Open Day at Sotheby's Institute of Art New York

With academic centers in London, New York and Singapore, the Sotheby's Institute of Art provides graduate programs for students seeking a career in the art world.

Featuring an object-based approach to teaching, students have the opportunity to learn through hands-on examination of works of art in museums, galleries and private collections.

The range of disciplines covers art valuation, curatorship , galleries and auction houses working methods, passing through the basics of copyright and tax laws.

Lectures are given by specialists on a regular basis, including artists, art critics, gallery directors, art lawyers and Sotheby's auction house experts.

The Sotheby's Institute of Art also offers intensive programs and short courses, focusing on the art market and Summer studies during June and July, both in New York.

On November 10th, between 6pm and 8pm, the Institute in New York will hold an Open Day event, covering the fields of Contemporary Art, American Fine & Decorative Art and Art Business, where prospective students will have the chance to learn about the graduate programs and ask questions.

CultureInside Halloween Contest 2009

The artistic community CultureInside is running a free contest for its registered members.
Adressed to artists and photographers and having the Halloween as its theme, the call starts on Monday October 26th and ends on Friday October 31st.
Selected by the CultureInside team and its community, the winners will have their works exhibited in a permanent online exhibition

Art Enclosures - Call for Artists Venice 2009 - 2010

Sponsored by the Fondazione di Venezia, together with Polymnia Srl (fully participate of Fondazione di Venezia) and Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, the three year residential program , now on its second phase, aims to provide emerging young artists from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific area, an opportunity of visibility and intercultural exchange.

During the three-year span, twelve young artists will be hosted and their artwork will be showcased in periodic exhibitions and pubished in a catalogue.

The forthcoming residency program will take place in Venice from January 20th through April 20th, 2010 and is destined to four artists from the african continent.

The project will cover travel expenses and lodging in the Palazzo Carminati, provided by the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa.

Artists will receive grant in the value of €700 (pre-taxes) for living costs while in Venice.

The ateliers of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa and the necessary materials will be available to the artists for the completion of the artworks during the three months period, during which they will have the opportunity to get involved in public meetings, conferences and other cultural activities organized by the Fondazione di Venezia and the Fondazione Bevilacqua Masa.

The residential artists will also be given the chance to visit some of the museums and exhibitions in the area free of charge.

The application deadline is November 7th, 2009, you can download the prospect here.

Sand Animation by Kseniya Simonova 2009

Winner of Ukraine's Got Talent 2009, Kseniya Simonova (Ксения Симонова) performed amazing sand animation that portrayed life during former USSR's Great Patriotic War against the Third Reich in World War II (animation on top).

2009 Artistic Infusion Program - Call for Artists

Created by the Congress in 1972, the United States Mint is a self-funded agency with the primary mission of producing an adequate volume of circulating coinage for the nation to conduct its trade and commerce.

The United States Mint program is seeeking up to 6 artists to participate in the creation of designs for coins. The selected artists will join the current designers under contract with the program and will be paid the established fees.

Please read the application carefully.

Fingerprint on Vellum Portrait may Belong to Leonardo da Vinci

What can be a major discovery in the last one hundred years of a work by Leonardo da Vinci, has been recently announced to the public.
Sold at Christie's New York as " Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress" and catalogued as "German, early 19th cantury" for $19,000 to art dealer Kate Ganz who kept it for 12 years before selling it on for a similar price in 2007 to a swiss art collector, the 13in by 9in (33cm x 24cm) chalk, pen and ink on vellum portrait, mounted on an oak board, may have been painted by da Vinci.
A fingerprint was found at the top left by the forensic art expert Peter Paul Biro and compared to one found on "St. Jerome", a Leonardo's work kept at the Vatican, when the artist is not known to have assitants.
A palm-print on the neck is also consistent with da Vinci's use of his hands to create shading and texture.
The claim made by Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of History of Art at Oxford University, is backed by tests done with a "multispectral" camera from Lumière Technology of Paris and by the carbon-14 analysis of the vellum, carried out by the Institute for Particle Physics, in Zurich, which resulted in a date range between 1440 and 1650.
Infrared analysis also reveals that drawing and hatching were made by a left-handed artist.
Professor Kemp believes that the sitter is Bianca Sforza, daughter of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (1452-1508) and his mistress Bernardina Corradis. He suggests that the portrait may be dated from around 1496, when aged 13 or 14 she married Galeazzo Sanseverino, the Duke's army captain and a Leonardo's patron.
No other artwork on vellum by Leonardo da Vinci is known, however the artist had inquired the french artist Jean Perréal about techniques using coloured chalk on vellum.
Should these tests be proved reliable, the artwork that was previously sold for $19,000 is now valued at £100 million, according to London dealer Simon Dickinson.

The portrait is due to go on display at the Eriksbergshallen, Gothenburg, included in the exhibition called "And There Was Light: The Masters of the Renaissance Seen in a New Light".

Earlier this year, a portrait thought to be of Leonardo da Vinci was found by Nicola Barbatelli in a private collection of an aristocratic familiy from Acerenza, a town near Potenza in Basilicata.

A research commissioned by the owner's agent is available for reading.

National Portfolio and Graduate Portfolio Days

Art students who are looking for an opportunity to get their portfolios examined by experts, can be attended by art colleges and art schools that participate in the Portfolio Day events.

Taking place in several parts of the country and dates, there are two kinds of events : the National Portfolio Day, specifically for students of visual arts and design interested in undergraduate programs like BFA, BS and BA degrees, and the Graduate Portfolio Days for students that already have a Bachelor’s degree and are interested in MFA, MArch, and MA degrees.

The Graduate Portfolio Days is managed under the National Portfolio Day Association and in both websites, students can consult the 2009/2010 schedule for graduate and undergraduate programs.

If you have any questions, there is a FAQs page available.

Terry Ludwig Confetti Pastels

Known by their exquisite colours, including some successful dark tones, Terry Ludwig has recently introduced the "Confetti" line of soft pastels.
With the characteristic square shape that Terry has made us familiarized with, these new pastel sticks feature multiple pigments of different hues, enabling the artist to achieve interesting effects and details, such as sparks on water and shadows, or to deliver more interest to porcelain elements on a painting.
Terry Ludwig developed this new interesting line of Confetti soft pastels, now it's up to the artists to use their creativity and give the best use to it.

List Your Art Workshops For Free

If you are looking for a website where you can list your art workshop for free, Artist Workshop is one of the options.
Recently developed by Peggy and Robert Stermer-Cox, the website permits registered users to list their workshops for free, including online ones.
In the future we will see further development as the Artist Workshop is a new website and will continue to improve its service, namely based upon users' feedback.