ELDON, Iowa — Beth Howard sits at her kitchen table on a Sunday morning and pulls back the curtain to peer at a group of rosy-cheeked youths taking pictures on her front lawn. They pair off to stand side by side in the pose familiar to millions — the dour farmer with a pitchfork, the unsmiling woman beside him in front of the white house.

No one notices the woman in flannel pajamas sitting inside.

“People seldom know that people live here, much less that there’s someone watching them from the other side of the curtain,” says Howard, who rents the house made famous in Grant Wood’s painting “American Gothic.”

Read the entire LA Times article here.

Experts had expected the masterpiece to break new ground at the famed New York auction house; its presale estimate of at least million was the highest ever listed at Sotheby’s.

It sold for 9,922,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby’s.

Previously, the most expensive artwork ever sold there was Pablo Picasso’s painting “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” which brought in 6.5 million two years ago. The previous record for a Munch work of art was just over million.

Read the entire CNN article here.

Creativity is key, more than 1,500 executives said in a 2010 survey.

Yet California, like many states, long ago deemed creative arts a luxury, one that few schools could afford.

And so, with the backing of business, state officials have formed Create CA, a statewide initiative they hope will restore art in schools, so that paintbrushes and even pirouettes are once again as important as No. 2 pencils.

The idea is to bring together those who have labored independently for arts education. Participants want to pass legislation, increase funding and raise public awareness.

Those behind the effort – including artists, educators and executives – believe California now has enough supportive policymakers and the right mix of corporate backing and political will for the idea to succeed where similar efforts have floundered.

Read the entire SFGate article here.

These are among the activities inside and outside schools slated to get an infusion of federal support under a new round of federal grants announced yesterday by the National Endowment for the Arts.

In all, the independent federal agency announced plans to award 928 grants totaling million to nonprofit organizations nationwide. Although the grants go far beyond arts education, that particular domain is getting plenty of attention.

In all, more than 100 of the grants are explicitly categorized by the endowment as “arts education,” but in scanning the database of grants, it became clear that this didn’t tell the whole story. Plenty of examples outside that realm had a connection to schools and students as well.

“The arts should be a part of everyday life,” Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the endowment, said in a press release on the new grants. “Whether it’s seeing a performance, visiting a gallery, participating in an art class, or simply taking a walk around a neighborhood enhanced by public art, these grants are ensuring that across the nation, the public is able to experience how art works.”

View the entire Education Week article here.

The greatly expanded second iteration of this online compilation of self-selected art museums and artworks was unveiled last week. It makes available images of more than 32,000 works in 31 mediums and materials, from the collections of 151 museums and arts organizations worldwide, forming a broad, deep river of shared information, something like a lavishly illustrated art book fused with high-end open storage.

Read the entire New York Times article here.

• “Draw Something,” a hit mobile game, lets players take turns drawing, guessing objects
• It’s been the No. 1 free app on the iPad, iPhone and has attracted 35 million users
• Player on the game’s appeal: “It’s not a competition, it’s about collaboration”

Playing the game is simple once you scan your social-network contacts for someone to play with. The app gives you three choices of things to draw; you pick a word and then draw it with your finger on the touchscreen, using the basic colors provided in the app. Your friend hopefully deciphers your picture and guesses it correctly, then draws a picture for you in return.

The back and forth continues in an addictive cycle. There’s no winner; instead, players work together to build streaks of correctly guessed drawings.

Dan Porter, former CEO of OMGPop turned a vice president of Zynga, said they were inspired to create something that was close to a party game — targeted at everyone and not too competitive.

“We wanted to be that game that was on the phone of the people who had no other games on their phone,” Porter said. “We thought it would do well. But we were shocked that it did this well.”

The point system complements the easygoing nature of the game. Players have the ability to pick from a list of three words, which range in difficulty. Harder words are worth more virtual coins, which can be cashed in for features or hints within the game.

What’s interesting is how these points work. The person drawing gets coins if the other player guesses it correctly. The person guessing is given the same number of coins for guessing it.

Read the entire CNN story here.

Download it from iTunes here.

When art education is cut, aspiring artists don’t receive the important training that they need to succeed. Students who don’t necessarily want to become artists aren’t exposed to the power of art to enhance their own chosen fields of study. Even pre-school students, who can’t really talk yet, are deprived of a powerful language to express themselves.

To save art education, it’s not as simple as writing your congressman. There must be a fundamental shift in thinking. Art must be valued as highly as reading, writing, and math, if not more. Then more money will be devoted to it. Ultimately, the responsibility to preserve and protect it rests not on just political leaders, art educators, or parents but ourselves as its ultimate benefactors.

Lai was inspired to make this documentary by The Mini Show, a group art exhibition to raise money for the Mini Lai Scholarship Fund, which is managed by the respected California Community Foundation and benefits Art Center College of Design illustration students: minilai.com.

(HD, Color, Running Time: 58:50)

Statement by the Director

“It was an incredible experience working on The Mini Show and ‘Art Recession.’ Many corporations, organizations, and individuals offered their generous assistance with these projects to benefit students. My family and I feel deeply indebted to their kindness and generosity. Hopefully, through this documentary, we’re able to convey the importance of art education and help save it.”—Ming Lai, Producer/Writer/Director, “Art Recession”.

Upcoming Screenings

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J.P. Getty – Los Angeles

Monet
Van Gogh
Degas
Rousseau
Gauguin
Rembrandt
Seurat
Cezanne
Renoir
DaVinci
Klimt
Warhol

Norton Simon – Pasadena

Cezanne
Gauguin
Paul Klee
Matisse
Mondrian
Monet
Picasso
Rousseau
Rembrandt
Renoir
Seurat
Toulouse-Lautrec

LACMA – LA County Museum of Art

Cezanne
Picasso
Chagall
Degas
Gauguin
Renoir
Monet
Cassatt
Kahlo
Remington
Homer
O’Keeffe
Rembrandt
Warhol
Toulouse-Lautrec

San Diego Museum of Art

Cassatt
O’Keeffe
Matisse
Calder
Chagall
Degas
Gauguin
Hokusai
Homer
Hopper
Klee
Picasso
Rembrandt
Toulouse-Lautrec

> RECENT GUSH STORY 
>
> I was at Kaiser on Thurs and I had my MTM name tag on my shirt while the
> nurse took my blood pressure.
>
> Nurse, “What is that tag you have?”
>
> Me, “Oh, I work for MTM and today I was in the class room, I guess I forgot
> to take off my name tag.”
>
> Nurse: “Is that the program that the kids learn about artists and do Starry
> Night and stuff like that?”
>
> Me: “Yes”
>
> Nurse: “Oh my gosh, I LOVE that program, I still have all my daughters
> pictures and she is 33 years old!”

Keeping artwork for over 25 years – fantastic!  We love hearing about your Meet the Masters stories.  Please send them to web@meetthemasters.com.