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Own Andy Warhol's Storied Hamptons Estate For $85 Million -- Anyone?

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Eothen, the Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol. Photo courtesy TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.


This article originally appeared on artnet News.
by Brian Boucher

A 30-acre piece of Hamptons real estate once owned by Pop artist Andy Warhol can be yours for $85 million.

Warhol and Paul Morrissey, who directed several of the artist's films, bought Eothen, the compound in Montauk, New York, for $225,000. The seller is J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler, who purchased it in 2007 for $27 million. The Church family, founders of the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Company, developed the land as a fishing camp, according to Top Ten Real Estate Deals. Even corrected for inflation, the $85-million asking price reflects a 70-fold increase in value from when Warhol and Morrissey acquired it.

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Eothen, the Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol. Photo courtesy TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.


The main house is surrounded by six cottages and other buildings totaling nearly 15,000 square feet, with nine bedrooms and 12 baths. Architect Thierry Despont renovated the interiors. Despont redesigned the interiors of all Drexler's homes, including a Park Avenue apartment and houses in the Bahamas; Sun Valley, Idaho; and two more on Long Island's East End. He also designed the interior of Drexler's Gulfstream Jet.

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Eothen, the Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol. Photo courtesy TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.


Among the stars who visited Warhol and Morrissey at Eothen were Jerry Hall, Cheryl Tiegs, Halston, Liza Minnelli, Liz Taylor, John Lennon, John Phillips, Mick Jagger, and Jackie Kennedy.

While Drexler does collect homes, he's not interested in collecting art, as he revealed in a 2010 New Yorker profile: “I don't buy art. I'd rather buy a beautiful location or a beautiful site than buy art. A beautiful home is like owning a beautiful painting, except you can live in it."

Here's an alternative "dream house" that won't cost you an arm and a leg.

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Eothen, the Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol. Photo courtesy TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.


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The Sunset Over Fenway Park Was Awe-Inspiring Last Night

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A baseball game between two baseball teams happened last night. But whatever happened on the field was a thousand times less interesting than what happened in the sky. Nice try, baseball.

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Image: Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox

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Image: Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox

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Image: Jim Rogash

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Image: Jim Rogash

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Image: Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox

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Shin Kyung-Sook, Prominent South Korean Novelist, Admits To Plagiarizing Japanese Author

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — One of South Korea's most influential writers admitted Tuesday to plagiarizing a well-known Japanese author in a short story she published almost a decade ago.

Shin Kyung-sook, 52, said in an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper that she will ask her publisher to remove the story "Legend" from future editions of a compilation of short stories published in 1996. Shin won the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize for her internationally-acclaimed novel "Please Look After Mom." The plagiarism accusations have shocked South Korea's literature scene, where she has been one of the few commercially proven authors in a country that increasingly reads fewer books.

A fellow South Korean novelist said last week that a passage in "Legend" was similar to the writing in "Patriotism," a 1961 short story by Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Others later agreed. Both passages describe the sexual awakening of a young couple.

Shin's publisher initially denied the allegations, saying that the author informed the company that she had never read "Patriotism."

In the interview with the newspaper, Shin maintained that she doesn't remember reading "Patriotism," but added that she no longer feels certain about her memory.

"After comparing the sentences from Yukio Mishima's Patriotism and Legend several times, I now think that (my accusers) were right to raise the issue of plagiarism," she said.

"I offer a sincere apology to the literary figures who raised the issue, all the people around me and, most of all, to the many readers of my stories."

Shin said she would take time off for self-reflection, but stressed that she will continue to write stories. Shin didn't respond to calls by The Associated Press for comment.

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This story has been updated to correct the publication date to 1996, not 1994.

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'Kim K At The Museum' Tumblr Shows What Art Has Been Missing All Along

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Kim Kardashian makes her annual visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Met Gala, but it's really not enough since fine art and Kim K just go together, right?

Thankfully, the clever people over at Sid Lee have created a tumblr that perfectly blends the two, creating true pop art.

Using the reality star's book of selfies, "Selfish," the creative services firm has transformed classic works, including "Cleopatra" by William Wetmore Story, "Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist," by Andrea Solario, "Madonna and Child," by Francesco Granacci and "The Source," by Gustave Courbet, into something the 34-year-old would definitely share with her 37.1 million followers on Instagram:

http://kimatthemuseum.tumblr.com/post/121221134410/madonna-and-child-francesco-granacci-c1520


http://kimatthemuseum.tumblr.com/post/121941341390/the-fifteen-mysteries-and-the-virgin-of-the


http://kimatthemuseum.tumblr.com/post/121941323410/the-source-gustave-courbet-1862-gallery-811


For more, head over to Kim K at the Museum.

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John Waters Says He Never Actually Came Out As Gay Because Nobody Asked

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You simply can’t get more queer than John Waters, director of "Pink Flamingos," "Polyester," "Serial Mom" and "Hairspray," and a man who made an international movie star of the late drag queen Divine, and launched the cult comeback of the formerly closeted Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter.

But Waters, whose national bestseller, Carsick, is now in paperback, says he never actually came out as gay -- because no one ever asked.



“I was on the cover of some magazine called Gay News or Gay Times -- I don’t remember what it was -- in 1972, but not because I came out -- but because it was the only person to ask me to be on the cover,” he said in an interview with me on SiriusXM Progress. “And a lot of magazines, including The Advocate, did an interview and said, ‘The most out director,’ but they never had the nerve to ask me if I was gay. They thought it was -- like my parents –- it was something worse than gay. So a lot of people never asked if I was gay because they were afraid I’d say, 'No, I’m a necrophiliac' -- which, even that, that’s just fear of performance.”

Waters also talked about the commencement speech he gave last month to graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he weighed in on “trigger warnings,” a term that has become ubiquitous on many college campuses.



“Trigger warnings! My whole life is a trigger warning,” he said. “A trigger warning is when you say, ‘I might be saying something that might question your values.’ I thought that’s why you went to college! I didn’t think you might have to warn somebody, ‘You might have to think here. So this is a trigger warning.’ I really want to change my name to Trigger Warning. I think it’s a great drag king name.”

Waters said he was tickled to be asked to give advice to the students and receive an honorary degree.

“I was the commencement speaker and they made me a doctor,” he enthused. “I got thrown out of every school I ever went to, so it was great. They gave me -- it was like the scarecrow at the end of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – I got the Doctor of Fine Arts, which, immediately I said, ‘My fee went up. I’m writing oxytocin prescriptions. And I want tenure.”



Waters said he explained to the students and their parents that that not all rich people are bad, and that being rich, for him, means not having to hang around “with a**holes.”

“My definition of being rich is – There are two things that make you rich,” he explained. “You can buy every book you want without looking at the price. I am that rich -- well, I don’t buy the Gideon verse Bible -- and secondly, you’re never around assholes. And I’m not. And it took me -- I’m 69 -- it too me 50-something years to get to that position in my life, that you never are around assholes. That’s power.“

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9 Harrowing Images That Capture The Lasting Impact Of Sexual Assault

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Survivors of assault and abuse are sharing their experiences on a powerful new Tumblr, Lasting Impact.

(Story continues below.)

lasting impact

Founder Alison, who asked that her last name remain private, created Lasting Impact to raise awareness about the long-lasting impact that incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, and emotional and physical abuse have on those who experience them. The project is also a place for survivors to share stories of healing.

"As a survivor of childhood sexual assault, I struggled for many years with mental health issues that impacted almost every aspect of my daily life and left me feeling confused and alone," Alison told The Huffington Post. "It wasn't until I began to connect with other survivors that I came to realize that this is a common and valid response to trauma, and it was only then that I truly began to heal."

lasting impact

The Tumblr entries come from survivors who write in to share how their experiences affected and changed them. Some also share how they have healed from their traumas and found hope for the future.

"Survivors often face a myriad of psychological, emotional, social, and physical challenges following an assault, and I wanted to expand the conversation about sexual assault and domestic violence to include the complex, long-term toll trauma takes on an individual," Alison told HuffPost.

lasting impact

Alison also hopes that the Tumblr will be a positive place for survivors.

"While the campaign focuses primarily on the challenges faced by survivors, it also shows that we all have an incredible capacity for courage, resilience, and growth," she told HuffPost. "Survivors' stories do not have to begin and end with fear, violation, and despair. It is my hope that when survivors read these stories, they recognize that their experiences are valid and understand that no matter what they are feeling, they are never alone."

See more powerful images from Lasting Impact below.

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Need help? In the U.S., visit the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline operated by RAINN. For more resources, visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's website.

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How To Eat Spaghetti Like A Lady, According To A Vintage Issue Of Life Magazine

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In 1942, "Bambi" was released by Walt Disney, Jimi Hendrix was born and folks were instructed to eat forkfuls of spaghetti four noodles at a time.

A vintage issue of Time Life provided a step-by-step guide to teach people how to eat noodles with charm and dignity. No, it's not as simple as transporting the food from plate to mouth; there is a certain art to eating tube-shaped sauced carbohydrates. If you're interested in learning the most polite method of spaghetti consumption, look no further than the tutorial below. All quoted captions are Time Life's originals.

Step 1: "Four strands of spaghetti should be segregated from the pile."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
No more and no less. Anything larger would be positively vulgar.

Step 2: "With soup spoon as prop, twirl fork and spaghetti gently."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
No diner should have to endure the indecency of loose pasta splattering on a pristine tablecloth. The spoon acts as a noodle hood, mitigating potential twirling mishaps.

Step 3: "A ladylike mouthful of spaghetti is ready for consumption."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
After the taxing work of segregating and twirling, this mouthful is just about ready to eat. Admire the masterpiece wrapped around the fork.

Step 4: "Full forkfuls should be consumed in entirety. Nibbling is out."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
If you plan to nibble, well, don't. Nibbling is out! The spaghetti has been twirled into a sizable portion, meant for a chomp, not a delicate, rabbit-like bite.

Step 5: "Truant strands require patience, lip facility, suck-power."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
Noodles will inevitably escape from your mouth, but we have lips for a reason. According to Time, that reason is "suck-power."

Step 6: "With end in sight, diner has consumed 160 in. of spaghetti."

Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
You've done it! You are prim, you are proper and you're ready for another four noodles. Some may be exhausted by this process by the end of the meal, but with practice you'll become a disciplined diner worthy of an etiquette trophy.

H/T Time




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The Interior Department's Stunning Instagram Photos Will Help You Find Your Inner Explorer

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It's officially summer, season of beaches, iced coffee and, of course, the great outdoors.

The Department of the Interior has been chronicling the beauty of America's public lands on its Instagram account. The photos, taken by parkgoers, department employees and sometimes even Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, feature stunning vistas and the more-than-occasional baby animal.

Americans have quite a few options when it comes to exploring the natural world. Nearly one-fifth of the landmass of the United States is protected land managed by the DOI. This includes more than 400 national park sites (find one near you here) overseen by the National Park Service, a division of the agency. The NPS is celebrating its centennial next year, and has been actively encouraging people to get out there and "Find Your Park."

Below, take a look at some of the spectacular photos -- baby animals included -- that have been featured on the department's account over the past few weeks. If you've taken a photo of America's public lands, you can upload them here for a chance to have them featured on the DOI account. Follow along throughout the rest of the year @usinterior.

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Berlin's German Historical Museum Looks Back On 150 Years Of Gay Milestones

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany's main national history museum on Wednesday launched an exhibition tracing 150 years of gay history in the country, including the first uses of the term "homosexual," the brutal Nazi-era repression of gays and gradual moves toward legal equality starting in the 1960s.

The exhibition at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, which is staging it together with the capital's privately run Gay Museum, has been four years in the planning but is opening amid a new debate in Germany over whether to allow full-fledged marriage for same-sex couples. They have been able to enter civil partnerships since 2001 but much of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party is reluctant to go further. Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said at the show's presentation that it "puts the current debate about legal equality into a historical context." She said it shows "how hard-fought the progress we can speak of today was, not just legally but also in society's perceptions."

The show, "Homosexuality_ies," opens to the public Friday and runs through Dec. 1, featuring photo and film material, artifacts including an electric shock device used for "aversion therapy" in the 1950s and an "A to Z" section exploring issues ranging from gay marriage to censorship.

One of the earliest exhibits is a handwritten 1868 letter from Vienna-born writer Karl Maria Kertbeny to a German advocate of legal reform, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, which is believed to be the oldest written record anywhere of the words "homosexual" and "heterosexual."

It also features the work of scientists such as sex researcher Magnus Hirschfeld, whose pioneering Institute for Sexual Research was shut down and looted shortly after the Nazis took power in 1933. The Nazi regime toughened the 1872 law criminalizing sex between men; West Germany changed the so-called "paragraph 175" to decriminalize it only in 1969.

Nazi Germany convicted some 50,000 homosexuals as criminals. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps. A room in the exhibition titled "In the Pink Triangle" explores the stories of men and women caught up in Nazi persecution.

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Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' Sounds Wondrously Funky On Acoustic Guitar

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There may not be any flashy dance moves involved, but this Michael Jackson cover probably would've impressed the King of Pop himself.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, guitarist Miguel Rivera slays a cover of the hit "Beat It" on acoustic guitar, mimicking the sound of various different instruments, as well as Jackson's vocals, with only his guitar. Rivera's breathtaking cover was shared just days before the sixth anniversary of Michael Jackson's death.

Watch as Rivera skillfully strums, beats and plucks his guitar to channel the song's vocal melody, drums, bass and other instruments.

The cover is so darn good, it's got us moonwalking for joy!

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Detroit Police Issue Arrest Warrant For 'HOPE' Artist Shepard Fairey For Destroying Property With Graffiti

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DETROIT (AP) — Detroit police have issued an arrest warrant for prominent street artist Shepard Fairey after they say he tagged buildings across the city with graffiti.

The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/1fCZ157 ) the warrant was filed Friday on two counts of malicious destruction of property. Police say while Fairey was in Detroit to complete a commissioned mural, he caused about $9,000 in damage to other structures. Police say Fairey, who created the "Hope" poster that came to symbolize President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, would be arrested if he returns to Detroit and doesn't turn himself in.

Police Sgt. Rebecca McKay says Fairey's fame "does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal."

A representative for Fairey told the newspaper Fairey was out of the country and that a representative would comment later.

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Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com

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Underwater Photography To Relieve Your Summer Sweat Spots

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"Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it," Lao Tzu once said. We have to agree, no matter how much of the stuff we drink, bathe in, rinse with, boil, we can't get over its liquid texture and silvery glow, like a constantly shifting hologram always just out of reach.

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If you share our aesthetic obsession with H2O, or are just seriously craving some hydration during these sweaty summer months, we're here to help. This week, we challenged photographers everywhere to send us their best underwater photographs, whether they depict a dreamy day at the public pool or the jewel-colored creatures under the sea. The resulting images will quench your visual thirst and make you seriously consider stripping down and hopping in the nearest fountain.

See our favorite underwater photos below and check out the EyEm Blog for more.


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This Woman Photographed Herself Every Time She Cried For Three Years

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emily knecht



Emily Knecht takes photos of herself pouting. But she’s not puckering her lips sensually, or posing for followers in a way that’s conventionally attractive. Knecht’s selfies aren’t of the promotional or confidence-building variety. They’re a running log of every time she’s cried in the past three years.

“At first it started as a reaction. A way to deal with difficult feelings,” Knecht, a professional photographer, told The Huffington Post. “Then it became documentation of a period of my life, and a period of my life turned into a series.”

Her work is currently on display at Innocnts gallery, where black-and-white tearful moments are displayed alongside full-color, post-shower cries. Although the pictures weren’t taken with her phone –- they were shot on heavier duty cameras –- they have the same offhand effect experienced when thumbing through selfies on Instagram. For dramatic effect, Knecht illuminates her face with a bright flash.

And because she shoots her selfies with a film camera, Knecht isn’t able to see what they look like until she develops the images.

“They’re meant to be honest and emotional depictions, and I find that selfies are often not,” Knecht said. “I think that the majority of selfies are taken to make oneself look and feel good -- a sexy pose, a purposeful gaze or a lip pucker. These images are much more raw -- you can often see blemishes on my face, they’re taken from straight on which isn’t always the most flattering angle.”

Knecht is one of many young, female artists using the medium of self-portraiture to illustrate and subvert the way we interact with social media. Her work recalls the zoomed-out selfie portraits of Petra Collins, and the feminist artist Molly Soda, who recently leaked her own nude portraits. Apparently, selfies are no longer just about narcissism and heavily filtered self-portrayals, but also about unedited, raw portrayals of the grittier side of life.

You can see Emily Knecht's work on her personal portfolio.





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Take It Off! The Fine Art Of Getting Naked In A Clothed World

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nudism



“The thing you don't realize is that there's good naked and bad naked,” complains Jerry to George in the “Seinfeld” episode “The Apology.” “Naked hair brushing, good; naked crouching, bad.”

In the episode, Jerry’s beautiful new girlfriend has a proclivity for hanging out naked, and it turns out he doesn’t always love it.

The genius of this storyline lies in its relatability: There’s good naked, and there’s bad naked, and even if the distinctions seem unfair or irrational, most of us automatically recognize them. Generally we like to associate nudity with seductive moments rather than opening pickle jars or belt-sanding the floor.

Except for real, true-blue social naturists. Why are they down with "bad" naked as well as "good" naked? And why does naturism, or nudism, remain so marginalized in American society today?

This month, two books -- one nonfiction, one novel -- put the spotlight on the consciously unclothed, and challenge us all not to look away. Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist’s Adventures in the Clothing-Optional World details Mark Haskell Smith’s journalistic experimentation in the world of social naturism, with a healthy dose of historical background on the movement mixed in. In The Nakeds, a novel by Lisa Glatt, the titular nakeds are Nina Teller, a divorcée with a daughter who’s in perpetual recovery after a devastating car injury, and Azeem, Nina’s second husband. Azeem, an Arab grad student, studies sexuality, and in 1970s California, he’s primed to take advantage of the sexual revolution, first by introducing Nina to a nudist club, The Elysium.

A nonfiction, reportorial take on an alternative lifestyle might seem likely to be the more skeptical of the two, but Haskell Smith is nothing if not game for whatever. He describes himself as a reluctant nudist; prior to beginning research on the book, he hadn’t dabbled in the fine art of hanging out with others while naked. Nonetheless, he seems to acclimate quickly, relishing the feel of a light breeze across his exposed epidermis as he lounges on a nude beach, eagerly nodding as activists explain the multitudinous benefits of nudism.

“If you just drop trou and walk a hundred yards out in the woods, you’ll feel closer to nature,” prominent naturist Mark Storey tells Haskell Smith. “Social nudity can reduce alienation.”

Haskell Smith totally groks this. As a socially anxious introvert, on the other hand, I question how desirable this is. On an idealistic level, reduced alienation sounds inherently desirable, but I find alienation-reducing schemes often result in overstimulation to the point of emotional breakdown. Communal living set-ups? Everyone involved seems really happy, but I can barely handle the lack of private time for a brief visit. Frequent social touching? Please don’t. I once sobbed on the phone to my boyfriend because I’d been sharing a hotel room with two co-workers for a few days -- co-workers I really enjoyed spending time with, generally speaking. A little more alienation sounded A-OK to me at that point, and we were wearing clothes. Mostly.

So, as a self-professed Jerry, it is possible to reconcile a naturist point of view?

Fabric-Free in the Name of Body Love?

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A nudist surveys the sea on the Brighton sea front. Evening Standard/Getty Images.


Several nudists in Naked at Lunch trumpet body acceptance for all as a benefit of going fabric-free. Richard Foley, a so-called Naktivist who leads nude walking tours, mentions a skin condition that he’s felt less self-conscious about since stripping down: “I think that being naked has helped me deal with that in a more positive way because I’m less concerned about what other people think.”

As a certified feminist™, I see the value in making our real bodies more visible. If the only naked bodies most of us see with regularity are movie stars' with personal trainers, carb-free diets and Photoshoppers, our own unclothed forms seem more and more monstrous and misshapen. “Naturism is a great antidote to all the messages [women] get from the media that they’re not good enough, too fat, too wrinkled, too old, etc.,” argued the co-founder of Young Naturists America, who goes by the pseudonym Felicity Jones, to Haskell Smith.

So sunlight is the best disinfectant -- perhaps a motto for body image activists as well as muckraking journalists. Social naturists, especially younger ones, have promoted this benefit, but you actually don’t have to be one to embrace their approach to counteracting body negativity. Women artists have embraced selfie series and photography exhibits that spotlight a broader range of bodies -- older or fatter than what the media will show, or marked by stretch marks or surgery scars. Trending hashtags like #freethenipple and #leakforjlaw have encouraged women to post topless or naked photos of their un-airbrushed bodies on Instagram and Twitter. Social media’s platform is perfectly designed to propel such visibility-focused grassroots campaigns.

And, as Jones pointed out, maybe this increasingly casual presence of nudity on social media will ease the eventual acceptance of naturism: “More and more people will have photos of their boobs coming up online, and maybe at some point no one will think anything of it. So then who cares about the photo of So-and-So on a nude beach.” Haskell Smith, for his part, says it’s “the first time [he’s] heard a positive spin put on naked selfies and sexting,” but not because it’s a brand-new argument.

Nudists aren’t the only ones hoping for a less buttoned-up culture as the silver lining on the naked selfie online leak trend. After the celebrity nude photo hacking scandal last year, Buzzfeed’s Anne Helen Petersen pointed out that while the victims' privacy unequivocally should have been respected, this wave of nude leaks occasioned far less slut-shaming than previous ones. “The acknowledgement that twentysomething females are sexual beings just might predicate a more balanced and less Puritanical understanding of female sexuality,” Petersen wrote.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Sexual Exploitation?

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Tailor Whitfield holds up a sign during a Board of Supervisors meeting in San Francisco's City Hall on November 20, 2012. San Francisco lawmakers voted to outlaw most public nudity, despite protests in the famously free and easy California city -- including a naked demo outside City Hall. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images


General body positivity aside, there could be profound sexual effects to simply taking our clothes off. Haskell Smith is high on the movement’s power to eliminate the potentially creepy aspect of nakedness, but his treatment of how social nudism relates to sexuality and sexual objectification feels particularly conflicted.

Naturists, as he documents, have long struggled to establish that their nudity is non-sexual. Clubs and resorts frequently emphasize codes of conduct banning erections and sexual behavior of any kind. Plus, the visual onslaught of genitals and tummies and butts seems to have something of a numbing effect, he argues, making the sight less sexual than nudity in more select circumstances. He claims to quickly grow desensitized to the naked bodies all around him at nudist clubs, only noticing one attractive woman after she gets dressed.

But Haskell Smith also hints at a lighthearted objectification of women that thrives around the nudist community and movement, perhaps contributing to their constituting a smaller percentage of nudists than men. A 62-year-old man Haskell Smith met on a nudist cruise obsessively photographed women’s genitalia (with permission) and whined that the cruisers were too old. On a naked hike, with a group that included “a number of attractive women,” Haskell Smith noticed many passersby taking photographs of them.

He also mentions New York City’s Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, a book club that makes use of the city’s gender-neutral toplessness law. “The accounts of their exploits are fun to read and the photos of lithe young women in the city are compelling,” he writes. They certainly are! HuffPost’s annual slideshow of their yearly Central Park reading group draws in clicks by the bushel, presumably not from passionate nudists, nor from book club fans. Of course, these women have chosen to participate, and they shouldn’t be ashamed of it, but to pretend that sexual objectification, especially of women by straight men, isn’t an aspect of such nudism seems untenable.

Conversely, removing the erotic aspect of erogenous zones by simply exposing them at all times seems of questionable desirability. He quotes Italian philosopher Mario Perniola, who argued, “Eroticism appears as a relationship between clothing and nudity. Therefore, it is conditional on the possibility of movement -- transit -- from one state to the other.” Basically, having some clothing on means that you could take it off. Fashion designer Erica Davies hints at the advantage of covering up: “Less is more [...] I’ll kind of cover the body a lot. For me, it’s like when I see too much skin it kind of repulses me. It doesn’t give me the feeling of sexiness.”

Some religions and cultures take it further. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach argued in an interview with New York Magazine that Orthodox Jews have better sex lives thanks to their stricter dress codes, which include covered hair for women. “The average Western couples are left with only three erogenous zones,” he pointed out. “In Orthodox Jewish circles, you have others, like the woman’s hair [usually covered]. Hair is one of the sexiest things around.” While we wouldn’t all want to sacrifice tank tops and uncovered hair to the cause, it’s a tradeoff that some apparently consider worthwhile.

For me, I’d like to keep at least the traditional Western ones. Haskell Smith suggests it’s as simple as throwing on a fetish outfit prior to hooking up, as swingers at the nudist resort Cap d’Agde do, but can such a simple costume really reignite that previously squelched eroticism for all of us?

But What About The Children?

nudist children

A girl takes part in the Patxi Ros nudist cross-country race, 15 September 2007 on the beach in Sopelana. RAFA RIVAS/AFP/Getty Images.



Haskell Smith generally takes the position that nudism, even if it offends us, is a right, not a privilege. But even some nudists believe in limiting the nude socializing to consenting groups, such as a nudist club or beach, as he notes in the book. If nudism is nonsexual, it’s difficult to argue that consent is needed, but the line between sexual and nonsexual nudity can also be tricky.

For example, he talks to the councilman who pushed a controversial nudity ban in San Francisco in 2013, and is told the council was driven to action by growing groups of naked men wearing cock rings parading outside elementary schools and children’s theaters, or waving their penises at passing cars. One woman described a naked man repeatedly walking by her group of Girl Scouts as they sold cookies.

Some of these behaviors feel less social than hostile, even sexually aggressive. The nudity ban, which seems to undermine the city’s free-and-easy vibe, makes more sense given the circumstances. But at what point, exactly, does their nakedness cross over from allowable to lewd? When should we just get consent from all participants?

Hannah Teller, the young daughter of Nina and Asher Teller in The Nakeds, grows up without the option of nudity, even if she wants it. She’s just six years old when she’s hit by a drunk driver while walking to school, and the devastating leg injury inflicted on her seems to resist full rehabilitation. For the next ten years, she exchanges one cast for another, then that one for a brace, an endless rotation of leg-obscuring wraps. Her parents divorce, and when Nina marries Azeem, Hannah is bemused by his more outré interests. When Hannah refuses to join Azeem and Nina at their nudist camp, they tell her they’ll “bring the camp to you.” On Fridays, her mother and stepfather roam the house unclothed, while awkward tween Hannah, in her perpetual toe-to-groin cast, avoids eye contact.

“The human body is a beautiful thing,” Nina tells her daughter. “We’re not ashamed.”

“It’s not about you,” retorts Hannah.

Very little in the household seems to be about Hannah, a problem highlighted by her mother's disregard for her. A self-conscious adolescent, Hannah has her own complex feelings about being confronted with so much nakedity at a time when her body is changing, and when so much of it is still hidden from her. “[T]he one thing Hannah could not see was her own body -- at least not all at once. There was her leg covered up with plaster, sometimes to the knee, but today to her crotch,” writes Glatt. “Unlike her mom and Azeem, she was never naked.”

Haskell Smith tells a similar story, interviewing a friend whose mom and stepdad got into nudism while she was young. “I just didn’t see why everybody needed to see me completely naked,” she told him. “You got used to it on some level, but I didn’t like it.”

Several of the nudists he spoke to have adult children who grew up in the nudist community but are now textile-only. The teenage years seem to be a common time for reversion to the protective armor of clothing. At Hotel Vera Playa Club, a naturist resort in southern Spain, Haskell Smith noticed more families than he’d expected, but that the younger members didn’t fully embrace the nudist credo: “The little kids and preteens seemed evenly split between wearing swimsuits and going nude, but the teenagers -- hyper self-conscious -- piled on as many clothes as they could.” No kidding. My inner teen is aflame with imagined embarrassment right now.

So, without being all “what about the children” -- what ABOUT the children? And all other non-consenting participants? Should we, as Haskell Smith suggests, just “grow the fuck up”? What about textiles who are actually children?

There’s an idealistic sense in Naked at Lunch that nothing worse could result from universal social naturism than some hilarious awkward situations. Haskell Smith’s jaunty tone and self-proclaimed hedonistic moral code nudges us toward a pro-nudity position. In Glatt’s fictional portrayal, the darker corners merit more serious consideration. Hannah’s discomfort with her parents’ openness may be the result of mere social conditioning, and dissatisfaction with her own body, but the pain that it causes her is real nonetheless -- and, as their dependent, she’s unable to withhold consent or escape it.

It's Getting Hot In Here: Should We Take Off All Our Clothes?

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A group of nudists on a beach on a relatively remote island to the North East of Hong Kong 14 June 2005. STR/AFP/Getty Images.


If nudism were common in American society, it might eliminate these issues. As what nudists would call a "textile," or Haskell Smith might term a “prude,” I find it hard to imagine ever feeling fully comfortable, but familiarity breeds acceptance. Forcing such a transition, however, is a far trickier matter. Decoupling nudity from sex can’t be done quickly or painlessly, especially if not everyone wants to. And as long as the two go hand-in-hand for most Americans, being unexpectedly or forcibly confronted with nudity will leave many with feelings of distaste.

Haskell Smith grows rather judgmental toward the clothed as he progresses in his research. The word “prudish” makes repeated appearances to dismiss people who don’t enjoy being socially nude or in socially nude contexts. He gives himself and his wife a pass on the prudishness, despite their own previous distaste for this social milieu, perhaps because he’s able to understand their own discomfort with it. For all his ability to put himself in the shoes, or lack thereof, of naturists throughout the book, his empathy toward textiles is sorely lacking.

Without a broader perspective, Haskell Smith’s prerogative verges on the idealistic. Most Americans love the idea of personal freedom and self-determination, but in practice, we’re also uncomfortable with nudging the doors open for sexually aggressive behavior. When the line appears different to so many of us, and so difficult to define, how do we litigate what is acceptable?

Many of the exact aspects Haskell Smith found “refreshing” -- such as an exhibitionist waving around his penis, enhanced with a manual pump, at beach-goers -- strike me as violating and undesirable. The San Francisco debate faced similar obstructions. Many longtime locals felt comfortable with casual nudism cropping up here and there in their neighborhood, but bridled when their living space became a hangout spot for posses of men clad only in cock rings. Others still felt this mischief wasn’t sufficient to merit a ban.

Haskell Smith himself asks, “Is a grown man waving his dick at a car offensive?” His conclusion: “Maybe.” Of course, if you’re the parent of a small child in The Castro, or a young woman with a history of sexual assault, you might feel differently about the offensiveness than Haskell Smith, a middle-aged man -- yet we approach the offensiveness debate primarily from his perspective throughout.

This approach leaves mostly unexamined the predominance of men in the nudist community. Statistics on the actual ratio are elusive, but personal accounts of clubs and resorts tend to note a significant skew toward men. Some attempt to combat this by barring single men or married men without their wives, a policy Haskell Smith found merely frustrating. “As if married men weren’t just as capable of gawking and leering at naked women as single men,” he scoffed. Perhaps so, but if many nudist single women feel ill at ease being surrounded by naked men on the prowl, he might concede that they likely have their reasons.

Haskell Smith gives very little credence to the idea that women might feel at all uneasy around a passel of unclothed men, especially men looking for a hook-up. He asks one fellow nude hiker, Conxita, if she ever felt sexually objectified, and she demurs: “I never had the thought of I’m going to be raped in the shower.”

Aside from the fact that there’s a wide gulf between not feeling objectified and fearing you’ll be raped in the shower, Conxita’s statement provides a pat counterpoint to fears of sexual unease in these settings. Haskell Smith reasons, “Even if they were attracted to Conxita, no one could act aggressively sexual, as it would’ve made all the women in the hut -- and possibly some of the men -- uncomfortable.” If only it took such a little thing as women’s discomfort for men to refrain from ever acting aggressively sexual, this might read as convincing.

On the other hand, here’s a Vice article about a male journalist, Sam Briggs, who went to a nudist resort and found himself being flirted with by an older gentleman: “I’m straight, though all for a cheeky harmless flirt, but there was only vapour between me and his advances. I felt a little vulnerable.” I can’t say I’m surprised he was longing for a pair of pants during this encounter.

Naked at Lunch explores naturism in America and across Western Europe; it delves into the archives to document the birth of nudist movements and touches on flashpoints of controversy for the movement. Despite this thoroughness, it’s a work of fiction -- Glatt’s The Nakeds -- that more wholeheartedly plunges into the murky stew of social conditioning, the problems of consent, and the varied outcomes and manifestations of nudism that real-world practice entails. Haskell Smith offers a bubbly optimism that plays to our American sense of idealistic individualism: Why can’t we all just take off our clothes, and let others take off their clothes, and reap the benefits?

But taking off your clothes is far too simple of an act to be an antidote to so many deeply ingrained social norms. In The Nakeds, it doesn’t make Azeem less driven by his sexual appetite or his desire to sleep with other women, nor does it make Hannah feel sudden acceptance for her teenage body. Though Nina enjoys it purely, she has to ignore the consequences for her daughter to do so. At the end of the experiment, Haskell Smith admits it’s not that simple for him either: “I wasn’t a nudist when I started this journey and, if I’m being truthful, I’m not a nudist or a naturist or an anti-textile now,” he writes. “They’re just not my scene.”

It’s nice to think that, in a perfect world, it could all be as simple as just taking our clothes off. But we don’t live in that world. At least not yet.



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'Miss Muslimah' Photos Show Just How Outdated Western Views Of The Muslim World Really Are

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Yes, there are a lot of differences separating Miss Muslimah, a Muslim beauty pageant in Yogakarta, Indonesia, from those broadcast across the Western world. Instead of bathing suits there are headscarfs, competitors pray five times a day, and the winner is chosen by a jury of orphaned children. However, after attending and documenting the competition in 2014, photojournalist Monique Jaques realized that the young women weren't that different from their Western counterparts.

"I believe that this idea that the West has that the lives Muslim women lead are so different from ours is outdated and naive," Jaques explained to The Huffington Post. "The girls had as much in common with any other young girl in America. They talked about makeup, television shows and friends just like [many] young women do."

Jaques discovered the competition online and was intrigued to see what shape the competition would take. "I thought the contradiction of a Muslim beauty pageant was so interesting and unique," she said. "In my work I'm always looking for ways to communicate the experience of young Muslim women to Western audiences. Much of the competition is similar to a pageant in America or anywhere in the West, just with headscarves."

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Many competitors themselves seem to agree. "I think the only difference it has from a regular beauty pageant is the name," Dina Torkia told Al Jazeera during the 2014 competition. "And the fact that we are all wearing scarves on our head."

And yet this sole difference is hugely important, especially for the many young women whose careers and relationships are threatened by their decision to wear a hijab. "When you wear the headscarf in France, people have their own way of looking at you," competitor Fatma Ben Guefrache told Al Jazeera. "It’s a problem across Europe. People don’t distinguish between an ordinary Muslim and a terrorist."

The World Muslimah Award was established by Eka Shanty in 2011, after the former television reporter was removed from her position following a refusal to remove her hijab on screen. The competition, which enlists 18 young Muslim women from around the world, requires that participants don the symbol of modesty and faith. The event celebrates style and elegance along with religious piety, development of humanitarian intelligence and strength of character. Prizes include everything from pilgrimage trips to scholarships.

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The process is grueling, with participants getting as little as three hours of sleep a night. A typical day consists of visiting impoverished slums and elderly homes, and speaking with corporate sponsors, all while praying five times a day -- and wearing heels. "We’re trying to find an excellent personality that can be a role model, an ideal figure to stand on behalf of millions of Muslim women in the world," Shanty explained. "Of course this is very challenging and stressful, but I think it’s worth it for them."

Throughout the pageant, challenges include reciting Quran passages, volunteering in nursing homes, debating Muslim values and touring impoverished communities. Although parts of the competition are controversial, including its sponsorship by skin-lightening products, Jaques has faith in the heart of the pageant. "I think it brings light to strong educated women who have goals and issues, and the hijab won’t deter them," she explained to Feature Shoot. "Many have faced prejudice for their religious beliefs; one was even denied admittance to a university in France. Together, they stand up for the rights of Muslim women around the world."

From Jaques' images and descriptions, the ambitious and dedicated participants of Miss Muslimah seem to be aspirational role models for women of any faith. "I absolutely fell in love with the girls in the competition," the photographer said. "It was such a wonderful collection of strong women with clear ideas about who they were and what they wanted to achieve."





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14 Women Artists Who've Changed The Way We Think About Design

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Much like today, the design world of 1950s and '60s America buzzed with big names. Crack open a history book on the era and you'll find chapters devoted to them -- Buckminster Fuller, Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Donald Judd, Richard Serra. Except, unlike today, there was a discernible, if not disturbing, pattern to the list of VIPs working in painting, sculpture and architecture: they were mostly men.

Today, more than a few art history books and exhibitions have attempted to correct the slant by recognizing the many, many midcentury women artists and designers whose work was either underappreciated or underrecognized at the time. It wasn't that women of this period weren't creating exceptional pieces of art and design -- think of Louise Bourgeois or Ruth Asawa -- but rather, as a new show at New York's Museum of Arts and Design asserts, major surveys simply overlooked these figures. MAD argues, in particular, that this was due to the artists' respective gender or choice of "traditional" medium.

"Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today" surveys over 100 works by designers, artists, and teachers who fell for media off the beaten path. The exhibition spans Toshiko Takaezu's ceramics, Sheila Hicks's weaving, Eva Zeisel's plateware, Lenore Tawney's fiber art and a whole lot more. It reminds us that while Josef Albers was puttering around with paint and color studies, his wife Anni Albers was breaking ground in textiles and graphic design -- Josef just happened to garner a bit more attention.

Organized by guest curators Jennifer Scanlan and Ezra Shales, along with MAD Curatorial Assistant and Project Manager Barbara Paris Gifford, "Pathmakers" not only reflects on the midcentury women who broke barriers over 50 years ago, it also highlights the women working today, who've picked up their predecessors' mantle and pushed the limits even further in the 21st century. In honor of the show, on view at MAD until Sept. 30, here is a roundup of the 14 women artists who've changed the way we think about design.

1. Lenore Tawney: Lenore Tawney, who lived from 1907 to 2007, was an American artist who worked primarily with fiber, but also in drawings, collages and assemblages. She is often credited with transforming the beauty of weaving into the contemporary medium known as fiber art, incorporating Zen philosophies and spiritual questions along the way. “In all Tawney’s work, the past confronts the present, the East the West, the mundane the visionary; but more often it is the visionary that predominates," Katharine Kuh wrote of her art.

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Lenore Tawney in her Coenties Slip studio, New York, 1958, Photo by David Attie, Courtesy of Lenore G. Tawney Foundation.


2. Mariska Karasz A fashion designer and embroidery artist who died in 1960, Hungary-born, New York-based Mariska Karasz is know for combining elements of Hungarian folk with 20th century American design to create wall hangings and fiber art that stood out for their stunning use of color. She's often credited with helping to revive needlework in midcentury design when she worked as a guest needlework editor for House Beautiful magazine.

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Transcendence, 1958, Mariska Karasz, Wool, cotton, silk, DMC cotton floss, Lurex fibers, mercerized cotton thread, 59 x 61 1/2 in. (149.9 x 156.2 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of Rosamond Berg Bassett and Solveig Cox, 1992, Photo by Eva Heyd.


3. Ruth Asawa Born in 1926 in Norwalk, California, the late Ruth Asawa garnered the nickname "fountain lady" due to her penchant for designing unusual public fountains, particularly in San Francisco. Early in her career, she learned to crochet wire sculptures while visiting a village in Toluca, Mexico, creating works that oozed both geometric order and natural abstraction. Most notably, she helped to form the San Francisco School of the Arts in the 1980s, which was later renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in 2010.

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Ruth Asawa Holding a Form-Within-Form Sculpture, 1952, © 2015 Imogen Cunningham Trust, Photo by Imogen Cunningham.


4. Polly Apfelbaum New York-based Polly Apfelbaum is best known for her "fallen paintings," composed of hundreds of hand-dyed fabric swatches that often appear across floors rather than walls, as if the vibrant palette of a painting had tragically fallen to the ground, releasing a serendipitously beautiful world of color.

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Polly Apfelbaum, Handweavers Pattern Book installation, 2014, Textiles: marker on rayon silk velvet, Ceramic beads on embroidery thread, Courtesy of the artist and Clifton Benevento, Photo by Andres Ramirez.


5. Anne Wilson: Anne Wilson is a Chicago-based artist who creates sculpture, drawings, performances and video animations. She often uses everyday materials like linen, human hair, wire, lace and thread to explore themes of time, loss and privacy. As she states on her website: "My work evolves in a conceptual space where social and political ideas encounter the material processes of handwork and industry, where the organization of fields and the objects they help generate is constantly subverted by the swarming, anarchic energy of the objects themselves."

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Wind-Up: Walking the Warp Houston, 2010, Anne Wilson, Performance and sculpture, Photo by Simon Gentry.


6. Vivianna Torun Vivianna Torun is frequently cited as one of Sweden's most well known silversmiths, a master jeweler with a beat-meets-chic personal style. During her lifetime, she rubbed elbows with artists like Picasso and Matisse in the Parisian salons and famously created an eponymous watch. Of the "Vivianna" design, the late artist proclaimed: “I didn’t want to be trapped by time, so I made the watch open, made it shiny and took away everything that was watch-like, so when you looked at the watch you saw yourself and the second hand which reminded you that life is now, now, now, now.”

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Vivianna Torun, Silver necklet and earrings with turquoise blue ceramic beads of Ancient Egyptian origin, 1954, Courtesy of Georg Jensen, Photographer unknown.


7. Dorothy Liebes American textile designer Dorothy Liebes, who lived from 1897 to 1972, was primarily a weaver who collaborated with architects and interior designers. Her boldly hued textiles often incorporated some surprising media: feathers, metals, ticker tape, leather, bamboo. Frank Lloyd Wright commissioned work from her, and she consulted with major companies like DuPont and Dow, helping to develop mass machinery that mimicked the effects of hand-looming.

liebes dorothy
Prototype Theatre Curtain for DuPont Pavillion, New York World's Fair, 1964, Dorothy Liebes, DuPont Orlon and Fairtex metallic yarn, 99 1/2 x 46 3/4 in. (252.7 x 118.7 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of Dorothy Liebes Design, through the American Craft Council, 1973, Photo by Eva Heyd.


8. Olga de Amaral Olga de Amaral was a Colombian textile artist who created massive tapestries lace with gold and silver leaf, metallic paint and gesso, largely inspired by pre-Hispanic art. "A large part of Olga's production has been concerned with gold," Edward-Lucie-Smith wrote, "but there are in fact no equivalents for what she makes in Pre-Columbian archaeology. Nevertheless one feels that such objects ought in logic to exist -- that she has supplied a lack."

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Hanging #57, ca. 1957, Olga de Amaral, Hand spun wool, 87 x 43 in. (221 x 109.2 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of the Dreyfus Foundation, through the American Craft Council, 1989, Photo by Eva Heyd.


9. Toshiko Takaezu A Japanese-American ceramist, Toshiko Takaezu was known for her small- and large-scale stoneware and porcelain works, pieces that channeled bits of Abstract Expressionism, as well as traditional motifs from classic Japanese pottery. Before her death in 2011, the artist concentrated on ceramics that were meant to be seen and not necessarily used, often creating permanent lids for her pieces, such as in her memorable "closed forms."

toshiko takaezu
Toshiko Takaezu, ca. 1960, Photo by John Paul Miller, Courtesy American Craft Council.


10. Eva Zeisel Hungarian-born industrial designer Eva Zeisel began a prestigious career in Germany and Russia before moving to the United States in the late 1930s, teaching for Pratt Institute in New York and headlining the first one-woman show at the Museum of Modern Art. Her works often mimicked the curves of a human body, but every piece she made was intended for utility, with bits of Hungarian folk flair mixed in.

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Resilient Chair Frame, ca. 1948-1949, Eva Zeisel, designer, Hudson Fixtures USA, manufacturer, Chrome-plated tubular steel, 28 1/2 x 26 x 26 1/2 in. (72.4 x 66 x 67.3 cm), Courtesy of Jean Richards.


11. Anni Albers Anni Albers was a textile designer, draughtsman and printmaker who was steeped in Bauhaus traditions, creating works based on color relationships and abstractions. Like other women on this list, Albers wasn't afraid to incorporate unusual materials -- paper and cellophane -- into her weavings to create a distinct aesthetic that explored art's ability to provide "stability and order" in life.

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Tikal, 1958, Anni Albers, Cotton, 30 X 23 (76.2 x 58.4 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of Johnson Wax Company, through the American Craft Council, 1979, Photo by Eva Heyd.


12. Karen Karnes New York City-born Karen Karnes is most famous for her stoneware ceramics, influenced by her training in both Italy and at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Her earth-colored clay pieces are created using older practices like wood and salt firing. Of her work, she notes: "When I started working, I thought, well, I'm a potter. I want to make pots. I'm making pots. And then when I moved from doing that to more sculptured things, it wasn't a planned thing. It just happened in a natural way. And I never thought I would be famous, which I am now."

karen karnes
Karen Karnes, 1958, Photo courtesy of the American Craft Council.


13. Vuokko Eskolin Nurmesniemi Vuokko Eskolin Nurmesniemi is a Finnish textile designer known for imagining the simple red-and-white striped fabric that would become the Jokapoika shirt, the first piece of menswear for Marimekko. Her work is on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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Untitled (circle dress), ca. 1964, Vuokko Eskolin Nurmesniemi, Screen printed cotton, 46 x 46 in. (116.8 x 116.8 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of the American Craft Council, 1990, Photo by Eva Heyd.


14. Mary Kretsinger Kansas-born Mary Kretsinger, who died in 2001, is known for her experimental metalwork and enameling. In her own words: “I work in precious metals, enamels, and precious stones to create unique pieces of jewelry. I do not mass produce. I am interested in the sculptural approach to jewelry and hope eventually to produce sculpture using, silver, gold, and enamel.” She also notably created interchangeable ear pendants that could be attached to a number of different earrings.

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Sketch in Metal, 1969, Mary Kretsinger, Silver, brass, opal; forged, cast, assembled, 2 5/8 x 2 1/4 x 3/4 in. (6.7 x 5.7 x 1.9 cm), Museum of Arts and Design; gift of the Johnson Wax Company, through the American Craft Council, 1977, Photo by John Bigelow Taylor.




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A Badass Feminist Coloring Book For The Powerful Ladies In Your Life

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Feminists of the world, you know how tiring it can get dealing with the oppression, discrimination and hate that's all too rampant in our everyday lives. Sometimes you just want to scream, or cry, or rip out all the pages of your favorite feminist manifesto and cover your body in them like a paper fort. Well, here's another idea. In times of stress, why not whip out your handy feminist coloring book?

"You're never too old for coloring books & you're never too young for feminism," is the motto behind Ijeoma Oluo's incredible project, aptly titled Badass Feminist Coloring Book. The radical book combines the meditative lull of coloring with the revolutionary spirit of feminism, a combination that will please just about any creative lady.

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"I’m a feminist writer and a woman of color, so I spend a lot of time neck-deep in misogyny and racism," Oluo explained to The Huffington Post. "To be honest, it can really start to wear you down. I’ve always loved drawing, and picked up drawing again as an adult primarily as stress relief. Nothing is more calming and strengthening to me than focusing on the amazing feminists fighting to make the world a better place. I realized that I could make coloring pages for myself and was very excited. I started sharing them with friends and the response was overwhelmingly positive."

The book features outlined images of feminists of all ages, backgrounds, sexual orientations, races, body types, gender identities, etc. They range from well-known names like Jezebel's Lindy West to Oluo's own sister. There are mothers, daughters, sex workers, comedians and writers. There are empowering quotes, feminist mantras to live by and many opportunities for doodling.

"I wanted to make something that was inspirational, interactive, and conversational. I wanted to make a book that you could pick up for a bit, interact with it, and then set it back own -– not something that is read through once and then never looked at again. Drawing these amazing feminists has really helped me feel connected to them and their ideals, and I want other people to have that. We can celebrate and enjoy feminism. It’s a very serious topic, but it’s also beautiful, fun, creative and inspiring."

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Needless to say, we love everything about this project. Oluo is currently raising funds for the book on Kickstarter and, although her campaign ends on July 14, she's already well above her goal of $4,000. Still, check out the page to see how you can help this truly glorious cause and potentially score some gifts in return, from neat stickers to an hour of one-on-one media consulting with journalist and critic Jennifer L. Pozner, founding director of Women In Media.

"I really want to communicate how diverse feminism is and must be in order to create lasting and effective positive change," Oluo concluded. "I wanted to shine a light on feminists that you may never have heard of –- who don’t always fit the middle-class liberal cis heterosexual white woman image we usually see. I want people to see the beauty in feminism, not a conventional beauty that often hurts women, but a beauty that comes from strength, resilience, kindness and empathy. Also, I really just want to give this to my feminist friends, as a celebration of community and solidarity."

Hell. Yes.





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Taye Diggs Is A Glittering, Gorgeous Hedwig In First-Look Photo

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Taye Diggs is officially Hedwig.

People magazine revealed the first photo of Diggs decked out in glittering makeup to portray German singer Hedwig for Broadway's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" Wednesday. The official Hedwig on Broadway account later shared the photo on Instagram.






Diggs begins his 12-week Broadway stint July 22 at the Belasco Theatre. This is not his first time on stage, however. He previously appeared in Broadway productions of "Wicked," "Rent" and "Chicago." That resume helped land him the role.

Taye is fantastic -- he has theater cred, he has pop culture cred, he can sing, he can act, he can dance, he’s smart and he’s sexy,” the show’s lead producer, David Binder, told the New York Times in May. “That’s why we cast him.”

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'Subway Symphony' Could Start Your Trip On The Right Note

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This'll put some spring in your step... and a tune in your ears.

Currently, New York City subway riders hear an annoyingly high-pitched "beep" sound every time they swipe their metrocards at a turnstile. But former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy wants to change that.

In place of the existing beeps, Murphy wants New Yorkers to hear a "hopping" little melody when they enter the subway:



Murphy has been trying to get the city to install music-making turnstiles for almost 20 years, and it looks like things are starting to come together. With backing from Heineken, he's already made some test turnstiles and hopes to install them in stations this summer, the New York Times reports.

“I believe that music makes people happy, and it can make them reflective,” he says in a video for the project, adding, "The turnstile has to make a sound. It might as well be beautiful.”

If fully incorporated, the musical turnstiles would blend to play a melody unique to each subway stop. Travelers would start to associate every stop with a special little jingle that helps them mentally map where they are.

Sounds like the best map hack we've ever heard. Cheers!




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Sean Hannity Wants Rap Music Banned Along With Confederate Flag

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As long as major companies are ending sales of the Confederate flag in the wake of the Charleston church shooting, why not pull rap music from the shelves as well?

That debatable logic came courtesy of Fox News' Sean Hannity on his radio show Wednesday.

"A lot of the music by those artists is chock full of the n-word and the b-word and the h-word, and racist, misogynist, sexist anti-woman slurs none of those retail executes would be caught dead using,” he said.

Hannity managed to work President Barack Obama's family into the conversation as well.

"If it’s OK for Obama’s teenage daughters and people to go into these stores and buy music chock-full of the n-word, the b-word, well maybe we should consider banning that too,” Hannity said. “We’re in the process of banning everything. Just a thought.”

Listen above for the full commentary, plus an odd aside in which the host declares that he doesn't understand Prince's music.

H/T Uproxx

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