Arts

Former ADN photographer looking for some help with book

Jim Lavrakas, whose award-winning photos accompanied many an article in the Daily News for a couple of decades or so and who wrote the popular "Fishing Dude" dispatches, is preparing an album that will encompass some 160 samples of his best work. "Snap Decisions: My 30 Years as an Alaska News Photographer" will go to the printer in about a month and be ready for delivery in November.

Mat-Su art festival will offer wide range of classes

The Machetanz Arts Festival will take place at Mat-Su College this week. It consists of a series of classes in a variety of artistic disciplines and will begin with a four-day water media workshop led by Judi Betts of Baton Rouge, La., starting Tuesday.

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans

Local bird population booms as migrating species arrive

May brings tens of thousands of birds to town -- geese, cranes, swans, sandpipers and harriers, to name just a few of the commonly spotted species. The Alaska Zoo will celebrate that influx by observing International Migratory Bird Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

ART BEAT

Anchorage high schools honored by the Grammys

East and Bartlett high schools have been named as recipients of Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Awards. The two Anchorage schools are among 18 selected from around the nation this year.

Blog: Art Snob

A lot of new music popped up this spring

Over four consecutive Saturdays, April 14-May 6, I attended four concerts in which new music received its world premiere. The concerts are individually critiqued at adn.com/artsnob, but here's a synopsis of the new compositions.

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans

Homer writer finds success with 'sexy, sassy' romance novels

Most new writers would count themselves lucky to publish a novel with a small publisher. Homer writer Jennifer Bernard hit a trifecta with not one but three novels, all published in mass-market paperback by Avon Romance.

Music pioneer with fond memories of Alaska dies

Violinist Roman Totenberg died of kidney failure on Tuesday at his home in Newton, Mass. The Polish-born virtuoso, a contemporary of classical music giants like Rachmaninoff, Toscanini and Heifetz, performed before kings and presidents -- and Alaskans.

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans

Maurice Sendak, author of splendid nightmares, dies at 83

Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children's book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died Tuesday in Connecticut.

Summer museum exhibits focus on Denali

May 1 will bring the start of general climbing season on Mount McKinley and the switch to summer hours at the Anchorage Museum. Yes, there's a connection.

Fairbanks residents imagine art ideas for downtown

Fairbanks residents offered artwork themes ranging from sternwheelers to mushers to ravens for green space that will be created by the realignment of downtown streets crossing the Chena River.

ART BEAT

At last: an opera 'Ring' cycle on the big screen

You knew they'd get around to this. After putting the four operas in Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" cycle on the big screen over the past two years as part of its transmission of live operas to local theaters around the world, the Met is ready to present them in a series over a 10-day period.

Blog: Art Snob

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans

Woodcarver sees one-of-a kind furniture in forests

To an untrained eye, the property surrounding Phil Marshall's home along Skyline Drive looks like it houses a vast, eclectic and surprisingly well-organized firewood collection.

ART BEAT

International Gallery features Egyptian-themed art

Donald Ricker has configured the tiny space on the south side of the International Gallery of Contemporary Art into a mini-maze suggesting an ancient Egyptian temple. Entering the installation "Tomb of Reason: New work in an ancient iconography" from either of two doors, the viewer passes by several sculpted panels in the style of old Memphis -- the one in Africa, not the home of the blues.

Blog: Art Snob

Famed composer's latest work uses words by Alaska poet

Five poems by the former Alaska poet laureate Tom Sexton are featured in the latest work by one of America's most respected and performed serious composers, Libby Larsen.

Premiere of suffragette opera to take place in Anchorage

Anchorage Opera will present the world premiere of "Mrs. President," by Victoria Bond, in October. Bond has a long career as both a composer and conductor. "Mrs. President" is about Victoria Woodhull (1838 -1927), the first female candidate for president of the United States.

Youth Symphony to present more premieres

The big attraction at the Anchorage Youth Symphony's performance on May 5 will be Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which closes the program. The Anchorage Concert Chorus will join the orchestra with soloists Anastasia Jamieson, Marlene Bateman, John Ken Nuzzo and Anton Belov.

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans