In one of those rare places people still come to browse for books, they are encased in glass. Touched by the hands of artists, they suspend like paper time capsules in the atrium of the Cincinnati Public Library for Bookworks 13, organized by Cincinnati Book Arts Society.  

You Are My Superhero, opening Sunday at Dayton Art Institute (DAI), is here to rescue art lovers from the summer blahs. The difference starts at the door, where there’s $2 off for wearing a superhero costume.  

Digital World presents James Duesing and three other artists whose work originates on a monitor via 3-D imaging and other programs. Should this art be viewed as something less because of its origins? I say no.  

When FotoFocus — the new citywide celebration of photography and lens-based art — occurs in October, there will be so many artists and venues involved it will be hard to choose which to see and when. While I am looking forward to all of it, one photographer I am particularly eager to see isn’t that famous, but has certainly made an impact. Nancy Rexroth, who will be presenting new work from her landmark Iowa project, is sharing with Judi Parks and Jane Alden Stevens a show called Landscapes of the Mind: Metaphor, Archetype and Symbol 1971-2012 at YWCA Women’s Gallery. It opens Oct. 5.  

The Battle of the Abstract Expressionists, as Mary Ran of Ran Gallery playfully calls her current show, could be a draw between the artists, but color rules in the works of each. Two well-known, deeply committed 20th century Cincinnati artists, Jack Meanwell and Paul Chidlaw, both practiced abstract expressionism — as opposed to non-objective art, in which tangible subject matter has been thrown out entirely — and both used color with visceral pleasure.  

I’ve seen Ken Shue’s 1984 comedy The Foreigner in several good productions. It’s one of the funniest plays I know, a well-oiled laugh machine, but if you anticipate what’s happening, you’d think it would diminish the humor.   

Opera always struck me as a strange, overblown cousin to musical theater. I told people that I had to “turn off my theater filters when I went to see opera.” But then I spent several seasons working for Cincinnati Opera, and my eyes were opened to the reasons people react so strongly to that art form.  

It's no secret that the Northside neighborhood throws an Independence Day party like nobody’s business. Folks flock from all over the Cincinnati area to spend some time in the city’s hub of all things hip for two full days packed with live music, local food, a family-friendly carnival and, of course, the annual Fourth of July parade. What most spectators and marchers might not know? They’re carrying on a 158-year-old tradition that dates back to the days when Central Parkway was underwater.  

Hot on the heels of Monet in Giverny, this summer the Cincinnati Art Museum showcases the life and legacy of pioneering African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner in Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit. A full-scale retrospective, Modern Spirit is a provocative examination of one man’s journey to discover a pictorial language capable of expressing an intense religious feeling.  

George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess ranks as America’s most famous opera. Its arias and ensembles are firmly ensconced in the American Popular Songbook: “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o Nuttin’,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “I Loves You, Porgy.” “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” No other opera comes close except Carmen, and that’s French.  

George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess ranks as America’s most famous opera. Its arias and ensembles are firmly ensconced in the American Popular Songbook: “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o Nuttin’,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “I Loves You, Porgy.” “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” No other opera comes close except Carmen, and that’s French.  

In a space dedicated to interiors, the expansive second floor of Bromwell’s downtown, Celene Hawkins brings together several of the city’s most accomplished artists with works “in which nature is found, observed and re-made in elegant and subtle ways,” for Flora and Fauna. So, the outside comes into these high-ceilinged, fireplace-studded display rooms to mutual benefit.
  

“May we all find salvation in professions that heal.” When Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin penned these lyrics in 1987, few knew that she was hinting at some long-held, “dirty secrets,” problems that went back to the singer’s teenage years and, indeed, would require “salvation,” specifically the help of psychiatrists and therapists and anti-depressants. Colvin’s new memoir, Diamond In The Rough, describes that journey in an endlessly fascinating, often-harrowing recollection of one woman’s arduous musical odyssey.  

Cincinnati’s King Records has an important enough history to merit a museum, especially since the original building is still standing at 1540 Brewster Ave. in Evanston. While it would take a lot of work to restore that site, it’s essential to save it. The most active supporters of a King Museum want a location in Evanston’s business district as an economic development tool.   

When Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (ETC) produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical next to normal last September, it was an early highlight of the 2011-2012 theater season. Although it’s hard to imagine, ETC’s two-week revival of the show about Diana’s battle with schizophrenia and how that illness affects her family, is even more powerful now than it was nine months ago.