Let’s start the week on a lighter note – did I hear a collective sigh of relief?

I came across some things that amused me last week and fed my appreciation for the creativity all around us. (Most images were seen on an IG site called The Last Artist Ever, who features what catches his/her eye.)

How do you like this version covering Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring?

‘When the dishes turn accidentally into art’ by @e.schwaerzler

Or this version covering Rodin’s Thinker?

Rethink Plastic by @javier_jaen

Or this version of the Royal Delft Blue porcelain artists?

In some ways, getting the jokes depends on knowing the originals in the first place. Which is not guaranteed given the state of art education in this country. (Yes, we ar not staying on the lighter note for all too long, true to character.) In Portland alone, The Oregon College of Arts and Crafts shut its door in 2019 after a 112 year run, and the Art Institute of Portland, a for-profit school owned by the Education Management Corporation (EDMC), closed in 2018. Marylhurst University also closed its Marylhurst and Portland campuses in 2018.

Congress allocated $180 million to the National Endowments for the Arts in 2022. This amounts to just 54 cents per capita. Compare that to $8.8 billion for the National Science Foundation in the same year. When it comes to art as a profession, Fine art degrees ranked last of 162 different majors for their employment prospects, and of an estimated two million arts graduates, only 10 percent make a living as working artists.

A recent article in the New York Times spells out the details about art education decline.

Mark Rothko Untitled (Red) (1969)

Of course there is always something we can enjoy without needing prior knowledge, just embracing the weirdness. Although you can find a pretty fascinating review of monkeys as motifs in art here.

And then there is this.

I don’t know what to say about this – not my next knitting project is all that comes to mind.

Instead, I’ll collect memes that show engagement with art – I’ve selected some that have personal relevance, as you might easily see:

And here is a different kind of cover for the musical choice of the day. Some well-meaning website introduces Rock lovers to classical music.

I chose the Gulda. Stay cool this week.