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Art

New Research

You’ve Never Seen Nerve Endings Like These

Scientists produce the most detailed images of nerve endings ever made

Enthusiasts examining the patch for NROL-35 think the trident, fire and breeze through the character’s hair might represent the elements—water, fire and wind. “What that has to do with the actual payload, however, is anyone’s guess,” says space historian Robert Pearlman.

The Creepy, Kitschy and Geeky Patches of US Spy Satellite Launches

There may be method to the madness behind the outlandish designs of the National Reconnaissance Office mission patches

Trending Today

Someone Walked Off With a Picasso From a Miami Beach Art Festival

An $85,000 silver plate went missing late last week

Scientists found deliberate scratching on a fossil Pseudodon, likely an engraving made by Homo erectus at Trinil in Indonesia.

New Research

Zigzags on a Shell From Java Are the Oldest Human Engravings

The early human Homo erectus also made the oldest known shell tools half a million years ago

Evergreen, 2008, Acrylic and charcoal on paper 22 1/2 x 30 inches (57.15 x 76.2 cm)

These are the Forgotten Places in Your Neighborhood, Painted

Artist Kim Cadmus Owens celebrates the places we ignore

Those who see Needle Tower often wonder how, with barely 14 inches of contact with the ground, the 60-foot tower stays upright.

How Does the Hirshhorn’s 60-Foot “Needle Tower” Stay Upright In A Stiff Wind?

In the 1960s, when artist Kenneth Snelson mingled architectural innovation with abstraction, the result was heavenly

5 Umezebi Street, New Haven, Enugu, 2012

Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Intimate Work Straddles Mediums And Oceans

The young Nigerian-American artist wins one of the Smithsonian’s most prestigious awards.

The Lennon Wall, a public art landmark in Prague. This picture was taken in 2010, and shows the wall before it was painted almost completely white on November 17, 2014.

Prague’s Famous John Lennon Wall: Is It Over, or Reborn?

Art students painted over the famous landmark to make space for the next generation of artists—and people are already festooning the wall with new graffiti

Sam and the Perfect World by David Lenz, 2005

Here’s What It Takes To Win the Smithsonian’s Boochever Portrait Competition

Curator Dorothy Moss gives a hint at what the jurors might be thinking in this high-stakes competition

Window at Chartres Cathedral.

Why Colors You See in an Art Museum Can’t Be Replicated Today

A look into the history of the pigments used in spectacular art

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Cool Finds

This Artist Makes E. coli-Shaped Popsicles

For those who prefer plants to pathogens, there’s popsicle cacti, too

Smaug now resides at the Wellington airport.

Cool Finds

Smaug the Dragon And Other Unexpected Airport Surprises

There’s more to the world’s airports than newsstands and food courts

Edgar Degas' Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), c. 1878-1881 is the subject of a new show at the Kennedy Center starring Tiler Peck.

The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas’ “Little Dancer”

The artist’s famous sculpture is both on view and the subject of a new theatrical performance

The installation, "A Room of Her Own: An Altar for My Mother," is on view through January 2015.

Halloween

An Awe-Inspiring Altar Remembers One Latino Artist’s Guiding Spirit

At the American History Museum, an installation reimagines the life story of a Latina artist and writer

In London, Sherlock Holmes is happy to stop for a quick chat.

Cool Finds

You’ll Soon Be Able to Talk to London And Manchester’s Statues

Just scan a tag near the statues with your cell, and they’ll call you with a quick first-person history lesson

The trope of the beautiful witch was popular between 1905 and 1915.

Halloween

Women of the Early 1900s Rallied Behind Beautiful, Wartless Witches

Women looking to work, vote and marry whomever they wanted turned the Halloween icon into a powerful symbol

A marble worker in Italy

Cool Finds

Quarrying for Marble Looks Unreal

A film excerpt follows the boss at an open-pit marble quarry in Carrara, Italy

California-based artist emiko oye has been making jewelry out of LEGO products since 2006. Her work will be featured at the Smithsonian Craft2Wear show.

Lego Jewelry Transforms the Childhood Toy to High Fashion Art

Artist emiko oye turns colorful children’s blocks into items that are ready to wear, not play

James Castle, Untitled, n.d., found paper, soot.

A World Of His Own: The Art of James Castle

Born profoundly deaf, the self-taught artist’s body of work depicts his unique relationship to the world around him

New Research

Arts Degrees: Not Entirely Worthless

Recent graduates of arts degrees report high job satisfaction and employment numbers

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