After French impressionist painters like Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir made the technique famous more than a century and a half ago, plein air painting has been enjoying a resurgence in recent years.

In an epic example of creating a unique exhibit from the permanent collection, Muskegon Museum of Art’s "Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian" encompasses more than 80 percent of its gallery space.

It’s common to see people dancing and singing along at Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán shows. According to Julio Martinez, a harpist who has performed with the band for 22 years, it’s also not out of the ordinary for audience members to cry. The range of emotion Mariachi Vargas elicits is the result of a masterful balance between 120 years of tradition and innovation within their art form.

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre excels at producing high-quality theater for young audiences that also appeals to adults. This season alone, their productions of Annie and Curious George have been delightful, and Schoolhouse Rock Live! falls right in line.

When Robert Newman takes the stage as King Henry II in “Lion in Winter,” the audience spontaneously applauses before he even utters a word.

Summer in Southwest Michigan is when and where folks come to play, and in the world of live entertainment, a land of musical theater where one is hard pressed to find stage drama of the classic variety, much less a tragedy — perhaps for good reason.

Sam Callahan is having a very bad day. It’s not long before Christmas, and the generally cheerful Midwesterner, ever hopeful that he’ll catch a break in his floundering acting career, has been forced to return to his stressful and disappointing day job managing reservations in the dingy basement of an uber-hip molecular gastronomy restaurant in New York.

To walk out of the Little Theatre on a balmy summer night after the curtain closes on the expertly crafted production of “Peter and the Starcatcher" is to have spent two and a half delightful hours in the hands of master storytellers. Moreover, it is to know “all the joy you’ll find when you leave the world behind,” as Peter Pan himself said through J.M. Barrie’s pen.

“You’re too good for the chorus, Cassie,” says the director from the back of the house to the lone woman in a leotard, standing on a stark stage and pleading for work.

It’s not often one attends a string quartet concert and hears witty banter among the players, much less a description of the next arrangement as “an Italian sandwich” or “almost like a tiramisu.”