Larassa Kabel's contemporary memento mori style—an artistic reminder of the inevitability of death—has taken many forms, perhaps most notably as a horse in her series "Any Minute Now." In an upcoming exhibition at Moberg Gallery opening June 18, Kabel's newest form will be the eye.

For the showcase, called "42" and part of her ongoing series "Death and the Good Life," Kabel asked 41 people (the 42nd person is herself) to send a photo of their faces while thinking of her. From there, Kabel isolated the eyes and converted them onto black paper using graphite. The result: a collection of emotional portraits with little tonal range between blacks and grays.

"If I knew I had enough time in the dying process, what would I be thinking about?" Kabel said on the latest dsm CultureCast podcast. "I would be thinking about the people I'd been in relationships with over the course of my life. The good ones, the bad ones, the ones that failed—why did they fail?"

Kabel's work was inspired by ancient Egypt and the concept of a soul. To determine who deserved an afterlife, Egyptians believed a person had to make a "negative confession," a list of 42 sins the person could honestly say they had never committed, hence the name of the exhibit.

There's also a subtleness to the drawings, as Kabel designed them to act "like ghosts." "The reason it was important to have an in-person [exhibit] opening is because you have to move around because [the eyes] appear and disappear like ghosts depending on where you're standing compared to the light," Kabel said.

Listen to the full podcast episode here. (You can subscribe to find more interviews like this at Apple Podcast, Spotify and more.)

If you're looking for free, family-friendly arts and culture events this summer, Des Moines Performing Arts just announced a host of them starting in June, including a weekly yoga session, concerts and pop-up performances. Find a full summer event calendar online. Here are a few to mark on your calendar.

Yoga in the Commons: Starting in June, new instructors will lead a yoga class every Sunday at 9 a.m. at Cowles Commons in downtown Des Moines. The event is in partnership with Janet Casson Yoga.

Pop-Up Performances: On June 25-27, "Waterbombs," described as a "hysterical" water balloon fight and acted out by a New York City-based mime group, will be at various parks around town. On Aug. 5-8, "Ants," an interactive, kid-friendly performance, will be at parks as well.

Concerts: Local musicians Sonia De Los Santos and the Okee Dokee Brothers will perform a bilingual concert on back-to-back nights at the Ankeny Bandshell at Wagner Park (6 p.m. on Sept. 23) and the Lauridsen Amphitheater at Water Works Park (6 p.m. on Sept. 24).

The Des Moines Art Center and three local galleries have new exhibits this month:

"Manos": The Des Moines Art Center is displaying a selection of Latin American art from its permanent collections. Find the exhibit in the Art Center's John Brady Print Gallery.

"Figure & Form": Moberg Gallery is featuring works from contemporary female artists such as Swoon, Adele Renault, Alyson Khan and Goizane Esain. Organizers say "Swoon’s mixed-media narrative portraits are in visual conversation with Renault’s new multicolored paintings of feathers in acrylic and spray paint, Khan’s pastel and black orderly abstracts, and Esain’s large-scale photo slices of spring botanicals."

"Annual Landscape Show": Olson Larsen Galleries' popular yearly exhibition featuring works depicting nature is back, showcasing artists such as Gary Bowling, Christine Carr, John Preston, Jean Gumpeer and Mat Kelly, among others. The show opens on May 28.

"A Song of Becoming": Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design has opened a group show featuring 30 works by five artists: Kristen Abbott, Lesley Grainger, June Street Studio, Kate Blomquist and Taelor Fisher.

We're excited for real summer weather (you know, without nonstop rain) and to celebrate Memorial Day this upcoming weekend. If you're like us and itching to get outside, here are a few new-ish recreation areas to check out around Greater Des Moines.

Carl Voss bike trail extension: In 2020, a 2-mile extension of the newly renamed Carl Voss Trail (formerly the Des Moines River Trail) was completed, so you can now bicycle from downtown south and east to Easter Lake. The 4.7-mile trail winds along the Des Moines River and through woodlands; once you get to the lake, circle around it on the 6-mile Mark C. Ackelson Trail.

Raccoon River Park Boathouse: New last year, this spot in West Des Moines offers watercraft rentals to help you explore the 232-acre Blue Heron Lake. Hours are expanding to 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on May 29. Get there early, though, as rentals are provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Beaver Creek: Grab your kayak or canoe and head to this water trail in Johnston, which recently opened its second access point at Lew Clarkson Park (7489 Barnsley Drive). Enjoy the tree-lined excursion, which takes about a half-day.

Writer: Veronica Lorson Fowler

In an era where HGTV makes a garden seem like something to be crashed and created in a weekend, Bob and Becky Shaw know better.
They’ve been tending their half-acre in Clive for nearly 30 years. Over time, they’ve guided their landscape through numerous phases, adjusting paths, decks and patios as their lifestyle changes; planting trees and cutting them down; and experimenting with plants that sometimes thrive, sometimes fail.

In 1991, the Shaws were living on a much smaller plot of land in West Des Moines. They had caught the gardening bug and were looking for more space to indulge their passion. “We came to increasingly enjoy our shared flower gardening experiences,” Bob says. “Time spent in the garden provided a creative outlet and decompression [from the] demands of our careers.” Both are doctors—Bob, now retired, worked in neonatology at Blank Children’s Hospital, and Becky, an obstetrician-gynecologist, teaches at Des Moines University.

They found a lot in Clive, a new build, and purchased the empty lot next door to have plenty of gardening space. It “brought an opportunity to literally shape the landscape,” Bob says.

Read "The Evolving Garden" from the May/June issue of dsm magazine.