ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) ― There’s no mass production here, just evidence of the slow and patient work that went into handcrafting the costumes and tools behind one of Mexico’s most important traditions. From fine embroidery to ornate saddles and silver inlaid spurs, more than 150 pieces are on display at the Albuquerque Museum as part of the exhibition “Arte en la Charreria: The Artisanship of Mexican Equestrian Culture,” which is on display through March 30. The artifacts, some dating to t

NEW YORK (AP) ― It was once again winter ― cold, cold winter ― that dominated the mood on the fifth day of New York Fashion Week Monday, with designers presenting variations of warm clothes on a particularly freezing day. Carolina Herrera, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Thom Browne and Zac Posen were among the designers presenting their fall-winter collections on Monday. Shows were being held at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents at Lincoln Center and at va

HOUSTON (AP) ― It was care fit for a king: The yellowing parchment was fitted inside a custom-designed aluminum and steel case with monitors, then wrapped in specially made packaging. Once it was on the plane, a canon chancellor nervously tracked the flight as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. That document, a rarely seen copy of the Magna Carta, had never before left England’s shores and only once been outside its home in the Hereford Chapel near the Welsh border. Now, the famous charter, written

Museum experts talk about how an international art show is put together

Exhibitions“Julian Opie”: Kukje Gallery presents a solo exhibition of Julian Opie featuring some of his new works portraying the lifestyles of pedestrians in Seoul. The new works, results of his observations of people walking by on the streets of the capital city, will reveal his signature style of depicting people in color and outlining them prominently in black. The works on display are paintings, sculptures and pieces made using light-emitting diodes. The exhibition runs from Feb. 13 to March

When it comes to booze, Koreans know what they are dealing with. Just as the term “let’s have a meal” is often interchangeable with arranging a meeting, “let’s go for a drink” is roughly equivalent to socializing. In the past, social meetings with alcohol had involved participants getting heavily drunk. This brought forth the birth of poktanju, or the bomb-drink, which refers to a cocktail of beer and liquors such as whiskey.As its name suggests, its main goal is to bombard the drinker with a he

WASHINGTON (AP) ― When art historians saw Paris fall to the Nazis in World War II, they immediately realized Europe’s vast monuments, art, cathedrals and architecture were at risk and began mobilizing to protect such treasures. In Washington, the newly opened National Gallery of Art became the U.S. museum world’s epicenter for lobbying President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Allied forces in 1941 to prevent the destruction of Europe’s monuments. Their efforts would create a corps of U.S. and Bri

MANILA (AFP) ― For some of the Philippines’ most powerful clergymen, stepping off the pulpit and into cyberspace felt impossibly daunting until they took their first “selfies” and posted them on Facebook. Their initial forays into the brave new virtual world took place in a groundbreaking class for 50 of the Philippines’ top bishops and monsignors in Manila earlier last month, part of the Catholic Church’s strategy to remain relevant in the digital age.Sean-Patrick Lovett, a program director wit

CHICAGO ― Matt Haag used to be just another suburban kid going to high school, working at McDonald’s and aggravating his parents by spending endless hours on his Xbox. Today the lanky, dark-eyed 21-year-old is a global celebrity to an enormous number of young people, very few of whom know him as Matt. They call him Nadeshot, master of the virtual submachine gun, a guy who makes a six-figure living playing the video game “Call of Duty.” Haag is among a handful of Chicago-area men who have found a

Park No-hae’s photo exhibition sheds light on Asia’s unseen workers

TANGIERS, Morocco (AFP) ― A century after it was built, the Cervantes theater in Tangiers, once a symbol of the famed Moroccan city’s cultural vibrancy, is derelict and risks disappearing altogether, eclipsed by flashy new developments. The 1,400-seat playhouse, just a short distance from the old port, is a masterpiece of early 20th-century Spanish architecture in the once-international city that in its heyday hosted a wealth of colorful characters and communities. But today the blue and yellow

Confucian roots hold in Lunar New Year holidays, but change is in swing

Han Hyun-young, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul, had a hanbok custom-made for herself when she got married in 2011. But she has worn the traditional Korean clothes only twice ― on her first visit to her in-law’s house after her honeymoon and on her sister-in-law’s wedding day. “I wore it because I had to. I wouldn’t wear it if I didn’t have to,” she said. Han is not the only one feeling reluctant to wear a hanbok on special occasions. As hanbok are no longer a daily outfit for most Koreans,