Around the Nation Roundup

Here are some of this week’s arts and culture stories from public broadcasting stations around the nation:

A collection 40 of 2-foot-tall statues known as “The Mourners” is on display at the Dallas Museum of Art. Co-curator Heather MacDonald explains the allure of the Medieval French sculptures that once stood as part of a Duke’s tomb:

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Nelson Shanks has painted everyone from Princess Diana and Pavarotti to Pope John Paul II and President Clinton, each in a realist style. Sensing a need for a different kind of instruction that would teach students the inner workings of his painting technique, he and his wife, Leona (herself an artist), founded Studio Incamminati — a small “atelier” in Center City Philadelphia.

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Sometime writer, sometime literary critic and full-time artist Jonathan Keats blurs the lines between art, science and commerce and is a fixture of the San Francisco art scene. In his most recent endeavour, Keats sells future shares of his brain.

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Last week, the Catholic Church in Minnesota mailed DVDs with a message against same-sex marriage to some 400,000 parishioners for which it has been receiving some pushback. One artist plans to turn the DVDs into art. Lucinda Naylor was artist-in-residence at the Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis until she was suspended after announcing her intention to MPR_NewsFeatures“>create an art project from the DVDs on Facebook.

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SXSW is now reaching out to educators. School teachers and administrators will be attending this year’s Austin music festival.

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One of today’s most famous flutists, the charismatic Irishman James Galway is often referred to as the Man With the Golden Flute. Despite his musical skill, the nickname is actually quite literal. Galway says his 18-karat gold actually produces better sound.