I have a lot of art experiences to relate this week, but I thought I should set aside two today, and a few more this weekend, when blog traffic is admittedly lower, I bet.

Tuesday, after Doctor Whosday at the Red Herring, there was an open mic night. The inaugural act was Ladyslipper, a dance and music ensemble. I have seen them perform twice before. The music is intense — romantic. I could listen to the music all day. There is some instrument that looks like an accordion, and it might be, but it sings like nothing that ever played on Lawrence Welk. It reminds me of the bandoneon, as used in the tango in compositions by Astor Piazzolla. The tango is not the Looney Tunes music that Pepe LePew would dance to — it is somber and sad and beautiful, and that is the sense I get from the music of Ladyslipper…

…which makes the energy of the dance even more striking. I am glad to see them, always, and hope to see more.

Meanwhile, I met Moira, an emerging artist at the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council whose work interests me. The subjects of the portraits are people I don’t know, often, and sometimes people I know but would be largely indifferent to seeing a portrait from. What I am trying to say is, I don’t like the art because of the subject. I like the art because of the style, the form, but even more — I like the deep reflectiveness that accompanies the art on the artist’s Facebook page.

I am a sucker for reflection — and this page tells us about how the encounters with people in the artist’s daily life inflects her work, about the conceptual issues that are manifest in the artist’s technique, etc. In examining each image, the viewer encounters both picture and story in a way that makes me linger. Maybe you will like it, too.