Local artists express themselves in different ways, but tonight it's via panel discussion.

Dallas sprawls. It wraps. And at times, it isolates. But our city is better than its geographical pretzeling because its inhabitants strive to reach across the concrete divisions and unite over common goals, like advancement of the arts.

Join a team of artists and curators this evening at CentralTrak for the program 1.2 Million Stories: The State of the Emerging Arts. Topics include where we sit presently regarding the region's rising art talent and how it can be fostered. In this grassroots platform they'll discuss outreach and how we as media, artists, art lovers, institutions and patrons can weave together to form a more cohesive, and more supportive, network. Panelists include: Jerod Alexander Davies, Bryan Embry, Danielle Georgiou, and Kevin Rubén Jacobs, with moderation provided by Darryl Ratcliff.
The program runs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., so you'll have plenty of time to seek counsel for your questions.

I spent an entire weekend hypnotized by Erica Felicella's experimental art installation "Visible Shell." She is the photographer and performance artist that we came to know as "The Girl in the Box" when she sealed herself in a plexiglass enclosure and embarked on a 48-hour path of self-discovery. She held her poise without the comforts of sleep or food. She acknowledged no one. She wrote constantly.

You can read more about her adventure and eventual release here, but tonight is our first opportunity to further excavate her experience. Felicella will speak at Kettle Art this evening from 7:30 to 9 p.m., and she will be answering questions. Bring yours. And as she did during the run of her performance, she will stream the Q&A on a live feed. If you cannot physically attend, just tap your phone and watch.

jeffwestconsulting.com

The outpouring of sadness is immense. As soon as the report of Jeff West's death broke on Monday, comment sections online began rapidly filling with those who'd known and loved his work with the Dallas arts community, a passion that had spanned more than 30 years. You will be hard-pressed to find a single unkind or even indifferent word - West was without a doubt one of Dallas' finest and most beloved.

Among the many projects graced by his hand, West is perhaps best remembered in the arts community for his tireless work, including service as the managing director of the Dallas Theater Center, executive director of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, executive director of the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas, the Dallas International Film Festival. At the time of his passing at 54, West was involved in the coordination of the creative and physical development of the South Side Quarter District, including the Omni Hotel. He was also serving as Treasurer for the Texas Association of Museums and as Secretary of the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association.

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Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are gonna make you sh-sh-shake it at Homegrown!

Just because you have to work through Friday, doesn't mean that A.) you can't get an early start on fun tonight, and B.) you can't strategically scope out your three-day party plan now. There's so much great stuff going on: Somebody left festivals scattered all over town (don't trip), there are free outdoor movies, fireworks, karaoke bashes, a party boat and a margarita celebration. So make a plan, share this list with your friends and click the event titles for more information. And if you see a girl cannonballing off the side of a party barge, make sure and say hi. We should be friends. Now let's do this!

Thursday 5.24
Stiletto Stampede -- Remember that time you dashed a quarter mile in your favorite pumps to reach the taco trailer before he sealed up the queso vat? This is like that, but instead of late night snack shame you'll be sprinting to battle breast cancer. As we all know, cancer sucks. It's the worst. If running in high heels will help make it go away then I say we do it. All of us. Even the dudes.

Kristen Chenoweth -- Unless that petition goes through, GCB is cancelled. You can still spend this evening with she show's sprightliest cast member, the always charming Kristen Chenoweth, as she reminds you how much power can emote from a tiny package.

Erica Felicella speaks at Kettle Art -- This girl made my brain explode two weekends ago when she spent 48 hours in a plexiglass box in Oak Cliff. She didn't sleep. She wore a catheter. She scribbled a mantra. And she did all of this to explore her full range of human emotions. Tonight she speaks at Kettle Art, so go and learn about a complex experience that few of us will ever know first hand.

Hard Luck Karaoke at the Double Wide -- I get nervous recommending this event because it's almost too much fun, but hell, it's a disco tribute night. How can you go to bed early when Oliver Peck and Josh Hammertimez want to honor Donna Summer and Robin Gibb? You can't. Suck it up and pound black coffee and Emergen-C tomorrow.

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Gamers, if we learned one thing this year it is this: When the Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays the score of a popular video game, it is glorious. Also, it'll sell out. Like, fast.
For one geektastic night DSO will perform "Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy" and you will embrace your inner 10-year old, make-out with your original Nintendo console and scoff about how mediocre King's Quest was, comparatively. You will apologize to nobody for this state of regression. That's the great thing about getting older: You've earned the right love harder, rather than outgrow, portions of your youth.

Über fans who wish to take their quest beyond the initial battle (standard seating) can drop extra gold for VIP. They'll run from $150 to $200 bucks each, but you'll sit in a box or center front orchestra and --- wait for it! --- you'll get a meet-and-greet with Final Fantasy conductor Arnie Roth and composer Masashi Hamauzu! Yep, Hamauzu is flying in from Japan specifically to watch the performance, so you can thank him for composing the song you used as the first dance at your wedding while your wife blushes and hangs her head in shame.

Get your tickets to the June 15 performance now; worry about who you'll take later. This thing is too good to pass up.

An example of Jeff Joiner's eye for design: photos created by and for Rocketlab

Branding has been a business tool since the earliest labels were printed, but in recent years it's become impossibly pervasive. The days of an elite few sloshing scotch in an advertising office, allowing their genius to define a brand are over. Now, it's collaborative. Also, branding involves everything from visual arts, print making, font selection, wit, design, social media and most importantly: the logo, to properly make its impact.

Tonight you can join three of the area's sharpest dudes as they wax logo creation and effectiveness at "Visual Distillation: The Art of the Logo" at the Frisco Discovery Center's Black Box Theater. Don't allow their MFA student status to fool you, these guys are pros and all of them currently have work showing in the center's show "Pieces of Eight." Jeff Joiner has done all things marketing over the course of his career, but most recently he's known for founding the Austin-based company Rocketlab, a marketing think tank with a strong eye for branding and design. Printmaker Adam Rawlett will drop pigmented science bombs as he educates the audience on how physics and religion inspire his creation of visual art. Completing the cycle of logo ingredients will be photographer Ben Davis, who'll explain what it takes to snap something truly memorable.

The whole thing is free, educational and a chance to meet a few peers who share your appreciation for good design and branding. It runs from 5 to 6 p.m. this evening.

We talk constantly about what's missing in education, areas where we fall short, and a persistent lack of community involvement, specifically regarding youth and the arts. Today, two organizations give us cause to do the opposite. Let's celebrate that and take a look at what our neighbors are doing to bolster youth creativity. Also, let's lend a hand.

This Saturday your kids can participate in Art Love Magic's outreach program for local youth. Children ages 6 to 16 are invited to spend the afternoon with Dallas' best and kindest-hearted artists. Together, they'll create. What will they make? Masterpieces, exclusively. They can collaborate on mural production or allow themselves time for introspection by composing their art solo; it's totally up to the kids. The space is designed to inspire: by allowing an "open studio environment" Art Love Magic draws children away from rigid structure and other confinements associated to classwork. Here, they are in charge.

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I really want to like Ed Young. Don't get me wrong: he stands for virtually everything I find offensive. But still, dude's pro-boning. Yeah, yeah - under his rules you have to be a "married" heterosexual Christian couple in order to get in on the holy foreplay, but I got to give it up for the opportunistic muff hound. Watching this hysterical Youtube video featuring Grapevine Fellowship Church's head stud is the closest I'm going to get to a religious experience this year. So, jimmy hat off to ya, Pastor.

In fact, I love this guy so much, I have a Google alert for whenever his name pops up in the news. (*Not a true statement, though I'm now considering it.) And, pop up again he has, this man of the cloth. That's right - Young has officially launched a fashion blog, pastorfashion.com.

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Staying motivated is important.

Stirling isn't all that excited about this art he's fighting for, but fuck it; he's having a great time. He's been standing with one hand on this wall for about two and a half hours now and figures "why stop?" Especially since his friend is fighting a similar battle two paintings down. And you know, they rode together.

This project housed at Oliver Francis Gallery is called Hands on an Art Body and the last person standing still attached to their favorite artwork at the end of the night -- or Sunday, depending on the amount of gumption applied, wins. Earlier, there were far more contestants. Hands were on everything: an arrangement of cacti (no echeveria in this plant pack, only its cantankerously spiny cousins), a crime scene body made out of hard candy, some plaster hands suspended in a row, just begging to be high-fived -- any piece of art with a corresponding racing number was fair game. But whether it was their artful lust or bladder elasticity that gave out first, we are now down to five people and it's going on 1 a.m.

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I have hesitations with performance art. There, I've said it. Having sat through too many diary-open mini-sagas in my life I approach that strain of artistic expression with apprehension, but by letting myself indulge those complicated feelings rather than exploring them, I missed out on a great series at CentralTrak.

On Saturday night I attended the final installment of Harakiri: To Die for Performances. Now I wish I'd manned up a month ago.

Upon arrival there was the usual mingling and cocktails, then a woman took over and framed the experience we were about to share. Playing the role of cloaked tribal leader, she pleaded with us to shed our inhibitions and clear our minds. Her speech was so lengthy that I unknowingly gave in, forking over my right to mental brattiness for entry to the main event. We were led in a pack through the back stairs. Once in the venue's main gallery space I was directed and placed in the confines of a small pen with the other attendees; while our temporary enclosure was only defined by a square of floor tape, none of us dared venture out. This was a clever design because by pressing us together, 50 people felt like 100. Also, when you have less physical space to occupy you're more inclined to forget yourself and focus on the scene at hand.

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