The Insider: 2.17.16

If you haven’t yet heard the exciting news about our upcoming National Blues Museum … where have you been hiding? The paean to the history and legacy of blues music and its impact on cultures worldwide is opening downtown in April was voted a top travel destination by The NY times, Smithsonian Magazine and CNN! For a preview, head to Ballpark Village, which hosts a free blues concert Feb. 27 featuring three St. Louis-based artists: Phi, Marquise Knox and Big George Brock (pictured above).

Circus Flora now has two reasons to celebrate: This year is its 30th anniversary, and Larry Mabrey has been named its new executive director. Mabrey will work closely with artistic director Jack March to forge strong partnerships with St. Louis business and arts groups. Mabrey returns to town from West Virginia, where he was director of West Virginia Public Theatre.

Congrats to design diva CJ Knapp, who earned three awards recently at a ceremony in Las Vegas sponsored by Vision Magazine. Knapp won Designer of the Year, as well as first-place awards for a dining room bay window treatment she created for a Ladue home (shown) and a specialty treatment designed for a large, two-story arch window.

Dr. Brett Prywitch has given new meaning to the term ‘the medical arts.’ The radiologist creates art using medical imagery from X-rays, CT scans and MRIs. His work is on display as part of a juried show currently at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild at Jackson Avenue and Forsyth Boulevard in Clayton, through Feb. 27.