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By: Nick Zieminski

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- Earth’s polar extremes may seem monochromatic and hostile to life, but a new book shows they are teeming with colorful creatures. “Antarctic” includes some 180 images, each spread across two large-format pages. It aims to elicit an emotional reaction from wildlife enthusiasts — and anyone concerned about the environment — by showing animals in often intimate close-up, contrasted with panoramas of the icy landscapes they inhabit. Despite the title, about half the pictures are from the northern Arctic. None were altered, but photographer Michael Poliza occasionally tricks the eye. One image seems impossible, unless the penguin aimed a camera at its own feet. In fact, Poliza took the shot, then flipped it upside-down. Poliza has published two photo books on Africa, and aims to do one for each continent. He spoke with Reuters about the Polar regions, how digital photography has changed his craft, and why shooting in Europe is a challe

EAST LANSING, MI.- Dr. Susan J. Bandes, Director, Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University , was elected to membership in the Print Council of America at the Board of Directors semi-annual meeting, held November 6, 2009 in New York . This non-profit, professional organization is comprised of 230 print specialists from the United States and Canada among them curators, university professors, conservators, librarians, scholars and representatives of collections of works on paper. Founded in 1956, the Print Council of America’s mission is to raise the visibility of printmaking as a fine art medium and to professionalize the preservation, administration, and study of print collections. The Council is a forum to share ideas, debate issues, and present updates on projects and recent acquisitions. Dr. Bandes says of her election, “I am flattered to be invited to join this organization. During my time at the Kres

LONDON (AP).- The black cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in ‘How to Steal a Million’ has sold for nearly $100,000 at auction. Kerry Taylor Auctions says the Chantilly lace dress sold to an anonymous bidder for about $97,700. It was one of 40 items from Hepburn’s wardrobe sold off by her friend Tanja Star-Busmann. The auctioneer said Tuesday’s sale made a total of 268,320 pounds. It says half of the net proceeds will go to The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund. Audrey Hepburn was not just a film star – she was a major style icon of the 20th Century.

ATHENS (REUTERS).- Sex, love and lust among the gods, rulers and lesser mortals of the ancient world are the focus of a new exhibition in the Greek capital this month. Phallic-shaped lamps, love letters engraved in clay and erotic symbols on lucky charms dating from 7 BC to 4 AD are just a fraction of what visitors will see at an exhibition dedicated to the Greek and later Roman god of love. “Eros: From Hesiod’s Theogony to late antiquity” runs from Dec 10 to April 2010 at the Cycladic Art Museum, featuring a collection of 280 artifacts from 50 museums in Greece,

DETROIT, MI.- Artists Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert will create “The Neighborhood Project” in the Walter Gibbs Gallery in the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) beginning Friday, Dec. 18. The artists will illustrate how art can transform neighborhoods, both visually and socially, by looking at how public space and aesthetics can be integrated. The installation will be up through March 28. The Project stems from the work Cope and Reichert have undertaken in their Detroit community. Beginning with their PowerHouse Project, they have put into practice ideas about the aesthetics of everyday life and the integration of art and design into the rethinking and rebuilding of neighborhoods.

VANCOUVER.- The Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts has granted the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA) $2.5 million in support of its current major capital renewal project, A Partnership of Peoples. This gift, together with contributions from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, Department of Canadian Heritage Cultural Spaces Program, and The Koerner Foundation, Toronto, is a significant step towards completing the project’s $55.5 million funding target. This major renovation helps transform MOA into one

MIAMI, FL.- Miami Art Museum, South Florida’s major contemporary art museum, has elected nine new members to its board of trustees: Steven J. Guttman, Mark H. LaRoe, Juan P. Loumiet, Rodolfo Luzardo, Deryl McKissack, Mark E. Oren, M.D., Arthur Halsey Rice, Eneida Roldan and Dennis Scholl. These new trustees will help guide MAM’s community programs, donor support and planning for the new Miami Art Museum at Museum Park. “We are happy to add this extraordinary group of nine trustees to Miami Art Museum’s board as we make significant strides toward our new home in Museum Park,” said Aaron Podhurst, Miami Art Museum chairman of the board of trustees. “Building a new museum requires the dedication of a committed group of supporters. We’re fortunate to have found that in these outstanding new board members, who are helping to shape a bright future for MAM.” Miami Art Museum welcomes the

GATESHEAD.- Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art announced a major exhibition of internationally renowned American artist Jenny Holzer opening on Friday, March 5, 2010. In 2002 Holzer participated in the ‘B.4.B’ pre-opening program, projecting her haunting texts onto facades throughout “Tyneside”. For her new exhibition, the artist will present work spanning the last two decades, filling two floors of Baltic’s galleries. Including painting and sculpture alongside her spectacular LED installations, the exhibition is Holzer’s largest and most comprehensive for fifteen years and the first of its scale to be shown in the UK. Best known for her use of text as art, Holzer combines an investigative use of language with an innovative use of materials and modes of distribution – LEDs, billboards, marble benches, T-shirts, condom wrappers, projections and, most recently, paintings – to confront some of the most potent iss