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The yellow No. 2 Pencil remains as reliable for schoolwork as ever, but a mechanical pencil lets students write for hours without interruption, no matter if they tend to press down hard on the page. Never requiring sharpening, mechanical pencils also come in different designs to suit one’s personality. You can even load them with colorful leads to brighten up the page and make homework slightly more appealing (if circumstances allow). The ones we’ve chosen here all hold 0.7mm leads, a useful lead size that’s ideal for day-to-day writing and sketching, as well as less detailed technical drawing. And since 0.7mm leads are popular, refills are available in a wide range of grades, from soft to hard. With their durable construction and ergonomically designed grips, these pencils should last through many school years.

How we pick each product:

Our mission is to recommend the most appropriate artists’ tool or supply for your needs. Whether you are looking for top-of-the line equipment or beginners’ basics, we’ll make sure that you get good value for your money by doing the research for you. We scour the Internet for information on how art supplies are used and read customer reviews by real users; we ask experts for their advice; and of course, we rely on our own accumulated expertise as artists, teachers, and craftspeople.

A high-quality sketch pad is a must-have for students, whether for experiments with new techniques or materials, quick studies, or freewheeling ideas. Compared to drawing pads, which are meant for final works of art, sketch pads are designed with practice works in mind. This means the paper tends to be thinner and won’t be archival—but the products are also more budget-friendly. Still, sketch pads feature paper in a variety of weights and surface textures to satisfy different needs. If you anticipate needing, or your child needing, to work in dry media such as pencil or pastel, lighter weights will be suitable, and you’ll find that you have more paper options; for work in pen, marker, or watercolor, a pad made specifically for multimedia use may be best. Sketchbooks also come in many sizes, but all of our picks below measure around a handy 9 by 12 inches—large enough to accommodate many ideas, but small enough to slip into a backpack.

How we pick each product:

Our mission is to recommend the most appropriate artists’ tool or supply for your needs. Whether you are looking for top-of-the line equipment or beginners’ basics, we’ll make sure that you get good value for your money by doing the research for you. We scour the Internet for information on how art supplies are used and read customer reviews by real users; we ask experts for their advice; and of course, we rely on our own accumulated expertise as artists, teachers, and craftspeople.

June 22 – August 5, 2022

June 30 – August 6, 2022

One satisfying way to get ahead of staying on task during the school year: Reorganize your supplies and workspace at home with the help of a label maker. These devices make it easy to DIY customized, self-stick adhesive strips for practically any purpose. The possibilities are endless: You can label binders to identify them by subject, add tabs to planners, and even emblazon your child’s perennially misplaced lunch box with their name. At home, paste labels onto drawers and files to help tidy up your growing archive of artworks, notes, and documentations. Below, we’ve rounded up our favorite label-making products. But proceed with caution: Once you get your hands on one of these, you might not be able to stop.

How we pick each product:

Our mission is to recommend the most appropriate artists’ tool or supply for your needs. Whether you are looking for top-of-the line equipment or beginners’ basics, we’ll make sure that you get good value for your money by doing the research for you. We scour the Internet for information on how art supplies are used and read customer reviews by real users; we ask experts for their advice; and of course, we rely on our own accumulated expertise as artists, teachers, and craftspeople.

In a Southampton manor so close to the ocean you can hear the waves breaking, budding gallerists William Corman and his partners Saheer Mathrani and Sahil Abbi have pulled off what might seem a bit of an oxymoron: a DIY show in the Hamptons.

For the last year, the trio, known as Gasp, have been putting on some of the most interesting DIY exhibitions in New York. Last fall, they put on a group show titled “Two Left Feet” in a WeWork on the Lower East Side that drew over 200 people and, earlier this spring, Gasp flew out seven Korean artists for “This Title Is Not Available in Your Region,” held in a penthouse space in a Tibetan cultural center.

Gasp is simultaneously scrappy and privileged, like most budding curation and gallery projects. Corman and his partners quit their jobs – Corman was at David Zwirner, Mathrani at a brand management firm, and and Abbi at a trading firm – and put up an initial investment. They’ve been cut corners where they can, flying out artists instead of paying for shipping — as they did for “This Title,” after the war in Ukraine sent shipping costs skyrocketing — or taking on temporary jobs in exchange for discounted gallery space.

This August, the trio, who call Gasp a creative studio and incubator, opted for something even more ambitious. After the mother of one of Corman’s friends, a local arts patron, offered up the greenhouse on her Southhampton estate, Gasp has curated two solo exhibitions there: a series of works on paper by Filipino artist A.J. Pineda from August 2nd-7th and a collection of large functional pieces by Mike Ruiz Serra that ends on the 14th.

As it is a private residence, the show is by appointment only and the address is not publicly available. Gasp, however, opened the space to ARTnews for a peek:

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The new (art) school year is almost here. Whether you’re a student, a parent, or a teacher searching for reliable art supplies, we’re here to make back-to-school shopping as stress-free and simple as possible. Here is a list of a dozen things we think every student should keep on hand, whether for creative assignments or for personal projects beyond the classroom. Each category features our recommendations for specific products culled from past reviews. Many are artist-grade, and most are quite affordable.

Note that these items also make great gifts. Even if the recipient already has a well-stocked set of supplies, a really good tool is always appreciated—and may help them reach the next level with their art. Consider combining a few items to make a useful kit. (Prices current at time of publication.)

Please note that these tools are for general use. You can find our reviews of more specialized materials and tools here.

How we pick each product:

In 2002, a gilded statue of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost things, was stolen from a church in the Mexican city of Jiutepec. This week, the sculpture finally began its journey home after being found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of San Angelo (SAMFA) in Texas.

The artwork, dated to the 19th century, was handed off on Wednesday to the Mexican Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, by the U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar at the Embassy of the United States in Mexico. Mexican authorities filed a formal request for its return with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which worked cooperatively with SAMFA to prepare the work for travel.

“Along with the FBI Art Crimes team, FBI Dallas appreciates the cooperation of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in assisting in the safe return of the Saint Anthony of Padua sculpture to the Government of Mexico,” FBI Dallas Special Agent Charge Matthew J. DeSarno said in a statement. “The FBI has developed significant relationships with our foreign partners who are committed to the protection of cultural property.”

The figure of Saint Anthony, a real-life Doctor of the Church active during the 13th century, was carved in solid wood and painted over in gold, then scratched to reveal glimpses of yellow beneath. His thick Franciscan robes carry hints of blue, marking his esteemed stature.

The religious relic’s repatriation comes two weeks after Mexico successfully lobbied to reclaim a dozen Olmec greenstone sculptures from the Albuquerque Museum.

Natalia LL, an artist whose boundary-pushing performances and films are credited with helping usher in a wave of avant-garde art in Poland, has died at 85, according to her Instagram.

Natalia LL’s most well-known works take on the male gaze with subversive imagery that is explicitly erotic. Their content has periodically proven controversial and has in some cases led her work to be censored.

When she began making these works during the 1970s, she was working to bring art into closer contact with reality, making conceptual work at a time when it was still relatively new. She made it her mandate to focus on activities that seemed banal.

“Art is in the process of becoming in every instant of reality: to the individual every fact, every second is fleeting and unique,” she wrote in 1972. “That is why l record common and trivial events like eating, sleeping, copulation, resting, speaking etc.”

Her series “Consumer Art” (1972–75), her most famous body of work, prominently features photographs and films of the artist licking and suggestively eating a bruised banana. In one film, she goes on to spoon melted ice cream into her mouth and then to spit it back out, letting it roll down her chin. These images, which are followed by shots of other women eating frankfurters, recall pornography with a feminist twist—she and the other women are now in charge.

New York City will invest $4.5 million in the ongoing revamp of the Isamu Noguchi Museum, steward of the celebrated Japanese American artist’s sculptures and designs, city officials announced Thursday.

The announcement came from Laurie Cumbo, the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) commissioner, who visited the Noguchi Museum Thursday, just blocks from the Long Island City riverfront.

Cumbo announced that the museum had been awarded $4.5 million in capital funding, $1.5 million of which came from Mayor Eric Adams and the rest from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. The funds are part of a landmark $220 million investment from the DCLA and City Council and Borough Presidents in more than 70 cultural organizations citywide, including the Queens Museum and the artist-run residency program Flux Factory.

The cornerstone of the Noguchi Museum’s expansion and unification project is a restoration of the artist’s original 1959 living and studio space situated opposite the museum. When completed, the public will be able to tour the studio building for the first time in its history.

Brett Littman, director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, said in a statement: “Isamu Noguchi was a fearless, category-defying, cross-disciplinary polymath, and our new Noguchi campus, which will include the Art and Archive Building and the renovation of his 10th Street studio and apartment, will allow us to better reflect on the complex nature of Noguchi’s work and life.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a new law that will require museums to acknowledge artworks that were stolen from Jews by the Nazis. Crucially, the law extends the definition of this kind of theft to include forced sales of art.

“As New Yorkers, we are united in our solemn commitment to Holocaust survivors: We will never forget,” Hochul said in a statement.

The legislation notes that some 600,000 paintings were looted from Jews during World War II.

“The looting was not only designed to enrich the Third Reich but also integral to the Holocaust’s goal of eliminating all vestiges of Jewish identity and culture,” the law reads. “Many museums now display this stolen art with no recognition of their provenance.”

The bill specifies that the artworks should be accompanied by a “prominently” placed placard or other form of signage. The legislation was championed by Senators Anna Kaplan and Nily Rozic.

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The Headlines

THE ARTISTS SPEAK. Jayson Musson, who shot to fame as the wise art YouTuber Hennessy Youngman, has his first museum show up at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia, and is in the New York Times. “Jokes can be powerful, but it’s not easy to tell a good joke,” he said. Feminist great Suzanne Lacy has a survey up at the Queens Museum in New York, and is in the Art Newspaper. “Activism is impacting change,” she said. “I’m not convinced that art does anything profound and unique in and of itself, but that it operates to support and push a general, social, political idea forward.” And T: The New York Times Style Magazine spoke with artists who are fighting mass incarceration through their work. “I’m not interested in only telling the story of the innocent,” Sable Elyse Smith said. “I am interested in confrontation.”

AUCTION ACTION. Entertainment giant Endeavor‘s IMG has snapped up a majority stake in the collector-car auction company Barrett-Jackson in a deal worth $261 million, Deadline reports. The firm’s many other holdings include the Frieze art fair and New York Fashion Week. Meanwhile, the estate of writer Joan Didion is heading to auction later this year at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, Architectural Digest reports. The material coming to the block is said to include art, furniture, and of course, books. A catalog for the offerings arrives October 31; the sale will be on November 16. 

The Digest

April 27 – August 14, 2022

June 11 – August 20, 2022

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