OLD NEWS

HOW SEED-EATING BIRDS FEED by Mary Holland
<https://tinyurl.com/bpaxm9mj>
Have you ever watched closely as birds consume seeds from your feeder? Birds extract seeds from husks using their beaks and tongues, either by splitting the seed open or by hammering it apart.
Finches, cardinals and sparrows have beaks specialized for shelling seeds. They use their tongues to position a seed in a groove on their upper beak, and a sharp edge on the lower beak slices the husk open as they close their beak. Their tongue helps extract the kernel and simultaneously ejects the empty shell from the beak.
Other birds, like black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice, lack a “slicing” beak. They take the seeds to a perch and hold them with their feet while they use their beak to hammer the husk open to get to the kernel inside.
Finally, there are birds, such as mourning doves, that cannot crack seeds. Instead, they swallow them whole and rely on their gizzard to grind the seeds with the help of small stones they swallow. _NaturallyCurious

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NEED
<https://tinyurl.com/59nsaxwz>_DavidShrigley

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THE GREATEST ARCHITECT" FRANK GEHRY DIES AGED 96
Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, known for his deconstructivist Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, has died aged 96.
Gehry, whose death was confirmed by his chief of staff Meaghan Lloyd was one of the world's most well-known architects, practising architecture and design for nearly eight decades and defining post-war architecture in the United States and globally.
He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 1989 on top of dozens of other recognitions, including the AIA Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Guggenheim Bilbao by Frank Gehry
<https://tinyurl.com/mr2xbsvu>
In his citation for the Medal of Freedom, former US president Barack Obama said that Gehry "spent his life rethinking shapes and mediums, seemingly the force of gravity itself".
"The idea of what architecture could be, he decided to upend, constantly repurposing every material available from titanium to paper towel tubes," said Obama.
"Frank's work teaches us that while buildings may be sturdy and fixed to the ground, like all great art they can lift our spirits – they can soar and broaden our horizons."
<https://tinyurl.com/4wanpj5c>
The citation for his Pritzker Prize compared him to Picasso.
"Always open to experimentation, he has as well a sureness and maturity that resists, in the same way that Picasso did, being bound either by critical acceptance or his successes," said the citation.
"His buildings are juxtaposed collages of spaces and materials that make users appreciative of both the theatre and the backstage, simultaneously revealed."
<https://tinyurl.com/3xsc9cpu>
His studio, now called Gehry Partners, has designed numerous buildings, and his work in Bilbao has been credited with jump-starting the local economy – a phenomenon now called the "Bilbao Effect".
Philip Johnson called the Guggenheim Bilbao the "greatest building of our time" and Gehry "the greatest architect we have today".
He has often been described as both a starchitect and a practitioner of the deconstructivist style of architecture, though he distanced himself from both characterisations.
Though Gehry did not believe that he was a part of the deconstructivism movement, his work was part of a landmark 1988 MoMA deconstructivist exhibition alongside fellow architects Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Wolf Prix.
Born in Canada, Gehry immigrated with his family to the United States in the late 1940s, and he attended the University of Southern California's School of Architecture.
He first rose to prominence in the 1970s with the design of the now-iconic Gehry House <https://tinyurl.com/5a9hrh5j> in Santa Monica, which featured twisting, interlocking forms made with everyday materials such as a currogated metal and chainlink.
<https://tinyurl.com/553dzh3n>
From there, Gehry's commissions proliferated. He designed the California Aerospace Museum in the 1980s and dozens of more high-profile museums throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
These include the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
He designed several residential buildings, including the expressive Dancing House in Prague, while his first skyscraper in New York was the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere at the time of its completion in 2011.
True to his long-time home city, Gehry designed several buildings for entertainment companies, such as a recent headquarters for Warner Bros.
<https://tinyurl.com/4wyuk969>
Beyond architecture, Gehry was also involved in furniture production, and his cardboard Wiggle chair is still considered one of the most innovative chair designs of the 20th century.
Even in his 90s, the architect was prolific, working on projects from residential complexes in downtown Los Angeles to watch and bag designs. His design for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi <https://tinyurl.com/2hwtbdhy> is scheduled to open later this year.
<https://tinyurl.com/3wszm98y> _Ben Dreith_Dezeen

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FROM BILBAO TO LAS VEGAS: FRANK GEHRY’S INCREDIBLE ARCHITECTURE – IN PICTURES
<https://tinyurl.com/muffzd8u> _GuardianUK

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ONE OF BEST WAYS TO MARK THE PASSING OF ICONIC ARCHITECT FRANK GEHRY—
RIP—would be to be reflect on his work while reclining
on one of his early, experimental chaise longues
made from corrugated cardboard.
<https://tinyurl.com/5n958cvp>
Frank Gehry, 1929–2025
<https://tinyurl.com/46ybxz3c> _MichaelLobel

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GABRIELE MÜNTER’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH PHOTOGRAPHY, PAINTING, AND KANDINSKY
<https://tinyurl.com/4d5fv5z4>
The first painting in the survey of German Expressionist painter Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) extends hospitality—an apt introduction that sets the tone for the rest of the show as one of welcome. From the Griesbräu Window (1908) depicts a town in the Bavarian Alps, Murnau am Staffelsee, as seen from the window of a brewery-inn on the market square. Murnau was in the midst of a beautification project, adding colorful facades to its buildings in order to attract tourists, and the idea of color as invitation resonates here and across Münter’s oeuvre. Pink brushstrokes link the foreground rooftops to distant mountains, beckoning the viewer to linger over a landscape that the artist associated with feelings of liberation and an unlocking of her creative potential.
Münter was in Murnau with her then-partner (and former teacher), Wassily Kandinsky, who also painted the view. Together, the two developed a boldly expressive style, codified in 1911 with the formation of Der Blaue Reiter, a loose association of painters working in and around Munich. Yet while much of Expressionism can feel outwardly explosive, Münter offers particularly intimate views. This is not to say that she couldn’t partake in the action: her exuberant Dragon Fight (1913), based on the myth of Saint George slaying the dragon, proves she very much could. Often read as an allegory of the new guard artists in Der Blaue Reiter fighting against the old order, the painting is most of all a study in dynamic color, the green of the landscape in violent contrast with the spreading pool of red blood from the multi-headed dragon’s severed necks.
<https://tinyurl.com/3jnd23ur>
Still, it’s the quieter views in which Münter really shines. In one almost unbearably intimate look at her domestic life, Living Room in Murnau (Interior), <https://tinyurl.com/t3rrfyup> ca. 1910, she recreates an evening at home. A pair of slippers poised on the edge of the canvas offers a tender welcome; personal mementos line the shelves and walls; and in an adjacent room, Kandinsky reclines in bed, a rare glimpse of a canonical artist in repose. Münter’s willingness to expose her life, and herself, to the viewer lends her version of Expressionism something more generous than her consort’s grandiose claims to universal spirituality.
<https://tinyurl.com/56snjnbe>
This sense of exposure was formulated early on, even before Münter began painting. She started out as a photographer, working with a No. 2 Bulls-Eye Kodak camera on a trip to the US in 1900. Practicing photography allowed Münter to experiment with cropping and composition in ways that later influenced her painting. A tight view of parcels clutched on a woman’s lap, Still Life on the Tram (After Shopping) (ca. 1909–12), feels especially photographic. But working with the camera also attuned Münter to the ways she might intentionally incorporate herself into her work, as her body steadied the camera and her shadow appeared on the film.
In 1920 Münter learned that Kandinsky, who had returned to Moscow to wait out WWI, had married another woman. But her work, and her spirit of generosity, continued for several decades. Breakfast of the Birds (1934) sets out a visual and gustatory tableau: Münter has arranged tea and cake on a table, as well as birds in the bush outside the window, as much for our pleasure as for that of the seated figure depicted. The Letter (1930) similarly proffers a small plate of grapes at the edge of the canvas, conjuring, in my mind, a perfect antithesis to the threateningly arrayed bunch of grapes in the center foreground of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). This is a version of modern art without the outright aggression that so often accompanies it, though Münter was no less seriously engaged with questions of representation including radical innovations in form, composition, and color.
I longed to see Münter’s vibrant colors , as I’ve seen Kandinsky’s several times. But the more secluded rooms in which the show unfolds fit her practice, creating an intimate encounter between viewer and painting. Visiting on a cold November day, I found Snowy Landscape with a Red-Roofed House (1935) especially appealing, with the start of a path placed right at its center. Two figures in the midground, actively shoveling, make space for the viewer to enter Münter’s richly conceived world. _Kelly Presutti _ArtInAmerica

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SECOND STORY SILHOUETTE SCENE ROCKVILLE, IN
<https://tinyurl.com/yu38px54> _RuralIndexingProject

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LUCAS MUSEUM SHOCKER
Less than a month after announcing its opening date, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art told staff that chief curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas is leaving the museum this week.
“There are no immediate plans to replace Pilar’s role as Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Curatorial and Collections,” wrote interim Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos in an email obtained by The Times. “George Lucas will continue to oversee curatorial content and direction.”
Rivas did not respond to a request for comment.
The $1-billion Lucas Museum, which remains on track to open on Sept. 22, 2026, issued a statement that said, “We thank Pilar Tompkins Rivas for her hard work over the last five years, which has been instrumental in preparing the museum for its opening. We wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Rivas’ departure comes nine months after former museum director and CEO Sandra Jackson-Dumont stepped down from her role. Jackson-Dumont did not comment publicly about her departure, but the museum said in a statement at the time that her decision was based on a “new organizational design” that would split her job into two positions, with Lucas responsible for content direction and Gianopulos, the former chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, assuming the CEO title until a permanent one could be found.
Three months after that, the museum laid off 15 full-time employees, many from the organization’s education and public programming team — amounting to 14% of the full-time staff. An additional seven part-time, on-call employees also lost their jobs. At that time, two employees, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, described the layoffs as shocking and chaotic.
In 2020, the Lucas Museum was touted for appointing six women — five of whom were women of color — to leadership roles. That number did not include Jackson-Dumont. With Rivas no longer in her job, only two women hired at that time remain: Larissa Gentile, managing director of special projects, and Erica Neal, director of computing and infrastructure.
“I’m an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, that’s a huge part of who I am,” Jackson-Dumont told in 2020. “But when I’m hiring, I’m looking for the best and most qualified candidates — and that was them.”
Rivas is known for her connection to Los Angeles and its diverse communities. She was formerly the director and chief curator at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. Prior to that she worked as coordinator of curatorial initiatives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her resume also includes curatorial and project coordinator positions at Santa Monica’s 18th Street Arts Center, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the Claremont Museum of Art.
_Jessica Gelt_LATimes

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THE MOUNT WASHINGTON POST
<https://tinyurl.com/3dchcsax> _LisaAnneAuerbach

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MUSEUM AND LIBRARY GRANTS CUT BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESTORED
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which distributes federal funding to libraries and museums across the U.S., has reinstated all grants previously terminated by the Trump Administration, following a federal court ruling that deemed the administration’s actions unlawful. A brief statement from the agency on Wednesday, December 3, confirmed that all earlier termination notices are now void.
The move comes after 21 state attorneys general sued the administration, resulting in a preliminary injunction issued by a Rhode Island District Court in November. The IMLS provided $266 million in grant funding to museums and libraries across the country in 2024.
American Library Association president Sam Helmick told NPR that the reinstatement a “massive win,” but warned that the fight for sustained funding continues, urging the public to advocate for cultural resources.
IMLS had been targeted for cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in March. In November, DOGE was disbanded by the White House eight months ahead of scheduled end in July 2026, although former employees have taken new roles in administration, _artnet

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BERYL COOK - SALLY ANN CHA CHA CHA.
<https://tinyurl.com/53kmydaj>
Beryl Cook My Fur Coat, 1986
<https://tinyurl.com/dy22x7mw>
Beryl Cook (1926-2008)
Illustrations of the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
<https://tinyurl.com/ycyb34uc> _RabihAlameddine

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DAUGHTER OF MARISA MERZ CANCELS SHOW IN KASSEL
Beatrice Merz, daughter of the artist couple Mario and Marisa Merz and president of the Fondazione Merz in Turin, told Monopol magazine on Thursday that she called off the exhibition because she opposed Documenta’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Until this week, the exhibition’s cancelation was not publicly known; it appeared on a 2025 calendar that was released by the Fridericianum last December. The museum ended up replacing the planned Marisa Merz show with a Robert Grosvenor survey.
Under the IHRA definition of antisemitism, criticism of Israel or Zionism could be counted as a form of prejudice. Documenta adopted the policy after its controversial 2022 edition, which featured artworks that German politicians denounced as antisemitic. Many have worried that, in adopting the IHRA definition, Documenta will now limit freedom of expression at its 2027 edition. _ARTnews

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PIERRE SUBLEYRAS, THE PAINTER'S STUDIO, 1746,
<https://tinyurl.com/443s5k2s> _JesseLocker

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STEVENSON GALLERY CLOSES JOHANNESBURG BRANCH AFTER 17 YEARS
South Africa’s Stevenson Gallery will close the Johannesburg branch of the gallery after 17 years in operation. The Johannesburg gallery’s last day will be December 12,. “We are deeply grateful to every artist, collector, friend and community member who has been with us on this journey,” the gallery wrote.
The gallery’s locations in Cape Town (the South African city where it was founded in 2003) and Amsterdam will remain in operation
A 2020 article detailed Stevenson’s unusual business model, in which 13 partners collectively owned the gallery. (One of them, gallery cofounder Andrew da Conceicao, died in 2023.) This equity share model began in 2011 with five directors joining as partners. Additional partners were added two or three at a time over the following decade.. _ARTnews

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TAMARA DE LEMPICKA "WISDOM" 1940
<https://tinyurl.com/57z9e452> _#WomensArt

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‘OCTOPUSSY’ EGG GETS STUCK
<https://tinyurl.com/yrt4by7a>
A diamond-studded locket swallowed by a New Zealand man who tried to steal it has been "recovered", police say.
The Fabergé egg locket, valued at NZ$33,585 ($19,300; £14,600), was recovered in a "natural" manner. "Medical intervention [was] not required," they told
his comes about a week after police arrested the 32-year-old man at Partridge Jewellers in central Auckland, minutes after he allegedly ate the locket.
The ingested loot is set with 60 white diamonds and 15 blue sapphires, according to the jeweller's website, and opens to reveal an 18-carat gold miniature octopus.
The man has been charged with theft.
Earlier this week, New Zealand police said the man had undergone a medical assessment and is constantly being monitored.
"Given this man is in police custody, we have a duty of care to continue monitoring him given the circumstances of what has occurred," police said then.
The Octopussy egg, as it is named, was inspired by the 1983 James Bond film of the same name, which centres on an elaborate Fabergé egg heist.
According to charge sheets, he has also been charged with allegedly stealing an iPad from the same jewellery store on 12 November and making away with cat litter and flea control products worth NZ$100 from a private address a day after. _BBC

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BARBRA STREISAND REALLY REGRETS SELLING HER KLIMT PAINTING
<https://tinyurl.com/yune83tt> _artnet

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ART FAIR SEASONS by greg
<https://tinyurl.com/bd85zsmk>
I’m kind of pressed atm, and have never been happier to ignore Art Basel Miami Beach. When Chris Rusak sent along this photo, and wondered about the Clyfford Still-ish paintings in the background, though, I had to stop for just a moment, and think. And feel. And ache.
Because from the label, we learn that Koen van den Broek conceived this project “as a tribute to David Anfam (1955-2024), the renowned American art historian and authority on Abstract Expressionism. Through his work, van den Broek explores the visual, spiritual, and art-historical resonances between Vincent van Gogh and Clyfford Still—an intellectual and aesthetic dialogue that Anfam consistently foregrounded in his curatorial practice.”
And Gallery Baton brings them all the way to Miami only to end up—but no. Actually, no. A 10-meter wide suite of four 2.8m tall, Skittles-colored abstractions generically titled Season A through Season D, that reference two art historical giants while assiduously ignoring the resonances the memorialized scholar actually laid out, are actually the perfect backdrop for a CNBC Inside Wealth report on Beeple’s corral of oligarch-headed, NFT-shitting, murder robot dogs.
JP Morgan Chase just announced another $4 billion headquarters in London, Koen, hope you get that bag. _greg.org

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BEEPLE HAS ENTERED THE CHAT AGAIN SOMEHOW AND MADE IT WORSE
Beeple has officially turned Art Basel Miami Beach into a tech-bro Halloween party by unleashing robot dogs with billionaire heads that waddle around and poop out prints. It is the aesthetic equivalent of a Mountain Dew burp. The work is not subversive. It is not critical. It is not even fun in the camp way. It is exactly what happens when a man with too much crypto money and too little editorial restraint decides he is the court jester of late capitalism.
The pooping dog gimmick is not commentary. It is content. Basel already struggles with being overrun by hype cycles, brand activations, and people who think “immersion” means pressing play on a projector. So Beeple showing up with robot dogs is not a disruption. It is reinforcement. It is the art fair version of a man who just discovered irony and decided to weaponize it against an already exhausted public.
The billionaire heads make it worse. It is not satire to put Elon Musk’s face on a robot dog unless you are actually saying something about power, control, or systems of surveillance. Here, it is just a prop. It is a meme dressed up as a sculpture dressed up as a tax write-off. The dogs do not reveal the absurdity of the tech elite. They reproduce it. They embody it. They are literal machines built to excrete limited-edition merch in the middle of a fair already drowning in merch.
The NFT angle is the final insult. Because of course the poop is for sale. Of course the digital version of the poop is also for sale. Beeple has built a vending machine and called it a mirror. This is not critique. This is commerce cosplaying as commentary.
If Basel wanted a mascot for the worst instincts of the art market, congratulations. The dogs have arrived. And they are doing exactly what the system trained them to do.
<https://tinyurl.com/fveckmrh> _TheArtDaddy

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'SALMON EVERYWHERE'
<https://tinyurl.com/3u9wnfbc>
A little more than a year after the historic removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) scientists are seeing salmon reoccupying just about every corner of their historic habitat.
“The speed at which salmon are repopulating every nook and cranny of suitable habitat upstream of the dams in the Klamath Basin is both remarkable and thrilling,” said Michael Harris, Environmental Program Manager of CDFW’s Klamath Watershed Program. “There are salmon everywhere on the landscape right now, and it’s invigorating our work.” _CDFW