People 2015: SMU’s Kate Canales Aims to Engineer Creativity

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  Kate Canales is a problem solver. The current problem she’s working out? Building a master’s in design and innovation, the first of its kind, at…

People 2015: vickie washington: Still a Sensation After All These Years

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. She spells her names with lowercase letters, but actor-director-teacher vickie washington has enjoyed a capital career in theater. Born in Dallas, raised in Hamilton Park…

Dallas’ Best Beauty Boutiques

Even if you’re not really into getting glam, makeup is a fact of life for many women. Having to begrudgingly slap on a coat of mascara and eyeliner before heading off to work isn’t a lot of fun, especially if you’re still using the crappy drugstore products that made you…

Deep Ellum Shops Stay in Tune with the Neighborhood

The Deep Ellum neighborhood is not just a great place for getting yourself pierced somewhere unthinkable. It’s also nothing short of historic. In the mid-’90s, you could find Kurt Cobain fighting onstage at Trees, and 20 years later, at the same venue, you’d find Macaulay Culkin dancing in the crowd…

The Light Power of Performance Poet Anne Waldman

You may not have heard of Anne Waldman, though you’ve heard of her friends. She was the co-founder with Allen Ginsberg of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado; she was the director of NYC’s St. Mark’s Poetry Project for more than a decade;…

Pick Up the Print Edition This Week

Dear Web Readers, It’s been a minute since we wrapped up the 100 Creatives list, but this week the list of awesome Dallas people, with a few selected full interviews, runs in print. So, step away from your computer and grab one from the Dallas Observer boxes around the city…

100 Dallas Creatives Down, Thousands to Go

Last May I sat staring into my laptop and a blank document stared back. One hundred can seem like such a daunting number. But some of the Observer’s sister papers in cities like Phoenix and Miami had come up with 100 creative people to feature in an ongoing series, so…

100 Dallas Creatives: No. 1 Shay Youngblood, Writer About Town

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Shay Youngblood is an artist of several varieties. An author and playwright with numerous publications to her name, Youngblood began to write by reflecting on her tumultuous childhood and the women who raised her, or…

100 Dallas Creatives: No. 2 Rodney Dobbs, Man Behind the Scenes

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. It’s been said that nobody leaves a theater humming the scenery. But if you’ve ever seen a show designed by Dallas scenic artist Rodney Dobbs, you might leave singing its praises. Dobbs’ sets often help…

100 Dallas Creatives: No. 4 Lisa Robison, Designer with Purpose

Most of us wouldn’t think that there is a lot of art to working in the nonprofit world, and that’s probably a pretty fair assessment. Many agencies that work with struggling families are so focused on providing basic assistance like food and shelter that sometimes life’s finer details aren’t always…