Block by Block Kicks Off a New Project
Thanks to a Youth Development and Empowerment grant from the city of Sacramento, Block by Block will spend the 2021 fiscal year engaging the neighborhoods of Meadowview and Valley Hi through community journalism and art mapping. Conceived in 2015, Block by Block seeks to enhance the quality of life in Sacramento’s urban core through hyper-local…
CHAM Highlight: Rufus Chalmers, Jazz Demigod
At 17, Chalmers joined the Air Force to “become a man”, which led to a four year stint in London. It was a welcome escape from the increasingly tense situation in the United States. Emmett Till had been murdered only a few years prior and Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” was several years away. England wasn’t exactly a shining city on the hill for…
CHAM Highlight: Ling-Yen Jones and the art of the box
It's not uncommon for Asian Americans to feel like outsiders in a group of perpetual outsiders. America has long viewed the Asian diaspora with distrust, especially during times of great societal change or stress. Unsurprisingly, our parents often stress the importance of cultural assimilation, of fitting in. (My mother even gave me a "white" name…
When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California
"When I remember I see red” is a phrase laden with allusions to memory, race, bloodshed, and anger. It recalls the American Indian experience and the activism that characterizes this generation of Native artists. In addition to creating compelling works of art, many helped restore aspects…
Wayne Thiebaud 100: Paintings, Prints, and Drawings
The artist does not see himself as a Pop artist. Nor does he think the identification is reflective of his true concerns. He states: “I didn’t think of myself as a Pop artist. So, I continued to explore what I thought were, pretty much, formal realist problems from my perspective, even though they were things which were common objects.”
Docent Diversity Initiative: Looking at 2020 and Beyond
Few would argue against the idea that museums are the legacy of Western colonialism, serving as the products of straight, able-bodied, white, male privilege. This creates all sorts of problems when talking about “art” and “not-art”. And yet, paradoxically, many museums see themselves…
Aimée Crocker & Hori Chiyo: The History of Tattoos in the West
Aimée Crocker — heiress, princess, mystic, and author — was a tattooed woman. She might have gotten her first tattoo during one of her four journeys to Hawai‘i or one of her two extended tours of Japan and Singapore.
Animal Crossing x Crocker
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is having a bit of a moment. For those of you who don’t know, Animal Crossing is a game about collecting bugs for a terrified owl, fishing for a rare fish that just won’t spawn, low-key flexing on your friends, and about once a week, meticulously analyzing famous artworks so you don’t get hoodwinked by a fox who definitely does not…
The Splendor of Germany: 18th-Century Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum
In the 18th century, German-speaking lands were a patchwork of smaller states within the Holy Roman Empire. Artists who worked at the many ducal, royal, and ecclesiastical courts were part of a network kept in motion by personal contacts and a lively exchange…