Art Encounter Announces New Membership Year and Programming

Art Encounter's membership calendar runs from July 1–June 30, which means a new year of membership has just begun! Read on to learn all about membership benefits, highlights from the last twelve months, and a preview of what's to come in the new year. 

Art Encounter members enjoy a whole host of benefits, including access to members-only programs like Expanding Visions or Art Travel; free programs like our annual Members Appreciation Party and online Lunchtime Art Chats; and discounts on programs like Night Visions, Summer Visions, and our monthly Artist Critique Group.

Visit AE's membership page to get started!

Raclin Murphy Museum Announces New Collection Acquisitions

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art is pleased to announce important recent acquisitions to the Museum’s collection. These works add to the Museum’s ever-growing, nationally-distinguished collection-adding both important historical and contemporary voices to the collection. All gifts are cornerstone to the Museum’s sesquicentennial campaign, highlighting the origins of the collection in 1875.

An important three-quarter portrait by the iconic American ex-patriot painter John Singer Sargent adds to the strength of the Museum’s collection of nineteenth-century paintings. Portrait of George Frederick McCorquodale (1902) provides a potent counterpoint to the academic practice exemplified by such artists as Jean-Léon Gérôme and Léon Bonnat, currently on view at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. Commissioned by the sitter’s daughter for her 21st birthday, it shows George Frederick McCorquodale, the director of a printing company in Scotland. 

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Another addition to the Museum’s esteemed photography collection is this important monumental photo by the celebrated photographer Andreas Gursky. This is the first Gursky photograph added to the Museum’s collection. Gursky is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. Typical of his style, Gursky often photographs a detailed and multifaceted landscape or interior from a high vantage point. His printing process meticulously maintains or enhances all the minute details and colors. The resulting large photographic print illustrates the complexity and interconnectedness of the world we live in and often overlook. The work also compliments the strength of French art in the Museum’s collection.

More info on the recent acquisitions is here. 

Chicago artist wants people to feast their eyes on her Crappy Cake Art

A Chicago artist is having people hunt for her latest works of fake cakes across the city. 

Crappy Cake Art has been spotted everywhere, from the CTA to the lakefront, and people are scouring the city for them as if they were edible.

"A lot of people think I came at it, like with the passion as a baker and then evolved. That is not how it happened," artist Anna Lasbury said. 

She said she's never made a real cake but can make a fake one. Lansbury has made over 150 cakes on canvas.

"They were piling up in my apartment because I was obsessed with it," she said.

While they've recently grown in popularity, Lansbury says her first fake cake wasn't that good.

"I was like, this sucks. It's very crappy, but it has a lot of potential. So, I started making a couple more, and they got a little less crappy over time," she said. 

Via CBS News Chicago