The Earth is His Canvas: 64-year-old artist Stan Herd has recreated Van Gogh’s painting Olive Trees on a 1.2-acre field using grass, dirt, flowers, and other vegetation. Herd has been crafting “earthworks,” as he calls them, for decades–in 1981 he physically carved a 160-acre portrait of Kiowa Indian chief Satanta into a Kansas prairie. The Minneapolis Institute of Art commissioned Herd for the Van Gogh re-creation, which is located in Eagen, MN near the Thomson Reuters campus and took six months to complete. The piece can be seen from the air near the Minneapolis airport. Herd explains the volatility inherent in his choice of medium: “A few of the plants were eaten by deer, and a few were blown over. But that’s the dance of nature.” Herd certainly stands as an example of thinking outside the canvas!

Paris Opera Explores a New Stage: Paris Opera Ballet director Benjamin Millepied recently introduced a venture called 3e Scène, which partners with the Paris Opera website to offer an online forum for original art commissions, exhibitions, and readings. The project, whose name means “third stage,” has debuted by offering 18 short films and photographic series by a variety of artists. Kasper Holten, director of opera at the Royal Opera House in London, explained: “Opera houses are thinking about how to use media in different ways.. It’s hard to move beyond just filming operas in the house and screening that, and think about how to create art that is made specifically for these new formats. We’ll all be watching what comes out of the Paris Opera experiment.” Millipied hopes that 3e Scène will eventually incorporate a subscription model that will make money: “We have to find new ways of bringing in money, beyond ticket sales and a gala or two. We’re just starting to scratch the surface of what we can do.” The project may show the world one way in which classic art and new technology can cooperate and thrive.

World’s Oldest Street Artist: 104-year-old great-grandma Grace Brett uses her knitting and crocheting skills to keep her Scotland town full of color. One of a group of so-called “yarn stormers” (also known as “yarn bombers”), Brett recently partook in a week-long arts festival in Scotland, knitting and crocheting dozens of pieces for display across three cities. Brett and her group, the Souter Stormers, covered, among other items, a bench and a traditional red phone booth; she explains, “I thought it was a really good idea to decorate the town and enjoyed having my crochet included.” Check out her colorful, creative, and positively delightful creations here.

Shakespeare for New Ages: Though the Bard originally wrote for the common masses, his work has come to be difficult for even the most educated to understand, thanks to the changing meaning or words and phrases over the past four centuries. In an effort to bring Shakespeare back to the masses, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has commissioned translations of all 39 of his plays into “modern English.” The festival hopes to begin performing the translated works in about three years’ time. Some may be concerned by the possible dilution of the works, though the prospect of accessible Shakespeare for all audiences may help overcome these concerns. Maybe the new translations will get younger audiences excited about Hamlet and King Lear as the Bard’s morals and messages begin to shine through.