Profile

Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.

Jennifer Dasal

Jennifer Dasal is the associate curator of contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she has been employed since 2008. She holds an MA in art history from the University of Notre Dame as well as a BA in art history from the University of California, Davis. She has also completed PhD coursework in art history at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research expertise includes contemporary art with a particular interest in women artists and Asian art. Prior to joining the NCMA, she held positions as assistant to the curator of Western art at the Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, and at the Richard L. Nelson Art Gallery, University of California, Davis. She has additional experience working in commercial art galleries.

On the side, Dasal hosts the ArtCurious Podcast, a bi-weekly show exposing the unexpected, the slightly odd, and the strangely wonderful in art history. ArtCurious is art history for all of us. This isn’t like a college lecture, droning on about archaic art terminology (like chiaroscuro or contrapposto) or the importance of linear perspective (um, okay). We're interested in the juicy stuff: did Van Gogh actually commit suicide? Was a British painter actually Jack the Ripper? And how did the CIA covertly support modern art? That's the ArtCurious difference: we’re all about story first, shining light into unseen corners of art history. Art history is full of fascinating stories—and we want to share them to a broad audience of art lovers and art novices alike. And if you just happen to learn something along the way, that's just gravy.