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    In Rural Wisconsin, Pat Perry Connects the Various Forces That Shape Our World

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    “27 Schoolteachers and a Volcano.” All images courtesy of Pat Perry, shared with permission

    In Rural Wisconsin, Pat Perry Connects the Various Forces That Shape Our World

    September 9, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    In a rural Wisconsin city of just more than 1,200 people, the hyperlocal and the universal converge in a new mural by Pat Perry (previously). “27 Schoolteachers and a Volcano” is just as its title suggests: the large-scale piece depicts snow-capped mountains with an explosive volcano at its center, while small portraits of local educators line the top and bottom borders.

    Commissioned by Princeton Art Collective, the mural captures the vertiginous experience of life today, particularly as we consume more information than ever before and must confront seemingly endless disasters and devastations around the globe. Perry wanted to highlight how we can “find meaning in ordinary life while constantly witnessing things happening in the world beyond your control.”

    “Even in a small rural town, you’re not insulated from the immense forces that shape the world. History happens. Economies rise and fall. Wars begin. Continents drift and mountains erode. One day, the sun will expand and swallow the Earth. Most of us don’t get much of a say in any of it,” he says.

    To conceptualize the work, the collective helped to contact and secure permissions from the teachers pictured, and with the exception of the woman in the red floral garment at the bottom of the piece—she’s the artist’s mother and a retired educator—all work in the area. And why teachers? Perry explains:

    Day after day, people find purpose. They wake up early, show up with intention, and try to make sense of things—not just for themselves, but also for others. Teachers do this every day. Not for recognition, and rarely for much pay. It’s a repetitive act of maintenance that holds things together.Choosing to shoulder that task, even while standing at the edge of something vast and indifferent, is a quiet act of defiance. Amidst overwhelmingness and uncontrollableness and unanswerableness, teachers—and all custodians of human affairs—keep meaning in the world by steadily and stubbornly tending to it.

    “27 Schoolteachers and a Volcano” is located in Princeton, Wisconsin. Find more from Perry on his website and Instagram.

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      Explore Centuries of Art History 15 Minutes at a Time in James Payne’s ‘Great Art Explained’

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      All images courtesy of Great Art Explained

      Explore Centuries of Art History 15 Minutes at a Time in James Payne’s ‘Great Art Explained’

      July 2, 2025

      ArtHistory

      Kate Mothes

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      The art world is rife with persistent myths and associations, some of which are based on socio-economic factors that have prevailed for, well, millennia. For instance, wealthy patrons have historically been among the few who benefit in a system that can be exclusive and elitist. Whether we’re talking rich ancient Romans, the Medici family in Renaissance Florence, myriad kings and queens, or today’s major art collectors, the bottom line is most often money. For many, that’s a solid barrier to entry.

      Another term that gets tossed around a lot is “gatekeeping.” Galleries, art dealers, museum curators, scholars, publishers, and so on assume roles as tastemakers and assessors, building relationships (or not) that often determine which artworks end up in public institutions, which shows receive attention, or which private collections artists’ pieces are destined to join. Gatekeeping is, by definition, the act of monitoring who “gets in,” reinforcing the notion of exclusivity. In short, it describes a multitude of potential barriers.

      So, if the art world has historically always indulged the wealthy or felt like a realm for scholars and intellectuals, how can it be made more accessible? That’s what curator, gallerist, educator, and self-described passionate art lover James Payne is up to with Great Art Explained.

      The video series began in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic, with the simple premise that great art can be “explained clearly and concisely in 15 minutes,” he says. Payne’s YouTube channel chronicles seminal artworks throughout the centuries, predominantly focusing on textbook titans of European and American art like Marcel Duchamp, Sandro Botticelli, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Johannes Vermeer, Salvador Dalí, and more.

      Distilling the stories of iconic pieces into 15-minute explanations, Payne dives into some of the most groundbreaking moments in art history. The most recent video highlights a turning point in American art through the lens of Jackson Pollock’s splatter paintings, including “Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist),” which the artist painted on the floor of a Long Island barn in 1950.

      Pollock’s methods, lifestyle, and views have long been polarizing, but he is most known for eschewing traditional brushwork—changing the course of art history, really—by pouring, dripping, and flinging paint onto canvas. Not only that, he removed the substrate from the wall and put it on the floor, challenging notions of formality and preciousness. There’s even a discarded cigarette and a few rogue insects permanently stuck to the surface.

      Lee Krasner, “Combat” (1965), oil on canvas, 179 x 410.4 centimeters

      “Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)” and similar works made around that time amounted to an artistic breakthrough for Pollock, who has come to exemplify the myth of the lone, troubled, so-called “cowboy painter.” (He was born in Cody, Wyoming, and was known to drink to excess; he died in 1956 in an alcohol-related car crash.) This period of his practice also spurred the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York City and marked a monumental shift in our appreciation of what painting can be.

      Payne is interested in these kinds of trailblazing moments, but he emphasizes letting go of “art-speak” to bring us closer to significant works of art through a mini-documentary format. He releases a new video each month, plus an occasional sub-series called Great Art Cities that highlights a variety of destinations in collaboration with travel writer Joanne Shurvell.

      “Sometimes the artwork is a springboard for other wider issues I would like to explore, and sometimes, it is a simple exploration of techniques and meaning,” Payne says. “For me, setting the works in context helps us appreciate them more.”

      Payne’s work is supported via Patreon, and a Great Art Explained book is slated for release from Thames & Hudson later this year. And for the literary fans among us, he also runs another YouTube channel in a similar vein called Great Books Explained. (via Kottke)

      Detail of Gustav Klimt, “The Kiss” (1908-09), oil and gold leaf on canvas, 180 x 180 centimeters

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      in Art

      Trees Burst from 100 Elementary Desks in Hugh Hayden’s Installation Addressing the Disparities of Public Education

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      Art
      #education
      #installation
      #public art
      #sculpture
      #woodFebruary 4, 2022Grace Ebert“Brier Patch” at Madison Square Park (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori MatsuiFour lawns in New York’s Madison Square Park are now sites of a sprawling and insightful public installation by artist Hugh Hayden. On view through April 24, “Brier Patch” is comprised of 100 small wraparound desks arranged in neat grids evocative of an elementary classroom. Each cedar sculpture is distinct with barren, bark-covered branches bursting from their seats or tabletops, creating a snarled explosion of limbs and twigs that’s impossible to permeate.Similar to his thorny dining sets in material and aesthetic, the metaphorical works speak to the inequities of education and cite the inherent barriers to achievement. The installation’s name references the tangled mass of prickly vegetation, an environment that’s only hospitable to some. It also draws on the stories of the trickster Br’er Rabbit, a folklore tradition that originated in West and Southern Africa before being repackaged as Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories. In those tales, the rabbit outwits his foes and finds refuge in the largely inaccessible thicket.In addition to “Brier Patch,” Hayden’s Boogey Men, a solo show responding to cultural issues and a harsh political environment, is on view through April 17 in Miami. Explore more of the Dallas-born artist’s works on his website and Instagram.“Brier Patch” at Madison Square Park (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori Matsui“Brier Patch” at Madison Square Park (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori Matsui“Brier Patch” at Madison Square Park (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori Matsui“Brier Patch” at Madison Square Park (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori MatsuiHayden creating “Brier Patch “at Showman Fabricators (2021). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Yasunori MatsuiHayden installing “Brier Patch” (2022). Image courtesy of the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy, by Rashmi Gill
      #education
      #installation
      #public art
      #sculpture
      #woodDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More

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      in News

      Arts Council England aims to foster culture in every ‘village, town and city’

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      Chief executive wants to bring art ‘to people’s doorsteps’, but critics say strategy is vague England’s arts chiefs have said they want to create a nation that has better access to culture in every “village, town and city” by 2030, where creativity in each individual is valued and “given the chance to flourish”. Arts Council […] More

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      in News

      ‘Part-science lab, part-playground’: how kids made museums take fun seriously

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      From London to California, architects are helping museums provide interactive learning experiences that can’t be found on screen Last year, the Hoxton-based architecture practice AOC set up the Open Studio at the V&A Museum of Childhood in nearby Bethnal Green, east London. The 147-year-old institution was set to be renovated and initial consultation of local […] More