December, 2021 • Oregon ArtsWatch

The Trocks in PDX: On beyond comedy?

February 17, 2025Jamuna Chiarini

The all-male ballet company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo camps things up comically at Portland's Schnitzer Hall. But there's room for grace and beauty, too.

A farewell to theater critic Misha Berson

February 16, 2025Bob Hicks

The longtime Seattle theater and culture writer, who also contributed often to Oregon ArtsWatch, embraced life and art with passion and a constant case of curiosity.

Author Q&A: Leslie Barnard Booth on picture books, the natural world, and a pair of Oregon Book Award nominations

February 16, 2025Amy Wang

The Portland writer’s first two picture books – “A Stone Is a Story” and “One Day This Tree Will Fall” – are both in the running for the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature.

Chehalem Cultural Center goes for ‘A Walk in the Woods’

February 16, 2025David Bates

The show, at the Newberg center through March 13, features tree-themed art by Tabby Ivy, Rebecca Kiser, Elena and Trifon Markova, Karin Carter, and Linda Workman-Morelli.

Oregon Legislature’s Arts Caucus rolls out its five-bill agenda for the current session

February 16, 2025Dee Moore

Bills announced at a Salem gathering range from increased funding to cultural construction projects to a merger of two state cultural agencies and a crackdown on ticket scalping.

PuzzleWatch: Words of Love

February 16, 2025Daryl Browne

How many words contain the letters L-O-V-E? Quite a few, as it turns out. See how many you can guess in this Valentine's Day crossword puzzle.

Cappella Romana’s stalled NEA grant is released

February 14, 2025Bob Hicks

The Portland choir's $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, snagged by the Trump Administration's freeze on approved grants, breaks free as the choir prepares for a key series of concerts.

Vin Shambry: Peeling the ‘Pass Over’ onion

February 14, 2025Bobby Bermea

Antoinette Nwandu's play, a co-production of Corrib Theatre and Historic Alberta House, holds a fascinating conversation between Black American life and "Waiting for Godot."

FilmWatch Weekly: ‘Armand,’ Oscar-nominated shorts, and Blu-rays from the 1950s

February 13, 2025Marc Mohan

Also this week: Senegalese director Moussa Sène Absa at the Cascade Festival of African Films, the underwhelming "You, Me & Her," and the straight-to-streaming embarrassment "The Gorge."

Opinion: Trump’s sham ‘golden age’ of arts

February 12, 2025Bob Hicks

Far from creating a flourishing new culture, the new administration's upheaval of norms could visibly weaken Oregon’s and the rest of the nation’s arts and cultural life.

Portraits by Jeremy Okai Davis add new faces to Oregon history

February 12, 2025Laurel Reed Pavic

Commissioned as part of a "reimagining" process at the historic Bush House in Salem, the newly completed set of portraits of Oregon's Black ancestors offers new stories to celebrate and reflect upon.

Thoughts on Martha Graham in modern times

February 12, 2025Martha Ullman West

How do past and present mix and meet? A veteran dance critic sorts out the classic from the contemporary and what works or doesn't in the Graham company's January 22 performance in Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

North County Recreation District: From a pool to plays, Nehalem’s hub serves coastal community

February 12, 2025Lori Tobias

Based in a school designed by A.E. Doyle, the 30-year-old NCRD is home to concerts, lectures, an art gallery, and soon, a new $16.4 million aquatics center.

Magician status: Wu Han and David Finckel’s evening of “Russian Revelry”

February 11, 2025Angela Allen

Chamber Music Northwest hosted the pianist and cellist performing music of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Myaskovsky.

Review: Don Horn’s ‘Gospel’ leap of faith

February 11, 2025Linda Ferguson

With "J.C.: Gospel According to an Angel," the founder of Triangle Productions! and composer Michael Allen Harrison turn biblical debates into a transcendent new musical.

Remembering theater and music artist Ernie Lijoi

February 10, 2025Bob Hicks

The multi-talented actor, playwright, composer, singer, lyricist, and recording artist, who came to Portland from New York City, leaves a host of memories and fine work.

Ashland youths experience theater as a creative act

February 10, 2025Barbara Cervone

In the heart of Oregon Shakespeare country, Empowered Arts Ensemble participants study before the performance how to connect on stage — and collaborate on their own play.

Reclusive Washington artist Charles Swank subject of two-day show in Yachats

February 10, 2025YachatsNews.com

Local art appreciator Dan Stein brings a five-decade retrospective of his friend's work to Yachats Commons on Feb. 15 and 16.

Violinist Rob Diggins: Keep on smiling

February 9, 2025Elizabeth Mehren

The veteran Portland Baroque Orchestra violinist, who'll be featured in PBO's "D'amore" concerts Feb. 15 and 16, takes an effervescent and ecstatic approach to music and to life.

Between treasure and trash at Oregon Contemporary

February 8, 2025Jason N. Le

Maia Chao and Fred Schmidt-Arenales' "Waste Scenes" pulls its source material from a literal dump. The two-channel video installation is a compilation of the artists' experiments and performances inspired by their finds.

The Cultural Landscape: Part 19

February 8, 2025K.B. Dixon

Photographer K.B. Dixon continues his series of cultural profiles with portraits of theater director Brian Weaver, writer & filmmaker Perrin Kerns, writer & editor Rajesh K. Reddy, visual artist Jo Hamilton, and architectural preservationist William (Bill) Hawkins III.

The music is the message: A conversation with KMHD’s Matt Fleeger

February 7, 2025Brian Libby

The station’s longtime program director discusses the past, present and future of jazz radio in Portland.

More colors, more timbres, more palette: 45th Parallel Universe premieres new Andy Akiho composition at The Reser

February 7, 2025Angela Allen

The Oregon composer’s new chamber piece “Copper Variations” was featured in a concert of contemporary classical music alongside works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Daniel Wohl.

Art Center East in La Grande: Bringing art opportunities and access to Eastern Oregon

February 7, 2025Marc Mohan

The nonprofit center serves a 10-county swath of the state with exhibitions, classes, and annual events, often engaging with the past in ways that speak to the present.

A conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones on Black history and ‘The 1619 Project’

February 6, 2025William C. Stack

The celebrated journalist, historian, activist and onetime Portlander gives a revealing and triumphant talk in the Oregon Historical Society's Hatfield Lecture Series.

MusicWatch Monthly: Black History Month

February 6, 2025Matthew Neil Andrews

An abbreviated consideration of Black music in Oregon, from Jimmie Herrod and Darrell Grant to Machado Mijiga and esperanza spalding.

NEA cancels Challenge America grant and changes its guidelines and deadlines

February 6, 2025Laura Grimes

In a sign of how the Trump administration is changing the funding landscape for the arts, the National Endowment for the Arts has eliminated its grant aimed at underserved communities.

FilmWatch Weekly: Where to see Oscar nominees, plus an Irish feud in ‘Bring Them Down’ and the inept ‘Love Hurts’

February 6, 2025Marc Mohan

This year's Best Picture contenders return to theaters this month, while most other nominees are available to stream or rent on demand.

At the intersection of empathy and creativity: Naomi LaViolette

February 6, 2025Daryl Browne

The “unflappable” composer, pianist, and choral accompanist discusses her life in music.

(De)Mystifying New Music: Fear No Music’s “Scenes from Adolescence”

February 5, 2025Daryl Browne

An impression of how FNM’s “De-Mystifying New Music” series–most recently with composer David Schiff and host Robert McBride–supports and highlights their all-Oregonian season.