Art Hounds Minnesota Public Radio

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art.

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Future stars shine
Experience the talent and dedication of tomorrow’s musical stars at the Schubert Club student scholarship competition winners' recital.

Aimée Baxter of St. Paul loves the arts, and one of her favorite concerts of the year is “Musicians on the Rise — Competition Winners Recital.”

Over 200 high school and college students compete in 15 categories that include piano, strings, voice, guitar, brass and woodwinds for scholarships to support their musical education. The winners (listed here) perform this Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Ordway in St Paul. The concert is free. 

“It is truly a gem,” says Baxter. “The wide range of musicians that are playing and the skill of these young people — it just blows you away, and you feel like you’re kind of finding out about somebody before they really hit it big.” 


Weaving awareness
“Making Climate Change Visible” by Carolyn Halliday uses the unique medium of knitted wire to create a powerful commentary on our environment and the impacts of climate change.

Twin Cities fiber artist Amy Usdin recommends a visit to the Kolman & Reeb Gallery in northeast Minneapolis for a textile exhibit, “Making Climate Change Visible.”

Halliday’s exhibit of knitted wire draws you in with a large, central piece of brilliant blue that recalls how blue the skies were without traffic during the pandemic lockdown.

Other pieces recall skies gray with wildfire smoke from the summer of 2023, as well as the paradoxically beautiful sunsets that occur on smokey evenings. Usdin calls Halliday’s use of color “exceptional and unique in wire knitting.” 

There is an artist reception Saturday at 7 p.m., and a music and dance performance in the space on Thursday, May 2 at 6 p.m., followed by an artist talk. The exhibit runs through May 11.


Celebrating Native fashion
“Celebrating Native American Fashion” illuminates the rich tapestry of Indigenous design, featuring community members as models, many of whom will present their own creations.

Jill Doerfler is the department head of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She says contemporary Native fashion is having a moment right now, and she’s thrilled that there will be a Native American fashion show at the Tweed Museum on campus this Saturday from 12-2 p.m.

The models include some 25-30 community members, many displaying clothing they have made, including jingle dresses, ribbons skirts, applique and bandolier bags.

Doerfler says it’s an inclusive show — all are welcome to attend and encouraged to wear their own Native American fashions that they have made or bought. The event is free, with refreshments to follow. A surprise special guest is scheduled to attend the event.

Doerfler highly recommends continuing your visit with a tour through the Tweed Museum’s art exhibits while you’re there.

The three co-sponsors for “Celebrating Native American Fashion” are the Tweed Museum of Art, the American Indian Housing Organization (AICHO) and the McKnight Foundation. Recently, AICHO held workshops teaching how to make ribbon skirts, and Doerfler expects some of those participants will be strutting down the runway.

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art.

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Click here.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-hounds/id525807829


A tribute to Jim Denomie
Explore the vibrant legacy of Minnesota artist Jim Denomie in "Conversations with Jim," an exhibition at ArtsReach St. Croix in Stillwater. This showcase features 60 new works by artist Dougie Padilla, Denomie's longtime friend, who has created a series of pieces as a dialogue with Denomie posthumously.

Carleton College art professor and photographer Xavier Tavera wants people to know about an exhibition of new artwork memorializing Minnesota artist Jim Denomie (1955–2022).

His longtime friend artist Dougie Padilla began a series of works in response to — and in conversation with — Denomie after his death.







Related Art Hounds celebrate milestones of life







Both artists, Tavera says, are masters of color whose paintings tell stories. He says Padilla’s bold, spiritual work shows characters with teeth, tails and antlers caught up in conversation with each other.

The longer you look at these works, Tavera says, the more deeply you see the narratives these paintings create. 

“Conversations with Jim,” which contains some 60 new works by Dougie Padilla, is on display ArtsReach St. Croix in Stillwater, which also housed Denomie’s final show.

The exhibit opens tonight with an artist reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Padilla will also host a gallery talk on April 14 and a poetry reading on April 28. The exhibit runs through May 11. 


A glimpse into Zelda Fitzgerald’s life
Dive into the tumultuous and fascinating life of Zelda Fitzgerald in the one-woman play "The Last Flapper." Staged at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo, this compelling production opens its curtains on Friday, offering a unique portrayal drawn from Zelda’s real letters and stories.

Actress Sarah Dickson recommends the one-woman play “The Last Flapper” about Zelda Fitzgerald, which opens at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo on Friday.

Zelda inspired her husband, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, to create the character Daisy Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby.”

This show is drawn from Zelda’s real letters and stories, and it’s told on the last day of her life, which ended in an insane asylum. The show stars Broadway actor Monette McGrath of Marine on St. Croix. 


“The Last Flapper” is the first of two back-to-back shows mounted at Yellow Tree in partnership with Frosted Glass Creative, and it’s billed as a collaboration for Women’s Month: two theater companies led by woman artistic directors, mounting a one-woman show. (Dickson performs in the ensuing show, “Seven Keys,” which starts in May.) 

“The Last Flapper” runs April 5 – 14. 


Music of the cosmos
Join the celestial journey as the Bakken Ensemble presents a performance inspired by the majesty of the cosmos. This Sunday's concert promises an auditory exploration of the stars and the sky, fueled by recent cosmic discoveries and celestial events.

Malinda Schmiechen, an amateur violinist and violist living in Excelsior, has been attending performances of the Bakken Ensemble for years, and she says they’re “always extraordinary.”

In particular, she loves watching violinist and artistic director Stephanie Arado. “I love how excited she gets when she performs. She’s so dynamic. She plays with so much emotion and energy.” Of cellist and artistic director Pitnarry Shin, “She has great expression, great intensity when she plays.” 

Schmiechen says she always encounters a new, diverse selection of music at their concerts. This Sunday’s performance focuses on music that celebrates the stars and the sky.


Inspired by recent photographs from the James Webb telescope as well as the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, this performance co

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art.

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Click here.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-hounds/id525807829?mt=2


Crafting tales in silver
Discover the enchanting world of Norwegian folk tales reimagined through contemporary jewelry at the Nordic Center. Renowned artist Liz Bucheit's exhibition "Hand of Huldra" showcases the tradition of silver as protection against evil, blending myth and craftsmanship.

Alison Aune is a professor of art education at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a former board member at the Nordic Center. She recommends a show currently at the Nordic Center, “Hand of Huldra” by Liz Bucheit of Lanesboro.

“What she specializes in is reimagining Norwegian folk tales, folk traditions, through her contemporary jewelry,” Aune explains.

“In Norway — and in a lot of the Nordic and Baltic countries — silver was thought to protect you against evil. So there’s a tradition with the bride wearing a bridal crown of silver, having all sorts of silver pendants so that she's protected.”

On display are crowns, as well as other silver objects, which Aune describes as “phenomenal. She's just really an expert on taking those Norwegian stories and finding their way to jewelry.”

“Hand of Huldra” is on display until April 27.


Celebrating Nowruz
Join the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective for a vibrant celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at the Ordway in St. Paul. Experience international and local musicians in a concert followed by a reception featuring tea and cookies.

Visual artist Katayoun Amjati says she’s been hearing from friends in the northeast Minneapolis arts and music scene about the concert “Voices Unveiled: A Nowruz Celebration and Community Gathering,” presented by the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective.

Nowruz is the Persian New Year, which was celebrated on March 19. The concert includes both international and local musicians and will be followed by a reception afterward that includes tea and cookies. 

Amjati says the concert will be a chance to celebrate and also to honor and mourn alongside those women struggling for rights in Iran. She notes that two of the singers recently moved from Iran to the U.S., and she looks forward to hearing their voices.  

“Voices Unveiled: A Nowruz Celebration and Community Gathering” is Saturday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ordway in St. Paul. Tickets are limited. 


A tragicomedy journey
Embark on a poignant yet uplifting journey with "Phantom Loss," a puppet show by Oanh Vu, staged by In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis. Join a Vietnamese American girl in a tale of haunting, friendship with ghosts and the struggles of generational trauma and deportation.

Anh-Thu Pham of Theater Mu has seen previous workshops of Oanh Vu’s puppet show “Phantom Loss,” and she’s looking forward to seeing the final version staged by In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis.

It’s a tragicomedy about a Vietnamese American girl who moves to a new small town with her mother to run a nail salon. The house where she lives is haunted, and she becomes friends with the ghost.

It’s a refugee story about generational trauma and deportation, told with heart and humor. Pham, who grew up watching “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers,” points out the power of puppetry to take on heavy subjects without losing sight of joy.  

“I think, for any of us that have dealt with generational trauma, or any hard things in our lives,” says Pham, “if you sit in the darkness, you won't be able to live, you won't be able to process through that. And I think that's when good art is done: you kind of see and experience life in its wholeness. I think this is what ‘Phantom Loss’ can do.” 

The show opens Friday with a

Fiber and textile artist Shannon Twohy of Minneapolis recently saw the Northern Clay Centers exhibition “Edible,” which she found thought-provoking.

The show brings together works by five Asian American artists, including Anika Hsiung Schneider of Minneapolis, all investigating food and culture through clay.

Twohy appreciates that each artist explores the medium differently, creating sculptures that vary from stylistic representations to creations that look good enough to eat. 

“Edible” is on view through April 21 both in-person and online, here.  


Edible at Northern Clay Center






















Charlie Leftridge is the executive director of the Carnegie Art Center in Mankato, and he wants people to know about the vibrant local music scene. Leftridge served as director of operations of Mankato’s Symphony Orchestra heading into the pandemic, and he continues to enjoy their music from the audience.

He loves that MSO showcases a diverse mix of composers, presented in a friendly and accessible way.  

The MSO’s Chamber Music series, known as Music on the Hill, presents its next concert this Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m. at Bethany Lutheran College’s Trinity Chapel in Mankato.

This performance’s theme is Bohemian Folk, and it includes Antonín Dvořák’s “Cypresses” for string quartet, among others. 



Minneapolis musician Dylan Hicks is looking forward to listening to some great jazz when the Chris Thompson Quartet perform next week at Berlin. The group is led by Chris Thompson on clarinet and saxophone, who also composes electronic music under the name Cedar Thoms.

Hicks has performed with Thompson in the past and calls him a creative, lyrical player with a great ear for improv.  

“He can pay to play very advanced harmony, but he always really draws you in melodically. And so I think he will appeal to people who are, hardcore jazz aficionados and maybe people who are exploring the music.” 

Thompson joins with Kavyest Kaviraj on piano, Jeff Bailey on bass, and Abinnet Berhanu on drums — all leaders in their own right. 

Hicks recommends checking out Berlin, an intimate, European-inspired jazz club in the North Loop of Minneapolis that he says fills a much-needed niche in the music scene. There is no cover charge for this show.  

Phil Schenkenberg is an attorney practicing law in Minneapolis and a resident of New Brighton. He recommends “The Doctor Wee-Woo Show,” although he admits, “I don’t know quite what to expect.”

It’s a call-in show, of a sort, that, according to the website, “follows the eponymous Doctor Wee-Woo and his friends (Mailbag, Mrs. Apple Tree, Sedrick the Sasquatch and more) as they perform their award-winning and long-running children’s television program.”

Audiences were asked to send in their life problems in advance. “DO NOT write about failed dreams, letting go of the past, and/or sasquatch politics,” they warned.

The show was created by Jake Mierva and Danylo Loutchko of an alleged Theatre Company (the proper name of the company, lower-cases deliberate).

“They have great chemistry on stage together. I always expect to have a lot of fun — and we always do,” Schenkenberg says.

The show plays March 15-24 at the Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis.


Bruce Gerhardson of Fergus Falls is an arts enthusiast. He recommends the art collection at Fergus Falls campus of Minnesota State Community and Technical College, which contains more than 400 works, calling it a “hidden gem … I think it really would stack up against any campus art collection in the state.”

Gerhardson is especially excited that the art now features a self-guided tour. Through the use of QR codes that are at various works of art, visitors can access more information about and interviews with the artists.

“The art collection is open to the public. It’s not in a closed gallery setting. It’s really in the hallways of the campus, which creates a vibrancy but also it makes it accessible to anybody who happens to be visiting the campus,” Gerhardson says.


Marie Denholm lives in the Powderhorn neighborhood of south Minneapolis and considers herself to be “a music head of all types.”

The music that has attracted her attention at the moment is a requiem. The composer is Minnesota musician Doug Weatherhead.

“He’s a singer-songwriter, rock and roll guy from lots of different bands,” Denholm explains.

But Weatherhead decided to write a classical requiem, and will perform it with a 32-member choir.

“Requiem” will be performed on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis.




Requiem

Michelle Wegler of Duluth recommends seeing the exhibit of fellow plein air painter Cheryl LeClaire-Sommer. Her current show, “Scents to Scenes: A Project Space Exhibition” consists of oil paintings of landscapes inspired by scent. 

LeClaire-Sommer used essential oils to inspire her choice of location for each painting. Balsam or cedar scents, for example, might lead her to paint a cedar grove.

The oil paintings, created from locations across Minnesota specifically for this show, range from 8x10 to larger pieces, which she finished in-studio. Both the studies and larger pieces are on view, along with the essential oils that inspired each project.

Wegler says that you stop and look at a painting in a new way after sniffing the accompanying oil. (Saturday, March 2 is a scent-free day from noon to 4.) 

Her work is on view at the Kohlman & Reeb Gallery in northeast Minneapolis through March 23, with an artist talk on March 7 at 7 p.m.  

LeClaire-Sommer also has an exhibit at the Plein Air Collective at the Bell Museum in Roseville through May 26. 


Singer/songwriter/troubadour Larry Long of Minneapolis recommends “DO NOT FORGET US: Poets, Writers, Musicians Against the War (s) on the Earth.” The event was organized by poet James Lenfestey and is described as “a remembrance in words and music of the victims of wars on the creatures of Mother Earth, and of the activist legacy of Robert and Ruth Bly.”

Participants will include James Armstrong, an award-winning poet and naturalist from Winona; Sarina Partridge, a community song circle leader; and soul singer Robert Robinson, among many others. There will also be a special presentation of poems by Robert Bly.

The event will take place Thursday at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis at 7 p.m. 



Jeanne Farrar of Minneapolis has seen several shows by The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company in Minneapolis, and she’s looking forward to seeing “Utopia, Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress” this month.

One of Gilbert and Sullivan’s lesser-known works, the operetta is a political satire. A British ship has arrived at the remote island “Utopia,” and its king has earnestly undertaken to emulate all things British.

His Cambridge-educated daughter has just returned and is trying to help her father reform the nation’s government. Meanwhile, the king’s unscrupulous wise men are out to enrich themselves.

As the characters and situation grow increasingly absurd, the show serves up its satirical bite with a dose of sweetness with its loveable — or at least laughable — characters. 

Farrar notes that Gilbert and Sullivan “are really good at making fun of pretentious manners and mores, incompetence in powerful positions and the slavish adherence to a rule or philosophy to the point of absurd.” 

The company has revised “Utopia, Limited” for a modern audience; read more about those efforts here.  

Performances will be at the Conn Theater at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis March 1 – 24.