House Beautiful Magazine has a great series of tips from top decorators all about how to take your home from good to great. We particularly like their tips for hanging art (above). See all of the tips - 101 in all - here. And, in case you're wondering, all ArtStar mats are 8 ply Hahnemuhle paper with a lovely beveled edge. For a great example of a gallery-style wall see below from Young House Love, and of course, you don't have to follow these (or any) decorating tips to the letter. The important this is to make your space your own!

If you're in Westport MA, don't miss Zaria Forman's group show at Deedee Shattuck Gallery from May 1st-28th where she will be exhibiting alongside Hugette May and Sandra Allen. Forman says about her new work, “with my Greenland series I attempt to capture the ephemeral properties of arctic light. I am interested in the element of water and how it absorbs and reflects the light in its various forms. The forms that we easily recognize are water, cloud, and ice; these are essential elements that inspire my compositions. I am also interested in the transition between these states and enjoy the challenge of translating such sublime experiences into my work. The different forms of illuminated water give rise to the dreamy, atmospheric scenes that I hope will transport the viewer to this remote region of the earth, and encourage action to preserve it.” Read more about the exibition here, and explore more work from Zaria here. Zaria is concurrently in residence at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Arctic Visions: Away Then Floats the Ice-Island where she will also be exhibiting new work.

For our Friday design inspiration we're loving these dalmatian spotted chairs (sourced via pinterest, if you've got the credit for this pic let us know!). They take polka dots from cutesy to a whole new level of cool and the pink piping keeps the pattern from being too dizzying. Pair them with some bright pastels - we love the abstracts above the fireplace - and some gold accents and you've got a look that is fresh and invigorating.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us at NY Tech Day at Pier 92 - billed as the world's largest event for startups. We discovered loads of new tech startups and met tons on inspiring people. Not to mention Beefy the dog was there! A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth - we can't tell you how much we love talking about our company - and we hope to see you all again next year! Follow the #NYTD hashtag on instagram and twitter to see more pics of the event.

From a rumble at MoMA over their planned demolition to art vending machines in the UK and the reopening of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, here are some of the art world headlines that are on our radar this week:

 Photo: Giles Ashford/Tod Williams Billie Tsien via Bloomberg

1. An increasing number of high profile architects have come out against MoMA's planned demolition of the former Folk Art Museum building (its neighbor) including Annabelle Selldorf, Robert A. M. Stern and Richard Meier. [via ArtInfo]

James S. Russell writes that the planned assimilation is a "flabbergasting act of cultural vandalism." [via Bloomberg]

photo via The Art Newspaper

2. The Rijksmuseum has reopened in the Netherlands after decade-long extensive renovation. [via The Art Newspaper]

 3. Kenny Scharf, whose solo show is currently on view at Paul Kasmin Gallery, was arrested in Williamsburg for graffiti. Apparently the arresting officers are fans of Exit Through the Giftshop and there was little fuss all around. [via Gallerist]

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 image via the BBC

4. The City of Leeds has introduced vending machines around the city that sell original art for  £1. "For £1, you're able to buy very rare pieces," says John Slemensek of art collective Woolgather, one of the project's founders. "It really shaves off those ideas of 'out of reach artwork' or 'I could never own a piece of artwork'. [via the BBC]

Earth Day comes but once a year, and this year to celebrate we've got a one-day promotion to show some love to your walls, alongside the earth. And did we mention that all of our pigments and papers are eco friendly? Plus we do all of our printing, framing and shipping in the USA to reduce our carbon footprint. To find out more about how to get involved in Earth Day activities in your area, check out www.earthday.org. (image: Israel #2 by Zaria Forman)

Ever wondered how ArtStar prints are made? Check out our handy printing and framing page to see exactly how your art gets from our expert printers and framers to your wall. We're also proud to print and frame exclusively in the USA with fully archival and eco-friendly materials. Questions about printing or framing or anything else? Email us at hello@artstar.com.

It's no secret that we love art - but we also love the geeky world of tech startups. So we're very excited to be exhibiting at the second NY Tech Day at Pier 92. Come on by, check it out and ask us all your burning questions about how on earth we put art online (and make it look goood!). Click below for more info.

Here at ArtStar HQ we've had lots of projects on the go this spring - from AAF to our inaugural outing to the Architectural Digest Home Design Show to the many new artists we're bringing on board. In between we're also been working on a super fun project with one of our favorite artists Lisa Levy at the stylishly purple hotel called Yotel near Times Square in NYC. Levy has been involved with a large-scale installation, curated by ArtStar's Director Chrissy Crawford, to cover the Yobot and other parts of the hotel with her text-based work and the results, if we do say so ourselves, are brilliant! Enjoy a sneak peek of the installation above, including Lisa's chat with the Yobot and, even if you can't make it by Yotel, enjoy her work on ArtStar (did we mention is nearly all sold out at AAF?).