Art of the Bike
4/30/2025
Bikes are not just a useful invention for transport and recreation. They are constantly reimagined and redesigned in practical and artful ways.
Secret Geometry – SketchCAM
3/10/2025
In this edition of SketchCAM, we look at the amazing exhibition Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior in a way you might imagine belongs in math class. Using our simple tools of pencil and sketchbook, we'll reveal the “secret geometry” of great artwork.
On Tessellations and Turtles – SketchCAM
2/6/2025
A tessellation is a geometric pattern of shapes that fit together and can repeat infinitely. For starters, think checkerboards, tile floors, honeycombs, soccer ball patterns—but tessellations go way beyond these familiarities, taking an infinite number of shapes and forms.
Painting Mr. Paint — SketchCAM
12/23/2024
Our roving SketchCAM reporter was on site to interview Mr. Paint and asked if we could paint his portrait.
Screen vs. Sketch: The Power of Kids' Artwork - SketchCAM
11/27/2024
We've watched our fair share of Bluey, Paw Patrol, and Minions with seven grandkids; but when we encourage kids to be creators themselves, we move from screen to sketch, from passive to active.
Isabella: Revealing Multiple Perspectives
11/14/2024
Let’s see how this works with Isabella, the museum’s outdoor sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.
Incised Lines: Ancient and Modern — Sketch CAM
10/16/2024
More than 2,000 years ago, people living in the Nazca Desert in Peru discovered an artform using the unique earthen materials of their harsh environment.
Discovering Ansel Adams – SketchCAM
9/12/2024
For this edition of SketchCAM, let’s take our sketchbook and pencil into Discovering Ansel Adams, featuring the landscape photography of Ansel Adams (1902–1984) on view from September 27, 2024 to January 19, 2025.
The Power of Art: Celebrating Our Humanity – SketchCAM
9/4/2024
SketchCAM is a quick sketch showing how the museum’s mission and art work together. Our mission: Through the power of art, we contribute to a more vibrant Cincinnati by inspiring its people and connecting our communities.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Brighter Skies over Waterloo Bridge!
8/29/2024
A few weeks ago, we posted about cleaning this landscape painting by British artist John Constable (1776–1837). The conservation treatment proceeded as quickly as we expected.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Investigating a Chuck Close Print
8/22/2024
Denison Museum at Denison University (Granville, Ohio) will show nine Cincinnati Art Museum pieces in different media from August 29 to November 29, 2024, in their exhibition Portraying Identity .
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Cleaning Mercury’s Landing Pad
8/8/2024
This week in objects conservation, we are cleaning marble.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Blue Skies over Waterloo Bridge
8/1/2024
We brought this lovely landscape, Waterloo Bridge by British artist John Constable (1776-1837), into the conservation lab to be examined for the British catalog project. Not conserved for more than 60 years, the painting’s varnish is now noticeably yellow.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Brightening up a George Bellows Print
7/25/2024
One of Bellow’s larger lithographs, Introducing John L. Sullivan, is torn in places along its right side; these tears could worsen with handling if not mended.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: “Toile” Tales
7/18/2024
Wanting to do a little more analysis of this piece, I took the jacket back to the museum’s Conservation lab and created a toile, which is like a test version of a pattern used to study and perfect how an original flat pattern works.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Removing Tarnish from Two Art Deco Lamps
7/11/2024
This pair of art deco lamps, designed by Joseph Urban, was last on view in 2022 as part of the exhibition Unlocking an Art Deco Bedroom by Joseph Urban.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Analyzing Vouet’s Venus
7/4/2024
A few weeks ago, two scientists from the Center for Archaeometry & Art Research Palatinate (CAAP) in Germany spent the morning in one of our European galleries to analyze Toilette of Venus, a painting by French artist Simon Vouet (1590–1649).
Behind the Scenes in Conversation: New seats, never been sat!
6/20/2024
It was time for the ladderback chairs in Gallery 218 to get a refresh! The chairs’ silk upholstery wasn’t original and over the years, while on display, the fabric had grown dingy and stained. Curator of Decorative Arts & Design Amy Dehan selected some appropriate, modern fabric in consultation with me, and I recovered the seats!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Blue Dress Boogaloo?
5/23/2024
Remember the blue dress from a few weeks ago? This week she’s back—with a secret.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Who’s counting?
5/9/2024
Boy with Grapes, by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), is the 45th painting examined in the paintings conservation lab over the last eighteen months, for the British catalog project.
Meet CAM+
4/30/2024
The CAM+ Accessibility Cart is a self-serve welcoming point with tools to enhance any and everyone’s experience.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: The Light Touch
4/25/2024
This week in the textile conservation lab, I am working on a day dress dating to the 1910s. It has a very delicate silk net stand-up collar edged with a metal ribbon and stiffened with wire stays.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Reconstructing a Japanese Teapot Spout
4/18/2024
In our last post about the Miss Mariko Okinawa doll’s tea set, we discussed re-joining all of the tiny ceramic fragments.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: More than Just a Print
4/5/2024
Two prints by Lesley Dill featured in the recent post by Curator of Prints Kristin Spangenberg are now on view in Gallery 150. While preparing the prints for framing, I had the opportunity to examine them closely and photograph details that reveal the artist’s creative use of materials.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A chemical peel?
3/14/2024
As paintings conservators, we may use chemicals, but we certainly don’t give facials.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Innovator of Printing and Design
3/7/2024
Two prints by Willim Hentschel came through the paper lab with old hinges and pressure sensitive tapes. The artist’s work is unlike any other in the collection.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Shoes with the Blues
2/29/2024
These elegant pale blue kid leather shoes came to the lab for a new storage tray and interior padding, but they are interesting because they bear tell-tale damage from a specific collection pest: silverfish.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Micromosaic Jewelry
2/22/2024
This week in objects conservation, we are working on several pieces of micromosaic jewelry made in Italy during the late-19th century.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Macro-Scanning Cézanne’s Still Life
2/15/2024
Last month, three Northwestern scientists brought their highly specialized scanning and imaging equipment to the museum and spent a week in our Paintings/Objects lab.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Putting Our Best Foot Forward
2/1/2024
Something is afoot with these shoes! Can you put your finger (or toe) on the difference?
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