Weekend Reading: September 29 Edition

Around Ohio

• We have to start this week’s post with some devastating news: Helyn Marshall, the Wex’s accessibility manager, passed unexpectedly early Tuesday.

  Over her 18 years at the center, Helyn filled a number of front-of-house roles and worked tirelessly to remove a variety of barriers for experiencing contemporary art. One small example is her guidance on optimizing hyperlinks for screen readers, as evidenced by the links provided weekly in this post. More examples of Helyn’s work are laid out in this recent blog post.

  In just the past few months, Helyn helped secure over a quarter of a million dollars in grants to support accessibility, including the largest-ever grant the Wex has received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Helyn was also beloved by her coworkers and was the 2022 winner of the Tappen Award, which recognizes employees who embody the best of the Wex. Our deepest condolences go out to Helyn’s family. A GoFundMe has been set up to support them.

• In another example of the Wex’s work to expand accessibility, a partnership with CampusParc to provide $2 parking for our guests at Ohio State garages has been extended for three years.
• Wednesday, Wex Executive Director Gaëtane Verna will connect with Columbus Museum of Art Executive Director Brooke Minto for a Columbus Metropolitan Club conversation moderated by Columbus Dispatch Features Editor Erica Thompson. The talk will also be livestreamed.
• Orange Barrel Media’s HQ has a colorful new facade, thanks to artist Sarah Cain.
• Ohio Art League is looking for submissions and volunteers for its 107th Thumb Box exhibition in December.
• Bryan Christopher Moss discussed his new comic, Desert Decay.
• Slate dug into why it’s taken so long for UNESCO to recognize the historical significance of Ohio’s Earthworks.
• Wednesday, the power trio of Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and De La Soul plays the Schott.
• On Thursday, you can spend time with Ilana Glazer at the Riffe Center.
• Also Thursday, you can see the premiere of What the Constitution Means to Me from Available Light Theatre.
• Looking ahead to next weekend, on Friday, you can attend the opening of the group exhibition Chasing Ghosts & Shadows at Blockfort.
• Friday also brings the opening of Walled Gardens at 934 Gallery, which pairs artworks by Dillon Beck & Adam Elkins and Dane Khy with plants curated by STUMP.
• You can plan a field trip to next weekend’s Yellow Springs Film Festival.
• Or visit the Columbus Italian Festival.
• On Saturday, Day of the Dead Columbus Festival takes place at Green Lawn Cemetery.
• And Franklin Park Conservatory offers Chihuly Nights.
• Next Saturday is also Gallery Hop; new shows include Andrea Myers at Brandt-Roberts Galleries and a two-woman exhibition of works by Barbara Vogel and Marge Bender at Sharon Weiss Gallery.
• As well as the 3rd Annual Hasan Fest.

Around the Globe

• Thursday, take an afternoon break for a webinar on disability in design from the Cooper Hewitt Museum.
• Banned Books Week starts Sunday, culminating in the day of action Let Freedom Read Day on October 7.
• Florida students are starting to fight back against book bans.
• Silicon Valley companies are hiring poets, novelists, and other writers to feed their original works into AI models.
• Salon wondered if AI means the death of the writer.
• The WGA reached an agreement to end its weeks-long strike.
• Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is not only still on the picket line, the actor’s union authorized a new strike against video games.
• The AFI Fest released its lineup of films by directors such as Kleber Mendonça Filho and Michel Gondry; FYI, the Wex will be showing two AFI selections before the Los Angeles festival: Steve McQueen’s Occupied City October 22 and Milisuthando Bongela’s Milisuthando October 28, both as part of Unorthodocs.
• Here’s a look at what’s playing at the New York Film Festival, including new movies by Todd Haynes and Frederick Wiseman.
• Netflix is streaming a four-part collection of short Roald Dahl adaptations by Wes Anderson, part of a wave of mini-movies by established filmmakers.
• To kickstart the countdown to Halloween, The Film Foundation is streaming Roger Corman’s Masque of the Red Death for free next Saturday through Monday.
• Emma Thompson was vindicated for slagging the increasingly widespread use of the word “content.”
• The National Cathedral has new windows from Kerry James Marshall—at a bargain basement price.
• The David Zwirner podcast Dialogues dropped a new episode about Ruth Asawa.
• New York City museums including the Met and the Whitney were forced to close after torrential rains put much of the city under water.
• An employee at the Deutsches Museum in Munich was convicted for stealing paintings from its collection and using the funds to surround themself with luxury items.
• A viral image of a medieval village led Wired to wonder what it says about the future of art.
• The British Museum in London launched a website to seek help finding stolen artifacts.
• A misattributed Artemisia Gentileschi painting was found in a British storeroom.
• The discovery of early collages by Ray Johnson reveal a link between the visual artist’s work and dance.
• Avant-garde theater directors including Sammi Cannold and Ivo van Hove are reimagining the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
• The Guardian considered whether music might improve physical as well as mental health.
• Actor David McCallum died at the age of 90.
• And actor Michael Gambon passed away at 82.