This week KLRU Collective gives us a glimpse into the art of modern quilting.

Modern Quilters adhere to one rule: There Are No Rules! Modern Quilting brings a bold new aesthetic to a traditional craft. With clean lines, contemporary color schemes, and the excitement to meet online quilting friends in person, The Modern Quilt Guild presented QuiltCon on February 21-24, 2013 in Austin, Texas. QuiltCon is the first International Modern Quilting Conference with vendors, demonstrations, exhibits and some of the craft’s most influential people. People came from all over the United States to learn new techniques, and everyone was inspired by the beautiful and unique craftsmanship of the quilts.

This week, KLRU Collective presents the Masked: Changing Identities exhibition. Mexic-Arte Museum brings together over 200 traditional masks from various eras & regions in Mexico. The collection illustrates a people’s history that blends real life & myth & emphasizes the continued importance of masks in Mexican culture. While some consider them works of arts & some see them as part of traditional dance costumes, others revere them as religious symbols. However interpreted, these masks serve as inspiration for contemporary art & are a unique feature of Mexican tradition.

Masked: Changing Identities is on exhibit at Mexic-Arte Museum from January 25 – May 25, 2013. To celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year, Collective will be available in both English and Spanish during the day and provide links to traditional dances.

Architects of Air 
Architects of Air seeks to bring a visual surprise and excitement into the environment and to create the optimum conditions where people can be moved to a sense of wonder through the particular phenomenon of luminous colour. Since 1992, over 2 million visitors in 37 countries across 5 continents have immersed themselves in the spectacular, luminous world of Architects of Air.

This week, KLRU Collective explores the art of graffiti.

Spray-can art started as an underground, street art movement. Today, graffiti is as relevant as any other art form, and Emerge ATX brings these artists into the gallery. With live graffiti painting and performances from DJs, MCs & B-boys, this annual art show uncovers the culture and process behind Austin’s street art.

Art Seen Alliance is a group of artists that come together to make art and produce events

This week, KLRU Collective focuses on photography in this week’s piece.

Turning your love of photography into more than a hobby is not an easy task. With the rise in popularity of apps like Instagram, everyone has the ability to be a photographer, but it takes more than just having the right equipment. We’ve got some tips from Austin professionals at the Texas Photo Roundup on how to develop your photography.

Spoken 4 All on Arts In Context
Austin’s spoken word performers take center stage as part of KLRU’s focus on the arts. Also known as “slam poetry,” spoken word is an oral performance of extemporaneous or composed pieces of free poetry. Austin has a number of venues that present spoken word, this program highlights the ranging styles of poets at an all-age program hosted monthly at Mitchie’s Gallery. This event features several artists who were involved with the Austin Neo Soul Team that placed 4th in the 2010 National Poetry Slam.

Austin Poetry Slam on KLRU Collective
Austin Poetry Slam events take place each Tuesday at the 29th Street Ballroom (located at 29th and Fruth Street). The Austin Poetry Slam (APS) is one of the longest running poetry venues in Texas. Founded in 1994 by Wammo of the Asylum Street Spankers and helmed for 15 years by former Poetry Slam, Inc. president, Mike Henry, Austin Slam is renowned for memorable and often raucous performances by many of the best poets in the slam poetry world. Get details about how to attend the next Austin Poetry Slam

This week, KLRU Collective presents an artistic spiritual meditation. Compassion and wisdom are spread as a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery constructed a sand mandala at the Blanton Museum of Art.

The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand.  Each step in its creation and destruction are accompanied by rituals, ceremonies and chanting symbolizing the Buddhist philosophy in the transitory nature of material life. During January 9-13, 2013, the monks constructed a sand mandala in the Blanton’s Rapoport Atrium. The monks believe it takes divine understanding to make art which is really powerful.

Starting at 7pm, we’ll be live in studio 6A with a great line up of KLRU Collective highlights. If you haven’t visited our online arts portal, KLRU Collective, then tune in tomorrow to see our favorite videos of local movers and shakers in our creative community. And we’ll literally be moving and shaking with special guests from the Austin Samba School joining us!

Austin Samba School from KLRU Collective on Vimeo.

Following our mix-tape of KLRU Collective, we’ll premiere the brand new Arts in Context episode,  All My Friends Are Vampires, which documents Fantastic Fest,  the largest genre film festival in the country, specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action, and just plain fantastic movies from around the world held each year in Austin, TX at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar. We’ll have Tim League, founder of Fanstastic Fest and the Alamo Drafthouse, in studio with us and we’ll giveaway a 2013 Fantastic Fest badge and an Alamo movie theater experience for you and your friends.

All My Friends Are Vampires Trailer from KLRU-TV on Vimeo.

You’ll probably be hungry at 8:30pm, so we’ve planned a special Daytripper hour of the best in Texas BBQ. Chet joins us with the inside scoop on taking daytrips and brings some great gifts when you support the station, like a 2013 Daytripper BBQ Calendar, Daytripper Koozies, and a subscription to Texas Highways magazine.

Faith Schexnayder – flatforkstudio.com

Faith Schexnayder from KLRU Collective on Vimeo.

Jean Rather – jeanrather.com

Jean Rather from KLRU Collective on Vimeo.

Hatch Workshop

Hatch Workshop from KLRU Collective on Vimeo.

For more EAST videos and content related to PBS’ focus on the arts, visit KLRU Collective.

The piece that will air tonight is a profile of a public art project at the University of Texas called Landmarks. KLRU staff was already well acquainted with one of these installations because it’s located outside of our building. Even though we see Peter Reginato’s Kingfish everyday we didn’t know it is part of twenty-eight modern and contemporary sculptures on long-term loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  Now we look forward to visiting all the sculptures and checking out the new acquisitions the program is making.

The most memorable shoot was for a piece that will air the last night of the festival. We profiled Forklift Danceworks “The Trash Project” on the last night of their performance which happened to be on one of the hottest days of the year. To make it even tougher the performance was located at the old airport…meaning limited shade and endless tarmac. But these imperfect weather conditions didn’t keep thousands of Austinites from coming to enjoy an amazing tribute to our city’s Solid Waste Services department. The experience and dance was definitely a highlight for me on this project.

The pieces airing during the festival have been produced by myself and Eve Tarlo with help from lots of KLRU staff. We’ve enjoyed sharing our viewpoint on Austin’s art scene this past year and we look forward to another great year of KLRU Collective.

-Sara Robertson

Sara Robertson is the Director of On-Air Marketing at KLRU. She has worked in television her whole career and feels lucky to work for Austin’s PBS station. In her spare time she enjoys coaching a women only swim program, reading and being crafty.