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C.F. Martin, Father of ‘American’ Guitar, Featured at Met Museum

Keith GirardJanuary 10, 2014

C. F. Martin, an 18th Century German immigrant has as much to do with rock and roll as Chuck Berry and The Beatles. He invented the guitar as it’s known today and his works, tracing the instrument’s development over more than 200 years, make up a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. ...

ArtMUSEUMS

Amiri Baraka, Poet, Playwright Radical Black Activist, Dies at 79

Keith GirardJanuary 10, 2014

Amiri Baraka, an influential black writer and artist, who veered into radicalism and became a chief proponent of black separatism during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, died yesterday (Jan 9.) after a long illness. He was 79. Amiri Baraka, an influential black writer and artist, who veered into radicalism and became a chief proponent of black separatism during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, died yesterday (Jan 9.) after a long illness. He was 79. Baraka came of age during the rise of the Beat Generation in the 1950s, a time when widely accepted values about life came into question, leading up to the counter-culture revolution....

ArtARTISTS

Freer Gallery Hosts Chinese Martial Arts, 3-D Technology Gala

Keith GirardAugust 5, 2013

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. will transform into a cultural hot spot for the final “Asia After Dark” after-hours event, featuring a night of exploration and discovery into Chinese martial arts and 3-D printing technology. Guests can explore 3-D scanning and printing with experts from the Smithsonian’s digitization program unit and participate in the creation of a 10-foot-tall replica statue of the Freer’s renowned “Cosmological Buddha.”...

CalendarGALLERIESSPECIAL EXHIBITS

Defaced Rothko at London’s Tate Raises Security Questions Anew

Keith GirardOctober 8, 2012

A Mark Rothko painting defaced at London’s Tate Modern museum over the weekend once again raises questions about how to balance security against the desire to give the public the best experience possible while viewing priceless works of art. A man at the Tate was able to walk up to the Rothko’s untitled 1958 painting best known as “Black on Maroon” and mark a slogan on it in black paint. He was gone in a matter of minutes. The slogan “Vladimir Umanets ’12, a potential piece of yellowism,” doesn't seem to have a direct connection to Rothko or the work....

CRIME