Festival of the Photograph offers new slate of free events

“I began asking local residents if they’d heard of LOOK3. The vast majority said, ‘Oh, you mean the pictures in the trees!,’” says Mary Virginia Swanson, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph executive director. “I knew then that we needed to reach out with community-based programs that would be free and open to all.” Indeed, as a […]

Album reviews: Dungen, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Julianna Barwick

Dungen Allas Sak (Mexican Summer) Dungen, meaning “grove,” is a suitably organic tag for this Swedish band, though its prog-and-folk-inflected psychedelia invokes the cerulean as readily as the sylvan—think early-’70s Genesis or Caravan. The band is a classic four-piece, with bandleader/singer Gustav Ejstes sometimes laying aside his guitar in favor of piano, flute or violin; […]

ARTS Pick: Mary Fahl

Singer-songwriter and co-founder of the defunct chamber-pop group October Project, Mary Fahl draws on classical and world music influences to forge her earthy sound. Fahl, who has written and performed songs for several films and television shows, recently toured to promote her latest release, Love and Gravity. The folk-tinged album, produced by John Lissauer (noted […]

ARTS Pick: The Charlottesville Women’s Choir

Thirty-two years after an informal beginning, The Charlottesville Women’s Choir continues to perform in honor of its commitment to peace and justice. With minimal percussion, the a cappella group, comprised of 40 voices, soars to inspirational heights on songs such as “One” and “Born This Way,” and the tribute “Ruth Bader Ginsberg.” This year’s spring […]

June First Fridays Guide

Self-taught quilt artist Jane Fellows has always been drawn to fabric and the natural world. After exploring several techniques, Fellows left her nursing practice last year to dedicate herself fully to quilt-making. “With an eye toward my surroundings and nature, I focused on botanicals and landscapes,” Fellows says of her initial process. “I wanted to […]

ARTS Pick: The Tallest Man on Earth

Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson approaches his music as a folk purist reminiscent of early Bob Dylan in his delivery and aesthetic. Performing under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth, Matsson has four albums, the latest being Dark Bird, in which The Man pulls in mysterious backing voices credited in the liner notes as “angel […]

Amelia Williams uses sculpture and poetry to protest pipeline

Artists-turned-activists typically use their work to amplify awareness about an issue. Increased publicity, the thinking goes, inspires action in the field. But poet Amelia Williams has found a way to leverage art as a direct blocking and delay tactic in the fight against fracked gas pipelines and compressor stations. “In 2014, when we learned about […]

Film review: X-Men: Apocalypse has too many heroes, loses cred

When Marvel first sold the film rights to its biggest properties —Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four—it was not yet aware of the gold mine that awaited it with The Avengers series. And at first, Sony and Fox were doing interesting things with their acquisitions; the first two Spider-Man movies by Sam Raimi are industry-defining milestones for […]

Kyle Dunnigan brings cast of characters to the Southern

Craig Pullin, Deputy Trudy Wiegel’s bespectacled, slack-jawed boyfriend in the cult comedy “Reno 911!,” isn’t who fans thought he was. Pullin, played by comedian Kyle Dunnigan, is a serial-killing mastermind hiding behind a clueless veneer in both the Comedy Central half-hour sitcom and the feature film Reno 911!: Miami. But Dunnigan, who’ll perform at The […]

ARTS Pick: Pops at The Paramount

Experience the splendor of well-loved hits from film, theater and television with Pops at The Paramount, performed by the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia. The program, directed by Kate Tamarkin, includes John Lunn’s “Suite for Downton Abbey,” selections from John Williams’ score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Arnold Schoenberg’s “I Dreamed […]