COVID-19 Memorials from the Online Art Community - Request a Free Portrait

If your family has lost a loved one to COVID-19, artists from the internet are here to make you a free memorial. Fill out the request form to start.

J. Michael SinclairApril 10, 2020

Call For Portrait Artists - COVID-19 Memorial

ARTISTS: Join diedfamous in providing free memorials for families affected by COVID-19.

J. Michael SinclairMarch 31, 2020Covid19, memorial, project

The Toxic Legacy of Art's Most Important Pigment

Lead paint is the stuff of nightmares when it comes to buying a home and raising children. Flakes of paint to be inhaled or ingested, it’s unsettling. But lead’s importance in society, and the arts especially, may surprise you.

Creative HazardsJ. Michael SinclairJanuary 17, 2020White, Lead, Paint, Leaded, Flake White, White Paint, Art

The Color You Can't See (Or Buy)

Black. It seems simple enough. The absence of colors. That’s if you’re dealing with light, anyways. When it comes to pigment, black actually has to absorb light, and mastering that requires science.

Undark™ The Radioactive Paint

Glow in the dark paint first hit the scene in the early 1900’s with the arrival of Undark - a hot new paint pigment. And when I say hot, I mean HOT. This UV-reactive pigment was made with radium-226, and as the name implies -- radium is radioactive.

Noxious History of School Bus Yellow

In the 1930’s, a doctor by the name of Frank Cyr wanted to implement standards for school transportation. During this period, the end of the great depression, kids were brought into school by all sorts of vehicles, including wagons, trucks, and buses. Cyr wanted to incorporate a standard color that improved visibility of these vehicles there by differentiating them from other traffic.

Creative HazardsJ. Michael SinclairJanuary 17, 2020Yellow, Paint, School, Bus, Frank, Cyr, Regulation, Lead, Chromium

Scheele’s Green - The Shunning of Green in the Victorian Era

The color was affordable and available. Because of this, manufacturers began using it in everything from wallpaper to birthday candles. But Scheele’s Green had a secret.

Creative HazardsJ. Michael SinclairJanuary 17, 2020Green, Scheele's, Paint, Wallpaper, Bonaparte, Napoleon, France, Sweedish, Chemistry, Toxic, Hazard

Everything Wrong with #TeamTrees

TeamTrees is an on-going fundraiser organized by MrBeast where every dollar donated equals one tree planted. It sounds good right? This investigation raises questions that put that "goodness" into doubt. Is #TeamTrees misleading its donors?

The Viral Philanthropy of MrBeast

Is MrBeast really improving the quality of life in the world? Does Donaldson’s charitable nature dig deep, or is he just another flavor of prankster veiled by good intent?

The Art of GivingJ. Michael SinclairAugust 26, 2019MrBeast, Beast, Mr. Beast

Banksy and the Downside of Being Up

‘Getting Up’ is something graffiti writers aim to do. Putting paint to the wall for the world to sit and wonder -- how? -- and more importantly: why? This is not done out of expectation that it will last forever, but as an affront to the fact that nothing will. “Getting up” is a journey, implied in the future-tense of the language.