Look just beyond Iowa City, a quick highway drive up 380, to The Hotel Kirkwood Center. The ambitious building is a multi-million-dollar endeavor, melding 5-star hotel swankiness with an upscale conference center, inspired restaurant, office complex and art collection. Three hundred pieces, to be exact, all procured by Arbe Bareis, Kirkwood’s Fine and Performing Arts […]
Public Space One
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: March 22-25
Mission Creek is next week, but you will see that this weekend is no calm before the storm. As per usual we have events that are uniquely “Iowa City,” with some super powerful national/international acts throughout. The Weekender got a bit of a late release today, so I’ll waste no more time. Let’s get down […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
ARTicle: Looking Up
Street art. Just by reading that, perhaps you’ve been marginalized. Perhaps you’ve been freed. It’s a provocative rabbit hole of self-generating “what is art?” questions that’s easy to tumble down. Recently, on a cold, rainy, cracked-gray day, Deanne Wortman was my spirit guide on a journey through corridors and alleys, the gallery spaces of our […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: February 9-12
The week’s almost over, y’all, which means it’s about time for another edition of the Iowa City Weekender! There were a few items here that didn’t come to my attention until the very last minute, so any short write ups/block quotes is not a product of laziness, but rather a genuine commitment to being thorough. […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Death by 1,000 Razings
For the last month or so, the talk of the town has moved on from Stephen Bloom to Washington Street. By the time you read this, the houses in the 500 block of Washington Street that housed The Red Avocado restaurant, Defunct Books, and the Golden Haug Bed and Breakfast may very well be dust. Yet another multi-story apartment building with ground-floor retail space will soon arise. At deadline, Defunct Books announced they were moving to Sycamore Mall. The fate of the Red Avocado is still highly questionable.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Village Live Preview: Kodiak Flats – 1/18
by Mark Huntley Can music transport a simple room in the basement of the Jefferson Building, to a Appalachian mountain holler? Public Space One is prepping for such travel. This Wednesday, from 5-6pm, join us in welcoming the neo-traditional bluegrass stylings of Kodiak Flats. Toting influences like Tony Rice, Bill Monroe, and the Punch Brothers, this three piece […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Your Town Now: The Year to Come
Saying the face of downtown will change this year is no hyperbole, given the spread of likely-to-be-developed properties. This column will give you the lowdown on some things to expect this year. But first, let’s check in on our old friend John Millar…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 12-15
Welcome to the Weekender! Come on in and get comfortable and see what we have in store this snowy weekend. Temperatures have dropped and we’re seeing our first frozen precipitation after a freaky streak of wintery warmness. I usually try to avoid talking about the weather, but that was kind of nuts, right? Just as […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Aunt Millie Knows
Last month’s Stephen Bloom Atlantic essay about Iowa set off a firestorm, to say the least. This is not a column about Stephen Bloom’s essay. But it bounces off of it. A common reaction to the essay was speculation that Professor Bloom must be miserable living in Iowa and puzzlement over why he doesn’t leave […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Community/News
Mustering Sheep: The Iowa Caucuses and the Making of American-ness
Photos by Jon Winet For Iowans, December is a time of making personal connections on the ground, judging presidential candidates by their handshakes and eye contact, and watching debates in order to draw distinctions that will help them to cast their caucus votes. The 2012 Iowa Caucus rings in Iowa’s 40th year of hosting the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: December 29-31
Hello there and welcome to this year’s final Weekender column. Many of us who skipped town for the holidays are back in Iowa City and ready to get out there again. This week features all musical events as other venues (Englert, Bijou, etc.) are still on a bit of a hiatus. We’ve got plenty of […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A-List: ICCSA Launch Party at Leaf Kitchen Dec. 18
If you’ve spent any time at Public Space One over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed some of the remarkable ways in which the art gallery has evolved. The public art space takes its next leap this month with the unveiling of Iowa City Community Supported Art.
The ICCSA borrows its basic concept from Community Supported Agriculture, a program in which “shareholders” pledge to support local farmers in return for a cut of the season’s harvest. In this case, the “shareholders” (here called “subscribers”) are art enthusiasts and the “farmers” are local artists. ICCSA subscribers will receive six unique pieces of art over six months for their (tax deductible) donations.
