Have fun creating and learning from home with a collection of WheatonArts Family Art Workshop video tutorials (https://www.wheatonarts.org/learn/family-activities/family-art-workshops/). Great for all skill levels and ages, each tutorial is paired with engaging discussion questions and links for further learning. A new video is added each week. more
The Monmouth Museum continues to move forward as the well-established New Jersey Emerging Artist Series announces an open call to welcome artists to apply to become a NJ Emerging Artist for the 2020-2021 series. more
Staying connected with The Frick Collection in New York City has never been easier. Get inspired by this week’s roundup of resources and curated content. more
Mo Willems invites you into his studio every day for his LUNCH DOODLES! Learners worldwide can draw, doodle, and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. Grab some paper and pencils, pens or crayons and join Mo to explore ways of writing and making together. If you post your art to social media be sure to hashtag it with #MoLunchDoodles. more
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which granted women the right to vote — although many voting struggles persisted for marginalized groups following its ratification. The long road to women’s suffrage, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, played out very differently from political movements of today. In the absence of televised and digital media, the suffragists spread their message through magazines, political cartoons, posters, plays, parades, and even through fashion. more
The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers presents Art After Hours: First Tuesdays on March 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. The evening features curator-led tours of two exhibits, “’It makes me think of that awful day…’ The Natural World in the Anthropocene” and “A Celebration of the Children’s Books of Vladimir Radunsky,” as well as a performance by violinist Suliman Tekalli, the State Theatre New Jersey artist-in-residence, in partnership with the Center for Musical Excellence. In addition, Mason Gross jazz students Vaughn Stavropoulos (keyboard) and Ian Young (bass) perform throughout the evening. Art After Hours is free and open to the public, with complimentary refreshments. more
Trenton’s downtown art center and three partner organizations will open their doors to all for two days of free art activities on March 7 and 14. For toddlers, grandparents, and everyone in between, Art Making Day is a free event that promotes the idea that entire communities can be connected and uplifted through various forms of creative expression. more
Enjoy free museum admission and gallery talks, music performances, and sketching, or simply find yourself walking among the Old Masters and art enthusiasts from around the world at the next First Friday at The Frick Collection in New York City on February 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. First Fridays occur on the First Friday of each month, except January and September, from 6 to 9 p.m. more
By Taylor Smith
The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia, founded in 1805, is the first and oldest art museum and school in the United States. In a unique partnership with area medical schools, PAFA provides humanities-based training for medical students, nursing students, university faculty members, and practicing physicians. more
By Taylor Smith
Experience the season at New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) Holiday Train Show, now through Sunday, January 6, 2020. Natural materials such as fruit, seeds, pine cones, twigs, bark, stems, fungus, acorns, lotus pods, and cinnamon recreate a sweeping metropolis designed by Paul Busse of Applied Imagination. more
By Taylor Smith
Westfield, New Jersey, transforms into all things Charles Addams this October for AddamsFest — a month-long series of events including movie screenings, art exhibits, a masquerade ball, paranormal investigations, a costume contest, and a Halloween House Decorating Contest. more
By Taylor Smith
Last fall, construction began at the Barrymore Film Center, a $15 million project in Fort Lee. The 260-seat movie theater, museum, and education center is a striking 21,500- square-foot building designed by architect Hugh Hardy. The “veil,” as promoters call it, is a pyramidal structure that points westward, towards Hollywood, California. It is expected to be completed in October 2020. more
By Taylor Smith
Step back in time to Medieval Europe while remaining in Manhattan? Yes, it’s possible. Just plan a trip to The Met Cloisters in Washington Heights’ Fort Tryon Park. North of the Bronx, The Cloisters is perched on a very high overlooking the neighborhood of Inwood and offering sweeping views of New Jersey’s Palisades, specifically the cliffs of Fort Lee and Englewood. more
The eight artists in the exhibition “Art & Healing: Expressions of Trauma and Gratitude,” have each experienced a life-altering cancer diagnosis. Thanks to the vehicles of art and storytelling, these patients have found a new way to communicate their personal struggles and experiences of living with cancer. more
By Taylor Smith
On view through August 9, 2020, “T. rex: The Ultimate Predator” is sure to ignite the imaginations of visitors at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The new exhibit asks, “How did T. rex evolve to become the most fearsome carnivore of the Mesozoic?” Spectators can take in life-size models of the fearsome predator; fossils, casts, and interactive activities; and an immersive multiplayer virtual reality experience developed just for the exhibition. Children are sure to marvel at how this 12,000-plus-pound terror began as a tiny critter. They will also meet T. rex’s family members, some of whom are small and even have feathers! more
By Taylor Smith
The Museum of Modern Art recently announced that it will open its expanded campus on October 21, 2019, with a reimagined presentation of modern art. more
By Taylor Smith
Though Giovanni Battista Moroni never achieved significant fame during his lifetime, he had a noteworthy impact on the study and execution of portraiture during later years, particularly that seen in Dutch-style paintings. Beginning February 21, The Frick Collection in Manhattan will present the first major exhibition in North America solely devoted to the painter’s work. The masterful paintings will be shown alongside complementary objects from the period during which Moroni was painting, such as Renaissance-era jewelry, arms, armor, textiles, and luxury items. The exhibit was organized by Aimee Ng, associate curator, The Frick Collection; along with Simone Facchinetti, curator, Museo Bernareggi, Bergamo; and Arturo Galansino, director general, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. The works will be on view in the Frick’s main floor Oval Room and East Gallery through June 2, 2019. more
By Taylor Smith
On view through February 10, “Mickey: The True Original Exhibition” is at 60 10th Avenue in New York City. The 16,000-square-foot space in Chelsea, very close to The High Line, features both nostalgic and modern works from international artists, all of whom are inspired by classic images of the graphic, black-and-white mouse. more
By Taylor Smith
Photos courtesy of The Rubin Museum of Art
Looking for a cultural day trip? Fall is a great time to visit The Rubin Museum of Art, located at 150 West 17th Street in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. With an emphasis on cross-cultural connections, the Rubin showcases the art, ideas, and culture of the Himalayas, India, and neighboring regions. Special exhibitions celebrate art forms that range from ancient to contemporary. more
Moderated by five-time GRAMMY winner Questlove, a musical force all his own, Kravitz will discuss the creation of, and inspiration behind his latest work. Regarded as one of the preeminent rock musicians of our time, Kravitz has transcended genre, style, race and class over the course of a 20-year musical career. Reveling in the soul, rock and funk influences of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist has won four consecutive GRAMMY Awards, as well as set a record for the most wins in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category. more
By Taylor Smith
JCC University at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ offers the opportunity to rekindle previous passions, ignite new interests, meet new people and stay involved in the developments that shape today’s world. Top professors and experts present on topics including science, literature, film, economics, psychology, architecture and politics. more
By Doug Wallack
Acclaimed artist and Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei unveiled a multi-site, multi-media project entitled “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” this fall, in conjunction with the Public Art Fund. The work — which consists of 300 site-specific pieces scattered throughout the five boroughs of New York City — explores the issues of resurgent nationalism and populism that have been the subjects of so much public debate this year, playing on the central visual motif of the border fence. more
By Ilene Dube
In all its starkness, winter was the favorite season of the painter Andrew Wyeth (1917–2009), one of the 20th century’s most popular American painters. Even today, exhibitions of his works draw large crowds to museums.
Wyeth described winter as a time when “you feel the bone structure in the landscape—the loneliness of it—the dead feeling…” Wyeth’s landscapes of that season are both placid in their silence and haunting in their feeling of desolation. He has the ability to capture the nuanced shades of white, even when working in watercolor. more
By Wendy Greenberg
Michael Stumpf, who has been a photographer, banking executive, ad agency owner, and community leader, cherished his childhood F. W. Woolworth Nativity scene into adulthood. When it fell apart from age, he and his daughter built one of their own design. more
By Ellen Gilbert
“The exquisite-looking artist was often overshadowed by his Bohemian legend,” observed Jewish Museum Senior Curator Mason Klein at a recent press preview of the new Modigliani exhibit, “Modigliani Unmasked,” at the Jewish Museum in New York City through February 4, 2018. Images of Amedeo Modigliani’s movie star quality looks and accounts of his tempestuous and brief (1884-1920) life have indeed tended to overshadow his accomplishments, though sales of his later paintings in recent years do not seem troubled by these considerations: his Nu Couché fetched a whopping $170.4 million (with fees) at a Christie’s auction in 2015. more
Ceramic Artist Molly Hatch has been commissioned to produce a monumental three-part installation in the niches in the Engelhard Court. Hatch is known for her murals made up of underglaze-painted porcelain plates, including two major installations at the High Museum in Atlanta. Repertoire will be her largest commission to date, honoring the Newark Museum’s 107-year-tradition of collecting contemporary ceramic art, and commemorating the retirement of Curator of Decorative Arts Ulysses Dietz after 37 years. more
By Doug Wallack
On Saturday, October 21, at the newly renovated Hopewell Theater, filmmaker David Scott Kessler will be screening his experimental documentary The Pine Barrens with a score performed live by The Ruins of Friendship Orchestra. The film, not unlike John McPhee’s 1968 book of the same name, explores New Jersey’s Pinelands, delving deep into the culture, ecology, and lore of the region, which — despite occupying twenty percent of the state’s land area — is so often overlooked, even by Garden State residents. more
By Anne Levin
Photographs courtesy of Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Art
