Arts/Entertainment

A Hoosier Nature Artist Who Overcame Adversity (Photo Gallery)

First Posted: 3/5/13 02:53 PM EDT Updated: 3/5/13 02:53 PM EDT
Originally published December 2012/January 2013

BY LEE ANN SANDWEISS Like an experienced sailor knows the nuances of the sea, artist Ken Bucklew knows the natural beauty of his native Indiana. Since he was a boy, Bucklew has painted the landscapes and wildlife of the Hoosier state, primarily in Owen County where he has always lived. “Indiana nature is so diverse—the seasons, the atmospheric conditions—I’m never at a loss for subject matter. I try to capture Indiana natural heritage in the most authentic way,” Bucklew says. Even after a 1975 diving accident left Bucklew paralyzed from the neck down at the age of 18, he was determined to pursue his art. After a long rehabilitation, he gradually recovered some dexterity and devised a technique of controlling [...]

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Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Web Exclusives Tagged With: Ken Bucklew, Lee Ann Sandweiss, Shannon Zahnle

Mathers Museum to Present A Balinese Puppet Show

First Posted: 3/1/13 01:17 PM EDT Updated: 3/1/13 02:46 PM EDT
Originally published February/March 2013

BY BRIDGETT HENWOOD As a Balinese puppet master, Jennifer Goodlander improvises stories, provides the voices, and carefully manipulates the figures, but you never actually see the puppets or her. She performs while hidden behind a screen, casting shadows of the colorful leather puppets for the audience. Soon, Bloomingtonians will get a chance to witness an authentic Balinese puppet show. In 2008, while earning her Ph.D. in interdisciplinary arts at Ohio University, Goodlander, a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, received a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Bali, Indonesia. Once there she became fascinated with shadow puppetry, called wayang kulit, an integral part of Balinese culture since the first century. So taken was Goodlander, that she was offered the rare opportunity of [...]

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Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment Tagged With: Bridgett Henwood, H.K. Han, IU Department of Theatre & Drama, Julie Goodlander, Mathers Museum of World Cultures

Caswell Sisters to Celebrate New CD Release in B-town

First Posted: 2/28/13 01:03 PM EDT Updated: 2/28/13 01:12 PM EDT
Originally published February/March 2013

BY DAVID BRENT JOHNSON When it comes to playing music, violinist Sara Caswell and vocalist Rachel Caswell must have heard a steady call of destiny; they grew up in Bloomington with two musicologists for parents. “We were doomed,” Rachel jokes. The sisters both studied under Indiana University jazz studies leader David Baker and formed what has become a long-lasting musical collaboration, the latest result of which is their new CD, Alive in the Singing Air. Since leaving Bloomington in 2004, Sara has steadily built a sterling reputation in the jazz world, touring with Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding, recording with Grammy nominee Roseanna Vitro, and recently landing in JazzTimes magazine’s readers poll as one of the top five jazz violinists. [...]

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Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment Tagged With: David Brent Johnson, John Abbott Photography, Rachel Caswell, Sara Caswell

Oxford U. Press Publishes New Steve Raymer Book on Calcutta (Photo Gallery)

First Posted: 2/21/13 11:13 AM EDT Updated: 2/21/13 11:15 AM EDT
Originally published December 2012/January 2013

BY ADAM KENT-ISAAC Calcutta was India’s capital when that country was a colony and a “jewel in the British crown.” Today it’s best known as “a byword for unspeakable poverty,” says Steve Raymer, IU photojournalism professor (and Bloom Magazine’s principal photographer), who sought to present a more nuanced view of the city in his new book, Redeeming Calcutta: A Portrait of India’s Imperial Capital (Oxford University Press). In the course of writing and photographing the work, Raymer visited the city six times. It is, he says, “a place of considerable charm, beauty, and intrigue, where the citizens possess a certain joie de vivre for high culture, political debate, and, increasingly, making money.” Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) has long attracted [...]

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Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Web Exclusives Tagged With: Adam Kent-Isaac, Joe Breen, Larry Buchanan, Redeeming Calcutta, Steve Raymer

The Local Artists Showcase: February 24 at Convention Center

First Posted: 1/29/13 02:57 PM EDT Updated: 2/26/13 10:03 AM EDT
Originally published February/March 2013

BY BRIDGETT HENWOOD Regional artists will once again have their time to shine at the Local Artists Showcase, presented this February by Bloom Magazine and Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington. “The Showcase offers an opportunity for artists in Monroe County and the surrounding counties to display their work at a very reasonable booth rate in a non-juried show,” explains Malcolm Abrams, editor and publisher of Bloom. Last year, more than 70 local artists gathered at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center to display their creations, including paintings, sculptures, textile work, jewelry, drawings, photographs, and ceramics. Margie Van Auken, an illustrator and painter, participated in 2012 and will show her work again this year. “This was a very strong, fun community art [...]

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