Nancy Siegel's Susie M. Barstow: Redefining the Hudson River School (Lund Humphries, 2023) is the first-ever biography of Susie M. Barstow, a greatly under-rated Hudson River School artist, teacher, and adventurer. I really enjoyed reading about Barstow's adventurous life and beautiful art.
Author: Alexandra Kiely (A Scholarly Skater)
Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
Active Looking: the Most Important Skill for Every Art Lover
In my opinion, active looking is the most important skill any art lover can possibly cultivate. Find out why it's important and how to practice it in my new video.
Why You Should Visit Art Galleries
Art galleries provide often-overlooked free opportunities to see art in person. Their perceived snobbishness and exclusivity often stop people from taking advantage of them, but that attitude is not always accurate in my experience. Art galleries are basically stores that sell art, and they are generally a lot less intimidating than you might think.
Learn to Evaluate Museum Exhibitions
I'm so pleased to announced the latest offering in my The Art Museum Insider online learning series. Be the Critic: How to Evaluate Museum Exhibitions is your guide to understanding the messages that art exhibitions share with their viewers.
Seven Tips for Studying Art History on Your Own
There are lots of resources out there for people who want to study art history on their own. However, structure and guidance are harder to come by, so here is my best advice for getting the most out of your art history self study.
What is Attribution?
Understand attribution, the process by which art historians make educated suppositions about who made an artwork, and learn about the pseudonyms given to artists whose real names we don't know. Enjoy some pretty religious paintings at the same time.
Cocktails with a Curator, the Book
Cocktails with a Curator (2022) is the book version of the Frick Collection's wildly-popular 2020-21 video series of the same title. It's definitely not the same experience as the series, but it's a good textual companion and all-around enjoyable art book.
Art Appreciation Activities Handout
Sign up to receive a handout with nine fun art appreciation activities for all ages. These games and challenges will help you connect with artworks and practice key art appreciation skills like attention to detail, comparison, and visual description in the process. I hope you'll have as much fun trying them as I had dreaming them up!
Prehistoric Art as a Fundamental Element of Humanity
Discoveries of artworks created up to 45,000 years ago prove that expressing and deriving meaning from visual images is an ancient and fundamental part of being human.
How Viewing Art is Good for Your Mental Health
Studies suggest that looking at art can be good for mental health. It can increase happiness, decrease stress and anxiety, and improve cognitive skills. Art can also help us be mindful and connect us to the past.