Matthew Israel, art historian, author and director of The Art Genome Project, will be giving the closing talk for the first-ever Mission Creek Tech + Innovation…
Russell Jaffe
Interview: Matthew Israel on how the Art Genome Project is making the world of art more comprehensible
Fossilmania runs wild in Iowa City this weekend
In the midst the hubbub of the seemingly omnipresent Mission Creek events this week, you might miss out on “the largest show in the world that exhibits fossils exclusively.” Fossil […]
Art City: Unwitting animals offer a new canvas for outsider art
“Mom, can I be in a Coca-Cola commercial?” begs the caption beneath her photo. She wears a red and white bow, the iconic colors of the can she poses next to…
Fond Farewells: Dr. Star talks about his final column and what lies ahead
“This is the interview I never expected to give,” Dr. Star says at a table in a busy cafe. He is bundled for the cold in earth tones drinking coffee. Dr. Star is a Little Village…
Art City: Finding the art of Sharpless auctions
Update: Columnist Russell Jaffe is holding an art sale of his own! Details available here. There are two things to know about Sharpless Auctions when you enter, and they both […]
Art City: Fair Grounds owner has big art dreams
Photos by Rachel Jessen Steve Pernetti is my friend. We met in 2010 when he bought Fair Grounds, the Iowa City vegan/vegetarian bakery and café whose food I loved but […]
Art City: The Iowa State Fair as tribute to the boundless hunger of the individual
If you’re going to lose yourself in Iowa like I have for the last four years, you need to obey the gravity of our place and time and go to the Iowa State Fair. This year’s…
Cornography: Land of the golden phallus
If we are what we eat, we have almost no choice but to be corn. It’s an ingredient in so much of what we consume, knowingly or not, but here […]
PICs: Yotopia founder Veronica Tessler on thinking locally and Iowa City’s sudden influx of frozen treats
One might say Veronica Tessler is a woman possessed by sweet dreams. The founder and Iowa City business owner, a young woman with bright eyes and…
PICs: Interview with an anonymous homeless man living on a bench in the Ped Mall
The homeless community in Iowa City, if it can truly be called a community, is one that isn’t new to cities or towns with larger populations. And yet for many of us…
Art City: Holy places
Art, like people, often fragments mysteriously, like light into a prism. And that prism can be a little trickier to observe in a place like Iowa City, with its rich […]
Art City: The story behind Jeff McNutt
If you really think about it, it takes generations of strong people to recognize, cultivate and promote that thing we call art. What have been cave drawings, daring derivatives, assorted […]