Tuesday, February 10, 2026
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Cannon Beach, Oregon
CMount Cleveland, Alaska
Zoji La Pass, India
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Clementine Hunter
Born in the late 1880s, Clementine Hunter spent most of her early life working on a farm before moving to Melrose Plantation as a teenager. During the period of time she worked at Melrose, the home’s owner — Cammie Henry — hosted several artists on the grounds under the condition that the artists create or leave. One of the artists left his supplies at the home after his stay. These supplies were found by Clementine Hunter and famously used to create her first art piece. In 1955, Hunter was the first African-American artist to have a solo art show at a gallery in New Orleans and another at Northwestern State College (now University.) As an African-American, she was not allowed into the college gallery with white patrons; she had to be snuck in the back to see her own exhibition.
Hunter was a prolific painter who started in her 50s and eventually created more than 5,000 works of art literally leaving her legacy on every spare piece of flat surface available. She painted scenes from the plantation world around her: hanging clothes to dry, funeral processionals and people in her community. Using both bright colors and the size and scale of objects in her paintings, she conveyed how she felt about the people in her community (being painted bigger meant being important). Because of the vast number of paintings and her unique painting style, her artwork plays an important role in understanding life in the Cane River region during the early- to mid-twentieth century. Although Hunter originally sold her artwork for as little as one dollar (or 25 cents to look through her gallery), her pieces often sell for top price today and have been featured in many prestigious art museums across the globe. Hunter passed in 1988 at age 100.
Monday, February 09, 2026
2026.0209.0003...
Click on headline to read the somewhat long article...
The Top-Secret WWII Unit That Fooled the Nazis
The “Ghost Army” used creative tricks such as inflatable tanks and sound effects to dupe German forces.
Its artillery couldn’t fire, its tanks couldn’t move and its members were more adept at wielding paintbrushes than guns. Yet, a top-secret unit of 1,100 American artists, designers and sound engineers unofficially known as the “Ghost Army” helped to win World War II by staging elaborate ruses that fooled the forces of Nazi Germany about the location and size of Allied forces.
Members of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and 3133rd Signal Company Special who literally practiced the art of war saved the lives of thousands of American servicemen and earned one of the country’s highest civilian honors.
Employing inflatable decoys, fake radio chatter and loudspeakers that blared sound effects, the Ghost Army could simulate a force 30 times its size as it operated as close as a quarter mile from the front lines. “Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a few men which had so great an influence on the outcome of a major military campaign,” declared a U.S. Army report.
Images are not from the article.
The Top-Secret WWII Unit That Fooled the Nazis
The “Ghost Army” used creative tricks such as inflatable tanks and sound effects to dupe German forces.
Images are not from the article.
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