Tag: Featured

It might seem too easy, but some colorful paint and a little bit of creativity could be all that’s needed to transform roads and make them safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike. Cities around the country have begun investing in asphalt art — painting murals on intersections, crosswalks, plazas, and sidewalk extensions. 

The Asphalt Art Initiative was created in 2020 by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Within its first year,  it helped cover “nearly 86,500 square feet of streets with artwork in 16 [U.S.] cities,” according to a news release by the City of East Providence, Rhode Island. It’s since expanded its grant program, and has now supported a total of 64 art projects in U.S. and European cities.

Cody Powers, Bloomberg Philanthropies

In April of 2022, the organization published research demonstrating just how much of an impact the colorful transformations have had. Data showed that implementing asphalt art projects led to a 50% decrease in the rate of crashes involving pedestrians or other vulnerable road users, a 37% decrease in the rate of crashes leading to injuries, and a 17% decrease in the overall crash rate. 

“It forces you to stop and look at your street differently,” Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s former transportation commissioner, told NBC News of asphalt art. “Drivers, when they see color and life on the street, they naturally slow down.” 

In an October news release announcing that Asphalt Art Initiative grants had been awarded to 19 European cities, she added: “Projects like these not only connect people, but make streets safer, and we encourage cities everywhere to paint their own transportation masterpieces.”

Eric Waters, Bloomberg Philanthropies

Matt Eich, Bloomberg Philanthropies

Jason Alden, Bloomberg Philanthropies

Travis Dove, Bloomberg Philanthropies

A similar program out of Washington D.C., called Arts in the Right-of-Way and launched by the city’s District Department of Transportation, has also been adding color to crosswalks and curbs since 2019, according to People for Bikes. The program offers a design guide to help residents learn how to paint asphalt safely and without breaking any city ordinances, and provides an “art map” on its website for those who wish to visit the painted locations around town. 

Sean Carroll, Bloomberg Philanthropies

In addition to cultivating community and promoting safety, the colorful streets add an element of beauty to once-gray pavement — and who couldn’t use an extra dose of brightness while taking a walk or drive around town?

Fresh off the heels of New Year’s Day in the United States, we’re quickly approaching the Lunar New Year, a holiday that begins with the first new moon of the year. For 2023 — the “Year of the Rabbit” —  the worldwide celebration will kick off on January 22, with families and friends enjoying feasts and participating in traditions and festivities. 

Each year, Lunar New Year is celebrated by Asian cultures around the globe — including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean communities, among others. The holiday is commonly referred to as the Chinese New Year in the West, or the Spring Festival (Chūnjié in Mandarin) in China, Singapore, and other countries with large Chinese populations. According to National Geographic, the festival is considered to embrace overarching themes of reunion and hope.

In contrast to a solitary New Year’s Day celebration based upon the Gregorian calendar (the calendar formally adhered to in the U.S. and the majority of the world), Chinese New Year celebrations last for multiple days — typically about 15 — until the first full moon of the year. In day-to-day life, modern China follows the Gregorian calendar as well, but its holidays still follow the lunar calendar, per Nat Geo.

For those unfamiliar with this special time of the year, here’s a brief overview of what it’s all about.

The Year of the Rabbit

Each year of the Chinese Lunar calendar is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals — the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig — that repeat rotationally. This year is the Year of the Rabbit. The overall belief is that the year assigned to each animal will embody experiences and qualities similar to that animal.

According to The Japan Times, the rabbit is “historically known as the gentlest and most tender of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.”  

For those hoping that 2023 will provide a more peaceful and restful experience than its predecessor, according to the Chinese zodiac, they are indeed in luck.

Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

The History of the Chinese New Year

It’s widely believed that the Chinese New Year began at some point during the reign of the Shang Dynasty under Emperor Wu of Han in the 14th century, according to History.com, with rituals conducted to mark the first day of the occasion. According to scholar Yong Chen, China’s agricultural roots at the time made this “the occasion to celebrate the harvest and worship the gods and ask for good harvests in times to come.” 

In 1949, under the Communist Party, the government opted to instead follow the Gregorian calendar and do away with celebrations adhering to the traditional Chinese New Year. In modern times, Chinese leaders displayed greater acceptance of the tradition. Beginning in 1996, the government officially declared a weeklong vacation during the Spring Festival, and it is now a state holiday.

Festivities

The holiday celebrates “household and heavenly deities,” and ancestors, marked with feasting and other special activities, per History.com. Fish is a traditional New Year’s Eve last course, which is considered to bring good luck. Other traditional foods that mark the occasion include rice ball soup, moon-shaped rice cakes, and dumplings. Some celebrants hide a clean new coin inside a dumpling, also for luck. As noted by Nat Geo, the New Year’s eve meal — considered “the year’s most important meal” — is a time for family reunions, and it’s traditionally held in the house of the family’s most senior member.

The color red dominates celebrations due to its affiliation with prosperity; red envelopes, or “hongbao,” filled with cash are typically exchanged.

The last day of the 15-day holiday is the Lantern Festival, during which time houses are adorned in colorful lanterns, gifts are exchanged, and parades, dances, games, and fireworks all bring the festivities to a close. 

In Mandarin, traditional greetings used to wish others a happy New Year include “Xīnnián hǎo,” which means “New Year Goodness” or “Good New Year,” and “Xīnnián kuàilè,” which translates to “Happy New Year,” per History.com.

Check out these photos from last year’s Lunar New Year celebration, the Year of the Tiger, and click here to find out which animal corresponds to the year you were born and what it means.

Have you ever wondered about whose scrawl is in the margins of your library book, or read a note on the inside cover and imagined who it was for? Sharon McKellar’s collection is for you. The librarian compiles items left on shelves and in library books across Oakland, California — from Post-It notes to bus tickets, love letters, postcards, photographs, and more — and uploads them to an online database called “Found in a Library Book.”

“I had always collected little things I’d found in library books and I knew other people did that too,” McKellar told NPR, later adding, “It lets us be a little bit nosy. In a very anonymous way, it’s like reading people’s secret diaries a little bit but without knowing who they are.” 

She began the library collection about 10 years ago, taking inspiration from Found Magazine. That publication was started by a Chicago man back in 2001, after he found a mysterious note on his windshield that was seemingly left for another person. In each issue, the magazine features found notes, pictures, and other memorabilia submitted by readers across the globe. 

While McKellar’s project is not quite so widespread, including only finds from within the Oakland Public Library system, her collection is perhaps equally intriguing and diverse. As of August, there were more than 350 items and counting.

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One notable find is a fake $100 bill, printed specifically to celebrate the 100th birthday of a woman named Mary. It boasts an image of the centenarian, along with the words “In Mary We Trust.” Another intriguing keepsake? This 1990 “Book of Days” planner, complete with written entries under certain dates, and photographs of models sporting the fashion of the time. 

Other notes the librarian has archived are sweeter and simpler, like the yellow, heart-shaped Post-it written to a child named Alisha. It reads: “Sweet dreams my love bug. Have a good night and sleep well,” and is signed with love from “Mama & Daddy.” 

Speaking to NPR, McKellar explained that the project’s fun lies in the imagined life behind each artifact. In the future, she hopes the library will hold a writing contest where people can submit short stories that go along with the items.

“I like imagining where these came from,” McKellar told Reuters in September. “It just feels like a really interesting archive of our community, of the city and the people who use our libraries and the diversity within those, and just kind of a glimpse at humanity and who we all are and how we’re all connected.”

More than a century after his death, Vincent van Gogh is continuing to delight art enthusiasts with new masterpieces. Experts at the National Galleries of Scotland discovered a never-before-seen self-portrait of the late artist while X-raying another of van Gogh’s paintings, “Head of a Peasant Woman,” before putting it on display. 

When “Head of a Peasant Woman,” completed in 1885, was loaned to an exhibition in Amsterdam following van Gogh’s passing in 1890, the side with the self-portrait was covered with glue and cardboard for framing, possibly because it was considered less “finished,” according to the BBC. The piece changed owners several times before being donated to the National Galleries of Scotland in 1960. 

National Galleries of Scotland

In a video interview with the institution, professor and senior conservator Lesley Stevenson said of the finding, “When we saw the X-ray for the first time, of course we were hugely excited. Such a major discovery happens once [or] twice in a conservator’s lifetime.” 

Her colleague, senior curator Frances Fowle, added: “We have three works by van Gogh in the collection, and then suddenly, we have potentially another, which is probably the most exciting one of all.” 

Though he received financial support from his brother and sold several paintings in his lifetime, the Dutch artist wasn’t hugely successful, and didn’t achieve great fame until after his death. Mostly self-taught, van Gogh was known for reusing canvases — often painting on the reverse side in order to save money.

According to The Guardian, the hidden painting is likely part of a series of experimental self-portraits the artist painted on the backs of other used canvases between 1883 and 1885, five of which are on display at the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands.

Neil Hanna – Courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland

“This period when he began producing self-portraits was key in the development of his mature style, when he began experimenting with his own distinctive brush stroke,” Fowle told the outlet. “Van Gogh was a very independent thinker and he developed his radical new style so quickly.” 

As of July, when the discovery was announced, experts were researching how to safely remove the glue and cardboard without harming “Head of a Peasant Woman.” The painting remained in position while on display from July through November, during the “Taste for Impressionism” exhibition in Edinburgh, where visitors could view the X-ray image through a specially-crafted lightbox. 

The portrait will “forever be in the care of the National Galleries,” Fowle said in a statement, calling it “an incredible gift for Scotland.”