I usually avoid programming with lots of bells and whistles, much preferring a simple and direct form of presentation online. But this introduction to the work of David Bowie is so spectacular that I have to admire it. There is a long list of operating systems and devices required to view it properly, but I think worth the effort. Laurie Anderson said of Bowie's laugh, "It was way out there - partly a musical note, but partly a cough and partly a howl. It was not a polite British laugh. It was just full on". I think you could say that of this site also.

The role of museum curator today is fraught with political minefields. You have to satisfy large egos with large pockets that keep you in business, community mores, the Board of Directors that own your fate, a staff with its own leanings, and somewhere in that morass your own sense of where the museum should be heading and what its goals should be. Often you dance between yesterday's art, which has already been accepted, and experiments into new vocabularies, which meet strong resistance. Remember that Matisse was called a "savage" in his time. A current example is the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. The word "contemporary" raises certain expectations and implies certain challenges but MOCA has had its share of upheavals. Currently the Museum has fired its esteemed chief curator, Helen Molesworth, after 3 1/2 years on the job. Politics seems to have loomed large in this decision, but you can read more here.

If you have ever seen "Cats", "Jesus Christ Superstar", or "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", then you are familiar with the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even if you haven't been to the theater, you have probably heard "Memory" and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Now approaching his 70th birthday, he is going strong, writing an autobiography ("Unmasked"). In this article he discusses his background, his introduction to musical theater at age 13, and his attempts to empower children.

The Center for New Music is presenting the Hush series, beginning with Daniel Corral's "Polytope". The multi-media presentation involves 4 live musicians and MIDI controllers, performed in the dark with 8 hands dancing over lighted MIDI keyboards. This site will give you a fuller description of the media involved.

Paper is not often the medium of choice, but this site will give you a good idea of how it is being used by talented artists. Mia Pearlman is particularly drawn to paper constructions, which she puts together in DUMBO (Down-Under-Manhattan_Bridge-Overpass) in Brooklyn, New York. Her bold installations open up a new world of experience for the viewer.

Photographer Susan Ressler brings years of experience to her new book called "Executive Order". Focusing on the "cookie-cutter office settings" of Los Angeles in the 1970's, Ressler brilliantly uses her incisive eye to capture the chilling atmosphere of her subjects.

With the phrase "Artificial Intelligence" being tossed around glibly these days, Edgy Labs offers a useful discussion of the difference between A.I., Machine Learning, and Deep Learning. Brief but informative.

Once again this year United States Artists has given its prestigious awards to a group of exceptional creators. Here are some that I find particularly compelling: I am sure you will find others that delight you as well.

1. Ebony G. Patterson, with her galvanizing mixed media installations.

2. Vanessa German, who uses sculpture, performance and photography to illuminate social problems.

3. Patti Warashine, with her unsettling ceramic figures.

4. Warren Newton Seelig, with his eye-catching wall sculptures utilizing stainless steel and color lucite.

5. Tony Marsh, with his perforated ceramic forms.

An interesting theory of Multiple Intelligences is sure to strike some controversies in the educational realm. It began with Howard Gardner at Harvard University in the 1980's and is further elaborated here.

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Photographer Sally Mann is no stranger to controversy. Mann has long been known for her poetic images of her young chilren dressed and undressed: many found them lovely and mysterious; others were disturbed at the invasion of her chldren's privacy and her use of them as objects. Now she is photographing young African-American males, with an equal combination of their strength and their vulnerability. As the Washington Post reviewer commented, "We all have bodies, we will all perish". But Mann's ability to strike a nerve goes far beyond that concept.

Again on the subject of daunting photography, Peter Hujar created a portfolio of bold images taken in the East Village of New York City during the 1980's. It was the time when the AIDS crisis was taking center stage, but it was also, as Edward M. Gomez describes it, an era of "coded racism, feckless corruption, bald-faced mendacity, and eroding of civil rights, which ultimately led to the ascent of the Republicans' current, lawless regime". Hujar's unflinching photographs confront truths that we would rather not see, in a dramatic, arresting fashion.

c. Corinne Whitaker 2018