Year: 2013

Everyone is talking about how this is the first Latin American pope. That’s cool. But on my Christian Notebook blog, I give 25 other reasons why Pope Francis is cool.

A selection of poem, “The New York School” by Joseph Bradshaw I can‚Äôt remember anything about the movie Pollock. I wish a bald Sigourney Weaver played the part of Jackson Pollock. That would make the film more memorable. I wish…

Imagine our country if everyone knew how to program or code. I cover this topic on my publishing and syndication blog, “Programming should be taught in all schools to all students.” Now before you reply with, “then our country would…

The Art Institute sent me an email promoting their Picasso show. Hmmm, they must have missed my review of the Picasso show. They could have included my quote on their ad. “Meh, ok” –Matt Maldre, spudart.org But seriously, I think…

[LA Times, image via Smithsonian American Art Museum; a detail of Norman Rockwell’s painting “Shadow Artist” in George Lucas’s personal collection] George Lucas wants to build a museum of inspiring art. This is so awesome! YES YES YES. I’m excited…

What happens when you put thousands of small ball bearings on a moving table? You get fascinating patterns of movement. (If you cannot see the video above, you may view it on vimeo at, “Gr√∂nlund-Nisunen – Unstable Matter – 2013.”)…

What do you think of the CTA ad for the Picasso show at the Art Institute? My brother, Erik, has some excellent points: Overall, I like it. It captures some of the cubist charm of Picasso’s work. Part of me…

Over 100 artworks by Picasso grace the new show at the Art Institute of Chicago. Everyone knows Picasso is a genius artist, so I approached the show with high expectations. My first impression after 45 minutes and three walk-arounds is…

Some artists sculpt in marble. Others in clay. Me? I work in snowballs. And Jack Brickhouse was my canvas.

As the Chicago Riverwalk expands, so does my excitement for this project. I already greatly enjoy walking the Riverwalk from Michigan Avenue to State Street many nights. Now Chicago is planning on expanding the Riverwalk past State Street. A zero-surface…

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago asks for an artwork that you love. Happy Valentine’s Day! What are some artworks you love? We’ll be tweeting some of our V day favs, like “The Kiss” mcachicago.org/exhibitions/co‚Ä — MCA Chicago (@mcachicago)…

This online quiz is eerily accurate. I have been affirmed in my superpower desire of light manipulation. The online quiz by fusionspark, “Which Content Marketing Action Hero Are You” says I am Visualizator. Rather fitting that one of his super…

Seeing an image like this of pristine cards all nicely preserved inside protectors makes me want to make more well-worn cards. A baseball card with sharp corners is so institutional. “CAREFUL! Don’t set that card on the table, you might…

A new museum exhibition is up. You trot on down to the museum to check out the show. When walking through the exhibition, do you walk slowly observing the photos and artwork? Maybe read a couple captions. And then by…

“Every human being is an artist.” * Beuys’ quote on his art statement: ‘everybody is an artist‚’: I am searching for field character, 1973; as quoted in “Energy Plan for the Western man / Joseph Beuys in America”, by Carin…

The wonderful community news website, Everyblock was shut down by NBC News today. Everyblock was the epitome of community reporting and discussion. You want to talk about your neighborhood, Everyblock was the place. Why was Everyblock shut down? Poytner published a…

If people dressed up as famous artists when visiting museums, who would you go as? I posted this question on the Spudart Facebook Page and got some fun replies. Dali, Warhol: “Someone distinctive looking like Dali or Warhol,” Tom Saaristo.…

Who speaks words like a poet? All comment given by bernawi of flickr is like a prance through the drewdrops of morning on the windows of perception. to find the true nature of things, it will break the ice of…

8-year former White Sox player A.J. Pierzynski is a class act to run a full-page ad for local fans in the Chicago Tribune at the end of 2012. I tip my hat to him. But I also give AJ two…

  What is the zip code for the White House? The Post Office suggests many zip codes for the White House. Use the Post Office Zip Code suggestion form, and search for: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The Post Office gives this list of…

We like to elevate ourselves by looking down on Sammy Sosa, but he’s just a big screw-up. The problem with Sammy is that he has no filter. He just blurts out things in desire for attention. And he does stupid…

An art series gets epic when there are 100 items in the series. Do you have any art series that has more than 100 photos? I have one. My HDR photos of Chicago is currently up to 190 photos. Let’s…

(artwork by Chicago artists: Erik Maldre, Ginny Gaura, Carissa Rose, Kristina Gosh, Lynda A. Betz) With admission prices rising at the Art Institute, this would be a great time for them to employ an extra incentive for people to come…

Starting February 1 the Art Institute is raising their admission prices as much as five dollars. With every ticket, a piece of artwork should be given away with every ticket. Snaaaap. $23. I want some artwork! An artist trading card…

It’s weird how someone can call the phrase “Together, we’re fucked” to be optimistic. It’s a rather perverted look on optimism. Give Sarah Nardi’s article a read, “Artist Joel Fisher chooses to see the bright side.” The artist claims he’s…

While waiting at the Randolph/Wabash CTA station, a face by my feet was staring at me! His tiny piercing eyes met mine as his gruff face with a heavy chin and wide thin lips spoke to me, “eerh, woodn’t you…

The Art Institute is wrapping up Thomas Schütte’s large statue, “Vater Staat.” They should do something creative with the masking tape. Let’s make some suggestions to the Art Institute of Chicago on how to better apply the masking tape. To…

You can search within your favorites on flickr. You can’t do that on Instagram. For instance, I searched for “balloons” in my flickr favs, and I got these fun results. Try that, stupid Instagram! Get a free flickr account now…

You know what is a great motivator to get your goals done for 2013? A community website called 43things.com. Add your goals to a list. Then you can write entries about your progress in each goal. There’s thousands of people…

2012 saw most of my photos cropped to squares thanks to instagram. I also found that while browsing other people’s photos on the Instagram app, I often didn’t read the caption. I would only look at the photos. I started…

A big congratulations to local Chicago website, thisiscolossal.com. Christopher Jobson announced that his website of “art & visual ingenuity” is able to support his family full-time. The artwork featured on thisiscolossal is truly amazing and inspires me everytime I visit.…