Gross Domestic Product sticks to the mission — but that’s about it. Since the all-local music festival first popped up in 2006, GDP has bounced between Des Moines neighborhoods to celebrate the various corners of both the city and the scene. That means no two years of the one-day festival look or sound the same. […]
Des Moines art
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 inArts & Entertainment
Liz Lidgett Gallery threads together four artists ‘pushing the boundaries of textile-based artwork’ in new exhibit
The Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design opened a new group show, “Textiles,” on Feb. 24, featuring 20 textile-based pieces that can brighten the darkest of rooms. “Each work will make you stop in place to contemplate and try to discover more about the technique and brilliance of the artist,” according to the show’s description. The gallery […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Ballet Des Moines earned their right to perform a Balanchine classic, debuting Friday: ‘It is really just a badge of honor’
Ballet Des Moines will bring elements of classical and contemporary dance to Iowa with its performance of Balanchine+ this Friday and Saturday at Hoyt Sherman Place. The piece’s title refers to George Balanchine, co-founder and founding choreographer of New York City Ballet. The company will perform Balanchine’s Who Cares?, a beautiful jazz-tinged dance unbound by […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Contact Buzz: Create your heart out across Central Iowa
Few countries have monetized making an annual expression of love more than America. Thankfully, true love does not place the almighty dollar as the main ingredient for its most alluring recipe. The arts offer a myriad of avenues to explore variant facets of love. Just as the beauty of nature is always around us, if […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Basi Affia and other Black Iowa creators developing sci-fi ‘motion comic’
Afrofuturistic comic author Basi Affia is back with more intergalactic Black love in his new motion comic Lost With All Hands . Its release moves the Des Moines artist also known as Aniekan White closer to his dreams of animation. “This is just me kind of testing out the waters, learning the system,” he said. […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Contact Buzz: ArtForce Iowa gives immigrant and refugee kids the tools to make art, bridge cultural gaps
Don’t let this organization’s generic mission statement — “Creating opportunities for youth to transform through art” — deceive you. Like paints and brushes, unless they’re in the hands of the right person, such a statement remains passive. ArtForce Iowa truly leverages its raison d’être to transform the lives of their young participants. Launched in 2013 […]
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
Contact Buzz: The history of the Iowa State Fair’s old, inclusive art show
Shawn Palek doesn’t enter competitions any longer. Lately, he prefers to sponsor shows and competitions for emerging artists, mentoring many. He continues to paint new works, with many murals to his credit. But in the early 2000s, the contemporary visual artist and arts advocate decided to venture into the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts Competition. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Des Moines installs ‘art corridors’ along five bike trails, showcasing local artists
New art installations have changed the view along five of Des Moines’ popular bike trails. These “art corridors” include panels mounted to a line of metal posts, angled towards pedestrians and cyclists zipping down the trail. “If you’re familiar with kinetic art, or elliptic lenticular art, where no matter how you’re moving, you get to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Jane Smiley’s Iowa-set classic ‘A Thousand Acres’ is adapted to the stage for Des Moines Metro Opera’s 50th
When an arts organization celebrates 50 years of sharing wonderful work with enraptured audiences, the time is right to do something exceptional. The question, of course, is what that something should be. For the Des Moines Metro Opera, the answer in part turned out to be adapting Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Jane Smiley’s Pulitzer Prize […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Art was Robert Moore’s ‘saving grace.’ Now his work graces T-shirts, walls and buildings in Iowa and beyond
A boy with a hidden talent fell into the wrong group of people, leading him down a scary path. His job in corporate IT and project management left him feeling empty. It took Robert Moore going to the hospital in 2019 after a night of too much drinking for him to turn his life around […]
