Painterly Visions

Some of our art commentary is being picked up on Twitter feeds and on other respected online publications such as Painterly Visions, which is edited by Anne Marchand. Anne is one of the brightest shining lights on the Washington, DC artscape – check out her work here and her Cityscapes here. And she was instrumental in the window murals project that kept the spiritual embers glowing at Eastern Market (a Capitol Hill D.C. icon) between its destruction by fire in 2007 and its reopening last week.

Robin's in Bark mag

Robin has a Florida panhandle travel story in the July/Aug. issue of Bark. It's listed in the online edition, but for the content, get a print issue at a newsstand near you.

Artful Animals - new family exhibit

Just opened at the African Art Museum on the mall (10th and Independence Ave SW) in D.C. Aimed at children but also interesting for adults, the exhibition includes 130 objects that give you a cross-section of art from various African cultures and a variety of perceptions of nonhuman animals’ roles, from symbols of power to embodiments of deities to earthly neighbors welcomed, feared or exploited. Includes free activities for kids and a clever lesson involving a mirror. Runs through February 21, 2010. Shown here: a helmet mask of wood from the Loma peoples of Liberia and Guinea, and an oil painting from appx 1950 by Republic of Congo article Kaballa depicting mother crocodiles protecting their eggs. For racier fare, the Mami Watts water spirit goddess exhibit is worth a visit...the last room's full of surprising, stunning finds.

This plant waters itself

University of Haifa-Oranim researchers have identified the "self-irrigating" mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the water expected for a plant in this region. It's the first example of a self-irrigating plant worldwide.

Check dog food labels: fluoride alert

A new Environmental Working Group report reminds us to look at the ingredient lists for packaged foods. Read it here.

Da Vinci's horse and Renaissance idols on view

Now’s a good time to check out the National Gallery of Art’s cluster of new focus exhibitions. Small but incredible bronze statuettes of the rearing, muscular Budapest Horse – and how modern tech tools have been applied to solve a mystery: whether at least one was cast from a spectacular model by Da Vinci. A collection of smart and richly executed oil paintings by Judith Leyster proves that women in the early 1600s could get access to places some would assume to be off-limits to ladies. With their direct stares and sly expressions, the subjects evoked an earworm of George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone.”

And then there’s ”An Antiquity of Imagination: Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High Renaissance Sculpture.” Stuffy? Not on your life. The stories behind the works created by Tullio (c. 1455-1532) and his brother make them that much more fascinating. Imagine a time when sculptors and painters engaged in scrimmages over which is the more worthy medium? When sculptors tried to prove their superiority by striving to create likenesses of beings, mortal or mythical, so mesmerizing that onlookers would feel sympathy, compassion, infatuation, even love?

Robin’s writing more about this for a print publication, but in the meantime, plan a visit to NGA's West Building at 6th St. and Constitution Ave. NW in DC.

The new Land Art

This Sunday in her Eco Simple column for the Examiner newspapers on the east and west coasts, Robin focuses on contemporary Land Art from the new generation of environmental artists. Try to catch the LAND/ART festival running now through early December in Albuquerque. Click here for the San Francisco edition ... or here for the DC edition. Shown here: one of Basia Irland's Ice Books set afloat to reseed eroding waterways, and “Sandhill Cranes at 80 Camino Todos Los Santos, Corrales, New Mexico,” part of a project by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Neal Ambrose Smith.

Fruit skins instead of exercise?

Good news for those who don't get enough exercise: A human-based study by U of South Carolina researchers shows that quercetin, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound found in the skins of red apples, red onions, berries and grapes significantly boosts endurance and maximal oxygen capacity (VO2max) in men and women. Details to appear in the June 24 online issue of the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Researchers cite quercetin's ability to boost the immune system and increase mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) in muscle and brain. Here's the study.

Enviro-friendly public servants

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) just sent us a letter: "Male fish in the Potomac are now producing eggs; high levels of birth control hormones are found in frogs and are working their way up the food chain. Pharmaceuticals are increasingly polluting our waters -- and it is perfectly legal." PEER was established to help public employees who want to report what's going on but fear jeopardizing their jobs. PEER's holding an online auction of fine artworks to raise money. Check them out here. UPDATE: PEER recently released evidence that EPA Admin Lisa Jackson tried to block publication of a scientific paper that called for more stringent federal warnings on PFOA when she headed NJ's environmental agency.

How food makers seduce

In today's New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope writes of former FDA chief Dr. David A. Kessler’s new book, “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.”: At the FDA, he accused cigarette makers of intentionally manipulating nicotine content to make their products more addictive. "Dr. Kessler finds some similarities in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.... [B]y combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full... [H]e offers descriptions of how restaurants and food makers manipulate ingredients to reach the aptly named “bliss point.” Foods that contain too little or too much sugar, fat or salt are either bland or overwhelming. But food scientists work hard to reach the precise point at which we derive the greatest pleasure from fat, sugar and salt.” Results include “hyper-palatable food that requires little chewing and goes down easily.” Read more.

Cashing in on wildlife

Wildlife Property Repository is the resting place for 1.5 million victims of illegal trade. They sit on shelves or in boxes as bracelets, shoes, pelts and ... Read this new LA Times report here.

Art of the Ordinary: Eggleston, free Corcoran Saturdays

See Robin's review about new new William Eggleston retrospective...and details about free admission to the Corcoran in D.C....here in the Examiner. Yep, his dolls shot was a Big Star album cover.

Greenwashing watch

Don't rely on government to police ad claims. More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products sold in the U.S. make false, unsubstantiated or misleading claims, environmental consultants testified before Congress recently. More here in the Guardian. And a report in today's USA Today states that since May 2000, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has taken legal action against only three companies for violating "Green Guide" guidelines about making enviro-friendly claims.

Licorice power: fights sore throats and fat?

Gargling with a licorice solution before surgery reduced postoperative sore throat and cough in a study appearing in the July issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia. Patients who gargled with licorice before surgery had fewer problems with postoperative sore throat and cough."Licorice, derived from the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, has been used for many millennia as an alternative medicine for treatment of inflammation, allergies, and gastric and duodenal ulcers," Dr. Anil Agarwal and colleagues write. Licorice contains compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-irritant, and anti-cough effects. The diluted licorice solution used in study is easily made and inexpensive, at a cost of pennies per patient. And here's a website about licorice; recipes include a sore throat remedy. Might licorice even fight fat? Check this out.

Artomatic: Amusement park of alt art, indie acts

If you're in DC this month, there's all kinds of big fun going on at Artomatic in DC. The event has taken over 9 floors of a big building with fantastic city views. It's right above the Navy Yard Metro stop for those not up for a pleasant bike ride to 55 M St SE. Here's Robin's piece about works she enjoyed by artists newly discovered at the indie art expo...appeared in Campello's Daily Art News. Shown here: photo of M/V New Carissa shipwreck off Oregon coast by Edward Hahn; Lioness Enlightened, a print by Johanna Mueller; The Guide, oil painting and beautiful myth by Tracey Clarke.

Lab animals' life - exposed by research scientist

Karen Dawn's post provides an excellent summary of and links to a five part series published this month in the respected online newsmagazine Slate. Written by research scientist turned science writer Daniel Engber.

* Where's Pepper? In the summer of 1965, a female Dalmatian was stolen from a farm in Pennsylvania. Her story changed America. (Also, interesting refererence to the original "101 Dalmatians.") Click http://www.slate.com/id/2219224/pagenum/all

* Man Cuts Dog. Pepper arrives at a laboratory in the Bronx. Click http://www.slate.com/id/2219225/pagenum/all

* Pepper Goes to Washington. The federal-level animal-welfare law is passed. It excludes exclusion of rats, mice and birds ... leaving 95 percent of animals tested with no protection against pain, suffering and inhumane conditions. Click http://www.slate.com/id/2219226/pagenum/all

* Brown Dogs and Red Herrings. Animal testing evolves. Click http://www.slate.com/id/2219227/pagenum/all

* Me and My Monkey. Confessions of a reluctant vivisector.
Click http://www.slate.com/id/2219228/pagenum/all

Reporters and undercover welfare advocates, and the public, have been blocked from seeing testing facilities. However, once in awhile, undercover video has been obtained, including fall 2001 footage showing "researchers marking newborn mice by amputating their toes and cutting the brains from baby rats without anesthesia. Rodents were trampled to death in overcrowded cages, left to die in garbage bins, or allowed to suffer with swollen tumors and open sores."

Reports Engber: "We regularly subject rodents to pain, starvation, solitary confinement, and grotesque disfigurement. Whatever misery they endure is multiplied across the hundreds of millions of rats and mice used in labs every year."

Don't want to think about? Understood. But better if people would stop such cruelty. Non-animal testing models not only exist; they are better. And time and time again, the lack of efficacy of animal testing has been shown.

Mainstream media spoof or reality?

Man Who Crossed Nation In Balloon Only Wants To Talk About Horse Abuse

Translating puppy talk

Was that a kiss or just a lick...why did Puppy duck his head...and many other pup communication questions answered in this excellent article in BARK by Dr. Nicholas Dodman and Lawrence Lindner. Click here.

Coral reef rescue news

Coral reefs – key parts of the world's ecosystems – have been dying at alarming rates. Banning or restricting the use of certain types of fishing gear like spear guns, fish traps, and beach seine nets will help the world’s coral reefs and their fish populations survive, according to a joint study by international science and conservation groups. More here.

Scolding leads to guilty look

Click the headline for a study that applies to dogs, and surely some kids.