Northwest Arts Review

We explore finding connection in a time of isolation on this week’s Northwest Arts Review: Chris Maccini talks with Spokane Arts grant awardee Skyler Oberst about his new video series, and Jim Tevenan discusses the neglected art of letter writing with Spokane Correspondence Club organizer Nicki Sabalu. Cinematic thoughts from Nathan Weinbender and music from the WSU Solstice Wind Quintet round out this edition of NWAR.

This week’s NWAR includes Chris Maccini’s conversation with Spokane Poet Laureate Chris Cook around the state of poetry in this time of pandemic. Pianist and music educator Jody Graves reflects on her earliest experiences with her instrument, Dan Webster’s offers his take on a new Ryan Murphy film musical, and we get a reminder from James Lowe about a virtual Spokane Symphony performance happening very soon.

This week’s NWAR features two hopeful conversations about regional music as we check in with SSO MD James Lowe and Music Conservatory of CDA Executive Director Julienne Dance. Also, Chris Maccini continues his series of talks with the latest Spokane Arts Award grantees, this time welcoming writer and illustrator, Chelsea Martin. And the Clarion Brass provide some sonic seasonal cheer.

This week’s Northwest Arts Review celebrates the latest round of grants from Spokane Arts as Chris Maccini talks with one of the recipients, artist, writer and yoga instructor Donell Barlow. Also, Jim Tevenan introduces emerging artist Tayler Jakeway, and Dan Webster has a movie review for us. We’ll also have music from two of our favorite pianists, Archie Chen and Rhona GouldsonChen.

NWAR is back from a Thanksgiving holiday with three guests from the world of literature and the arts as Chris Maccini welcomes Lydia Boss, program manager at Artists’ Trust of Washington, I’ll chat with ceramic artist Gina Fruen about the new Cup of Joy show at the Trackside Gallery, and Verne Windham shares his conversation with public radio icon Garrison Keillor.

Our focus today is music and art in the Lake City, Coeur d’Alene. We’ll visit with Blair Williams, owner of The Art Spirit Gallery and Julienne Dance, Executive Director of the Music Conservatory of CdA. Dan Webster offers some cinema wisdom, and our Mozart is from the String Orchestra of the Rockies.

Northwest Arts Review returns from a pre-election hiatus with a literary and visual arts focus. Chris Maccini talks with Spokane author Jess Walter about his new novel, The Cold Millions, and we’ll take a virtual trip to the Wallowa Valley to learn about the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph, OR. Dan Webster drops by for a film review, too, and we celebrate our return with some spirited music from the EWU Wind Ensemble, led by Patrick Winters.

Virtual theatre and music are on the NWAR menu this week as we hear from Whitworth University theatre professor Andy Christensen about an upcoming production, and NWBachfest artistic director Zuill Bailey on insights he has gained during the pandemic. Plus, Dan Webster tells us about a new classic detective tale from Netflix. NWAR, Thursday at noon on KPBX

Guests from Spokane and Kallispell, MT are part of this week’s NWAR. Wes Jessup of the NWMAC and John Zoltek of the GSO share news on the art and music fronts, and Dan Webster gives us the lowdown on a new film. Music from the Glacier Symphony rounds out the offerings this Thursday.

This time around on NWAR, we’ve got a nice mix of music, theatre and literature. Chris Maccini introduces us to Spokane theatre artist Sid Al Thumali, the Spokane Symphony’s James Lowe drops by for one of our periodic chats, and Verne Windham has a surprise guest!

This time around on NWAR, we again focus on visual arts, with guests Gina Freuen, co-founder of the Little Spokane Artist Studio Tour, and Ginger Oakes, owner of the Go Art Center on the South Hill. Both have stories to tell of art and artists in challenging times. Nathan Weinbender reviews a new film set in the art world, and the Spokane String Quartet provides the music.

This week, we focus on visual arts, catching up on the health of the local art scene with Spokane Arts Executive Director Melissa Huggins and previewing another innovative Art on the Go event happening this weekend with organizer Morgan Walters. Dan Webster checks in with a film review and we enjoy a bit of poetry, courtesy of frequent SPR guest, Mike Aleman. Our music is from a visit by the Pan Pacific wind ensemble last January.

Vanessa Veselka. She is the author of the novel Zazen, which won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction. Her new novel is The Great Offshore Grounds, a sweeping story of a family drama tackling social status, death, love, femininity, American greed and mythology, the current state of the US healthcare system, sky-high rents, and the struggle to get by.

This week, String Orchestra of the Rockies Artistic Director Maria Larionoff joins us with the good news about the orchestra’s new season, which starts this weekend with live performances in Missoula. Chris Maccini introduces us to author Vanessa Vaselka and her new novel, The Great Offshore Grounds. Nathan Weinbender drops by with his take on a new Netflix offering, Project Power, and we’ll enjoy a bit of flute and piano music from our performance studio archive, played by Jennifer Slaughter and Melody Puller

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This week, conversations with Spokane Poet Laureate Chris Cook and Inland Northwest Opera General Director Dawn Wolski, both key figures at the intersection of pandemic and the arts. Dan Webster offers his take on a documentary that explores the winning-is-everything mindset of contemporary politics, and we get some soothing sounds from our studio courtesy of guitarist Jacob Johnson.

This week, NWAR features Jim Tevenan's monthly long-distance chat with Spokane Symphony Orchestra Music Director

James Lowe in Scotland, blended with music from Mexican-American enclaves in southern Idaho along with details from Idaho folk and traditional arts director, Steven Hatcher. Also, we’ll meet Ginger Ewing, Executive Director and CoFounder of Spokane's Terrain arts organization, including information about their current show/auction, “Art in the Time of Quarantine.”

This week, we mix conversations from the present with music from the first months of this program. Chris Maccini talks with Spokane tribe member and glass artist, Shawn Brigman, I’ll contribute a chat with emerging area artist, DJ Moon, and Denny Carman drops by to tell about his newest drive-by art project. Music includes sounds from the African children’s choir from their 2018 visit to KPBX.

On this week's Northwest Arts Review, visual art takes the spotlight as we contemplate a virtual art on the Green, learn about a new weekly pop-up art market in Spokane, and discover a brand new piece of downtown public art. Also in the mix, a couple of features from 2018 as we celebrate the program’s second birthday.

On this week's Northwest Arts Review, a conversation with the Idaho Arts Commission's Director of Folk and Traditional Arts, Steven Hatcher, also Chris Maccini lets us know about a special virtual event mounted by Auntie's Bookstore this weekend, we'll hear a musical tribute on the 100th birthday anniversary of a legendary Spokane teacher, Margie May Ott, and Nathan Weinbender lets us know about a pair of new films that paint a less than ideal portrait of 1950s America.

This week, Chris Maccini introduces us to Carter Hudson, another NPR Tiny Desk Contest entrant from the Inland Northwest, also we meet the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra Music Director-elect, Norman Huynh

, and hear a Dan Webster movie review. Music in and out is from a Bozeman Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Norman Huynh last December.

Last week, we brought you the story of Coeur d’Alene musician Jackson Roltgen and his submission to this year’s NPR Tiny Desk Contest. This week, Spokane Public Radio’s Chris Maccini talks with another young musician, this time from Spokane, who also submitted a video for the national contest.

Watch Carter Hudson's full YouTube video submission here.

This week, one of long-time leaders of the Inland Northwest arts community, Karen Mobley, pays a visit to talk about her newest creation, a book of poetry. Also, Chris Maccini introduces us to a regional singer-songwriter who took the plunge and entered NPR’s country-wide Tiny Desk Concert competition, and Dan Webster offers his take on a new movie. Music today is a bit of ragtime piano from the Methow Valley’s Bill Hottell.

The Tiny Desk Concert has become a mainstay of  internet music. Intimate concerts from well known and obscure musicians performing at Bob Boilen’s desk at NPR headquarters. And for the past several years, NPR has opened up the Tiny Desk Contest, asking musicians from around the country to submit videos performing at their own tiny desks. This year, one of those entrants was Jackson Roltgen, a musician from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, who talked with SPR's Chris Maccini.

Watch Jackson's full YouTube video here.

Today, we meet the host of a program new to KPBX, but familiar to KSFC listeners. Her name is Sarah Aronson, and her program, The Write Question, which now follows NWAR each Thursday afternoon on KPBX. Also, Spokane Symphony Music Director James Lowe reports from his home in Edinborough, Scotland, updating us on his hopes and trepidations as the Symphony plans it next steps. And Dan Webster will be by with a film review. Our music going in is courtesy of Ludwig Van Beethoven, by way of the Spokane String Quartet.  

Today, two positive and I think uplifting conversations: we meet Diane Sherman, a Spokane artist who merges yoga, journaling, painting and drawing into her work, teaching, and way of living. We’ll also check in with cellist and director of the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival Kevin Krentz, whose creativity has been more than stretched in these difficult times. Music is from the 2017 Methow Valley Music Festival.

This Week's NWAR takes us to Coeur d'Alene's Art on the Green, a traditional event available only virtually this year. We'll also hear from a young musician on the rise, violinist Yvette Kraft, back from a successful time at the Grumiaux Festival in Belgium. And we check in with David LaFever of the Methow Valley Interpretive Center. The Center recently received one of the federal government's CARES grants.

As we continue our series on how arts organizations are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, we hear from Mike Ferrians, manager of Dayton's iconic Liberty Theatre, and from Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's Artistic Associate Chuck Etheridge. Dan Webster offers his take on the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and we'll hear music from Kevin Brown, host of KPBX's Front Porch Bluegrass.

These days, we're all adapting to COVID-19 realities, artists and arts entities included. Two stories of change and adaptation are featured on this week's NWAR: A tale of a unique way of keeping visual art alive in the Spokane area that seems to be morphing into a new tradition called Art on the Go, and the story of a philosophical approach to the cancellation of a popular music festival that springs from a musical metaphor--the Grand Pause.