“Music Defines Him”
Clark Partners

First came pots and pans, then Ovaltine cans. For Ian Engelsman, diagnosed with autism at age three, banging on them as a child was the only way he could calm down. Mute until he was five, he literally found his voice playing the drums, and brought his love of percussion to the music department at Clark College.

“Samantha Isom: Busting Through Barriers”
American Photographic Artists

Where were all the black surfers, scuba divers, and skiers? Samantha Isom didn’t see them in any photographs, so she created the images herself. From the start, not only has she been breaking through the deep-rooted racial and gender biases of this art form, but also, being a black woman, those of the profession.

“Into the Light”
Communication Arts

Through the decades, the best of graphic design has been showcased as the pearls of the profession. But what about those lesser-known, yet important, works out there? From a Cold War political poster to a 1980s serigraph by a Coast Salish descendant, five hidden gems get their time in the spotlight.

“Bridge Builders”
Chamber Music Magazine

When the Shanghai Quartet teamed up 35-plus years ago, they didn’t think they’d last for long, let alone become one of the most successful string quartets in the world. The first such group to emerge from post-Cultural Revolution China, it has traveled as seamlessly between hemispheres as it has traditional and new music. 

“Out in the Country”
Window

Growing up, Patrick Haggerty played with dolls and pranced around in a tutu. Twenty years later, in 1973, he formed a gay country-western band called Lavender Country, which then released the genre’s first openly gay-themed album. After 40 years’ absence, the band resurfaced to national applause. In between, what a story.

“Shaking Hands with the Past”
Washington State Magazine

Issues of ethnicity, economic disparity, and cultural displacement take shape in Nathan Orosco’s art made of cast bronze, fused glass, wood, and other media. For him, making art is a collaboration with the traditional ways humans have always worked with these raw materials.

“Identity Rearranged”
Chamber Music Magazine

In Miguel Zenón’s Yo Soy la Tradición, the New York-based alto saxophonist and composer braids together folk melodies from his home country of Puerto Rico, progressive jazz, and new music, collaborating with the Spektral Quartet. The hour-long Grammy-nominated piece explores Zenón’s cultural identities within a mix of musical traditions. 

“Pinnacle Win”
Chamber Music Magazine

Snowy peaks punch through clouds above this small resort town cradled by the Canadian Rockies. Here in Banff, Alberta, the strings of violins, violas, and cellos from all over the world resonate with determination, anticipation, and celebration during the Banff International String Quartet Festival.

“Joni Kabana: Compassion in Action”
Photographer’s Forum

The discomfort of the unknown is where “I feel most alive and my senses are fiercely alert,” says Portland, Oregon-based photographer Joni Kabana. Traveling the developing world, she is most recognized for her images that bring to light the unfairness in global women’s health.

“Fire and Heart: Remembering Paco de Lucia”
Oregon ArtsWatch

Solo in front of a packed Vancouver, BC hall, he curled the melody through his fingers and strummed the rhythm within him. Paco carried his guitar from his Andalusian childhood to the world stage, transforming flamenco and transporting listeners.

"Keith Carter: Imperfect Beauty"
Photographer's Forum

Themes of children, mythology, folklore, the anthropomorphic animal world, the religious aspects of people's lives, ordinary moments, and the places we go and how we live all speak in Keith Carter's photographs, imbued with reverie and memory, metaphor and hidden meaning.

"Sandro: From the Heart"
Photographer's Forum

It was Irving Penn’s photos in a magazine that did it for Sandro Miller. As a kid, he wanted to take pictures, too. Since then, Harley-Davidson bikers and Moroccan nomads, Michael Jordan and John Malkovich, among others, have posed before this Chicago award-winning photographer’s camera.

"Andrés Wertheim: Spectral Expression"
Photographer's Forum

Andrés Wertheim’s in-camera double-exposure photographs blend his images of art in museums with those of the people viewing it. This fusing of two different takes on reality speaks a visual dialogue of past and present, presence and absence, and seeing and being seen.

"David Emmite"
Communication Arts

Rainbowed strands of yarn stream from an old radio’s speaker and a jetpack propeller prepares a taxidermied mallard for flight. From props like these to product shots, portraits, GIFs, and live-action video, nostalgia and satire run through the photography of Portland, Oregon’s David Emmite.