Fairfield Porter’s elegant paintings were the subject of a 1983 retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that at once permanently elevated his reputation and ensconced him into a period of modernist figuration that curators have been neglecting, in one form or another, for decades. Fairfield Porter: Raw at the Middlebury College Museum of Art afforded an unusual opportunity to see his work assembled in a serious way.

Fairfield Porter: Raw—The Creative Process of an American Master, an exhibition of approximately forty works drawn from the extensive Porter holdings at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, opened on May 19 at the Middlebury College Museum of Art and will remain on view through Aug. 14. Originally organized for the Parrish Art Museum by Klaus Ottmann, Fairfield Porter: Raw includes not only completed paintings and works on paper but also unfinished paintings and accompanying sketches, drawings, and ephemera. Many of the works are exhibited “raw”—unframed and unmatted—to convey an unprecedented insight into Porter’s creative process.

Dave Zirin is a self-proclaimed sports fanatic. He hosts a popular radio show, has authored numerous books, is a sought-after columnist, and often appears on networks like ESPN, MSNBC, and CNN. And he will not hesitate to tell you who his pick is for the playoffs. In any sport. But wait, in 2009 UTNE Reader touted Zirin as one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World.” Yes, Zirin himself admits he’s a bit of an anomaly. Read the whole post.

“Breaking the Huddle,” a lecture on the opening of a new gallery at the Middlebury College Art Museum, existed in my mind as something very stereotypical. I expected to see solely images of sculpted, poised men exploding with bravado and narcissism. But when Christopher Bedford dove into the intent of artists who generated these images, it all seemed much more deep and beautiful.