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Queensland’s Krystle Wright wins $300k Red Bull Illume photo comp

By in Photography

Queensland’s Krystle Wright wins $300k Red Bull Illume photo comp

5 December 2023

Australian photographer Krystle Wright has won Red Bull Illume, the world’s largest imagery contest that celebrates adventure and action sports, and also become the first woman ever to win the competition in its 17-year history.

Wright’s shot of climber Angela VanWiemeersch illuminated in a crack, deep within Long Canyon, Utah, United States convinced the judging panel of more than 50 photographers. It also won the Innovation by MPB category.

Category Winner & Overall Winner, Krystle Wright. One day as I was driving to my local crag, an idea hit me like a lightning bolt where I conjured the concept of illuminating a crack from within on an iconic trad climb. After all, the crack is the feature of trad climbing and I wanted to search out the perfect fissure. Moab UT has always brought me back time and time again and teaming up with Angela VanWiemeersch, we found 'Seventh Serpent' in Long Canyon. As per usual, my timing is atrocious and a heat wave had descended onto Moab which meant we only had a few precious shaded hours in the afternoon to rig the lights into the crack. I'll always be a nervous wreck in these situations but when I raced back across the canyon to set up my position to capture, what a spectacular feeling it was to witness the crack come alive as the darkness enveloped around us. © Krystle Wright / Red Bull Illume
Category Winner & Overall Winner, Krystle Wright. “One day as I was driving to my local crag, an idea hit me like a lightning bolt where I conjured the concept of illuminating a crack from within on an iconic trad climb. After all, the crack is the feature of trad climbing and I wanted to search out the perfect fissure. Moab UT has always brought me back time and time again and teaming up with Angela VanWiemeersch, we found ‘Seventh Serpent’ in Long Canyon. As per usual, my timing is atrocious and a heat wave had descended onto Moab which meant we only had a few precious shaded hours in the afternoon to rig the lights into the crack. I’ll always be a nervous wreck in these situations but when I raced back across the canyon to set up my position to capture, what a spectacular feeling it was to witness the crack come alive as the darkness enveloped around us.” © Krystle Wright / Red Bull Illume

Originally from Queensland, Wright is an adventure photographer, cinematographer, and director, who has specialised in adventure sports for many years. She was previously a category finalist in 2013 and has made the top 25 in 2013 and 2019.

Wright described the win as ‘incredible’.

“I wanted to earn my place in this industry and my work to get recognised. Red Bull Illume is the only platform that truly recognises what we do,” she said. 

In addition to Wright, Melbourne photographer Ted Grambeau also won the ‘Energy’ category of the competition, with his image of James ‘Jimmy’ McKean captured at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania. 

Energy Category Winner, Ted Grambeau.
Energy Category Winner, Ted Grambeau. “One of the most extreme days at the incredibly challenging Shipstern Bluff on a remote stretch of coast in Tasmania Australia. The irregular bathymetry creates steps in the wave that adds to the unpredictably and creates a spectacular platform at the base of passive imposing sea cliffs. Local legend Jimmy McKean navigates a series of irregular steps in the face of a giant southern ocean swell. The steps are somewhat unpredictable and add to the precarious nature of one of the world’s most spectacular and dangerous waves.” © Ted Grambeau / Red Bull Illume

Winning images were selected blind by an international 52-member jury who judged the shots without any information about the image, or the photographer. Wright and Grambeau take a share in a prize pool valued at more than €200,000 ($327,000 AUD) for their wins.

An exhibition of the winning images will run in europe over the next few months. You can see the other category winners in the still image categories below. 

RAW Category Winner, Léo Grosgurin. “This was for me one of the most difficult shots to take. In a windy week, a lot of larch in the valley were losing their thorns. So we were looking for the most beautiful larch around Briançon in France, and fortunately came across this magnificent tree with the waterfalls as a backdrop. Everything was perfect. We came in the morning to create a jump, then had to find a yellow sweater for Arthur that would perfectly match the tree! I hooked a flash on a drone and had it flown over the jump and the tree, the drone fell several times due to the wind and the flash weight. Our shot window was very short, I absolutely wanted to have the waterfalls in the background while having the tree and Arthur well lit by the flash. A single test allowed us to have all the conditions united in a single perfect shot.” © Léo Grosgurin / Red Bull Illume.
Emerging with Canon Category winner, Gonzalo Robert Parraguez. “I think this is one of my favorite photos as it included a bit of everything. To get to the waterfall you had to drive two hours, walk ten minutes and then to take this photo I had to do a 15 meter rappel as the waterfall is in a deep canyon. To get in the position I wanted, the only way to get there was to rappel in. With Kilian, we have been filming and looking for places for a couple of years now and continuing to do these missions with him is one of my favorite things to do.” © Gonzalo Robert Parraguez / Red Bull Illume
Playground by Radiant Photo Category Winner, Jb Liautard. “We were shooting for a week around Cusco with the whole video team but when they left, we changed my flight to come to this place, I had to wait a couple more days at the hotel as Kilian had a race at the end of the week. The minute after he crossed the finish line, we took a car and drove 12 hours on mountain roads from 6PM to 6AM. We arrived at the hotel in the morning and after a quick nap, we were headed to the highest dune in the world. We only had one evening and one morning there as our plane was leaving from Lima the next day. We had to have good weather and all conditions come together. I was suffering from a knee injury and had to climb up the 500m high dune with almost just one leg. I flew my drone once up there and the view was absolutely breathtaking.” © Jb Liautard / Red Bull Illume
Photos of Instagram Category Winner, Yhabril. After enjoying the recent snowfall in the resort, we usually look for places outside to build kickers and take advantage of the best moments of light for the shoots. The weather this day was very bad and it seemed that we were not going to be able to do anything, but after midday the clouds began to move and the friends' chat began to heat up, so we decided to go up and build. We arrived a little late and the sky closed again so we decided to do the job and leave it done for the next day, with the landing untouched.We were in darkness with everything almost finished when an evening glow began to enter in the distance. Alejan was working on the speed check and I was doing light tests with the flashes. It was an all or nothing bet to one try.
Photos of Instagram Category Winner, Yhabril. After enjoying the recent snowfall in the resort, we usually look for places outside to build kickers and take advantage of the best moments of light for the shoots. The weather this day was very bad and it seemed that we were not going to be able to do anything, but after midday the clouds began to move and the friends’ chat began to heat up, so we decided to go up and build. We arrived a little late and the sky closed again so we decided to do the job and leave it done for the next day, with the landing untouched. We were in darkness with everything almost finished when an evening glow began to enter in the distance. Alejan was working on the speed check and I was doing light tests with the flashes. It was an all or nothing bet to one try.” © Yhabril / Red Bull Illume
Masterpiece by Sölden category winner, Lorenz Holder. “La Muralla Roja is a huge apartment complex in the Spanish town Calp and was built by Ricardo Bofill in 1969. This building is just a miracle itself – there are stairs, small corridors, platforms and concrete walls everywhere and it’s very easy to lose orientation. The building is divided in different zones that are all colored differently in pastel tones, but work together beautifully. Just walking through this masterpiece is breathtaking and you feel instantly transferred into a different world. For this shot, I wanted to show the variety of pastel colors and different structures and compose this with an BMX-trick of Senad with the right balance of architecture and action sports. We had to wait a little bit, till the sun was at the right place, to illuminate all the scene pretty equally, so the colors of the building would show its full potential without having shadows within the image.” © Lorenz Holder / Red Bull Illume
Creative Category Winner, Delphin Montessuit.
Creative Category Winner, Delphin Montessuit. “L’Usine is a dry-tooling cave situated over an old factory. On a Sunday after fun-filled night out with Virgile Devin and friends in Grenoble we decided to go for a climb at this spot. That’s when I got to shoot Virgile hooked to the roof of the cave, the bright light coming from the outside of the cave on the original shot gave me the idea of a high contrast minimalist collage. To create this image, I decided to push the boundaries of my creativity by merging my photography editing skills with modern technological advancements. I designed the scene using a digitally generated block of ice. By choosing black and white, I was able to express my love for simplicity and contrast, while recalling the greatness of the mountain with an oversized ice element.” © Delphin Montessuit / Red Bull Illume.
Lifestyle by COOPH category winner, Ross Taylor. “I was out in Morocco on a surfing holiday with friends, which luckily happened to coincide with the first really good swell of the season slamming into the coast. The night before there was a real buzz of anticipation around the town, with everyone excitedly discussing if the swell was going to live up to expectation. The next morning, I eagerly pitched up to the carpark before sunrise and, through the twilight and mist, saw perfect peeling faces thundering down the point. A crowd of eager challengers quickly gathered readying themselves to do battle with what Mother Ocean was going to throw at them that day. When this retro ride overladen with all manner of surf craft pulled up I knew it was a composition too good to pass up.” © Ross Taylor / Red Bull Illume.

Thunder Bay man pleads guilty to 2 charges in Norval Morrisseau art fraud investigation

By in Native

Thunder Bay man pleads guilty to 2 charges in Norval Morrisseau art fraud investigation

One of eight people charged in the Norval Morrisseau art forgery case pleaded guilty to two charges Monday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Gary Lamont pleaded guilty to a charge of making false documents, mainly artwork, that was attributed to Morrisseau and a count of defrauding the public in an amount exceeding $5,000. The other seven charges he faces are expected to be withdrawn at his next court appearance on Dec. 14, which will discuss potential sentencing. 

Third parties in the case will be contacted and victims, Anishinaabe elders, community members and Morrisseau’s family will be invited to make impact statements to the court. 

Lamont’s lawyer Gil Labine attempted to seek a publication ban, but that request was denied by Justice Bonnie R. Warkentin.

Police laid more than 40 charges against eight people this past March after a years-long investigation into the forgery of the famous Anishinaabe artist’s work.

Morrisseau, who died in 2007 at age 75, was a renowned Anishinaabe artist from the Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation in northwestern Ontario. He’s known as the founder of the Woodlands School of Art and his work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, including at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

During the investigation, police obtained a warrant to search Lamont’s home, where they began seizing paintings, according to Thunder Bay Police Service Det. Sgt. Jason Rybak, who laid out the police’s case in March. 

A camera captures a picture of a man walking by a painting done in the woodland style.
A reporter walks past ‘Androgyny’ by Norval Morrisseau (right) and ‘Tweaker’ by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun during a media tour of the Canadian and Indigenous Art: 1968 to Present at the National Gallery of Canada’s contemporary art galleries Tuesday May 2, 2017, in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press )

The Ontario Provincial Police and Thunder Bay Police Service collaborated on the investigation, which began in 2019. A significant lead for police came from the 2019 documentary film about the forgery of Morrisseau’s art, There Are No Fakes involving Kevin Hearn, a member of The Barenaked Ladies. 

Others charged in the case are David John Voss, Diane Marie Champagne, Linda Joy Tkachyk and Benjamin Paul Morrisseau, all of Thunder Bay. The court heard that Tkachyk’s matter will also be discussed on Dec. 14.

Also charged are Jeffrey Gordon Cowan of Niagara-on-the-Lake, James White of Essa Township and David P. Bremner of Locust Hill.

Police said the eight accused were part of three distinct, yet intertwined groups that created the fraudulent artwork. The first group was launched in 1996 and operated in Thunder Bay like an assembly line.

Another group started in 2002, and brought in talented Indigenous artists to create the paintings. Finally, a third group began operating in southern Ontario in 2008.

The three groups traded paintings back and forth, and two of the accused were involved in the distribution of paintings by all three groups.

The fraud also included creating fake certificates of authenticity, police said. 

A spokesperson for the OPP told CBC News on Monday that people who suspect they may have a fraudulent Morrisseau painting are advised to contact legal counsel.

Ruby Leigh to perform Monday on ‘The Voice’ Live Show

By in Native

Ruby Leigh to perform Monday on ‘The Voice’ Live Show

During the Live Shows, fans can vote to save their favorite artist from elimination.

FOLEY, Mo. — Foley, Missouri, native Ruby Leigh performed on Monday night’s Live Show of NBC’s “The Voice.”

The 16-year-old moved the judges during last week’s Playoff Rounds with an emotional performance of “Long, Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt. Coach Reba McEntire picked Leigh to move on to the Top 12.

During the Live Shows, fans can vote to save their favorite artist from elimination.

Fans can vote via the show’s website or The Voice App and get one vote per email address per method.

Voting will take place for the Dec. 4 episode, Dec. 11 episode (top 9 artists) and Dec. 18 episode (top 5 artists). The voting window is 8:55 p.m. to 6 a.m. Central Time after the shows.

A crowd of friends and fans packed into JPs Hideout in Cottleville Monday night, ready to watch the teen compete in the first live show.

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“Tonight is the night!” Leigh said in a post on her Facebook page before Monday’s live episode.

Tonight is the night!
VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳
God Bless y’all!
Love always
Ruby Leigh @highlight The Voice Grand…

Posted by Ruby Leigh on Monday, December 4, 2023

“The Voice” airs Mondays at 7 p.m. on 5 On Your Side and streams the next day on Peacock.

To watch 5 On Your Side broadcasts or reports 24/7, 5 On Your Side is always streaming on 5+. Download for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV or the Apple TV App Store.

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Review | Two Smithsonian shows spotlight the topical video art of John Akomfrah

By in Native

Review | Two Smithsonian shows spotlight the topical video art of John Akomfrah

John Akomfrah dreams of finding a passage north, undiscovered and unspoiled.

The motif appears over and over in the artist’s sweeping video installations, two of which are on view on the National Mall: His camera lingers on an isolated individual, tracing the person’s gaze over a lonely wintry landscape. It’s a visual cue, the Rückenfigur (German for backward-facing figure), that Akomfrah has borrowed from artists of the romanticist movement time and time again.

One specific reference is woven through many of the British Ghanaian filmmaker’s works: “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,” the essential painting by Caspar David Friedrich, from around 1817. It depicts a ginger-haired gentleman in a lush green overcoat, clutching a walking stick and peering out from a rocky promontory. Misty rolling hills trail off in the distance. This painting points to true north on the romantic’s compass: To explore the self means to seek the sublime.

Akomfrah’s cinematic installations summon the same rich interior relationship with nature. It’s more than a vibe: Akomfrah is working to reconcile 19th-century romantic aesthetics with 21st-century collectivist problems. For a project indebted to history and theory, Akomfrah’s works are nothing less than mesmerizing.

“Purple” is Akomfrah’s most immense video installation to date. Comprising six screens, the 2017 piece occupies an entire minor arc of the ring-shaped Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Throughout the film — or films, since watching “Purple” requires a viewer to take in all six screens simultaneously — Akomfrah pairs contemporary footage from voyages to remote locales with historical clips from factories, mines and other industrial settings. The message is as simple as it is urgent: The Anthropocene era is putting the natural sublime at risk.

Curated by Marina Isgro, the roughly hour-long work is subdivided into five movements, which proceed like a symphony. Visual themes surface and repeat over the course of the piece: an overhead view of the bow of a ship, for example, as it makes a rapid clip across the water. (The actual soundtrack is a soothing ambient score by British composers Tandis Jenhudson and David Julyan.) Footage shot in Alaska and Greenland (among other sites) finds one solitary figure after another, dressed in a sturdy white jacket, surveying the immensity of these Arctic reaches.

Akomfrah puts down a few explicit literary markers. One of many cryptic titles that flash across the screens reads, “O earth what changes hast thou seen!,” a line from a sprawling 1850 poem, “In Memoriam,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. But for the most part, the artist tells his story through atmosphere. Utility pylons stand as a metaphor for the reach of industry across the landscape. Nuclear cooling towers mirror the majesty of Arctic mountain ranges. Sled dogs evoke both the resilience of Indigenous communities and the larger-than-life explorers of the 19th century, while scenes of poisoned landscapes reveal the eventual corruption of the heroic narrative.

For an indictment of climate change and colonialism, Akomfrah’s message is nuanced. Among the historical clips of industrial laborers dredging up resources or Alaska energy officials divvying up the territory are scenes of workers singing beautiful, indiscernible laments. This is a stolidly pro-labor film. Yet the medium — the sensational totality of Akomfrah’s crisp editing, gorgeous photography and enveloping presentation — cuts against the grain of critique. Even at its rawest moments, “Purple” is almost suspiciously beautiful.

“Five Murmurations,” a 2021 work by Akomfrah on view at the National Museum of African Art, takes on another steep social provocation. Curated by Karen E. Milbourne, this hour-long, three-channel video represents the artist’s summary of a tumultuous 18-month period stretching from late 2019 to early 2021, encapsulating the twin traumas of the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality.

Akomfrah begins, naturally, with a painting from Western art history, this time Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Conjurer” (circa 1502). A relatively mild work by Bosch — the smutty poet laureate of Pandemonium — the painting shows a magician who enthralls a crowd with a shell game while a cutpurse relieves an onlooker of his wallet. It’s something of a non sequitur for “Five Murmurations,” which also features Andrea Mantegna’s “The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ” (1480s), an utterly physical quattrocento painting that speaks pointedly to the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Mantegna sought to show the physical violence of the crucifixion by painting Christ’s body, dead on a slab, the stigmata of his feet confronting the viewer: a reminder that Jesus was a man killed by the state.

While it would seem like old hat for the 8-billion-odd people who survived covid-19, Akomfrah returns to those early weeks of the pandemic and captures a vivid sensation of that unsettling time. It’s a simple sequence: Amid narrow shots of maps and charts, the visual artifacts of the pandemic as it unfolded, the artist inserts scenes of people cooking meals at home. It’s a faithful yet evocative gloss of those days of uncertainty and isolation, when it seemed like the only thing to do was to hit refresh on various counters that only grew more alarming as the danger drew nearer. Akomfrah finds an essential metaphor for that harrowing blur of data and despair in murmurations of birds, patterns of movement too chaotic to trace.

With his absorbing cinematics, Akomfrah is something of a conjurer himself. Not a con artist, but a spellbinding storyteller who is able to suggest a political ideal without being (too) explicit. There is a danger to an immersive video installation such as “Purple,” which takes a format so arresting, so alluring, that it threatens to obscure any message an artist might hope to convey. Akomfrah trusts in the romantic way: What rhetoric cannot register, only poetry can deliver, only the spirit can receive and only nature can convey.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Avenue and Seventh Street SW. hirshhorn.si.edu.

Dates: Through Jan. 7.

Five Murmurations

National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. africa.si.edu.

Dates: Through 2024.

Admission: Free for both.

Babson Faculty Honored Among Best Undergraduate Professors

By in Art World News

Babson Faculty Honored Among Best Undergraduate Professors

Anjali Bal and Erik Noyes have much in common. 

The two Babson College associate professors are innovative, popular teachers who stand at the forefront of important and emerging issues in society, incorporating their research into their classrooms. 

And, both were named Monday to Poets & Quants’ 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors of 2023. Babson was one of 14 institutions with multiple faculty members selected from more than 650 nominations for the sixth edition of the list. 

Bal, associate professor of marketing, focuses her research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in arts, entertainment, and sports marketing. “These industries significantly impact the world around us and make up much of what we think of as culture,” she said. Bal, at Babson since 2014, also is an inaugural Babson Presidential Research Scholar and a longtime advocate for DEI in higher education. She was awarded the Babson Pride Award in 2020 and the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award in 2022. 

Noyes, associate professor of entrepreneurship, focuses his research on the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to drive entrepreneurship and innovation. “AI can help entrepreneurs, educators and students innovate in entirely new ways – and we’ve only seen the beginning” he said. Noyes, who has been at Babson since 2007, also is the founding faculty director of the Weissman Foundry and recently was appointed The Michael London ’92 and Stephen H. Kramer ’92 Term Chair in Entrepreneurship. 

Both Bal and Noyes shared their thoughts on their work, its impact on students, and this prestigious recognition. 

Q&A with Anjali Bal 

Your research centers on arts, entertainment, and sports marketing. How do you incorporate subjects that drive popular culture into the classroom, and how does it resonate with students, fans and non-fans alike? 

Anjali Bal smiles for a portrait photo
Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing, focuses her research on diversity, equity, and inclusion in arts, entertainment, and sports marketing.

“I always say, ‘I am a culture junkie.’ I have always been fascinated by learning about culture. Sports, arts, and entertainment are all at the forefront of culture. I have a rule that I don’t do any research that isn’t interesting. I find that if things are interesting to me, they tend to be interesting for students. Students tend to love when I bring research into the classroom. This year, that has meant looking at data from Disney, Simone Biles, Bud Light, Barbie, and more in my Principles of Marketing, Sports Marketing, and Brand Management courses. I tend to embed the data into classwork so that students are getting a more robust picture of the marketplace by doing their own research, reading articles, applying it, and, of course, seeing how I interpret what is going on in the market. I love bringing in data that shows fan behavior. Non-fans also seem to like to look at data because at the core it grants all of us the opportunity to examine phenomena in a more meaningful way. Plus, I love teasing New England fans; data just makes that teasing academically valuable.” 

Sports and entertainment often are at the forefront of diversity discussions. How has that influenced your research, your teaching, and your advocacy on campus? 

“Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are my passions. And, I would say that is true for every avenue of my life, from parenting and my private life to teaching and scholarship. Sports, arts, and entertainment are not only at the forefront of discussion but also the forefront of societal change. I am driven by seeing how we can do better as business leaders. I started my career in the arts because I believed the arts was the most powerful avenue to make change. I still believe that. Though I would add that sports and entertainment also have that power. Athletes like Serena Williams and Simone Biles are changing the world. But, so, too, are so many people who play sports for fun, on college campuses or at the national level. Accessibility has been a new area of learning for me. I have a cousin who worked for a civil rights organization for people who live with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And, I have learned so much about how we can do better as society for people with disabilities. As I have gotten older, come to terms with my own challenges, and become a mom, aunt, and professor, providing access to those who might not always have it, has become a driving force. Access is often the avenue to opportunity; when people have access and opportunity, they can drive the change our society desperately needs.” 

As an innovative professor, what motivates you? 

“Making the world a better place. Learning and connecting. And, having fun. Life is too short to be bored. You can quote me on that.” 

What does this recognition from Poets & Quants mean to you? 

“This is an amazing honor. I am humbled and grateful to my colleagues, alumni, and students for their unwavering support and kindness. I will endeavor to deserve it.” 

Read more on Anjali Bal from Poets & Quants. 

Q&A with Erik Noyes 

You have been a leading figure at the crossroads of entrepreneurship and AI, integrating AI activities into classes last spring and developing a new course, Entrepreneurial Opportunities in AI, this fall. How do you incorporate such a fast-developing technology into the classroom? And, what has the reaction of students been so far?  

Erik Noyes smiles for a portrait photo
Erik Noyes, associate professor of entrepreneurship, focuses his research on the potential of artificial intelligence to drive entrepreneurship and innovation. (Photo: Laurie Swope)

“The short answer is constant experimentation with AI. My background before Babson was in corporate innovation and corporate new ventures, specifically focused on futurism. So, for the past 25 years, I have been tracking and interrelating technology and market trends. Starting in 2019, I made significant investments in the generative AI space, realizing that this is going to create such fascinating opportunities for how we teach in higher ed. Specifically, AI is not just all of the modeling and insane math, but it’s a breakthrough in human-computer interaction—there’s a computing accessibility breakthrough. For example, ChatGPT finally made AI broadly usable such that it’s an asset for experiential teaching and learning—that was a critical moment. If ChatGPT hadn’t happened, it would have been much more cumbersome to attempt all these innovations and experiments in the classroom. A sizable portion of Babson’s students are futurists, and they are living on the technical edge and are theoretically and practically fascinated with where the world is going on every dimension. It’s not that I’m just leading the students. It’s that we’re both totally on fire, and I’m trying to create a forum where we can co-process and experiment together.” 

You also co-led the creation of The Generator, Babson’s new interdisciplinary AI lab at the Weissman Foundry. How has that evolved, and what are your hopes for the future?  

“Artificial intelligence as a field is interdisciplinary, but people don’t conceptualize it that way. They think it’s about models and algorithms and math, and just the realm of computer scientists. But the field by its nature is much broader than that. So, a team of faculty from different disciplines at Babson—IT, theater, strategy, writing, and prototyping—we’re putting our arms around the broader scope of the field. We’re trying to help lead the College into the AI age, building AI capabilities and community among the faculty, and trying to quickly scale AI offerings and capabilities to the students. It’s a tight, six-member faculty team, and we’re leaning on Babson’s deep history of interdisciplinary collaboration to interpret and process this AI moment. In time, The Generator will be a globally leading interdisciplinary AI lab—I have no doubt. It’s a vehicle for Babson to yet again define entrepreneurship education, but it’s not just that. It’s about creative expression. It’s about idea generation in all fields. It’s about performance and art and design. It’s about new forms of AI-enabled collaboration. We have an opportunity to show the world how to do an interdisciplinary AI lab built on Babson’s one-of-a-kind culture.” 

As an innovative professor, what motivates you?  

“I’m an optimist, and I believe strongly in the importance of entrepreneurs and innovators to make the world a better place.” 

What does this recognition from Poets & Quants mean to you? 

“Babson is a wonderfully open-minded, interdisciplinary place, which respects individual and intellectual freedom. Each day, I’m inspired by the creativity of Babson’s students. Babson has an entrepreneurial culture that values teaching excellence. I love what I do, and I’m excited each day to collaborate with my colleagues.” 

Read more on Erik Noyes from Poets & Quants. 

Posted in Community, Insights, Outcomes

Tagged Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Education, Faculty, Undergraduate, Campus

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Meet the Maker: Lil’ Hippie Co.

By in Printmaking

Meet the Maker: Lil’ Hippie Co.
It can be really tricky to do a handmade business focused on a variety of craft categories, but Lil’ Hippie Co. here in Fargo is a fun example of how it can be done! From handcrafted candles to crocheted amigurumi, Taylor is curating a vibe that is whimsical, natural, and fun. More

How to build a meaningful art collection of lasting value

By in Art World News

How to build a meaningful art collection of lasting value
image

The path to building an art collection of lasting value is seldom a clear one. Great collections are recognized as such because so few successfully navigate the pitfalls that can arise.

Collecting art has been a passion among successful individuals and families across the globe for centuries. Offering manifold benefits, an art collection can also acquire both financial and cultural value, empowering its owners to create a legacy and become influencers in the global art ecosystem.

However, it can be challenging to navigate the art market today to build a collection that:

  • Will be personally meaningful
  • Has the best chance of maintaining long-term value
  • Remains relevant over time
  • Allows a collector to create cultural impact

Guiding principles

Collections that meet these standards tend to be guided by a set of principles and hallmarks that set them apart from others. To start, great collections typically are personal and represent the individual collector’s intimate relationship with the art—mirroring their passions, interests and experiences.

Outstanding collections also adhere to standards of quality that keep them from becoming diluted. In addition, these standards foster respect and credibility for the collection and collector within the art community.

Over time, successful collectors develop a nuanced understanding of their chosen artworks and artists, enabling them to separate significant from insignificant works. As collectors acquire greater expertise, their collections in turn become more valuable.

Great collectors tend to be decisive risk-takers. Artworks of quality and rarity can be difficult to find and at times, collectors must make swift decisions to secure coveted pieces. This combination of decisiveness and risk-taking, backed by passion and expertise, make a collection an exciting reflection of artistic discoveries and personal exploration.

Collections in context

Art collecting, while intrinsically personal, is far from a solitary endeavor. Great collections often result from collaborative efforts fostered across a broad ecosystem of relationships, including:

  • Family members who, with their shared history and values, often influence a collection’s direction and spirit
  • Curators and historians who offer scholarly perspectives, helping to identify historically significant pieces.
  • Dealers and auction house representatives who provide insights into market trends and opportunities
  • Advisors who offer guidance on strategic acquisitions and collection management
  • Museum professionals who can facilitate access to a broader artistic narrative
  • Other collectors who provide camaraderie, competition and inspiration

And of course, the artists themselves, who are at the heart of it all, offer the most intimate connection to the artwork. Their thinking and ideas can significantly influence collection-building.

To learn more, see Art and collecting: Building a meaningful legacy .

To receive a copy of this comprehensive report, please contact your UBS Financial Advisor.

Main contributor: Matthew Newton, UBS Art Advisory, part of the UBS Family Office Solutions Group

Expiration: 11/30/2024

Review Code: IS2307047

Artworks at four SkyTrain stations celebrate contemporary Black-Canadian art and artists

By in Native

Artworks at four SkyTrain stations celebrate contemporary Black-Canadian art and artists

December 4, 2023

December 4, 2023

Take an artful journey. We’ve partnered with local curator, writer, and artist Nya Lewis to produce Carry it Well, a series of public art installations that celebrate contemporary Black-Canadian art, artists, and the presence of African and Black communities in Metro Vancouver. Carry It Well features four large-scale artworks by contemporary Canadian artists Jan Wade, Natoya Ellis, Adeyemi Adegbesan, and Nya Lewis.

The artworks will be on display at Main Street–Science World Station, Granville Station (Dunsmuir exit), Stadium–Chinatown Station, and VCC–Clark Station for the next two years.

Working across a myriad of mediums, the four artworks peer into the traditions and ideologies of printmaking, quilting, Afro-futurism, and archival research to explore themes of stewardship, lineage, and tradition. The series “daylights” African and Black presence and history in Vancouver.

Here’s the story behind every piece:

Breathe by Jan Wade

Two columns wrap artwork 'Breathe' by Jan Wade at VCC–Clark Station

📍 VCC–Clark Station

Previously presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the solo exhibition Soul Power (July 2021 – March 2022) and reproduced for Carry It Well, Breathe is a large-scale embroidery work featuring over 70 hand-stitched panels. For Jan Wade, time and embodiment are necessary elements of creation. Created over an 11-year period between 2009 and 2020, the vibrant abstract work took on new meaning in 2014 following the killing of Eric Garner in a prohibited chokehold by a police officer in New York City. Breathe became a mantra, a spell, and a meditation to sustain the artist’s life. Wade explains, “Every stitch is a new breath, an acknowledgment of the unacknowledged, an honoring of the work of women makers, and a daily reminder that the miracle of breathing should never be taken for granted.” (Wade)

Jan Wade is a nationally renowned artist who works in mixed-media assemblage, painting, sculpture, and textiles. Wade draws inspiration from her personal history as a Black Canadian woman with a mixed cultural background.

Woven Consciousness by Natoya Ellis

📍 Stadium–Chinatown Station

Natoya Ellis has created a series of eight artworks that foreground the hybridity and connectivity of the Afro-diaspora living in the region. Foliage native to the Chinatown area is juxtaposed with a variety of fabric patterns in these cyanotype prints and digital illustrations. Woven Consciousness intricately blueprints the fabric of our lives, intimately mirroring diverse embodiments of Black presence, and communicating a visual language of familiarity and humanization. Bandana, Kente, Ankara, Lamba, Madras, and Netela prints move across the illustrations and silhouetted figures in a lively recognition of tradition, heritage, and modernity. Woven Consciousness invites viewers to explore the subtleties of identity, belonging, and the cultural richness that characterizes Vancouver’s Black community. The series fosters a greater appreciation for the layered tapestry of Black culture within the diverse social fabric of the city.

Natoya Ellis is a multidisciplinary mixed media and installation artist. Her work examines the Black figure, Black womanhood, and the Black gaze.

Look for Us in the Whirlwind by Adeyemi Adegbesan

Artwork 'Look For Us In The Whirlwind' by Adeyemi Adegbesan above the escalators at Granville Station, Dunsmuir exit

📍 Granville Station (Dunsmuir exit)

Inspired by a quote from the great Pan-African and Jamaican national hero, Marcus Garvey, Look for Us in the Whirlwind is an Afro-futuristic dreamscape and an ode to three leaders of the Black Vancouver Labour movement, Rosemary Brown, Frank Collins, and Emmitt Andrew Holmes. Like Garvey, Brown, Collins, and Holmes embraced a life of activism, shouldering the responsibility of advocacy in the hopes that future generations would prosper. They devoted their lives to fighting for fair treatment and equitable conditions for working people, and equality for people of African descent. Adeyemi Adegbesan boldly adorns Brown, Collins, and Holmes in Black contemporary and continental cultural signifiers that reflect their life narratives and characterize their leadership in Vancouver’s Black community. Among the adornments are Adinkra symbols, a porter hat, cowrie shells, railway porter and woodworkers’ union pendants, north star, and provincial flowers, reimagining these historical figures within a visual language of Black power and love.

Adeyemi Adegbesan is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice examines the intersectionality of Black identity. Adegbesan pulls from various elements of Black cultural ideologies to create Afro-futuristic portraits embodying themes of history, fantasy, speculative futures, and spirituality.

A History in Perpetual Motion by Nya Lewis

Artwork 'History in Perpetual Motion' by Nya Lewis wraps a wall at Main Street–Science World.

📍 Main Street–Science World Station

In its second iteration (first presented at The Museum of Anthropology in 2021-2022 as Writing Black Vancouver), A History in Perpetual Motion forges a visual timeline of call and response for Black Vancouver presence. Lewis’s text-based installation threads headlines from archival and contemporary newspapers Vancouver Herald, Georgia Straight, Vancouver Sun, The Tyee, North Shore News, and The Province. Transcribing over 100 clippings from 1940 to 2023, A History in Perpetual Motion is an embodied offering, readdressing the labour of placemaking, anti-colonial work, cultural production, and collective conceiving of Black communities in B.C. In bold, the phrases, ‘a call to action’, ‘a declaration of being’, and ‘a hope for what’s to come’. “Writing Black Vancouver Futures” and “Honoring Black Vancouver Histories”

Nya Lewis is a writer, curator, and artist who sees her work within a lineage of Black thought that blaze(d) a trail of discourse concerning Black experiences, love, question, heritage, and embrace. She currently serves as the Director of Artspeak Gallery and as the Vancouver Art Gallery research fellow.

Learn more about the artists and their art by reading through the didactic panels at the stations or by visiting translink.ca/carryitwell.

Through public art, TransLink provides a platform that amplifies artists’ voices, fostering meaningful dialogue on topical issues and telling stories that matter to our customers and the public.

TransLink acknowledges and thanks the project’s advisory panel, our community partner Hogan’s Alley Society, and Board Member and Chair of the Hogan’s Alley Society Community Land Trust, Amina Yasin, for their contributions to the project.

Use this map to discover all public art installations in our transit system.  

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