Art and Culture

An Artist who helped American painting get past the dominant style of her day get her story told in a new book. 

Last week I mentioned a new biography of artist Helen Frankenthaler entitled Fierce Poise that I’m really looking forward to reading.  Maybe this summer.  Her career was a remarkable one, and her influence on American art very significant.

In 1952 she painted a breakthrough piece called Mountains and Sea.  Because muted color made up so much of the visual impact of her painting, this new style became known as “color field” painting, one of the successor movements to abstract expressionism.  Morris Louis, who became one of Frankenthaler’s fellow “color field”

Did you know Ike and Tina Turner once released a great gospel LP in 1973?

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Janie Chodosh has written a marvelous story of The Elephant Doctor of India.  She is a former elementary-and-middle-school educator and environmental scientist at Santa Fe Community College.

Telling the story of a woman who moved American painting onward from a once dominant style.

Artist biographies are, for me, a pretty safe bet when it comes to reading material. If it’s about an artist I like, whose work I like, I can get a lot out of a good biography.  There’s a new one out of an artist named Helen Frankenthaler that, while I haven’t got the book yet, is giving me a chance to reflect on her and her work and I’m looking forward to reading it.  She deserves a good 

The guitar playing Holmes Sisters were clearly acolytes of the immortal Sister Rosetta Tharp, as "Gonna Ride This Train" quickly makes clear.

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

The other day, I found The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles.  She is an award-winning author, and she divides her time between Montana and Paris.

A former President picks up a paintbrush to say something about current policy.

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"Mother's Advice" by Georgia's Taylor Brothers is a gently rocking country gospel jewel.

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Join host Kennedy Sam as she talks with CW Executive Director Fiona Bond about the state of the arts scene in Waco and the upcoming Wacotown Chalk + Walk. She also has a conversation with City Center Waco's Director of Communications Wendy Gragg. Wendy talks about the growth of Downtown Waco, and her admiration of the small businesses that take up space there.

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

One of my earliest discoveries of British Women writers was Anita Brookner.  Her novels are mostly short—under 200 pages—and she had a knack for delicate and detailed portraits of her characters.  She wrote twenty novels including her 1988 Booker Prize novel Hotel du Lac.  This was the first of hers I read and my earliest Booker Prize novel.  Anita died in 2016, and I have decided to resurrect some of her finest novels beginning with The Debut.

Remembering a former vice president of the United States calls to mind his wife as well, and what she did for the arts.

Sister Josephine James' slow and bluesy rendition of "God Can Make a Way" will give you shivers!

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The torch at Act Locally Waco has passed from founder Ashley Bean Thornton to new Prosper Waco head Ferrell Foster. The two sit down with host Kennedy Sam to discuss the organization's roots and its future.

I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Every-once-in-a-while I come across a novel by Emily St. John Mandel.  I skimmed some titles, but nothing caught my attention.  When her fifth novel appeared—The Glass Hotel—the dust jacket intrigued me.  She was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award.