1998 Archive
1997 Archive
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1 9 9 9 A r t s
& H u m a n i t i e s R a d i o P r o j e c t
Feature Stories Archive
| Date | Title | Producer |
| 1/15/99 | Flint's We The People | Tamar Charney |
| Description Flint's Cultural Center was created with money from General Motors back in the '50s when Flint was pretty much a company town. But when GM basically left Flint, the demographics of Flint started changing. The cultural center was left as a white elitist organization in a low-income city that is over 50 percent African American. The Cultural Center has been working to reinvent itself as a place for everyone, African Americans included. They've just launched a four-month-long program called "We The People: An Exploration or Race and Racism in Our Society." Each of the nine cultural center institutions is mounting events and exhibits fitting in with this theme. The goal: to improve race relations and to get the community to give the Flint Cultural Center a second look. Interviews |
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| 1/21/99 | Out of the Tower | Tamar Charney |
| Description The popular image of a University Professor is the tweedy person lecturing in front of a room of slouching students. But at a few schools that image is changing. David Scobey is a historian at the University of Michigan and the founder of what the University calls its Arts of Citizenship program. The program is designed to get the Arts and Humanities out of the classroom and into the community. Scobey finds becoming a so called public scholar involves something different from what he was trained to do. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney produced this essay by David Scobey about a typical day in his life as an academic reaching out to community. Interviews |
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| 1/25/99 | Is It Art? | Tamar Charney |
| Description The complaints about contemporary art are familiar: "my kid could do that"..."is this really art"..."I don't get it." Because this kind of work is rarely shown in places like Michigan, people just don't know what to make of it when it does come to town. But this month the University of Michigan School of Art and Design has brought in an exhibit from California that features work from 7 big names in the international contemporary art scene. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the exhibition "Play Mode" and some recommendations on how to better appreciate post modern art. Interviews |
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| 2/3/99 | Public Art Forum | Tamar Charney |
| Description Many communities throughout Michigan are creating public art projects including Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan sponsored a forum about public art. Art in the Public Sphere: New Projects New Publics explored one of the emerging types of public art - temporary public installations. Interviews
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| 2/5/99 | Performance Art | Wendy Nelson |
| Description In Grand Rapids, performance art is making strange bedfellows. The conservative community hardly seems like it could be home to such an edgy art form. Yet there's now a small group of people -- from very different backgrounds -- working to introduce performance art to the area. As you would expect, the Grand Rapids Urban Institute for Contemporary Art has been holding performance art classes. What you wouldn't expect is that Calvin College has also been teaching its students performance art. Interviews
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| 2/12/99 | Weird Science | Tamar Charney |
| Description Many artists use science in their work -- creating sculpture, photographs, and paintings -- where the subject matter is science. But in an exhibit at the Cranbrook Art Museum, the artists are truly using science -- they are engaged in experiments, observe and breed animals, or employ physics to create their artwork. Tamar Charney has a look at the Weird Science exhibit where artists are building satellites and exhibiting pickled frogs. Interviews |
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| 2/15/99 | Alberta Adams | Tamar Charney |
| Description At age 70-something, Detroit's Queen of the Blues Alberta Adams has put out her first album. Over the course of her long career as a blues singer, Adams has toured with Louis Jorden, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson and Duke Ellington, and she crossed paths with Billie Holiday. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at blues singer Alberta Adams and her new CD, "Born with the Blues." Interviews |
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| 2/16/99 | Gordon Parks: Half Past Autumn | Nkenge Zola |
| Description A major retrospective of the work of Gordon Parks opened this week at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Parks developed his skills in the arts as a result of the federal arts programs that developed during the Great Depression. The DIA show presents Gordon Parks' films, books he's written, musical compositions and, of course, the photography he's famous for. Nkenge Zola reports. Interviews |
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| 2/19/99 | Reality Under Siege: Skoglund | Tamar Charney |
| Description Artist Sandy Skoglund is famous for her image of radioactive-green-colored cats in gray apartments. But that wasn't the work that was getting the attention at a recent exhibit of her work. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney visits "Reality Under Siege: A Retrospective of Sandy Skoglund" with the artist. Interviews Sandy Skoglund - Photographer and sculptor Various museum visitors |
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| 2/19/99 | U.P. Life: U.P. 200 | Frida Waara |
| Description Marquette's biggest winter celebration is the running of the U.P. 200 Sled Dog Championship. This is the tenth year of the 240-mile race. On the eve of the start of the race, U.P. correspondent Frida Waara has a look at the history of sled dogs and why mushing is a way of life for some Yoopers. Interviews |
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| 2/25/99 | Sphinx & Looking for Minority Musicians (2 reports) | Tamar Charney |
| Description The Sphinx is an enduring icon of mystery and power that evokes a connection to the African continent. For the second year now, young African-American and Latino musicians from around the country will be bringing their violins, violas, and cellos to Ann Arbor to compete in the Sphinx String Competition. We have two reports about minorities and classical music. First, Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the Sphinx competition. Interviews |
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| 3/16/99 | A Taste for Splendor | Tamar Charney |
| Description The late Marjorie Merriweather Post grew up in Battle Creek as the heir to the Post cereal empire. But the cereal heiress developed a taste, not for Grape Nuts, but for splendor. "A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures" is an touring exhibit currently on view at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. This is the largest collection of Russian art outside of Russia and it was assembled by Ms. Post. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at "A Taste for Splendor: The Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection." |
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| 3/16/99 | Remembering the Gulag | Tamar Charney & Joan Siefert Rose |
| Description In the immediate years after World War II, Soviet artist Nikoli Getman was falsely accused of drawing an "anti-Soviet" cartoon. He was sent to the Siberian labor camps - known as the gulag. While millions of prisoners died in the Gulag, Getman's artistic talents saved him. Gulag authorities had him painting prison propaganda. After his release, he continued painting government-approved scenes of happy workers by day, but by night Getman was painting scenes of Gulag horror. Those paintings are on view at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids. |
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| 3/30/99 | Butterflies are Blooming | Wendy Nelson |
| Description Each spring, thousands of tropical butterflies make their way to the Great Lakes region. But they don't migrate here naturally -- they're imported as part of the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibit in the country. Wendy Nelson takes a look at the relationship that develops between these winged beauties and the people who come seeking an encounter with them. |
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| 4/9/99 | Borders: a TV Game Show? | Tamar Charney |
| Description The Flint Youth Theater opens its final play in a trilogy about race and racism. But the format of this production is a bit unconventional for a play about race issues. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports. Interviews |
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| 4/9/99 | Tony Amore | Tamar Charney |
| Description A new play by composer and performer Andy Kirshner is a look at aging in front of the camera's eye. When the lights go down at the Michigan Theater, there's a timpani role, and out comes the legendary and now barely living fictional singer, Tony Amore. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports. Interviews |
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| 4/17/99 | Flying Thing | Tamar Charney |
| Description The University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History unveiled a new pterodactyl or - to be more scientifically correct - pterosaur exhibit. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney talked with the exhibit preparer about what pterosaurs are and how the life-size reproduction was sculpted. Interviews |
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| 4/20/99 | Art City Kalamazoo | Tamar Charney |
| Description In the mid '80s, the strip malls and megamalls opened up in America's suburbs. Then shop by shop, downtowns starts closing. Since that time many cities have been trying to inject life back into downtown. Six months ago, Kalamazoo opened up its signature downtown pedestrian mall to cars. Reopening the mall was one step in a long road toward bringing Kalamazoo's downtown back to life. One avenue the city is currently exploring involves using the arts as a tool for downtown revitalization. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at how the former "mall city" may become "art city." Interviews |
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| 4/30/99 | Babies in Tune | Tamar Charney |
| Description One of the biggest challenges facing symphonies all across the nation is ensuring that there will be an audience for classical music in the coming decades. The Jackson Symphony Orchestra like many symphonies puts a lot of effort into developing a new generation of symphony goers. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, the Jackson Symphony is giving a classical music CD to all parents leaving the hospital with a newborn. Interviews |
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| 5/21/99 | Festival of New Works | Tamar Charney |
| Description A five-week-long theater festival has debuted in Ann Arbor. The Festival of New Works showcases new dramatic works and serves as a writers workshop for developing dramatic writing. Pieces in the festival come from writers in Michigan, New York and elsewhere. But, as Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, the festival will give theatergoers a somewhat unusual theater experience. In addition to staging plays, The Festival of New Works is staging a screenplay. Interviews |
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| 5/26/99 | Auto Design | Tamar Charney |
| Description You may think an art degree is a ticket to flipping burgers. But a bachelor's degree in a certain artistic field will get you a starting salary that averages $40,000 and even $60,000 is fairly common. The degree is in transportation design. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the artists behind your car. Interviews |
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| 5/28/99 | Faure's Requiem | Tamar Charney |
| Description On Sunday, May 30, in at least five different North American cities, choirs will be singing a Requiem by Gabriel Faure. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, the singing of the Requiem isn't a performance -- it's a way of responding to recent news headlines. The singing was the musical brainchild of one Michigan man. Interviews |
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| 6/3/99 | Sugar Art | Wendy Nelson |
| Description An artist's work is sometimes as much about the choice of medium as the actual content of the piece. Michigan Radio's Wendy Nelson met one artist who is using sugar to conjure up some not-so-sweet associations. Susan Graham's sugar art that explores insomnia is featured in an exhibit at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids. Now she's teaching the technique to other artists. Interviews |
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| 6/9/99 | Macart | Tracy Samilton |
| Description Southeast Michigan has a diverse array of arts and cultural institutions, from the Detroit Institute of Arts to the Henry Ford Museum. These are modern institutions - but they face the age-old problem of finding patrons and the money to stay open. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports. Interviews |
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| 6/9/99 | Stories of Future | Tamar Charney & Sian Chivers and Shoshana Mallof |
| Description When you envision the media of the future, you might think of something like a computer-generated world you can plug your brain into. But one computer researcher has a different vision. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney explains. Interviews |
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| 6/11/99 | Great Lakes Chamber | Gretchen Millich |
| Description The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival opens this weekend and runs for two weeks. For the past five years, the festival has been wildly successful in the Detroit area. But now, as the event expands to include other Michigan cities, ticket sales are lagging. We have a report from WKAR's Gretchen Millich. Interviews |
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| 6/11/99 | Waterfront Film Festival | Tamar Charney |
| Description Saugatuck is part of what's considered Michigan's "Art Coast." It's a town known for galleries, music festivals and working artists. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, there is a brand new event on Sagatuck's arts calendar. It's a film festival that's drawing Hollywood actors and moguls to this small lakeshore community. Interviews |
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| 6/17/99 | Nature Writer's Hike | Tamar Charney |
| Description The written word is how many of us form opinions about the natural world. But many readers and writers alike tend to think nature writing is about grand descriptions of the world's majestic mountains, waterfalls and redwoods. Recently, nature writers from around the world gathered at an unlikely spot to learn how to experience and write about nature of a different sort. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has the story. Interviews |
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| 6/24/99 | U.P. Life: Metal | Frida Waara |
| Description Some of the continent's richest deposits of iron ore are buried in the Marquette Range of the central Upper Peninsula. The iron means jobs for thousands of people in the area. The steel made from this iron becomes machines, construction materials and even refrigerators. And when old rusted steel finds it's way back to junkyards in Marquette County, it may end up recycled into a work of art. Reporter Frida Waara explains. Interviews |
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| 6/24/99 | Mosaic | Jerome Vaughn |
| Description Most people think of high school plays when they think of teenagers performing drama. But one group of metro Detroiters is changing that perception by performing around the world. WDET's Jerome Vaughn reports on the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. Interviews |
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| 7/15/99 | Haggis Hurl | Christina Shockley/Tamar Charney |
| Description Most cultures have a food that's made from scrap meat such as sausage or spam. Haggis is the Scottish version. The Saline Celtic Festival hosted an event called the Haggis Hurl. We sent intern Christina Shockley to the festival to find what the Haggis Hurl is. She sent back this audio postcard about the event and the history of throwing Haggis. |
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| 7/27/99 | Isle Royale, Part 1: Getting There | Tamar Charney |
| Description The summer travel season is getting into full gear, and we're hitting the road -- Destination: Isle Royale National Park. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has the first of a three-part look at a special location way off the beaten track. Interviews |
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| 7/28/99 | Isle Royale, Part 2: Visiting Artist | Tamar Charney |
| Description This week, Michigan Radio is touring Isle Royale National Park. It's an island park in the middle of Lake Superior -- about 50 miles from the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. More people visit Yellowstone National Park in a week than visit Isle Royale in a year. But it is a park that captures the hearts of many of its visitors, particularly artists. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the artist-in-residence program in the second part of our series. Interviews |
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| 7/29/99 | Isle Royale, Part 3: Future | Tamar Charney |
| Description This week, we've been taking you far away from roads, cars and cell phones. We've been paying a visit to Isle Royale National Park, an island that's about half the size of the state of Delaware. And it's in the middle of Lake Superior. Ninety-nine percent of the island is wilderness. In the final part of our series, Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the future of Isle Royale National Park. Interviews |
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| 7/23/99 | Shakespeare | Tamar Charney |
| Description The third weekend in July is packed with arts events all across Michigan. And the Michigan Shakespeare Festival is one of many festivals that kicks off this weekend. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has that story. Interviews |
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| 8/12/99 | Bill Kirchen and National Folk Festival | Gretchen Millich |
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Description The National Folk Festival is in East Lansing this year. The festival features folk artists from all over the country, including blues guitarists, Cajun bands, Celtic and polka groups, gospel singers and jazz musicians. The opening act is Bill Kirchen, a performer who started his musical career in Michigan. Gretchen Millich has a look at Kirchen and the National Folk Festival. Interviews |
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| 8/20/99 | Bess Bonnier | Todd Mundt/Tamar Charney |
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Description Recently, William Shakespeare has become a hot box office property. But it isn't just filmmakers who are looking to the bard for inspiration. As Michigan Radio's Todd Mundt reports, there's a new CD out featuring music inspired by Shakespeare. Interviews
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| 8/24/99 | Glass | John Walters/Tamar Charney |
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Description Being a full-time artist involves many challenges and sacrifices. When your chosen medium is glass, you face an additional challenge in the summertime. Recently, Michigan Radio's John Walters found that out first-hand. He filed this report. Interviews |
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| 9/15/99 | Art Therapy | Tamar Charney |
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Description The Adrian Training School is the last chance for teenagers in trouble with the law. If they weren't at the training school, they'd be in jail. Teenagers are sent through a regimen of classes, therapy sessions and adventure training programs in a attempt to turn their lives around. Now, the training school has added another activity to the mix -- art therapy. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports. Interviews | ||
| 9/15/99 | Yupik Masks | Tracy Samilton |
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Description Modern technology can be a threat to ancient traditions, but a group of Alaskan Indians are making use of a computer technology barely 10 years old to preserve some of their centuries-old culture. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton has a look at how information specialists in Michigan are helping preserve Yupik traditions. Interviews
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| 9/22/99 | Monument Mania | Tamar Charney |
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Description As the millennium comes to a close, many communities across Michigan are taking a look at the legacy they are leaving for future generations. And many communities are looking to leave their mark with public art. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at some public art projects underway in Michigan, including Leonardo DaVinci's Horse, the Sojourner Truth Monument and others. Interviews |
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| 9/21/99 | Lenawee's Monument | Tamar Charney |
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Description A lot of people are talking about doing about things for the Millennium -- flying solo around the world, a cruise along the international dateline, a trek across Tibet. But the people of Lenawee County have decided to do something a bit more lasting. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at how farmers, doctors, factory workers and other people from all over Lenawee County are learning to do bronze casting so the community can build itself a bronze monument. Interviews | ||
| 9/23/99 | Animal Lovers | Tamar Charney |
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Description Jesse Richards is one of those artists whose talents extends to all the arts -- she's a singer, a composer, an actor, a dancer and even a sculptor. Richards regularly stages original theater shows that mix, song, dance and theatrical vignettes. One work looked at body image, another one human nature. After the death of her beloved wolf dog, Jesse Richards started creating the Animal Lovers' Project. It explores the role animals play in our society. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney has a look at the Animal Lovers' Project. Interviews | ||
| 11/10/99 | Dennos Museum: Surprise! Art Education | Gretchen Millich |
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Description The Dennos Art Museum in Traverse City has one of the largest collections of Canadian Inuit art in the world. It features more than 500 sculptures and prints by artists of the Canadian Arctic. Recently, the museum started an innovative program with the Traverse City schools, using the art collection to teach students about the Inuit culture of Canada. Gretchen Millich reports. Interviews | ||
| 11/11/99 | Veterans: Remembering A Time | Joan Silvi |
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Description Two Michigan veterans have been honored by the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration's "Wall of Heroes." The wall is a display of photographs of decorated veterans and descriptions of their deeds. It is located at the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital. Michigan Radio's Joan Silvi spoke with the two veterans about their memories of living through a chapter of history -- two personal remembrances of World War II. Interviews | ||
| 11/16/99 | Stinky Flowers: Gardening for a Different Aesthetic | Tamar Charney |
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Description As you flip through garden catalogues this winter making decisions about how you'll design your garden in spring, you are probably reading page after page of descriptions like..."flashy mix of florescent colors," "definitely a show stopper" and "all your neighbors will say is wow." But something is missing from the descriptions, your garden and even many of the flowers themselves. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney explains, in the past many gardens were designed for fragrance. Many cultures going back to ancient times grew flowers for their aroma. The reason we've forgotten this element of the aesthetics of gardening has as much to do with the science of genetics as the art of garden design. Interviews | ||
| 11/17/99 | Seamus Heaney: A Visit | Tamar Charney |
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Description Poet Seamus Heaney has won just about every poetry award there is -- including the Nobel Prize. His work is highly acclaimed by critics, English professors and even plain old general readers. He spent a week in Michigan giving talks, readings and teaching classes. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney caught up with the bard to talk about his recent poetry, his new translation of Beowulf and the art of writing poetry. Interviews | ||
| 12/9/99 | Walk Through Opera: Mirror of Shattered Souls | Tamar Charney |
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Description Opera is a theatrical drama that uses singing instead of spoken dialogue. We usually experience it by taking a seat in a concert hall and watching the action and song unfold on the stage. But a group of artists, writers and musicians are trying out a new way of presenting opera. Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney stopped by to take a look as technicians were putting the finishing touches on an opera experiment. Poet Anne Carson has helped create an opera that is presented in a way that is more like a carnival fun house than an opera combining art, poetry and music. Interviews
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| 12/15/99 | Loud Class: Amplifying Schools | Tamar Charney |
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Description In September, the Opera world reverberated with news that the New York City Opera had gone electric -- the famed opera company had taken a controversial step and started using amplification. But the concert hall isn't the only place where microphones, wires and speakers are making inroads. As Michigan Radio's Tamar Charney reports, classrooms all across Michigan are being wired for sound to make sure the teacher can always be heard. In the early 1990s, Berrien Springs was one of the first school systems to put amplification equipment in every K-5 classroom. Interviews | ||
| 12/23/99 | Math Art: Lessons in Sculpture | Michelle Corum |
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Description The sculptures of Michigan artist David Barr are scattered throughout the state. There's one outside the historical museum and library in Lansing, one called "Soaring" at the Flint airport, and a piece called "Sunset Cube" at Oakland University, to name just a few. Currently, there's a 40-year retrospective of David Barr's work showing in Traverse City. Michelle Corum of Interlochen Public Radio reports that it's an exhibit teachers like because it holds math lessons. Interviews | ||
| 12/22/99 | U.P. Life: Sauna | Frida Waara |
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Description Throughout the ages, northern cultures around the globe have taken sweat baths. Native Americans have sweat lodges, Russians have banias and Swedes have bastus. However, none are as popular as what's known as the Finnish sauna. In the Lower Peninsula, saunas are common in luxury hotels, gyms and spas, but in the Upper Peninsula the sauna is a way of life for many people of Finnish descent. Reporter Frida Waara explains. Interviews | ||
