@misstropolis_og

ART, SPIRIT, STYLE

From up-cycled and repurposed textiles, artifacts, and salvaged treasures, Brooklyn based sculptor and mixed media artist Tau Lewis creates otherworldy figures who populate a mystical imaginary realm. Using labor-intesive, time-consuming practices including hand-sewing, dyeing, carving, quilting and weaving, Lewis evokes ancient mythologies from the African diaspora to create a bold and hopeful future out of carefully collected remnants of the past.

Jun 6

Jun 6 Writing History in Granite and Bronze

Monuments and memorials stand at the center of our country’s contemporary culture wars. A city’s public art says a lot about what that city and that country stand for. In response, some of the most significant artists of our time are creating new public work that challenges, counters and responds to politically charged monuments and memorials. Their questions are cast in bronze and carved in stone: who gets to be memorialized? Who holds the power to inscribe public space?

Feb 24

Feb 24 The Radical Art of Hope

POETRY, ART, LIFE, SPIRIT

Following a three month leave from Misstropolis to work on my book, I’m happy to be back. But in the time I’ve been away, the news has descended even deeper into depths of despair. Again and again, art gives me the courage to carry hope into the next day. Two things inspired this piece: Hank Willis Thomas’ instantly iconic Boston monument to Dr. Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King “The Embrace,” and the CDC report on mental health in the US, which found that suicide rates rose 5% for people between 25-44. My message? Embrace hope despite everything.

Nov 28

Nov 28 The 2022 Misstropolis Holiday Gift Guide

LIFE, SPIRIT

It’s that time of year again. Welcome to the holidays! This year, do this first: give all your joy away, and we promise, you’ll get it back with interest. Someone is still wearing the smile you gave them last year. You’re entitled to the big, exploding-heart warmth that spreads through you when you give a special, selfless, carefully considered gift. Allow yourself that feeling. Make every gift count.

Nov 1

Nov 1 The Art of Dignity: Women's Lunch Place Reveals 2022 Holiday Cards

Boston’s Women’s Lunch Place has been serving hot nutritious meals, comprehensive health care and dignity to homeless women for forty years. Their just-released holiday cards feature the original art of a former client with alll proceeds benefiting their multidimensional programming. Can your holiday cards do that?

Mar 12

Mar 12 Ukrainians on the Cultural Front Lines

Ukrainian artists are using their work and platforms to defy Putin’s attempt to destroy their homeland, seize their country and erase their culture.

On every front, astounding courage. Now the upcoming Venice Biennale has become a meaningful stage on which to exhibit the immense solidarity, courage and pride of the Ukrainian people, as a small but mighty team transports a treasured sculpture to Venice, against impossible odds.

Feb 10

Feb 10 Mother Water | Father Land: Elements, History and Hope at Prospect.5 New Orleans

Almost seventeen years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, causing almost 1,800 deaths and over a billion dollars in damages, the impact is still evident. Add a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a tumultuous political climate and New Orleans becomes a national site of change, creativity and invention. Prospect New Orleans, the Art Triennial which debuted in 2008 in response to Hurricane Katrina, seeks to address the racial, political, ideological and historical issues surfaced by the devastation and its aftermath. This year, after a year’s hiatus due to Covid-19, Prospect was back for its fifth iteration, titled Yesterday we said tomorrow.

Dec 7

Dec 7 The Give Good Gift Guide

SPIRIT, LIFE

Warning: This is not a guide with “something for everyone.” This is a guide to help you find the right thing for the people you care about most. After all not everyone gets a present, just the ones who have been very, very good.

Apr 22

Apr 22 Cloud Cover: Karen LaMonte's Path to a Sustainable Practice

Sculptor Karen LaMonte gives shape and weight to subjects as amorphous as female identity and stratospheric phenomenon. With her cloud sculptures cast in marble and iron, she brings the consequential weight of climate change down to earth with a unique, material honesty.

But manifesting the weather is not the most complicated thing the Prague-based, multidisciplinary artist has done. She did something even more complex during COVID, which she hopes will be a model other artists can follow. She made her international artistic practice carbon negative.

Happy Earth Day, 2021.

Dec 7

Dec 7 Campo: Uruguay's Conscientious Art Institute

If you go, you may never want to leave. Welcome to Campo, the innovative Creative Arts Institute in tucked away Garzón, Uruguay. Founder Heidi Lender has built a haven for connection, quiet and creativity, drawing artists and art enthusiasts from all over the world. Campo’s Artfest takes place December 28, 29. it just might be the answer to how to exit 2020 and start all over again.

Apr 24

Apr 24 Seeing Red.

The pandemic exposes the worst of the existing inequalities in our country. For thousands of women who are homeless, living in shelters or otherwise dependent on assistance, accessing life’s most basic necessities is a struggle every month. Now, it’s harder than ever.

Apr 7

Apr 7 Operation Smile's Historic Mission in Morocco

Today, April 7, 2020 we celebrate World Health Day, a day recognizing the tireless work of nurses and midwives and a reminder to world leaders that they have a responsibility to keep the world healthy. In honor of all the medical professionals on the COVID-19 front lines, we share a story from a remarkable group of women on a life changing mission in Morocco, headed up by one very special nurse.

Apr 6

Apr 6 COVID Compassion: How you can help during the crisis