dsmWeekly: February 26, 2019

The high school girls' state basketball tournament is going on this week, as it has for a century—long before this midcentury matchup. Learn about the history, heritage and current leadership of girls' sports in Iowa, in the new issue of dsm magazine, available later today.

PARTY TODAY FOR NEW ISSUE OF DSM MAGAZINE

Please allow us to introduce you to a newcomer in town—our March/April issue arrives today (Tuesday, Feb. 26), and we're having a little get-acquainted party. Please join us between 5 and 7 p.m., along with our hosts R&R Realty Group at their new offices, 1080 Jordan Creek Parkway in West Des Moines. As at all of our new-issue events, you can expect to find good food, beverages and plenty of fun people. We'll have brief comments at 6 p.m., then pass out copies of the magazine, including the one for you.

You can see the canal running through Pella's Molengracht Plaza, alongside the site of the planned Liberty Street Kitchen.

PLAN A SUMMER DRIVE TO PELLA

By Wini Moranville

I can remember when Des Moines diners used to drive to Pella just to eat at the charming Strawtown Inn. Although that restaurant has gone the way of all things, Orchestrate Hospitality is working up an all-new venue that might once again make Pella a dining destination.

Liberty Street Kitchen is set to open this summer in the Royal Amsterdam Hotel, one block from Pella’s historic downtown. The dining room will seat 122 people, with a lounge area that will accommodate 36. Outdoor dining will be available on the Molengracht Plaza, which has a canal running through it.

I was particularly glad to glean from the press release that Orchestrate will remodel the restaurant’s space. I visited an earlier restaurant in the New Amsterdam Hotel years ago, and found the interior had all the charm of any generic midlevel chain-hotel restaurant, anywhere, U.S.A.

According a press release, the food will combine "flavors and ingredients from around the globe and our own backyard." I asked executive chef George Formaro to elaborate: "Iowans have always incorporated global elements in our rural and regional foods," he says. "Liberty Street Kitchen carries on that heritage, using history as a guide to draw inspiration from international cuisines while celebrating what it means to be Iowan."

See you this summer, Pella.

Follow Liberty Street Kitchen’s progress on Facebook.

Wini Moranville writes about food, wine and dining for dsm magazine and dsmWeekly. Follow her on Facebook at All Things Food–DSM.

Hunt Slonem, "Myconos" (2019), oil on wood. An acclaimed painter, sculptor and printmaker, Slonem is widely known for his so-called "Rabbit paintings." The artist often repeats imagery in this series as well as in his other works, telling the Wall Street Journal that creating such repetition is similar to spiritual meditation.

NEW GALLERY TO OPEN

In yet another sign of Des Moines’ vibrant and growing arts scene, Des Moines art adviser Liz Lidgett will open a 1,100-square-foot gallery in the East Village in April.

Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design will showcase the work of some 15 local, national and international artists, including Hunt Slonem, whose works are in the collections of more than 100 museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Other artists include Kristi Kohut, Andrea Ferrigno, Ronni Nicole, Nate Nettleton and Des Moines-based Olivia Valentine, who often incorporates textiles and photography in her installations (read more about Valentine is this dsm story).

CiWeek speakers include Randi Zuckerberg, former Facebook executive and founder of Zuckerberg Meda, and James Hansen, the author and co-producer of the film "First Man."

CiWEEK TAKES OFF WITH NASA PANEL, MUCH MORE

CiWeek, perhaps Iowa's most fascinating annual speaker series, returns next week to the West Des Moines campus of Des Moines Area Community College. Short for Celebrate! Innovation Week, the free public series gives students and the community opportunities to interact with world-class creative innovators.

Since its beginning in 2010, CiWeek has grown into a unique combination of a university lecture series, TED Talks, and SXSW. Unlike other large conferences, each talk is followed by a speaker meet-and-greet where attendees can interact with presenters.

This year's diverse presenters range from a panel of NASA astronauts to the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magaine, the director of photography at Pixar, plus authors and a founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, among others. For a full schedule of the week's presentations, March 4-8, and more about CiWeek, click here.

Set in 1907, the musical "A Gentleman's Guide" has delighted audiences from Broadway to college theater departments.

PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES 101st SEASON

Tickets go on sale March 15 for the 101st stage season at Des Moines Community Playhouse. The lineup of shows, opening in September with the 2014 Broadway hit "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," was revealed at a season announcement event last night.

The season also includes "The Diary of Anne Frank," "Singin’ in the Rain," "Leaving Iowa" and "Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical." Season ticket holders also can purchase discounted tickets, before the public, for the family holiday classic "A Christmas Story, the Musical."

Mainstage season tickets are $175 ($120 for students). The full schedule, including the children's series of productions, and information about each show can be viewed here.

Colorado artist Lynda Ladwig received a 2018 Award of Excellence in ceramics. Such honors begin with the initial selection of artists invited to exhibit at the Des Moines Arts Festival. Results of that selection process will be revealed tomorrow, Feb. 27.

ARTS FESTIVAL TO REVEAL ARTISTS TOMORROW

Each winter more than 1,100 artists from across North America apply for one of 180 booth spaces at the Des Moines Arts Festival in June. Those selections are announced at a dinner party called Reveal, which this year is tomorrow, Feb. 27, in the atrium of the Principal building at 711 High St. A VIP pre-party begins at 5:30 p.m. with general admission available at 6:30 p.m.

In addition to the announcement of participating artists, attendees tomorrow will experience exclusive tours of Principal's private art collection and be treated to art demonstrations and a competitive art "throw down."

General admission tickets are $125 ($100 for young professionals and artists) and can be purchased online here.

Artistic director Matt McIver discusses Iowa Stage Theatre Company's move to the Civic Center's Stoner Theater.

ON THE MOVE AND MORE

Iowa Stage Theatre Company is moving to a new home. Starting next season, the company will perform at Stoner Theater in the Civic Center, rather than the Kum & Go Theater at the Des Moines Social Club. While the experience at the Social Club has been positive, the move reflects the company’s progress and growth, says artistic director Matt McIver.

"We listened to our patrons," he says. "The Civic Center is a place people are used to thinking about when they think about a performing arts venue. [The move] will help us make stronger connections with our regular patrons as well as attract new ones." Learn more about Iowa Stage’s plans by clicking on the video above.

In the meantime, the company will continue this season at the Social Club, where "The Lion In Winter" plays through March 3. We attended the show over the weekend and were wowed by every aspect of it: The repartee and verbal jabs among those scheming (yet somehow lovable) Plantagenets—King Henry II, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, their three sons, plus a mistress and a young French king—is some of the wittiest, sharpest and funniest dialog we've ever enjoyed at a play. And it was delivered flawlessly by a vibrant cast that includes James Serpento (Henry), Kerry Skram (Eleanor), Michael Tallman (John) and Mason Ferguson (Richard). Don't miss it.

From cave paintings through old masters to modern graffiti painters, artists have carefully considered subjects of the animal kingdom. Here, American artist John Steuart Curry created the lithograph "Circus Elephants" in 1936. The work is now in the Des Moines Art Center's permanent collections.

ANIMALS SWARM INTO AN ART CENTER GALLERY

On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Des Moines Art Center will open "The Elephant in the Room: Animal as Model," which will be on view through May 5. Curator Laura Burkhalter is organizing the exhibition.

Animals, both wild and domesticated, have surrounded humanity since before the earliest known art—cave paintings from roughly 65,000 years ago. Artists throughout time have often turned to pets, livestock, service animals and wild beasts as subjects for artistic study. "The Elephant in the Room" recognizes that animals are not human, regardless of how we capture them in art, but still offer endless insight into the human condition.