The new US Ambassador to Zimbabwe has just embarked on his tour of duty here. Perhaps that is why it is fitting that the Art In Embassies (AIE) collection at his residence is appropriately themed Beginnings. Although he was last here a decade ago Ambassador Bruce Wharton is beginning his tenure as Washington’s man in […]
In my line of work, we often talk about the art of diplomacy as we try to make people’s lives a little better around the world. But, in fact, art is also a tool of diplomacy. It reaches beyond governments, past the conference rooms and presidential palaces, to help us connect with more people in […]
Charles Rivkin was strapped into a Parachute, and he didn’t let strong winds deter him as the helicopter hovered over Normandy. the occasion was a mass jump with the U.s. army’s Golden Knights to commemorate the 68th anniversary of D-Day, last June, and it was the ambassador’s first free fall. Some jumpers landed in trees […]
Art in Embassies Makes a Splash for 50th Anniversary – In his book “The First Resort of Kings,” Richard Arndt, a former cultural attaché with the State Department, stressed the power of art as a diplomatic tool to encourage cultural exchange despite language and other hurdles. “The arts have always had the advantage of transcending […]
Last month, Jenny Honnert Abell traveled to Dakar, Senegal, to experience the people and culture of that West African country. Next weekend, Saturday Jan. 19, she’s giving a talk about her experiences at Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, where her work is represented locally. This opportunity to travel in Senegal came as part of a commission […]
They say that art is the great international communicator no matter what language you speak. Art also is a symbol of free expression, and has represented the United States in its embassies and consulates around the world by putting our “best foot forward” in the spirit of creativity and cooperation among nations and showcasing some […]
Arts in Embassies program was great diplomatic tool, former Ambassador Tom Schieffer says – WASHINGTON — When Tom Schieffer was U.S. ambassador in Australia and then Japan, he found that a little-noticed program that placed American art in embassies was one of the best diplomatic investments he made. Fifty years after the Kennedy administration started […]
LA Contemporary – Virginia Shore: Chief Curator, Art in Embassies – an Excavation of site and citation – a Question and Answer Interview. How did you get involved with Art in Embassies? I started out as an intern. Within a few months, they put me under contract as a ‘research assistant’ and my job was […]
Oil painting coming home to Utah from South African embassy – MAPLETON — Steven Lee Adams will soon be receiving a large crate at his studio in Mapleton containing a painting he loaned to the U.S. ambassador to South Africa three years ago. His painting has been hanging in the embassy there as part of […]
BOXBOROUGH — An artist and astrologer, Chris Flisher is a close observer time, distance and space, as well as the celestial sky from which he draws inspiration when he creates his colorful spiritual drawings – called mandalas – in his Boxborough home studio. Now Flisher’s artwork is on display half a world away, in Praia, […]
If you’ve ever wondered what a deployed husband, wife, father or mother has seen overseas, there’s an opportunity to look “through their eyes.” The Defense and State departments issued a call-out on Veterans Day 2011 for current and former military and civil service members to submit their images to the “Serving Abroad … Through Their […]
On November 30th, in honor of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Art in Embassies (AIE) 50th anniversary, the National Portrait Gallery’s courtyard was overflowing with beautiful gowns, dapper men, KanKouran dancers, musicians, artists, politicians, military personnel, philanthropists and very recognizable TV personalities. In addition to marking AIE’s 50th anniversary, the event illustrated the program’s […]
If you’ve ever wondered what a deployed husband, wife, father or mother has seen overseas, there’s an opportunity to look “through their eyes.” The Defense and State departments issued a call-out on Veterans Day 2011 for current and former military and civil service members to submit their images to the “Serving Abroad … Through Their […]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton climbed to the top of a 20-foot cube made of 4,000 packs of Post-it notes Friday night to get a better look at the party in the National Portrait Gallery’s courtyard. BusinessWeek Senator Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, and his wife, Abigail, caught up with British Ambassador Peter Westmacott near a […]
