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A Scholarly Skater

  • Why I Love Art (and You Will Too)

    Why I Love Art (and You Will Too)

    Here are twelve reasons to give art a try.

  • What Do Gargoyles and Grotesques Look Like?

    What Do Gargoyles and Grotesques Look Like?

    Part four of Field Guide to Gargoyles concerns gargoyles’ and grotesques’ weird and wonderful appearances. They can have so many different looks.

  • How to Look: Tips for Connecting with Art

    How to Look: Tips for Connecting with Art

    Try these tips, techniques, and challenges to help you connect with art at museum, galleries, and other places to see art in person.

  • Where Can You Find Gargoyles?

    Where Can You Find Gargoyles?

    In part three of Field Guide to Gargoyles, you will learn about the varied buildings that gargoyles and grotesques tend to inhabit, both then and now.

  • Where and When Did Gargoyles Come From?

    Where and When Did Gargoyles Come From?

    Find out about gargoyles’ ancient but murky historical origins and usage around the world in part two of Field Guide to Gargoyles.

  • Part 1: What is a Gargoyle?

    Part 1: What is a Gargoyle?

    I love gargoyles, and maybe you do too. But do you know exactly the term actually means? Learn this important fact in part one of Field Guide to Gargoyles.

  • Historic Places Photo Gallery

    I love old places, and I try to visit them wherever I go. This gallery shows some of the historic places I’ve visited recently. If you like my photos, you might also be interested in my other posts on the subject. What beautiful old places are there where you live? Send me some pictures so…

  • Skating Through Time on a Snow Day

    Skating Through Time on a Snow Day

    Snow day! Who doesn’t love those words? Here in the northeastern United States, we are currently having a nice snow day, which makes it seem like a perfect time to do the second part of the winter paintings series I started around Christmas time. While part one was about winter landscapes, part two is about ice skating paintings!…

  • My Experience Seeing a Live Painting Demonstration

    My Experience Seeing a Live Painting Demonstration

    Last Sunday afternoon (January 29th), I had the opportunity to see a live painting demonstration. This was exciting because I had never before watched a painting be made right in front of me. I met Gerard Amsellem, one of the two artists involved, at a studio tour event last fall. He and his friend/frequent collaborator Mikel Frank reached…

  • Kip’s Castle – My Visit to a New Jersey Mansion

    Kip’s Castle – My Visit to a New Jersey Mansion

    Updated with news photos from my Christmas 2017 visit to Kip’s Castle. Click on the photo gallery below!   I recently took some time to visit a local landmark – Kip’s Castle in Verona, New Jersey. The former home of textile industrialist Frederic Ellsworth Kip and his family, Kip’s Castle is a sprawling stone mansion at the very top…

  • Four Magical Christmas and Winter Paintings

    Four Magical Christmas and Winter Paintings

    Eager to get into the holiday spirit? Enjoy this selection of winter and Christmas-themed paintings by American, British, and European artists.

  • Gargoyles and Grotesques of City Museum, St. Louis, Missouri

    According to the photographer’s caption on flickr, this grotesque can be found at the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. Not being familiar with that particular institution but assuming it was an art museum, I searched online to figure out if this carving is a feature of the building or part of its collection. Instead, I…

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The mission of A Scholarly Skater Art History is to make art and architecture accessible to everyone.
I’m Alexandra, an art historian who believes that looking at art can enrich everyone’s life. Welcome to my website! Read more about me here.

All the content on this blog was written by a real art historian.

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