Arts Devo

Resurrection of the Peeps In anticipation of Easter, the fun-loving folks at the Maltese Bar & Tap Room are hosting the Peeps Diorama-Rama, on Sunday, March 20. It’s an open-entry competition for which, if I’m not mistaken, contestants must use tiny chicks and bunnies in the creation of a diorama. Arts DEVO is so down. And I really want to win ($100 first prize!), so I have already started gathering materials for my scene. I’ve been laying traps near burrows and coops and harvesting my characters, drying pelts, tanning skins and hand-painting marble eyes. It’s really dirty, eerily quiet work, but I think I might just surprise the judges. I haven’t read the rules carefully, but you probably should. Look up the event on the Maltese’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/themaltese

All the world’s a stage Chico State’s University Art Gallery (Trinity Hall 100) is presenting one of the more interesting-looking art events of the year next week, March 21-25. Titled Performance Space/Play Space, the “exhibit” is a four-day schedule of a variety of interactive pieces:

• Monday: “Hug Your Center: Keep the Light On,” by Cameron Kelly. On display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the breezeway outside Meriam Library on campus, “the brightly colored, hand-quilted sculpture emits soothing sounds and lights up when squeezed.”

• Tuesday: “Postings,” by Trevor Lalaguna. The artist will physically become various banal objects—garbage can, bench, light pole—in different locations around campus: creekside (8-10 a.m.); BMU/Trinity Commons area (2-4 p.m.); and more TBA. Also Tuesday, noon-1:30 p.m. at the UAG, “Search Party: C-Tour,” a student-led art tour that aims to “examine the city as a place of action, authentic experience, feedback and change.” Sign-ups required (visit gallery page at www.csuchico.edu/art for link).

• Wednesday: “Engaging the Beautiful,” by Raphael Noz. The S.F.-based artist will arrive as Cortezuma, a blind king who will be led to beautiful spots in Chico where his guides will describe the scene for him to draw.

• Thursday: “Collaborative Combative Drawing,” by Melissa Wyman. The Bay Area artist coaches art students (in the UAG, 3-4:15 p.m.) in “effective martial art/self-defense techniques for outmaneuvering a partner to complete a representation of their personal power statement or design.” Audiences are welcome to come figure out what the hell that means and watch the battles play out. Then the week concludes with an artist panel (in Colusa 100B), 6-7 p.m., followed by a reception in the UAG.

RIP Lisa Kelly I found out after deadline last week that longtime Chico radio DJ Lisa Kelly Higginson had died on March 8 after a six-month struggle with pancreatic cancer. She was 57. On air she simply went by Lisa Kelly, and was a constant presence on local stations—from KFM to The Hippo—becoming one of the most recognizable personalities in local media during her more than 30 years here. No formal services are planned, but a sure-to-be-rocking celebration of life is in the works.