Through homemade maps, CityLab readers shared perspectives and stories from a world transformed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Cocktails With A Curator: “Gainsborough’s ‘Grace Dalrymple Elliott'” (Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng studies Thomas Gainsborough’s scandalous portrait of Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Discover why this painting met with a negative reception when it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1782. Mrs. Elliott later moved to France, where she lived through the Reign of Terror and died in 1823 in the outskirts of Paris. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Pimm’s Cup, a traditional summer drink in Britain.
Thomas Gainsborough RA FRSA was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century.
Audio Stories: “Dominoes” By Jennine Capó Crucet, Narrated By Andy Cohen
Daydreaming in the Life Artois is a weekly audio series of summer stories that transports the listener to the summer life we once savored together before isolation, and look forward to enjoying again. Written by some of America’s most celebrated and rising writers our stories aim to give our audience a much needed mental escape. Narrated by Andy Cohen. Running from June 12 to July 17.
Jennine Capó Crucet is a Cuban-American novelist, and short story writer.
World’s Top Painters: Bird Artist Vanessa Foley – “Sacred, Stylistic Beauty”
Vanessa Foley is a professional bird artist based in the North of England. She regularly shows her work in notable galleries in the UK and America, has work in private collections worldwide and is a member of The VACVVM, an international cult of illustration co-founded by Aaron Horkey & Mitch Putnam.
An artist from Newcastle, England she is known for her intensely detailed graphite drawings and emotionally rich oil paintings. She has become a long-standing member of the Antler Gallery roster since we first exhibited her work four years ago.
Vanessa has embraced the stylistic beauty that oil painting offers an artist representing subjects accurately. The density and delicacy of the feathers in her paintings of birds of prey is stunning. In this series she has chosen to focus on the nocturnal, incorporating owls and moths. (Antler Gallery).
Tributes: Sleep Medicine Pioneer William Dement Dies At 91 – “Drowsiness Is Red Alert” (1928 – 2020)
His mission was to educate the world about the importance of sleep, which he believed was dangerously undervalued. His motto, “drowsiness is red alert,” is a message he tirelessly broadcast to his students, trainees, members of Congress and the world at large.
William Dement, MD, PhD, known as the father of sleep medicine, died June 17 after a two-year battle with cardiovascular disease. He was 91.
With a handful of other scientists, Dement, a longtime faculty member of the Stanford School of Medicine, created the fields of sleep research and sleep medicine, and his many books and lectures helped raise awareness of sleep disorders and the dangers of sleep deprivation.
Dement’s many other accomplishments and accolades range far and wide: Dement and Guilleminault were the founding editors of the journal Sleep, the first major international journal devoted to sleep, publishing the first issue in 1978. He was the author of books for lay readers, including The Promise of Sleep, Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep and The Sleepwatchers. The 2012 comedy film Sleepwalk with Me featured The Promise of Sleep and Dement in a cameo.
New Art Books: “Walton Ford – Pancha Tantra”
In this stunning but sinister visual universe, beasts and birds are not mere aesthetic objects but dynamic actors in allegorical struggles: a wild turkey crushes a small parrot in its claw; a troupe of monkeys wreaks havoc on a formal dinner table; an American buffalo is surrounded by bloodied white wolves. In dazzling watercolor, the images impress as much for their impeccable realism as they do for their complex narratives.
At first glance, Walton Ford’s large-scale, highly detailed watercolors of animals recall the prints of 19th-century illustrators John James Audubon and Edward Lear. A closer look reveals a complex and disturbingly anthropomorphic universe, full of symbols, sly jokes, and allusions to the ‘operatic’ quality of traditional natural history.
First available as a signed and limited volume, this updated edition of Pancha Tantra is the most comprehensive survey of Ford’s oeuvre to date, with 40 new works, more than 120 additional pages, and a new essay by the artist. It features dazzling details, an in-depth exploration of his visual universe, a complete biography, and excerpts from his textual inspirations: from Indian folktales and the letters of Benjamin Franklin to the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini and Audubon’s Ornithological Biography.
Also available in an Art Edition limited to 100 copies, each with a print signed by Walton Ford
Arts: Chinese Artist Chu Teh-Chun – “Symphony Of Abstraction” (Sotheby’s)
Making its auction debut, ‘Les éléments confédérés’ is the only five-panel work by pioneering Chinese artist Chu Teh-Chun and the largest oil painting by the artist remaining in private hands. In this video, view the monumental work set to the piece of music it was inspired by – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and discover how the choice of five panels relates to Chinese philosophy.
New Landscape Videos: “Eight Great Gardens Of The World” (Nowness)
Do you love plants and all things to do with gardens? In our #GreatGardens series, we revisit our top eight episodes which feature the planet’s wildest sub-tropical landscapes and quintessential rural retreats.
TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (JUNE 19, 2020)
Top New Science Podcasts: Universities Post-Covid And Drones Fighting Mosquito-Borne Disease
Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Mervis joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how universities are dealing with the financial crunch brought on by the coronavirus. Jeff discusses how big research universities are balancing their budgets as federal grants continue to flow, but endowments are down and so is the promise of state funding.
Mosquito-borne infections like Zika, dengue, malaria, and chikungunya cause millions of deaths each year. Nicole Culbert and colleges write this week in Science Robotics about a new way to deal with deadly mosquitoes—using drones. The drones are designed to drop hundreds of thousands of sterile male mosquitoes in areas with high risk of mosquito-borne illness. The idea is that sterile male mosquitoes will mate with females and the females then lay infertile eggs, which causes the population to decline. They found this drone-based approach is cheaper and more efficient than other methods of releasing sterile mosquitoes and does not have the problems associated with pesticide-based eradication efforts such as resistance and off-target effects.
Boomers Daily 