a bright-blue Joel Shapiro sculpture from outside the Kennedy Center yesterday without stating a reason. The late artist is known for his quasi-abstract, dynamic stick-figure artworks that could not offend your most politically questionable uncle, but our president will find a way. Was it too happy? Too person-shaped? Or even better … “woke”?
Teju Adisa-Farrar’s must-read piece on Black American natural dyeing traditions is an antidote to cultural erasure. In the latest of our series on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2025 Craft Archive Fellows in collaboration with the Center for Craft, Adisa-Farrar traces the ways in which plants and organic fibers yielded a kaleidoscope of pigments whose histories are worthy of preservation and revival.
—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor
The Missing Colors of Black American Pigment-Making
As one of humanity’s oldest crafts, natural pigment-making occupies the intersection of science, agriculture, and art. It requires curiosity and ingenuity to see a marigold flower, for instance, and know that it can stain fabrics with beautiful shades of mustard yellow to gold; to know, as our ancestors did, that they also have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. The blue color of denim traces its roots to indigo, a dye crop cultivated and processed by West Africans and their descendants throughout the Atlantic world. The global indigo trade that made blue textiles possible was deeply intertwined with enslaved labor and African dyeing knowledge. | Teju Adisa-Farrar
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Pratt Institute’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) certificates support professional development, educational advancement, career change, and personal enrichment for both amateurs and professionals.
Participants can attend in-person, online, or hybrid courses across 17 different art and design disciplines. Register by August 21 for the Fall Certificate Programs.
News
- The National Park Service deinstalls an iconic 24-foot-tall sculpture by late artist Joel Shapiro from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu order the dismantling of 40 Palestinian memorials in the Occupied West Bank.
- A new exhibition in NYC celebrates Snoopy's enduring influence on art and fashion.
- Venice Biennale Foundation President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco defends the decision to include Russia in the 61st Venice Biennale this year despite pushback from the Italian Culture Ministry and the European Commission.
- The Smithsonian’s board of regents has voted to house the fledgling National Museum of the American Latino in its existing Arts and Industries Building, bypassing congressional approval for a new site. [NYT]
- The Gwangju Biennale Foundation has agreed to allow the name “Taiwan Pavilion” after artists called the erasure of Taiwan “a threat to freedom of expression and the global art community.” [Gwangju Biennale]
In Memoriam
Remembering Geles Cabrera, Helch, and Jay Maisel
This week, we honor a sculptor who explored the body, a street artist who upset Queen Elizabeth, and a commercial photographer who shaped the medium.
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Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online
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Member Comment
—Butch Murphy on "Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too"
Hyper Links
- Shoutout to our friends at Hell Gate for this impeccable hate piece on the ubiquitous NYC street “art” of @7SoulsDeep. “It cleaves its audience into two camps: People who have clapped when their plane landed, and everyone else,” Hell Gate writes. Chef’s kiss.
- Radio presenter Zach Mander added Karl Marx quotes to Richard Scarry illustrations and it’s making us all want to rise up against the bourgeoisie in this busy, busy town.
- Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed had the perfect retort to Fox News’s out-of-touch defense of billionaires.
- Did you know that 20% of your DNA comes from an unknown species? Welcome to the mysterious world of “ghost DNA.”
From the Archive
Sketches from a Magical, Multimedia Opera Set in a Soaring Cathedral
Anthony Roth Costanzo has made it his mission to make classical music appealing to broader and younger audiences. It worked. | Letícia Wouk Almino
Read MoreAsian Cultural Council — 2027 Global Grant Cycle
Grantees can pursue open-ended research rather than final productions. This unique focus on process encourages deep international dialogue, building lasting relationships, and advancing mutual understanding between the United States and Asia.
Deadline: November 10 | asianculturalcouncil.org
