Arts

Today, we begin with things wondrous and humble in one of America's finest art museums. Then we'll open up a can of dreams, and scale a treacherous mountain in shoes several sizes too large. And we wrap things up with a good case of the blues on the banks of a New River. Still life that'll really knock your socks off at Reynolda House, Big Shoes by Open Dream Ensemble, and the 2013 New River Blues Festival are all coming your way.

Just about every culture has dumplings. For the Polish, it's pierogi, and as Morning Edition editor Renita Jablonski writes, this little dumpling plays a big role for many Polish-Americans in preserving and celebrating their heritage.

Back in the 1990s, Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff were tired of the super sweet iced teas available in stores. So they started their own company to cater to "more sophisticated, grown-up tastes." They chronicle their adventures and misadventures in a graphic novel called Mission In A Bottle.

Irish poet Seamus Heaney has died in Dublin at the age of 74. He was one of the world's best-known poets. In 1995 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Sawtooth School for Visual Art has been leading the way in the Piedmont Triad for nearly 70 years, providing art classes for all ages taught by award-winning teachers and participating artists in ceramics, drawing and painting, glass, metals and much more. Registration for Sawtooth's Fall semester  is well underway. Classes begin September 16th. 

Dumplings are a huge part of Chinese culinary tradition, and restaurants there cater to the nation's obsession with a dazzlingly array of dumpling shapes and fillings, including green frogs stuffed with bullfrog meat and a flock of birds filled with roasted Beijing duck.

The British-American actress co-stars opposite Eric Bana in the surveillance-state thriller Closed Circuit. She joins NPR's Robert Siegel to talk about playing a barrister, working with her celebrated Shakespearean father and being inspired by her opera-singer mom.

Kristen Johnson, also known as Lady Houdini, goes far beyond the role women usually play in escape acts. "It was important for me to be a strong example for young women in particular," she says.

David Ford chats with singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett about the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  The band has collaborated with Dossett previously, and will be performing at the Wake Forest University Secrest Series, Thursday, September, 12th at 7:30pm in Wait Chapel.  Laurelyn Dossett will be giving a pre-performance lecture at 6:40 in the Balcony Room of Wait Chapel.  

When O'Brien took over for David Letterman on NBC's Late Night, he had virtually no on-air experience. In a 2003 interview, O'Brien tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his efforts to fill Letterman's shoes and how his Irish-Catholic repression fuels his comedy.