Celebrating its 20th year, the Chicago-based non-profit United States Artists (USA) has released the names of its 2026 fellows, each of whom will receive a $50,000 unrestricted grant. In addition to the monetary prize, fellows benefit from tailored support from USA, such as financial planning, career consulting and legal advice. Awarded in ten categories-architecture and design, craft, writing, dance, film, media, music, theatre and performance, traditional arts and visual art-
My friend Elaine Short, who has died aged 89, was an artist, potter, teacher and Francophile. She was also a skilled and talented weaver. When I met her in the 1990s she showed me some of her beautiful tapestries, many of them inspired by the Sussex countryside. Her work was exhibited in galleries including Hastings Art Forum, where she was an active member, and her tapestry techniques were much admired.
Not so much for the carnal stuff, but for the way every word he utters is taken to be as beautiful as he is. Intoxicated by their admiration, his admirers leap headfirst into the still waters of his pronouncements apparently certain of hidden depths thereunder. So it has been with the reaction to how he comforted his director when she confessed, in so many words, that she couldn't always grasp what Shakespeare was on about.
Sheila Berenson is an educator, writer, and visual artist based in Brookline, Massachusetts. Her professional journey spans decades of teaching, writing, and creating art, all guided by one consistent principle: curiosity fuels understanding. Art has always been a part of Sheila's life, shaping her approach to learning and inspiring her to connect with the world in meaningful ways. Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee,
and I demonstrate how art can gently tip the scales back toward harmony. Think of visual art as a toolkit to soothe the mind and spirit. Every day, we are inundated with imagery urging us to work harder, buy more ... and never stop. Art offers the exact opposite. It slows and calms us down, sharpens our critical thinking, nurtures happiness, and helps us resist the endless cycle of consumption.
"I hate words," she tells me. "I'm so bad at expressing myself through words, and I want to get a lot better at it because I'm making TikToks right now, and I've realised I'm not good at figuring out what to say on the fly consistently. So I think a lot about communicating things in pictures or storyboards."
