Britt Levander shakes a can of spray paint. A turquoise mist dusts darkened wood lath. She splatters paint speckles on top — stars to her Northern Lights sky. Levander specializes in mosaic wood art ...

Grant Wood, “Parson Weems’ Fable” (1939) oil on canvas, 38 3⁄8 x 50 1⁄8 in. (97.5 x 127.3 cm); Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas 1970.43 (© Figge Art Museum, successors to the ...

Traditional architecture has always made the best use of locally available materials. Builders in the plains of Bengal preferred terracotta (burnt bricks) as clay was plentiful in this riverine land.