Hideichi Oshiro is finally seeing a long-held dream come true: the donation of his life’s work to an educational institution so that future generations can enjoy and learn from it. Oshiro is more patient than most of us: He’s 101. The Newburgh, N.Y.-based artist is giving away some 750 pieces of art made over more than six decades — paintings, calligraphies, handmade books, prints, poems, haiku, scrolls and more. And that institution? Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt.... Read more

If you live along Lake Champlain, you’ve heard the periodic warnings to stay out of the water. In a state known for its eco-consciousness, how did our largest lake get so polluted? And what can we do?... Read more

In her former Bay Area neighborhood, Maggie Pace was known simply as “the Knitting Lady.” Neighbors and fans of her knitting patterns, kits and yarns would drop by for sidewalk sales at her knitting store, Pick Up Sticks, or tune in to her segments on the PBS TV program “Knit and Crochet Now!” to emulate crafty know-how.

These days, Pace is a little more incognito.... Read more

Last month, Citizens Bank, the Church Street Marketplace Foundation and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce unveiled their 2012 community art project, “Burlington Bears Its Art.” Local artists and businesses will be teaming up to plant grinning bear sculptures all over the Queen City this summer, just as they gave us cows in 2010.... Read more

At first glance, the 2-foot clay model doesn’t look like much. Its diamond-shaped, gridlike exterior gives it an odd, Epcot-esque quality; inside the structure’s hollowed-out core, a puzzle piece rests on a pedestal.

“It’s called ‘Inner Piece,’” explains Burlington sculptor Michael Nedell with a self-effacing grin.... Read more

Never mind 15 minutes of fame; Jericho artist Chris Cleary is offering 15 seconds. Actually, what he’s offering is not so much fame as an imitation of fame. Talk about meta. One of the most enduring and iconic images in American pop culture is the “wind skirt” shot of Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate, dress flying upward. Taken for, and then deleted from, the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, the scene has inspired a new and totally unique, uh, homage.... Read more

Northern Seas begins with the sound of crashing waves — a storm on the ocean, perhaps. A foreboding synth sustain kicks in, then an ancient-sounding, minor-key melody, and then a haunting female voice. The layered effect is dense and spine-tingling and soothing all at once, a seemingly impossible feat. And that’s just the first track on this CD by Essex, Vt.-based composer Al Conti. Ten more follow, for a total listening time of 49 minutes.... Read more

Last fall, Burlington got yet another orchestra. Whah? as my son used to say before he mastered the “t.”

It’s called the Burlington Civic Symphony Orchestra, and it’s a community orchestra cofounded by conductor Daniel Bruce and French hornists Helen Read and Marti Walker. Bruce already heads Burlington’s other community orchestra, the Amateur Musicians Orchestra. Did the Queen City really need another one? With, it must be said, another unarresting name?... Read more

Abby Raeder doesn’t beat around the bush. When she first met her business and life partner, Robert Sarly, at a fundraiser years ago at the Weston Playhouse, she walked right up to him and, tired of the same old cocktail-party pleasantries, asked, “What are your hopes and dreams?”... Read more

The 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, which starred John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd of “Saturday Night Live” fame, earned $115 million in its first year. With this weekend’s stage show The Blues Brothers, the Blue Barn Players of Maple Corner fame have far more modest ambitions. They’re hoping to raise $9000 to cover renovations on a historic landmark in their tiny town — a blue barn.... Read more