My friend Marcia Merrill and I had gotten together over a glass of wine last week when she mentioned she was in her sixth year serving on the board of The Light Factory. “Did you know it is one of only four photography museums in the country, and that it is about 40 years old?” […]

I was wandering through the fourth floor gallery of the museum, taking in the creative ecstasy of works by Picasso, Tinguely and Giacometti. The sounds of a smooth mellow sax wafted up from the lobby, and then the jazz quartet broke into “Our Love is Here to Stay.” It was a sublime moment of quintessential […]

After I visited Discovery Place’s new exhibit, RACE: Are We So Different? I felt that the exhibit name was actually a misnomer of sorts. Yes, the exhibit explores the history of the concept of race and how it has been used for centuries to keep economic and political elites in power (without getting preachy about […]

Some 50 people showed up at the Barnes & Noble in SouthPark on Jan. 27 to meet Charlotte  author Tricia Martineau Wagner and purchase signed copies of her latest book, Black Cowboys of the Old West. The next day we spoke – writer to writer – about what drives her to write historical nonfiction for […]

Frozen, the Tony Award-winning play now being presented by the Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius, is an experience to “shake the soul and let the glory out.” Midway through the second act, I began to weep profusely. But they were the kind of tears that fall from heaven. For I suddenly knew – call […]

Lots of people say they support public art.  Will Puckett creates it. And in doing so, he also creates a collaborative spirit that brings  people together to build a sense of community. For Puckett, it’s all about the process of making art.  He received no commission for his first outdoor mural in NoDa, Als Ich Chan: […]

For the last several years, North Carolina has had one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the country, and Charlotte is at the center of that growth.  The city’s cultural community is responding to make sure the Hispanic experience is celebrated and honored through artistic expressions and made available to all residents.  I’ve noticed […]

I initially called Charlotte potter Julie Wiggins to talk about the Regional Artists Grant she had received from the Arts and Science Council to purchase a pug mill so she could recycle her leftover clay.  But conversations – including journalistic interviews – don’t always go as planned. Wiggins, 33, wanted the mill so she didn’t […]

Aesop has nothing on the Levine Museum of the New South.  Both demonstrate the power of story-telling, not just to entertain, but to enlighten and instruct in a world often lacking in moral clarity. Some say museums have lost their relevancy in today’s fast-paced, ADD world.  But the Levine in Charlotte demonstrates with its new […]

I have always liked the quote – although sometimes attributed to Machiavelli – “Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” But after talking to Robert Bush of Charlotte’s Arts and Science Council, I am inclined to agree with him that small plans also have the power to inspire people to […]

Although still developing a formal mission statement for her Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius, Marla Brown is nevertheless quite clear about what she hopes to accomplish with the 50-seat black-box theater that opened about two years ago. “It’s not so much about entertainment as it is about thought- and soul-provoking art. At this point, […]