The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat

Renowned painter Lee Udall Bennion has been partners in life and art with her husband, potter Joe Bennion, for 35 years. This Fall the Bennions and their family open their pottery shop and painting studio for visitors and shoppers on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving for a special sale in Spring City, Utah.

In this second of a two-part series, Lee talks about painting, becoming aware of her "style," and why her work focuses more on color, form, and feeling, than on photographic accuracy.  She shares the serendipitous story of meeting her mentor, Ella Peacock, soon after moving to Spring City.  In addition to everything else she's accomplished in her life, Lee Bennion may also be the only woman alive with her own combination art studio, print-making shop, and horse stable.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull.

For over thirty years Joe and Lee Bennion have been husband/wife, potter/painter, river runner/camp cook and any number of other partnerships together.  Every Fall the Bennions open their pottery shop and painting studio for visitors and shoppers on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving for a special sale. 

In this part one of two articles, I interviewed renowned potter Joe Bennion while he worked at the wheel at Horseshoe Mountain Pottery on Main Street in Spring City, Utah.  Against the quiet creak of his foot-driven potter's wheel, you'll hear about his creative philosophy, how even pottery can honor the Lord, and how clay pieces are like people.  You'll also learn about two artists who made a life for themselves in the place they love, doing what they love, and blessing the world.

(Watch for part two featuring the visual art of Lee Bennion next week.)

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull.

This native of Osaka, Japan, had never sung in public until he joined the LDS church and was serving as a missionary in Fukuoka.  In the 20 years since, he's sung and written music with artists like Janice Kapp Perry, Afterglow, Kenneth Cope, Jericho Road and other, all in Japanese.

This weekend Nobu is giving a concert in his home ward in Osaka and has released "I Will Sing!"  This new CD includes many of his favorite inspirational songs sung in Japanese with the artists who created them, and he includes several meaningful originals.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull.

PLAYLIST
I Will Sing!
Let Me Be a Light
When Love Leads the Way
Duty to God
He Brought Me Light (w/Daniel Beck)
Like a Lighthouse
My Single Heart
Hold On, the Light Will Come
Big Tree
Never a Better Hero (w/Kenneth Cope)
Sukiyaki (w/Jericho Road)
I Believe in Christ
Arigato Okaasan
Nearer, My God, to Thee (w/Bless4)
My Friend, My Brother
Extending Light
I Will Sing! (English version)

Thousands of LDS teenagers hear and sing his vocal arrangements every summer at Especially for Youth camps, but on this new album, composer and arranger Michael R. Hicks lets the instruments do the work.

Hymn Creations runs the gamut of styles, featuring big celebratory arrangements like "Rejoice the Lord is King," and more contemplative performances like "I Need Thee Every Hour."  In this interview Mike talks about his personal—and sometimes surprising—connection to the hymns he's chosen, about doing his best writing away from the piano, and why he thinks hymns are to music what the scriptures are to literature.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull.

Playlist
Come Ye Children of the Lord
How Gentle God's Commands
Come Thou Fount
Jesus the Very Thought of Thee
Amazing Grace
Dearest Children God is Near You
Green Hill
We Thank Thee
Come Follow Me
Rejoice the Lord is King
I Need Thee Every Hour
I Know that My Redeemer LIves