Highlights

Tawney Ellis

Los Angeles singer-songwriter Tawny Ellis will play the Holiday Island Country Club Theater at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Holiday Island. Ellis has played L.A. venues such as Hotel Cafe and The Mint and will play Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe and Stubb’s in Austin after her Arkansas performance. Ticket are $12 at the door.

Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival

The Ozark Alliance at the 2008 Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival

How can you beat this? A free three-day bluegrass festival in Eureka Springs, with a lineup that includes The Hillbenders, the band that won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band contest?

The Hillbenders, out of Springfield, Mo., took the title on June 20, following in the footsteps of past Telluride Band winners like Nickel Creek and the Dixie Chicks. The Hillbenders (Jim Rea, Gary Rea, Mark Cassidy and Nolan Lawrence) will play the festival stage at Basin Spring Park in the heart of downtown Eureka Springs at 5 p.m. Saturday.

But The Hillbenders, aren’t the only act that promises bluegrass fans some great music. In addition to several top notch regional bands, the Texas band, Karl Shiflett and his group will play shows on Friday and Saturday. The band won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s “Emerging Artist” award in 2001 and the 2006 IBMA “Album of the Year” award for their participation in the Skaggs Family Records album “Celebration of Life.”

In case of rain, the festival will move from the Basin Spring Park band shell to the City Auditorium.

The festival officially opens today with a watermelon social and freestyle picking at Basin Spring Park from 7 to 9 p.m. The festival will kick into gear at 11 a.m. Friday and will conclude on Sunday with a gospel performance by The Williams family.

Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival

Friday

11 a.m. Cobb Family

Noon Williams Family

1 p.m. Ozark Alliance

2 p.m. Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show

3:30 p.m. Buffalo City Ramblers

5 p.m. Spring Street Band

7 p.m. Lonnie and Sheila

8 p.m. Dragonmasters

Saturday

11 a.m. Cobb Family

Noon Buddy Griffin’s tribute to Don Reno and Red Smiley

1 p.m. Ozark Alliance

2:15 p.m. Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show

3:30 p.m. Donnie Catron, Pam Kirby, Arkansas Red

5 p.m. The HillBenders

7 p.m. Buffalo City Ramblers

8 p.m. Dragonmasters

Sunday

1 p.m. The Williams Family gospel show

Art

Drawing by Deborah Terry

In addition to the growing number of art galleries in Northwest Arkansas, you can find art at places that you might not normally consider. There are two noteworthy shows happening this month, at unlikely venues: Deborah Terry’s fantasy sculpture exhibit at the University of Arkansas Global Campus building (formerly known as the Continuing Education Building) on the Fayetteville Square and the WWAM or Women With A Message exhibit at White Lotus Salon in east Fayetteville.

Terry, a longtime artist, former fashion illustrator and retired head of the art department at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, works in several mediums. Her current show features eight playful clay characters. To create the characters, Terry covered the clay sculptures with mixed media finishes. Some are containers and one is a fountain. Some of the pieces, “Circus Lady with Cat Cushion Vessel” and “Ravvitat Vessel” are being exhibited for the first time.

The WWAM show features work by Kate Brown, Shelley Duchesne, Allison Hess, Julie Jeannene, M.A. Long and Shaed and Bobbie Sue Yeager. The artists get together monthly to encourage creativity in their specific fields which includes watercolor, oil and photography.