CAA News Today

Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

The Art of Healing

Over the last few decades, a growing body of studies and anecdotal evidence that suggests art facilitates healing has driven the incorporation of art into medical settings. Nearly half of the healthcare institutions in the United States reported including arts in their programming, ranging from art and music therapy to featuring visual art in hospitals. (Read more from the University of California, San Francisco.)

Framing Tips: The Hard(ware) Facts

Framing tips on hardware may not seem exciting, but understanding the function and limitations of various types of screws, hangers, and wires will ensure that your framed drawings and paintings are properly supported when displayed. Take a little time to tackle the terminology and technicalities. Your art deserves nothing less. (Read more from the Artist’s Magazine.)

In Defense of Art School Graduates

What’s wrong with our industry that we are so quick to belittle formal education? Whenever the topic of an art degree arises, there’s an angry mob that amasses, collectively chanting how “useless” a degree is in photography and that the best school to learn from is the University of Hard Knocks. To really understand this issue, we have to first step back and look at the value of art and why photographers are so polarized on the term. (Read more from Fstoppers.)

Why You (Yes, You!) Should Write Book Reviews

The conventional wisdom is that graduate students shouldn’t take time to write academic book reviews. There’s just not enough in it for them, the thinking goes. As a sociologist who has studied the publishing industry, I disagree with the dismissive attitude many have toward book reviewing. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

Want to Be Taken Seriously as a Scholar in the Humanities? Publish a Monograph

A decade ago, in my first year as lecturer in a humanities department, an eminent professor helped me secure a book contract with a top university press for my recently completed doctoral thesis. Another senior colleague stopped me in the corridor: “This is very rare,” she said. “And this is what gets you ahead in this game.” (Read more from the Guardian.)

Best Way for Professors to Get Good Student Evaluations? Be Male

Many in academia have long known about how the practice of student evaluations of professors is inherently biased against women. Just as polling data continues to show that a majority of Americans think being a man automatically makes you better in the boss department, many professors worry that students automatically rate male professors as smarter, more authoritative, and more awesome overall because they are men. Now, a new study shows that there is good reason for that concern. (Read more from Slate.)

What You Need to Know before Donating Art

For investors thinking about donating art, the most important thing to know is this: It isn’t as simple as … donating art. The benefits of a donation are clear. The owners may have a fondness for a particular museum or university they have in mind as a recipient, for instance. And the ego gratification is powerful. But ego aside, donors have a lot of factors to consider before making a decision. (Read more from the Wall Street Journal.)

Acrylics on Plastics

When a liquid comes into contact with any solid, new interfaces or boundaries are generated between these dissimilar materials. Although many factors exist which will promote or inhibit adhesion of the acrylic paint onto solid plastic, the most important element is the ability of the liquid to “wet-out” the solid onto which it is painted. (Read more from Just Paint.)