Feb. 20: Black Violin, OBT Choreographers James Canfield & Nico Fonte, Irene Taylor Brodsky & More

The arts news is coming in size XL this week. Glass Houses In Southeast Portland, residents continue to reel from news that they've been exposed to unhealthy levels of heavy metals in the air. As we reported last week, environmental regulators admitted they didn't know how much cadmium and arsenic were coming out of the Bullseye Glass facility. That is, until experimental testing using moss revealed this pollution hot spot. A lot of people have been asking how environmental rules allowed these pollutants to go undetected for years. EarthFix reporter Cassandra Profita looked into this, and into how the glass businesses are responding. Is Law Enforcement: A Laughing Matter? 5:42 Hillsboro's Police Department is trying something new to improve the quality of its training.: officers are working with improv performers from Portland's Curious Comedy Theater. The Curious team usually goes for laughs, but there's nothing even remotely funny about the scenes they were acting out at the police training facility in Hillsboro recently. Portland Candidates on the Arts - 12:42 We've got a new page up charting where the mayoral and city council candidates stand on arts and culture issues — and it’s pretty revealing. This week, we introduce you to several more of the people seeking elected office in Portland: Fred Stewart, Chloe Eudaly, and Sean Davis. Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky: Blindness in Nepal and the Slender Man - 20:56 Irene Taylor Brodsky has made a number of award-winning documentaries ranging from "Hear and Now," which followed her deaf parents as they heard for the first time with cochlear implants, to "Saving Pelican 895," which tracked the rescue of a single pelican from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Now, Brodsky has two films coming out in quick succession. The first, ‘Open Your Eyes,’ is about a blind Nepali couple who see for the first time after unexpected cataract treatment. It screens on Sunday at the Portland International Film Festival. The second, "Beware the Slender Man," takes an unblinking look at the recent case where two 12-year-old girls tried to murder their friend to impress a mysterious internet figure known as the Slender Man. Samantha Wall Wins the Contemporary NW Art Awards - 32:07 Last week, the Portland Art Museum announced the top honor of the 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, the Arlene Schnitzer prize. The winner is a young artist who’s quickly rising to the top of the Portland art scene: Samantha Wall. The award comes with a cool $10,000 check and an exhibition at the art museum this fall. OPB’s Kelsey Wallace had a story on Oregon Art Beat last year about Wall’s unique background and artistic practice. Oregon Ballet Theatre: Choreographers James Canfield and Nicolo Fonte - 37:42 James Canfield founded Oregon Ballet Theater in 1989. One of the first ballets he choreographed for the nascent company was "Romeo and Juliet," to the famous score by Sergei Prokofiev. Canfield returned this season to remount the ballet for the first time in more than 15 years, running Feb. 27–Mar. 5. At the same time he was working with the dancers, choreographer Nicolo Fonte was starting rehearsals for "Beautiful Decay," which opens in April. It’s a meditation on life and aging that pairs OBT dancers with older Portland dancers. We sit down with both choreographers to discuss their shared attractions to the darker themes in life. Classical-Fused Hip-Hop with Black Violin - 47:01 The Florida-based duo Black Violin consists of two classically-trained musicians who are pushing the boundaries on what can be done with the instruments. NPR’s Lindsay Totty caught up with the duo to discuss their latest release, "Stereotypes," and to find out how they’re defying them. The duo plays the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Feb. 24. The arts news is coming in size XL this week. Glass Houses In Southeast Portland, residents continue to reel from news that they've been exposed to unhealthy levels of heavy metals in the air. As we reported last week, environmental regulators admitted they didn't know how much cadmium and arsenic were coming out of the Bullseye Glass facility. That is, until experimental testing using moss revealed this pollution hot spot. A lot of people have been asking how environmental rules allowed these pollutants to go undetected for years. EarthFix reporter Cassandra Profita looked into this, and into how the glass businesses are responding. Is Law Enforcement: A Laughing Matter? 5:42 Hillsboro's Police Department is trying something new to improve the quality of its training.: officers are working with improv performers from Portland's Curious Comedy Theater. The Curious team usually goes for laughs, but there's nothing even remotely funny about the scenes they were acting out at the police training facility in Hillsboro recently. Portland Candidates on the Arts - 12:42 We've got a new page up charting where the mayoral and city council candidates stand on arts and culture issues — and it’s pretty revealing. This week, we introduce you to several more of the people seeking elected office in Portland: Fred Stewart, Chloe Eudaly, and Sean Davis. Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky: Blindness in Nepal and the Slender Man - 20:56 Irene Taylor Brodsky has made a number of award-winning documentaries ranging from "Hear and Now," which followed her deaf parents as they heard for the first time with cochlear implants, to "Saving Pelican 895," which tracked the rescue of a single pelican from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Now, Brodsky has two films coming out in quick succession. The first, ‘Open Your Eyes,’ is about a blind Nepali couple who see for the first time after unexpected cataract treatment. It screens on Sunday at the Portland International Film Festival. The second, "Beware the Slender Man," takes an unblinking look at the recent case where two 12-year-old girls tried to murder their friend to impress a mysterious internet figure known as the Slender Man. Samantha Wall Wins the Contemporary NW Art Awards - 32:07 Last week, the Portland Art Museum announced the top honor of the 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, the Arlene Schnitzer prize. The winner is a young artist who’s quickly rising to the top of the Portland art scene: Samantha Wall. The award comes with a cool $10,000 check and an exhibition at the art museum this fall. OPB’s Kelsey Wallace had a story on Oregon Art Beat last year about Wall’s unique background and artistic practice. Oregon Ballet Theatre: Choreographers James Canfield and Nicolo Fonte - 37:42 James Canfield founded Oregon Ballet Theater in 1989. One of the first ballets he choreographed for the nascent company was "Romeo and Juliet," to the famous score by Sergei Prokofiev. Canfield returned this season to remount the ballet for the first time in more than 15 years, running Feb. 27–Mar. 5. At the same time he was working with the dancers, choreographer Nicolo Fonte was starting rehearsals for "Beautiful Decay," which opens in April. It’s a meditation on life and aging that pairs OBT dancers with older Portland dancers. We sit down with both choreographers to discuss their shared attractions to the darker themes in life. Classical-Fused Hip-Hop with Black Violin - 47:01 The Florida-based duo Black Violin consists of two classically-trained musicians who are pushing the boundaries on what can be done with the instruments. NPR’s Lindsay Totty caught up with the duo to discuss their latest release, "Stereotypes," and to find out how they’re defying them. The duo plays the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Feb. 24.