Jessica Weber

‘In the Country of Women’ celebrates the ‘love of thousands’

Straight’s new memoir, published Aug. 6, extols the strength and resiliency of six generations of women

By Jessica Weber | August 5, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Photo of albatrosses in a field and in flight on Midway Island

Finding grace through waste in ‘Intolerable Beauty’

The new exhibition from artist and environmental activist Chris Jordan runs July 6-Jan. 5 at the Culver Center of the Arts

By Jessica Weber | June 17, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Arkansas Maytagers, Maytag Spring Party in Newton, Iowa, March 28-29, 1955. Courtesy of John Divola.

Dual exhibitions from photographer John Divola examine social identity and the sublime

“STRATUM” and “Clive Wearing’s Dilemma” are on view at the California Museum of Photography May 11-Sept. 8

By Jessica Weber | May 17, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Image of artwork by Emory Douglas featuring a boy holding a paper that reads "All Power to the People". Photo by Essence Harden. Archives of Southern California Library

The enduring power of art as activism in “Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language”

Although the Black Panther Party dissolved nearly 40 years ago, the movement’s legacy endures — largely through the iconic imagery created by former party member Emory Douglas. As the minister of culture for the Black Panther Party and graphic artist for the organization’s newspaper, Douglas was charged with establishing the...

By Jessica Weber | May 6, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Ginnifer Goodwin and Angela Fairly in "I Am Somebody's Child"

New movie aims to foster change in a broken system

“I Am Somebody’s Child,” a film based on UCR alumna Regina Louise’s memoir about growing up in foster care, premieres April 20 on Lifetime

By Jessica Weber | April 18, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Join UCR faculty and alumni at the LA Times Festival of Books

Attend panel discussions and book signings featuring UCR writers at the USC campus April 13-14.

By Jessica Weber | April 8, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Being ‘Other’ in America

When Nora Guerraoui receives word her father has been killed in an apparent hit-and-run, she is forced to return to the small California desert town she left behind and contend with the many memories she’s tried to forget. So sets the stage of “ The Other Americans ,” the latest...

By Jessica Weber | April 1, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Leaving it all to chance

Douglas McCulloh is not a man ruled by fate, but rather, chance. In fact, McCulloh, who joined UCR ARTS as the new senior curator for the California Museum of Photography , or CMP, in July has made chance his primary modus operandi. He traces his preoccupation with chance back to...

By Jessica Weber | March 15, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Confronting loss and loneliness in “If You Have to Go”

Loneliness, while inherently isolating, is also a universal experience. This dichotomy lies at the heart of poet Katie Ford’s newest collection, “ If You Have to Go .” Dominated by a crown of 39 sonnets — each linked by the repetition of the last line of a poem as the...

By Jessica Weber | February 5, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Photo of author Margaret Atwood by Liam Sharp

UC Riverside to host 42nd-annual Writers Week

Writers Week , California’s longest-running free literary event, will return to the University of California, Riverside, for its 42nd installment Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 11-16, 2019, featuring 22 writers across the two-week span. The conference will open with a reading and Q&A with renowned novelist Margaret Atwood. Atwood, whose prolific...

By Jessica Weber | January 22, 2019 | Arts / Culture

Deconstructing the indestructible ‘Luke Cage’

“How do you show that he’s bulletproof?” asks artist and University of California, Riverside professor John Jennings, while discussing Marvel superhero Luke Cage. “You have to shoot him. You have to have a black man during the Black Lives Matter movement shot every episode to prove that he’s bulletproof. And...

By Jessica Weber | November 15, 2018 | Arts / Culture

UCR poet wins 2018 American Book Award

There was a time when Rachelle Cruz, M.F.A. ’12, had all but given up on getting her poetry collection published. A 10-year labor of love, she recalled sending out “ God’s Will for Monsters ” 20-25 times before taking a two-year break from her attempts. As a last-ditch effort, Cruz...

By Jessica Weber | October 30, 2018 | Arts / Culture

Red Carpet in C at the Culver Center of the Arts

Rolling out the ‘Red Carpet’

"Yunhee Min & Peter Tolkin: Red Carpet in C" (Nikolay Maslov) Walk into the Culver Center of the Arts, and you’ll immediately find yourself immersed in the new, large-scale exhibition by Yunhee Min and Peter Tolkin. Three gigantic, undulating swathes of red fabric extend toward the entryway, inviting viewers to...

By Jessica Weber | October 1, 2018 | Arts / Culture

Rare camera collection goes to Calif. Museum of Photography

The California Museum of Photography has received a robust donation of American field view cameras, filling a significant gap in the museum’s collection. Donor Larry Pierce, a mineralogist and majority owner of Phoenix-based Fiberquant Analytical Services, gifted his collection of more than 500 cameras, as well as hundreds of related...

By Jessica Weber | September 25, 2018 | Arts / Culture