Art

About a quarter of a century ago — when I was a young, impressionable Northwestern student wondering what I wanted to do with my life — I signed up for an upper-level seminar called “Writing Poetry.” It turned out that I was somewhat adept at deconstructing poems — and just plain awful at writing them. […]

Art historian Henry Adams thinks so. In a Smithsonian article, as well as in an upcoming book, he claims that Jackson Pollock hid his name in giant letters within the swirls of his famous 1943 Mural. If that seems loony, check out the interactive slide show on Smithsonian.com (you’ll need to scroll down to find […]

While I’m absolutely, positively in favor of colleges that assign their incoming freshman class one book to read, I’m intrigued by what the University of Pennsylvania is doing this year.As Real Clear Arts reports, “Instead of reading a common book, to be discussed on campus, freshmen have been asked to study and be ready to […]

Late last year, YouTube issued a musical casting call. The web video titan asked “professional and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun.” A panel of first-class […]