December 10, 2024, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, PhotographyVisualizing the Environment: Ansel Adams and His Legacy by STEVEN HOELSCHER The first time I encountered the photography of Ansel Adams wasn’t in a museum gallery, but during a college course. I remember the moment well. The course, “Wilderness and the American Mind,” introduced me to that critical, contested concept through a wide range of memorable texts. In… read more
December 10, 2024, Filed Under: Authors, Exhibitions + EventsFreedom to Write, Freedom to Read: The Story of PEN by MARION WYNNE-DAVIES Defending freedom of expression is a crucial issue for writers worldwide. Authors have united to fight for the freedom to write and defend readers’ rights. The most influential of these groups is PEN (originally P.E.N., an acronym for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists), an international organization… read more
August 8, 2024, Filed Under: Art, Exhibitions + EventsPublic Works: An Exhibition of Art by Elizabeth Olds by TRACY BONFITTO, CURATOR OF ART In 1937, WPA artist Elizabeth Olds (American, 1896–1991) persuaded “muckraking” investigative journalist Ida Tarbell to help her secure entrance to the Carnegie-Illinois steel mill. When Olds arrived with fellow artist Harry Gottlieb, skeptical mill workers required the artists to become union members in order… read more
