Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big screenings.
Des Moines Art Center
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Queer history, pop culture and computers helped Iowa artist Ben Millett cover a gallery in quilts
Ben Millett’s quilts are tactile records, coded with color, memory and meaning. They look soft because they are, but their softness doesn’t dull their message. Instead, it amplifies it. On July 26, 2025, the Des Moines Art Center will open its first-ever quilt-based solo exhibition, “Iowa Artists 2025: Ben Millett,” a showcase of about 20 […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Yearlong legal battle over Des Moines’ historic Greenwood Pond art installation ends with $900,000 settlement for artist
On Tuesday, the Des Moines Art Center and artist Mary Miss announced a settlement in their legal dispute over the fate of Greenwood Pond: Double Site, a land art installation Miss created for the center. It’s considered a major and pioneering work of American land art, and has been part of Des Moines’ Greenwood Park […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Prominent Black creatives to discuss growing up in Iowa at the Des Moines Art Center
Three high-profile Iowa natives will be in conversation this Sunday at the Des Moines Art Center. Artist b. Robert Moore and artist-activist Jordan Weber will join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones. The evening sees the three come together to talk about growing up in the predominately white state of […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Court battle over public art piece in Des Moines park reaches ‘unsatisfying status quo’
“Greenwood Pond: Double Site,” the large-scale work of public art that has been part of Greenwood Park in Des Moines since 1996, will remain in place following the decision of the federal judge on Friday to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the Des Moines Art Center from dismantling and removing its wooden structures. The large-scale installation […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Judge orders Des Moines Art Center halt plans to remove a major public art work without the artist’s consent
On Monday, a federal judge in Des Moines issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Des Moines Art Center from dismantling and removing a work of public art that has been part of the city’s Greenwood Park for 36 years. “Greenwood Pond: Double Site” was created by renowned New York-based land artist Mary Miss for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Film festivals, student projects and a new cinema are putting the Quad Cities on the international filmmaking map
Over the past nine years, Quad Cities students with the Urban Exposure Independent Film Project have amassed a filmography equivalent to a small studio. “I think that we have 30-something films that we’ve made,” said Gaye Shannon Burnett, co-founder of the Azubuike African American Center for the Arts. “The kids that go to film school […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Elizabeth Catlett documentary captures a trailblazing UI grad who helped shape the 20th century art world
In a new documentary on artist Elizabeth Catlett, Heather Nickels, a curator at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, remarks that Catlett’s mission as a sculptor and printmaker was to excavate the stories of “nameless and faceless” Black women. Standing Strong, directed by Kevin Kelley — and screening at the Des Moines Arts Center on […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with Kelly Baum, Des Moines Art Center’s new director, who’s looking forward to the future of art history
After longtime Des Moines Art Center director Jeff Fleming announced last year that he would step away after a quarter century, the question of who could replace him quickly arose. Now, as the Art Center begins its 75th anniversary year, the answer has come in the form of Dr. Kelly Baum, who was announced as […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Please touch the artwork at Des Moines Art Center’s interactive new exhibit
Touch is widely considered to be the most intimate of the five senses, one that has been highly politicized and rationed through the COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time, the general public wasn’t able to be physically caring with many of their loved ones, regardless of the need: a hug, a backrub, a kiss, sitting […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Miriam Alarcón Avila brings luchador art, ofrenda to Des Moines Art Center this Dia de los Muertos
On Sunday, Oct. 30, the Art Center will once again host its Día de los Muertos celebration after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This year, the celebration will be focused around luchadores. Multimedia artist Miriam Alarcón Avila has created work on luchadores for several years, including her Little Luchadores project and Immigrant Luchadores […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
How to grieve in America: Iowa City photographer Rachel Cox turns her focus to our shared spaces of grief
It’s a simple, but profound question: Why do we grieve in the way that we do? Photographer Rachel Cox has been contemplating our process of grief for a few years now as she’s worked composing a series of photographs focused on our shared physical spaces of grieving. This series, Mors Scena, comprises her Iowa Artists […]
