Arts & Culture

Concrete hearts, angels, and puppies… the sculptures of Isabel Bloom have been beloved since the 1950s. During this hour of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with Donna Young about the life of the remarkable Iowa artist behind the whimsical sculptures. 

Young says Bloom's work was unique for her time, not only because she was a woman who owned her own business, but because of the medium she worked with. 

"At the time, cement was used for construction, not art," says Young. 

Growing up outside of Kalona, Jessica Faselt didn't come from a particularly musical family. She sang in choir when she was a child, but didn’t realize the power of her voice until a concert in high school where she sang "O Holy Night" and brought the crowd to tears. 

After this experience, Faselt went on to study vocal performance at the University of Iowa. It was there that she discovered her passion for opera.

"To me, opera brings together so many art forms," Faselt says. "It's the human voice talking about the human experience through song and music."

The movie Black Panther features a cast full of strong black characters, both male and female. Its release is a powerful moment for many people who have longed to see themselves and their culture reflected on screen.

“I never saw that [growing up],” says Noreen Naseem Rodriguez, an assistant professor of elementary social studies at Iowa State University. “It’s so important, especially as an educator, to provide those mirrors to children, to affirm them, to show them that you have different options in life.”

The intersection of art and agriculture is important to Mary Swander. She says art has been a part of ag for a long time with concepts like folk art. Now she has helped start a new non-profit called AgArts.

She says that we are in a dilemma with issues involving pollution, erosion, decline of the family farm, decline of small towns, and the arts have a role in addressing those issues in a way that people can embrace and that helps with revitalization.

An opera opening in New York City this week will feature some voices from Iowa. But not all of the chorus members involved are free to travel to see the production in person.

“Give yourself a little inhale," says director Mary Cohen, as she stands before her choir. "Open your mouth for the exhale. This time reflect on the message of the song. So the message of freedom, light, hope.”

The genre bending classical hip-hop duo Black Violin is playing a show at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls on Wednesday, May 2. During this Talk of Iowa interview, Wil Baptiste, who plays viola for the duo, joins Charity Nebbe. 

This program originally aired 9-19-16.

Just off of 2nd Avenue in Cedar Rapids sits an unassuming little carriage house. In a tiny studio apartment that used to be the hayloft, is where the most iconic American painting was created. Artist Grant Wood lived as well as worked in the space from 1924 - 1935, and he created all of his masterpieces there, including "American Gothic," "Young Corn," and "Woman with Plants."

Talk of Iowa host Charity Nebbe toured the studio with Katherine Kunau, associate curator of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

Iowa Public Radio’s Bob Dorr was honored in the Iowa legislature today for his long career in music and broadcasting in Iowa.

The Iowa House and Senate passed resolutions praising Dorr as an Iowa icon, and thanking him for his dedication to the cultural landscape and history of the state.

Dorr’s broadcasting career spans 45 years.  His music shows began airing from Cedar Falls public radio station KUNI, and expanded when it became part of Iowa Public Radio, where his show still air.

A new fashion exhibit at Iowa State University explores an area of fashion often stereotyped or misunderstood.

In this Talk of Iowa segment, Charity Nebbe talks to the woman behind “Queer Fashion and Style: Stories from the Heartland," Kelly Reddy-Best, assistant professor in Apparel, Merchandising & Design at Iowa State University.

The annual Winter Dance Party in Clear Lake and the Surf Ballroom, which commemorates the anniversary of a plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, "the Big Bopper," and Richie Valens, is this weekend. This year, it will be a special celebration Saturday night.

This is the first year in a long time that Dean Snyder, whose family saved the Surf from being demolished, and Darryl Hensley, aka The Mad Hatter, who founded the Winter Dance Party, won't be in attendance. 

Kevin "B.F." Burt of Coralville has been performing the blues for more than 20 years. He's beloved in Iowa, and has performed around the world.

This month, he won three first place awards at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.

On this edition of Talk of Iowa, Charity Nebbe talks with Burt about his humble solo performance origins at Baldy's Wraps in Iowa City, what it's like to be discovered after his performance in Memphis, and where he's focusing his energy next. 

Last January, actor Woody Harrelson wrote, directed, and starred in a live feature film called Lost in London. The movie was shot in London and broadcast live into American theaters, with audiences watching the film in real time.

The movie is inspired by real life events, and while it is a comedy, it takes places entirely in what Harrelson describes as the worst night of his life: a 2002 incident when he was arrested for getting into a fight with a cab driver just days after a night of infidelity was exposed by a tabloid.

The African American Museum of Iowa will offer free admission from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST on Monday, January 15 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

During this Talk of Iowa interview, host Charity Nebbe talks with LaNisha Cassell, the museum's executive director, and Felicite Wolfe, the museum's curator. 

Lots of new music was released in 2017; here at Iowa Public Radio, we received more than 2,000 albums. If wading through all of that sounds overwhelming, never fear. During this hour of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with Tony Dehner and Mark Simmet of Iowa Public Radio's Studio One about their favorite albums of the year. 

We've also had our most musically-minded staff curate their top five favorite albums of this year, including Morning Edition host Clay Masters. Check out our Spotify playlist and read album reviews below. 

The medical and mental health communities are doing their best to learn about and treat post traumatic stress disorder more effectively. Historically, the term "shell shocked" immediately comes to mind, and a new play by Combined Efforts Theatre in Iowa City raises some questions about the kinds of trauma that soldiers who fought in World War I experienced when the term was first introduced. 

Artist Rose Frantzen grew up in Maquoketa and started painting portraits when she was in high school. Since then, she’s gained national and international acclaim for her oil paintings. She lives and works with her husband, Chuck Morris, an acclaimed artist of his own right.

Iowa seems like an unlikely destination for two very successful artists who met in New York City’s Central Park, but Rose Frantzen and Chuck Morris have made Maquoketa their home, their workplace, and an artistic destination.

It's been a big year for Iowans on the NBC reality singing competition "The Voice." Chris Weaver, who attended college in Pella at Central College and lived in Des Moines for the better part of a decade working as a workshop leader for Lutheran Church of Hope, is one of them. During this hour he talks with host Charity Nebbe about how he got started singing, and how he's made a career for himself working as both a workshop leader and as a performer. His drag character is named Nedra Belle. 

The murder of a gender fluid teenage in Burlington has brought attention to the treatment and resources available for transgender students and their friends and teachers in Iowa. Iowa Safe Schools is hosting the first Transgender Education Summit in Iowa on November 17th in Des Moines, and Executive Director of Iowa Safe Schools Nate Monson says that its hard to get an estimate on how many trans students are attending public school in Iowa. 

In the 1500s, the largest settlement in the United States was in Northwest Iowa. It was a settlement of more than 6,000 residents from various Native American tribes. A new documentary Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City tells the story of the once great city in Lyon County. 

"It's part of a national historic landmark," explains the film's director Kelly Rundle. "If you think about the year that we are depicting in the film, which is around 1650, Boston had maybe 2000 residents, and Good Earth had between 6-10,000 residents 

Actors huddle around microphones as foley artists create sound effects with musicians. They are performing a scene about a teenager running away from gunfire in Burundi. This is Pang!, a three-act play presented as radio theater on a stage at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids.

Iowa City native Dan Perkins, aka Tom Tomorrow, is the creator of This Modern World, a weekly political and satirical cartoon which has been a mainstay of the alternative press for more than two and a half decades. He says that the country's tense political environment lately has been challenging in many ways, and the speed at which news is made is particularly difficult. 

Hari Kondabolu, a New Yorker and first-generation American of Indian descent, is an awarded comedian who has a problem with the negative stereotypes of southeast Asians and Indian people in the media. He explores that frustration in his new documentary “The Problem with Apu,” which highlights the effect of the character on his life growing up. 

Author Sarah Miller remembers first reading the Little House on the Prairie books when she was in 4th grade. She says when she went back to reread them as an adult, she saw there was more going on than she picked up on as a young adult. 

"I thought about Ma. I read a scene where Laura wakes up and Ma is sitting by the window and has a pistol in her lap," she says. "If you're the lady in the rocking chair, it's your job to make everything safe and cozy. And you don't know if it's all going to work out that way."

Johnson County has declared that from now on, Columbus Day will be recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Iowa City has also made the proclamation - joining dozens of cities across the U.S. in doing so.

In this News Buzz edition of River to River, Ben Stanton talks with Tracy Peterson, an Iowa City resident who has been pushing for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' Day since the 1990s.

Every Friday at 4PM, North End Update's live Facebook show shares good news about an area of Waterloo that normally is portrayed in a negative light. Upon tuning in, you hear their signature "Boomshakalaka!"

Joshalyn “Rocki” Johnson and Cheryl “Chaveevah” Banks Ferguson are the duo behind the show.