For students of the humanities…
Art in Context is a website that focusses on the arts, and it tries to provide an idea of where that art is coming from and what it means. It's set up as an online encyclopedia and has a lot of resources on many periods of art and art history. link to Art in Context
Culture can be collected in the most surprising places. This article details the Smithsonian's efforts to document the history and culture of America's two biggest political conventions. link to What Smithsonian Curators Will Be Doing at the Democratic National Convention
Disease can have a drastic affect on societies and their art. In fact, art depicting plagues has been a constant throughout history. In this article from the BBC in 2020, the author discussses the art of plagues from the Black Death to the 21st Century. link to What plague art tells us about today
Some works of art are meant to remain unfinished. Such was the intent behind Keith Haring's Unfinished Painting (1989). The artists intended it's unfinished nature to be a statement on the AIDS epidemic, but now someone has used AI to finish it. Is this unethical and disrespectful of the artist? This article from Smithsonian Magazine… Continue reading Article: A.I. ‘Completes’ Keith Haring’s Intentionally Unfinished Painting
The place of technology within the art world can be controversial, and this article from Smithsonian addresses that. Specifically, this article deals with whether or not robots should be used to create sculpture, and whether or not great artists, such as Michelangelo, would have used this particular artistic tool. link to Can Robots Replace Michelangelo?
It can be very interesting when you find out that someone familar has more talents than you knew. This article from My Modern Met highlights one such case: actor Pierce Brosnan's painting hobby and the exhibition of his work. link to Actor Pierce Brosnan Debuts His First Solo Exhibition of His Deeply Personal Paintings
Hayao Miyazaki is the cofounder of Japan's Studio Ghibli and the creator of some amazing animated films (Howl's Moving Castle is a favorite of mine). In 2010, he gave an interview during which he discussed his 50 favorite children's books. This short article from Open Culture provides the list. Even though a few of them… Continue reading Article: Hayao Miyazaki Selects His 50 Favorite Children’s Books
Seeds are potential. Environmental changes and disasters can endanger that potential, so many countries and regions have come together to try to protect that part of their heritage by creating seed banks. This article from Smithsonian Magazine showcases the greatest of these seed banks and the precious resources it protects. link to Take a Virtual… Continue reading Article: Take a Virtual Tour of the ‘Doomsday’ Seed Vault
The sea is still filled with things that are strange, mysterious, dangerous, or just annoying. In this article, CNN explains the potential problems that a giant blob of sargassum seaweed may pose to shipping and tourism in the summer of 2023. link to A 5,000-mile-wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida, threatening tourism across… Continue reading Article: A 5,000-mile-wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida, threatening tourism across the Caribbean
There have been two Elizabethan Ages in British history. The first took place in the 16th Century, and the second ended with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022. In this article, Sky News tries to put the most recent Elizabethan age into some kind of context as a great portion of… Continue reading Article: Queen’s own words perhaps best sum up the legacy of her Elizabethan age
Queen Elizabeth II reigned for more than 70 years until her death in 2022. This (the longest reign of any British monarch) gave artists more than enough time to depict her in a number of different ways. Some of the images are official (on things like coinage) and some are less so. Thi article from… Continue reading Article: Picturing the Queen: How artists portrayed Queen Elizabeth II through her reign
When you think of Legos shipwrecks and environmental disasters are probably not the first thing that comes to mind. However, that's what this article is about. Apparently, a shipwreck a couple of decades ago dropped 5 million Legos (amongst other things) into the sea off of the coast of England in what has come to… Continue reading Article: After 25 Years at Sea, Shipwrecked Lego Pieces Are Still Washing Ashore on Beaches in England
MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art) is one of the world's premere museums dedicated to modern art. On there website, they have a great deal of information about all styles and kinds of modern art. You can go straight to their "Art and Artists" section or search for something particular, but if you are researching… Continue reading Website: MoMA
For students of culture, the online home of the Smithsonian Magazine is an incredible resource. They have searchable sections on Smart News, History, Science, Innovation, Arts & Culture, Travel, At the Smithsonian, Photos, Videos, and Games. Wherever your interests lie within the Humanities, the Smithsonian Magazine would be a good place to start your research.… Continue reading Website: Smithsonian Magazine
This site has so much information, it can become a little overwhelming. In the future, I plan to highlight a few specific areas, but I didn't want to wait to share information about this resource in general. The Kahn Academy provides free courses (including some excellent videos) on a wide variety of subjects. If you're… Continue reading Website: Kahn Academy
Humanities Scholars 