"Lifestyle of Chickens" by Donna Shortt, an Indianapolis artist who will be featured in the Southside Art League's newest exhibition, "Passionate About Pastel." The show will run through Sept. 30.

“Nicolas Party: Pastel” at The FLAG Art Foundation, installation view: Rosalba Carriera, “Portrait of a Lady at Three-Quarter Length” ( n.d.), pastel on paper, 22 x 17 1⁄4 inches, Collection of ...

Pastel is a paradoxical medium. It is the most fragile of materials—essentially dust rubbed on a surface (usually paper). It is easily disturbed and impossible to fix without altering its character.

When the French artist Maurice-Quentin de La Tour exhibited his monumental portrait of the magistrate and banking heir Gabriel Bernard de Rieux at the Paris Salon of 1741, he clearly intended the ...