Arts and Culture

Working one meticulous stitch at a time, artist Kathryn Leslie utilizes a time-honored tradition to create unexpected images. 

The Illinois Symphony Orchestra brings the audience music of a living composer Saturday in Bloomington. Charlie Schlenker talked with Music Director Ken Lam about the work "To The Point" by Jennifer Higdon.

For hundreds of years, artists have made the sky their muse. 

Maps lie.

But the way in which they mislead is extraordinarily revealing, according to Illinois Wesleyan University Emeritus Professor Dan Terkla.

Them Coulee Boys frontman Soren Staff wanted the Eau Claire, Wis.-based band’s third album to hang together thematically. Like many bands, their first album was everything they had written prior to forming; their second was mainly leftovers.

Over the years several directors have attempted to bring the classic mid-19th century novel "Little Women" to life on the big screen.

Artist Melissa Oresky spent hours in her childhood shadowing her mother on wildflower walks. Her mother was studying to be a botanist, while Oresky was just plain curious. 

Author David Whiteis believes blues music and blues artists don't get proper recognition as part of the great African-American migration of the 20th century.

A classic of American theater opens next week at Community Players in Bloomington.

Shawn Hoeft of Bloomington believes her son Zac would have celebrated his 29th birthday this year had the unknown gunman who killed him been exposed to conflict resolution.

A bowl of persimmons and a long walk through Funks Grove cemented a friendship that has inspired a new book from a local author. 

Bloomington native Matthew Curry says his "guitar gun-slinger" days may not be completely over, but his sound should evolve.

Joe Stamm said his version of country music contains rural American imagery and deeply personal songwriting.

In honor of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, an exhibition at the Peoria Riverfront Museum provides fresh insight into the mind of the unique genius, revealing the progressive artistic and scientific principals he established while giving visitors a chance to get hands-on with full size recreations of his inventions.

Ken Kashian’s new book is more than just a book. 

In his latest effort, “This Moment ... in Sarah’s Garden,” the photographer set out to highlight the ever-changing face of Sarah Davis’ garden at the David Davis Mansion in Bloomington. The result offers much more than photographs, though.

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With a cardigan, a pair of tennis shoes and some hand puppets, Fred Rogers set out to make the kind of children’s programming he felt kids deserved. 

A few students from Illinois State University will spend Thanksgiving with 50 million people. Of course, not around the dining room table.

In Shakespeare’s day, the audience let their voices be heard, boisterously sharing their opinions and pelting villains with orange rinds. 

A new documentary from a filmmaker with ties to Illinois Wesleyan University reveals what happens when a country doesn’t confront its own past atrocities.

Some instrumental film scores can instantly invoke a feeling in the listener, regardless whether they are watching the movie or doing something else. The Imperial March from "Star Wars" creates a sense of foreboding, the theme of 1978’s "Superman" is uplifting and powerful, and who doesn’t get a shiver when hearing John Carpenter’s theme for "Halloween"?

So, a theater company walks into a bar...

That's not an opening line to a joke. It's actually a new site-specific theater company that's presenting its inaugural production at Nightshop and Fat Jack’s this weekend. The company plans to carve its own niche in the Twin Cities by staging works where the plays are set.

Michael Mwenso's music destiny appeared after his mother was deported from their home in London to her native Africa.

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who creates 1,000 origami cranes will have a wish granted by the gods. 

A shifting economic landscape leads to layoffs and desperation in Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Sweat.” 

A collaborative arts event in honor of Veterans Day highlights the creative efforts that emerged from the devastation of World War I. 

To accommodate the piano keyboard, the Western world created 12 intervals as a mathematical compromise.

“This story resonates now more than ever. That’s why I wanted to direct it.” 

Intentionally recording a studio album in front of a live audience can be perilous. What if the audience doesn't respond? What if the performers aren't in synch musically that night?