Artist Zenia Olesnyckyj is presenting her exhibition "Impressions of Alaska" at the Gallery at the Summit Free Public Library from May 1 to June 30, 2026. The show features twenty mixed-media works inspired by the Alaskan landscape and the art of the Tlingit people, aiming to capture the grandeur and intimacy of the region through texture and color.
The Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers will open its 40th Annual All Florida Exhibition on March 6, running through March 28. The juried show features 43 works by 39 artists selected from over 450 submissions, representing a wide range of styles and media from across the state. Concurrently, the venue will host 'Selected Works by Ralph Bigletti' in the Theater Gallery and 'Marilyn Hedlund’s Fine Art Acrylics Students’ Showcase' in the Member Gallery, with a free public opening reception on March 6.
In Casamassella, in the heart of Salento, Red Lab Gallery's residency program has produced "Chiedete al vento, all’onda, alla stella, all’uccello," a project by artists Agata Ferrari Bravo and Thomas Michael Saccuman with an intervention by Flavio Favelli, curated by Leonardo Regano. The centerpiece is a large bird-cart, a hybrid sculpture and performative device made from papier-mâché, fragments of festive lights, and objects collected from the local area, designed to be disassembled and reactivated. Favelli's installation transforms decommissioned luminarie into a suspended environment that amplifies the work's ambiguous, almost ritualistic quality.
Stephen Alesch, co-founder of the design firm Roman and Williams, shares hand-drawn plans and sketches of his Hamptons orchard, called “the fruit loop,” in CULTURED magazine’s latest Hamptons issue. The orchard, located at the Montauk home he shares with his wife and business partner Robin Standefer, features rings of fruit trees inspired by classical labyrinth gardens and historic botanical drawings, including a 21st-century interpretation of an apple diagram.
The article reviews 'Forge', a new crime thriller directed by Jing Ai Ng, which follows Chinese American siblings Coco and Raymond Zhang who forge early 20th-century landscape paintings and sell them as authentic works in South Florida. The film features FBI agent Emily (Kelly Marie Tran) investigating the scheme, while the forgers navigate a world of wealthy collectors, a hurricane-destroyed art collection, and a family legacy of deception. The movie is described as 'Miami Vice' for the art-world crowd, with a dusky palette and pulsing soundtrack set against the backdrop of Art Basel Miami Beach's booming art market.
Artnet recently hosted a virtual deep dive into the burgeoning phenomenon of private art auctions, a trend highlighted in their 2026 Intelligence Report. Unlike traditional public sales, these events are highly curated, invitation-only affairs that prioritize discretion and control over the typical spectacle of the auction block. The discussion explored the mechanics of these sales, which often bypass public records and leave the broader market in the dark regarding final prices and buyer identities.
Joseph Cyr, a language teacher and avid trail runner, captured a rare crested saguaro cactus while running in Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. The photograph highlights a unique mutation found in only about 75 of the park's estimated two million saguaros, featuring a fan-like growth that gives the plant a distinct, human-like silhouette.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has reportedly removed educational content and canceled programming to avoid potential conflict with the Trump administration. Former employees allege that the museum preemptively scrubbed web pages linking Jim Crow laws to Nazi-era policies and rebranded or canceled workshops on the "fragility of democracy" to avoid being labeled as "woke." While the museum claims these decisions were based on funding challenges, internal records show a significant increase in net assets during the same period.
The Navajo Nation is currently navigating a complex struggle to preserve its cultural heritage against the lingering effects of colonial-era boarding schools and the modern pressures of social media and urbanization. While elders like Virginia Brown recount the trauma of forced assimilation and language suppression, a new generation is grappling with a decline in Navajo fluency, which UNESCO now classifies as a vulnerable language. Despite these hurdles, community members are utilizing local schools and traditional practices to reclaim their identity.
The article presents a collection of notable Australian cultural events and announcements from March 2026. It highlights the addition of the viral 'Succulent Chinese Meal' speech to the National Film and Sound Archive, a profile of 'Squid Game' composer Jung Jae-il, pianist Jayson Gillham's announced tour with a Palestinian-Jordanian musician ahead of a court case, and Kylie Minogue's scheduled performance at the AFL Grand Final.
Photographer Mark Linel Padecio captured his 10-year-old daughter, Xianthee, and her five-year-old cousin, Zack, playing joyfully in the mud of a riverbed on the family farm in Dapdap, Philippines. The moment occurred after a brief rainfall ended a severe drought, transforming a landscape of hardship into one of relief. Padecio, initially surprised by his usually serious city-dwelling daughter's abandon, was moved by the children's authentic happiness to document the scene with his phone instead of stopping them.
Iranian archaeologists Sepideh Maziar and Mehrnoush Soroush have launched an interactive online map to document and geolocate cultural heritage sites in Iran damaged by military strikes. The map, hosted by the University of Chicago's CAMEL Lab, currently lists 69 verified sites, including the historic Sa'dabad Palace complex in Tehran, and is updated as new information becomes available.
Photographer Elizabeth Sanjuan has released a new book titled 'Silent Snow,' featuring 40 monochrome images captured over four winters in Hokkaido, Japan. The work focuses on the island's snow-covered landscape, which remains white for half the year, and explores the visual and emotional qualities of this extreme environment.
The 2026 Australian Urban Design Awards have been announced, celebrating projects that prioritize pragmatic, community-focused design over sculptural spectacle. Winners include the Campbelltown station commuter car park in Sydney, praised for its civic dignity and greenery; the St Kilda pier redevelopment in Melbourne, which balances engineering with tourism and penguin habitat protection; and Balam Balam Place in Brunswick, a cultural landscape honoring Indigenous history.
Archaeologists from Poland's Relicta Foundation have located the lost medieval village of Stolzenberg in a dense forest near Sławoborze in northwestern Pomerania. The 15-acre site, identified through a combination of historical research, metal detecting, and advanced geophysical surveys, has yielded 1,500 surface anomalies and 400 artifacts, including coins and belt buckles from the 13th-14th centuries, confirming its medieval origins. Radiocarbon dating places the height of its activity in the 14th century.
The Whitworth gallery in Manchester is presenting a major exhibition comparing the works of Japanese masters Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige. The show traces the evolution of ukiyo-e prints from their origins as mass-produced, voyeuristic snapshots of Tokyo's pleasure districts to the profound, psychologically complex landscapes that would later revolutionize Western art.
sarah alruwayti on riyadhs shift from vision to execution interview
Sarah Alruwayti, director of the Tuwaiq Sculpture Symposium, discusses the evolution of Riyadh Art’s public art initiatives under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. The symposium has grown from a local project into a global open-call forum, commissioning over 120 international sculptors to create permanent works using local materials like Saudi granite and reclaimed metal. The latest edition, themed "Traces of What Will Be," focuses on urban transformation and the historical context of Riyadh’s changing landscape.
A group of military veterans and a historical preservationist have filed a lawsuit to block the construction of the proposed 'Independence Arch' in Washington, D.C. The legal challenge, filed by Public Citizen, argues that the 250-foot structure would obstruct the symbolic views from Arlington National Cemetery toward the capital's historic monuments. The plaintiffs contend the Trump administration is attempting to bypass necessary congressional approvals and federal review processes for the project.
ArtTactic's Global Art Market Outlook report indicates that the art market is entering 2026 with renewed optimism, with over half of participants expecting growth. Auction sales rose 11% year-on-year in 2025, driven by high-value trophy works and single-owner collections. Confidence is strongest at the top (works over $1 million) and bottom (under $50,000) of the market, while the mid-market remains squeezed. Modern and Post-War art lead the rebound, with painting dominating over NFTs and AI art. Geographically, the Middle East is the most bullish region, boosted by events like Art Basel Qatar, while the US and parts of Asia show improving sentiment, and Europe lags.
Bonhams ended 2025 with $970 million in global sales, one of its strongest recent performances, driven by growth across regions and categories including fine art, luxury goods, and collector cars. The year’s top lot was a 2020 Bugatti Divo that sold for $9 million. However, the results are overshadowed by a Financial Times report of a £213 million pre-tax loss in 2024, largely due to £153 million in impairment charges tied to a change in ownership—the house was sold by private-equity firm Epiris to Pemberton Asset Management in October 2025. Bonhams Hong Kong posted a record $104 million, UK sales rose 4.5% to $285 million, and digital sales accounted for 46% of total value.
Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, laid off approximately 15 percent of its staff on January 9, 2025. The layoffs were announced abruptly during an afternoon Zoom call without prior warning, according to former employees, though the museum offered severance packages. Museum representatives attributed the cuts to reduced funding and stated the decision was approved by the board’s executive committee.
World Monuments Fund (WMF) has announced the launch of the Suzanne Deal Booth Institute for Heritage Preservation, backed by $19 million in funding as part of its $60 million endowment campaign marking the organization's 60th anniversary. The institute is established through a $10 million endowment gift from philanthropist and ARTnews Top 200 collector Suzanne Deal Booth, with additional support from the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, Denise Littlefield Sobel, and Virginia James. The institute will serve as a global hub for research, training, and innovation in heritage preservation, focusing on greenspace stewardship, digital preservation, and workforce development, including programs like the Greenspace Heritage Training initiative and Bridge to Crafts Careers.
The proposed 2026 federal budget plans to defund the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), allocating only $6 million—down from its current $313 million—to close the agency. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has already placed IMLS employees on administrative leave. Congress must approve the budget by October 1 and reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act by September 30 for the agency to survive, despite a temporary restraining order and a lawsuit by 20 state attorneys general.
The Trump administration threatened to block Harvard University from enrolling international students and revoked its SEVIS certification, a move frozen within 24 hours by a judge. The administration also announced plans to aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students, raising concerns for US art schools, which are heavily dependent on international enrollees—many with higher percentages of international students than Harvard, such as the School of Visual Arts (50%), Parsons School of Design (35%), and CalArts (30%).
New York’s spring marquee auctions, traditionally a bellwether for the global art market, concluded with thin margins and soft demand despite an increased number of high-value "masterpiece" lots priced at $30 million and above. The results indicate that strong supply alone cannot overcome deeper market challenges. Separately, Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has sold its landmark CryptoPunks NFT collection to the NODE Foundation.
The article profiles acclaimed portraitist Nasir Shehzad, who has spent over four decades preserving and advancing the art of portraiture and cinematic painting in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His artistic journey began in childhood and gained early recognition through scouting competitions in the 1980s, leading him to professional cinematic painting by 1989. Shehzad has since become a central figure in the local art community through mentorship, founding his own creative platform, and participating in numerous exhibitions and residencies across the country, including recent shows at major institutions like the Lahore Museum and Pakistan National Council of the Arts.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) has announced the six artists selected for its prestigious Primavera 2026 exhibition, a key annual showcase dedicated to emerging Australian artists aged 35 and under. The selected cohort includes Khadim Ali, Moorina Bonini, Dennis Golding, Jazz Money, Kate ten Buuren, and Constantina, whose practices span painting, sculpture, video, installation, and digital media, reflecting a diverse and interdisciplinary approach to contemporary art.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art Auction set new records at its 2026 event, with student artworks attracting unprecedented bids from donor groups. The grand champion piece, a painting titled 'Between Boots and Moccasins' by Pasadena Memorial High School senior Joshua Washington, sold for a record $525,000, nearly doubling the previous year's top sale. The auction, held at NRG Arena, showcases artwork selected from a statewide competition involving over 200,000 students, highlighting the program's scale and impact on young Texas artists.
The Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, presents "Common Ground: NJ Artists Think Monumental," the 42nd New Jersey Arts Annual. For the first time in the series' history, the exhibition moves outdoors, activating the museum's 8-acre campus with large-scale sculptures. Nine artists were selected from 530 submissions by a jury led by Johannah Hutchinson, Executive Director of the International Sculpture Center. The exhibition runs from May 28 to August 23, 2026, and includes works by Clifford Blanchard, Sunil Garg, Wendy Gordon, Robert Koch, Robert Lobe, Judith Peck, Jill Scipione, Lee Tal, and Josh Urso.
The Fort Worth African American Museum and Cultural Center will officially open on June 12 with its inaugural exhibition, "All ’N All: Artists Embracing Community," in partnership with Kinfolk House and the National Juneteenth Museum. The show features paintings, photographs, and mixed-media works by 11 North Texas artists exploring memory, culture, and the Black experience, and is part of the larger Freedom Vibes festival running June 11-20. The museum, which has been in development since 2020, secured its final funding from the Fort Worth City Council in January and purchased a 5,000-square-foot building on East Rosedale Street last summer.