Now streaming: the October episode of ‘The Munro Review on CMAC’
It’s time for Episode 25 of “The Munro Review on CMAC,” which focuses on the busy cultural month of October. It features three major segments:
• I travel to the Sierra Art Trails preview exhibition at Stellar Gallery in Oakhurst to look at the art, talk with a couple of the featured artists (William Neill and Kris Kessey) and accept an honor. (I got the Keeper of the Flame award!) The segment starts at the 03:10 mark.
A reminder: Sierra Art Trails starts Friday, Oct. 4, and continues through Sunday, Oct. 6. Buying a catalog for two gets you entry into scores of artist studios dotted throughout the Yosemite foothills from Mariposa to Yosemite Lakes Park. All the details are here.
• Fresno State’s theater department on Friday opens a new production of “(Anon)ymous,” which tells the story of a refugee son and mother on a journey through the United States. I welcome director Gina Sandi-Diaz and actors Teya Juarez and Cha Yang to the studio for an illuminating discussion about the play and how it relates to today’s headlines. The segment starts at the 07:30 mark.
• “Prussian Blue” is a somber new touring art exhibition at Fresno State from Mexican-Jewish artist Yishai Jusidman. The particular shade of blue of the title is a modern synthetic pigment used by artists since the 19th century.
One of the horrific consequences of the Holocaust was the residue of this color left behind in concentration-camp gas chambers because of a chemical reaction between the poison gas and the iron oxide in the bricks and mortar. (Benjamin Kirk at Fresno State has an excellent explanation of this.) Jusidman used the color palette of this eerie byproduct as an entry point into exploring the Holocaust in his series of works.
Producer Kyle Lowe and I went on location to talk with Cindy Urrutia, director of the Center for Creativity and the Arts at Fresno State, to talk about the exhibition, which runs through Oct. 31. The segment starts at the 17:35 mark.
• Also, just a note: In the Reviews segment of the show, I give a sneak peek of my review of Good Company’s “Man of La Mancha.” I’ll be posting the review online later this week. The TV version can be found at the 00:55 mark.
Here’s the episode: