Anna Koster
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Some of My Published Articles
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The Oakland Museum of California combines contemporary art with the cultural artifacts from a 62-year-old LGBTQ society in "Over the Top: Math Bass and the Imperial Court SF." Read the review.

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Tara Donovan uses common, mass-produced objects assembled in large quantities and in novel ways to create art. She “plays” with materials to develop ideas. Read more at the Mercury News.

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Anne & Mark's Art Party, an outrageous, creative, and wonderful trip down the rabbit hole, opens September 24, 2016. Read about it at RegardingArts.com and the Mercury News.

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​Previous Articles
This show combines contemporary art by Math Bass with cultural artifacts from the LGBTQ "Imperial Court SF." Read.​
Tara Donovan uses common, mass-produced objects to create art. Read
Anne & Mark's Art Party is a nearly annual event. Read about it at RegardingArts.com and the Mercury News.
Pace Gallery Palo Alto opened with work by James Turrell, who uses science to create light-and-space environments. Read  
Two new Palo Alto venues reveal opposite ends of the visual arts spectrum...Read
Robert Irwin's work in the Light and Space movement...Read
Raphael's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn" at the Legion of Honor ... Read
Janet Cardiff's sound installation "The Forty-Part Motet" ... Read


Georgia O'Keeffe's Contemporaries: Women Who Helped Develop an American Style of Modern Art
​These women painters born in the same decade also made wonderful art but have gotten less recognition than O'Keeffe.
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Henrietta Shore attended the Art Students League in New York with Georgia O'Keeffe and was friends with Edward Weston, reputedly influencing his work. Shore lived many years in Carmel, California.
Born: 1880, Toronto, Canada
Died: 1963, San Jose, California​
Image: "Life," circa 1921, by Shore
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Agnes Pelton studied with Athur Wesley Dow, as did O'Keeffe, and also at the Pratt Institute and in Europe. She visited Mable Dodge Luhan in Taos, N.M., in 1919, a decade before O'Keeffe. She loved the desert.
Born: 1881, Stuttgart, Germany
Died: 1961, Cathedral City, California
Image: "Winter," 1933, by Pelton
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Helen Torr, known as "Reds," worked alongside other artists, most notably her husband Arthur Dove and their friend Georgia O'Keeffe, to develop an American style of Modernism in the 1920s. 
Born: 1886, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
​Died: 1967, Long Island, New York
Image: Shell, 1928, by Torr
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Georgia O’Keeffe is the most famous women artist of her generation. Through her association with Alfred Stieglitz and his promotion of her work, she gained early acclaim and notoriety.
Born: 1887, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Died: 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico
"Series I, No. 4," 1918,  by O'Keeffe
​"Music, Pink and Blue No. 2," 1918,  by O'Keeffe
"Tan Clam Shell with Seaweed," 1926,  by O'Keeffe

Writing and Copyediting Aids
When you are writing for others — whether it's composing poetry or reporting for the local news bureau — these resources can help. 
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Type the word in the search field, and this online dictionary will explain its meaning, pronounce the word for you, offer other spellings if you mistype it, and more​.
Chicago Manual of Style
Contents page lists topics, but the online guide is not accessible without paying or signing up for a free, 30-day trial. See a page on hyphens, Q&A section, and exercises.
Blogs, Podcasts, and Websites
Purdue University's online writing guide
Grammar Girl, a weekly podcast 
The original Elements of Style online
Writing tips, copy-editing info, and more

There Is More to Color Than You Imagined
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The first art pigments were charcoal and ocher. Other natural materials were used, and now synthetics, but there is so more to understand about color.
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Think you know your colors? How and why we see colors the way we do is relative. Beau Lotto proves this on his website LottoLab.org and in his TED Talk.
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Radio Lab tears the rainbow apart in the name of science and poetry. Listen to this podcast and be amazed at what you learn about our perception of color.
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The psychology of color as it relates to persuasion is one of the most interesting—and most controversial—aspects of marketing.. Read about the research..

Documentaries about Artists Who Are Making a Difference in the World
Their art is moving and so are their efforts to effect change: Vik Muniz, Edward Burtynsky, and Sebastião Salgado.

PictureVIK AT JARDIM GRAMACHO  Photograph by Fabio Ghivelder, courtesy of Vik Muniz Studio
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Watch it free; use study guide.
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​MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES shows photographer and visual artist Ed Burtynsky's trip through landscapes that have been altered by large-scale human activity. See it through Amazon. His WATERMARK documentary is also available at Amazon.
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​SALT OF THE EARTH is a beautiful and moving documentary. Photographer Sebastião Salgado's has witnessed international conflicts, starvation, and exodus. Now he is embarking on a huge tribute to the planet’s beauty. Watch the film at Amazon.

Standard Photo Sizes on Websites
​The information came from a website-building workshop that I took at Stanford University 2015?) with images 72 pixels per inch. And here's an update.
Large Photo:
​Maximum 500 pixels on its longest side
Medium-Size Photo:
​140 to 300 pixels on a side
Thumbnail-size photo or logo:
​70 to 100 pixels on a side
​Banner-size images: Maximum 1200 pixels wide by maximum 400 pixels high 
Where to Get Free Photos
There is a growing number of places to obtain excellent images, at no charge, with few or no restrictions in how photos are used.
Wikimedia Commons:
This database contains millions of freely usable media files that anyone can contribute to or use: https://commons.wikimedia.org
Flickr:
Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?1=cc 
Museums with open access:
http://search.getty.edu or www.nga.gov
http://artgallery.yale.edu/collection/search
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection
Conservation Supplies
If you need archival or conservation supplies, t​hese were recommended to me by the then-conservator at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center.
For 30-plus years, Conservation Resources International has provided high quality conservation and archival storage materials for preserving cultural and historical artifacts.
TALAS, established in 1962, became the first company in the United States to serve the museum and library community with hand bookbinding and conservation supplies.
University Products offers archival storage boxes and conservation paper, films, boards, including buffered and unbuffered, acid-free and lignin-free, and foam sheets.
Online Search Tips
Add quote marks around exact terms to improve results. Use a plus sign (+) when a second search term is introduced. More tips for search:
Limit results to a specific website by putting in site: and the website's address in the search bar. Example to find "O'Keeffe" on this website: O'Keeffe site:www.annakoster.com
To exclude a website in a search, add a minus sign: O'Keeffe -site:www.annakoster.com
For specific results on a topic, such as finding the best watercolors, add inanchor:best before the search term like this: inanchor:best "watercolor set"
Here is another example, to find advanced art classes:  inanchor:advanced "art classes"
You may want to narrow the inanchor search results down to a single site. Do that by adding site: and the desired internet address (URL), like this: 
inanchor:best "water filter" site:consumerreports.org
Erase Racism
A friend of a friend compiled a list of Anti-Racism Resources.
It is incumbent on White people to end racism: 75 Things White People Can Do
Discover your unconscious bias with Harvard Implicit Association Tests.
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