Art Hounds

Minnesota Public Radio

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Performing Arts
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Each week three people from the Minnesota arts community talk about a performance, opening, or event they're excited to see or want others to check out.

4d ago

Art Hounds: 5 shows to catch at the Minnesota Fringe Festival

This week, Art Hounds is devoted to the Minnesota Fringe Festival. More than 100 individual plays will run on stages across Minneapolis Thursday through August. Fringe is the largest non-juried theater festival in the U.S.; amateur and professional theater makers alike pitch shows that are chosen by lottery. Each show must be fewer than 60 minutes, and there are up to seven slots a day for shows to run. For many, it's the wild diversity of shows itself that is the draw. Performances this year span from musicals to improv, dance to clowning, one-person shows to full casts. Most performers are local, but there are visiting performers who travel to Minnesota to take part. Each show runs five times throughout the 12-day period. Interested in going? There are ticketing options for single shows as well as a range of multi-show options. Check out the shows and ticketing options on the Minnesota Fringe website. For those attending with families, each show page includes recommended minimum ages and content warnings. And while it's hard to select just one or even a few shows to highlight, we asked Art Hounds to do just that. Tech: What could go wrong? Actor Taj Ruler recommends the improv comedy show, Tech. Set on the night before an opening Fringe show, anything can and will go wrong in this ensemble led by Mike Fotus at Strike Theater. "I'm excited because I think it is a stellar cast of improvisers, the best in the Twin Cities. So I think you're in for a good time, and it'll be different every time for the five shows that they have." Watership Down: An authorized musical based on the classic novel Actor and writer Isabella Dunsieth is looking forward to seeing "Watership Down." The musical is based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams; Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly worked with Adams' estate as they adapted it for the stage. Bee Davis of Minneapolis wrote the music and lyrics. The novel tells the story of a band of rabbits on a perilous journey to find a new home. This show by Melancholics Anonymous runs at the Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre. "I can't wait to see what they do with this. 'Watership Down' with Melancholics Anonymous is a little something different for that company. Typically, they're doing silly tongue-in-cheek coming-of-age type stories. Last year at Fringe, they did Joan of Arc for Miss Teen USA, which was, you know, very funny, but also really grounded in community and girlhood and caring for others. It was very beautiful. I feel like Watership Down is maybe a little darker for melancholics, and so I'm very interested to see how they make that tonal shift." And three more ... Sarra Beckham-Chasnoff and her wife treat the Fringe as a staycation, taking time off work to see a show in every time slot over the next 12 days. Pressed to name a few shows she particularly wanted to see, she cited "Watership Down" and "Tech," as well as these: Bay Creek by the Miller Company, written and performed by Derek Lee Miller, at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance "I've seen this show performed at another fringe festival and at the Twin Cities Horror Festival, and in my mind, I forget that he's the only person on stage. It's creepy and well-acted, written beautifully, and has some surprises in it." A Confluence of Magical Arseholes by the Winding Sheet Outfit, at Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre. "Winding Sheet Outfit have always done beautiful productions that really highlight why coming to a theater is so much different than going to a movie or listening to music. They often have music in their performances. Their presentations are beautiful, and I always come away feeling moved and learning something new. It appears that this one may be more comedic, and I'm really excited to see how they weave comedy into their shows." Leave Room for Jesus by Hannah Wydeven, at Barbara Barker Center for Dance "It's an improvised comedy musical where Hannah Wydeven takes on the role of a pastor who believes that she is very charismatic and does a revival. Her hang-ups become very clear early in the show, and she, of course, uses some information that she gets from the audience. It's just a wild romp."
Jul 30

Art Hounds: Opera by the lake, jazz-inspired dance and a graffiti legend

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. A world-class music festival in the Brainerd Lakes Hedy Holmberg spends the summers by Bay Lake in the Brainerd Lakes Region. In the past five years, she's been attending the Lakes Area Music Festival, which she calls a hidden gem. The series kicks off Friday and runs through Aug. 23 with a series of concerts. Some of the highlights, Holmberg says, are Friday night’s gala opening and a performance of Carmen Aug. 14 and 16, both at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts. She also loves bringing her grandchildren to the family-friendly Sound Garden event at the Northland Arboretum in Baxter, in which musicians perform throughout the gardens; that free event is Saturday, Aug. 1, at 10 a.m. Many of the concerts are also livestreamed. Holmberg says, "It is an absolute hidden gem to have these world-class musicians from all over the world come to Brainerd, Minn., and put on these amazing, high-quality, very professional concerts and other events. It's absolutely astounding to me. “And part of it is when we talk to the musicians, they talk about how much they love to come up here, how welcoming the community is. They stay with people in their lake homes. They develop a relationship with them over the years. I just can't say enough about it." Jazz dance takes center stage Susana di Palma is the founder and advisory artistic director of Zorango Flamenco Dance Theater. She wants dance lovers to know about Rhythmically Speaking's new show, Groovers & Makers, in which four choreographers will premiere new works with their takes on jazz dance. Rhythmically Speaking focuses on jazz, tap and American social dance styles, and di Palma says you'll leave wanting to dance yourself. The show runs Thursday through Saturday at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Di Palma is a big fan of artistic director Erinn Liebhard: "Erin's piece will be [about] time, good times and time travels. She is joined by three other choreographers that are all amazing. One is a great angel of a choreographer, Karla Grotting, and she is a master. And then there are two other choreographers: from New York, Maiya Redding, and Alexis Robbins from Connecticut." A graffiti pioneer steps into the gallery Installation artist Eric Rieger, who works under the name Hot Tea, started graffiti writing in 1996 and "immediately gravitated" to the work of George Thompson (aka EWOK). Thompson's exhibit "Zigged When I Should've Zagged" opens Friday and focuses on his studio practice as it has evolved from his graffiti writing. The exhibit includes nine works on paper created since 2020 as well as a print of his 2019 work "Cop Car." The exhibit is presented by Burlesque of North America, which is also launching a limited-edition zine featuring photographs of decades of Thompson's graffiti. The show at the Southside Preservation Society in Minneapolis runs through Aug. 28. Friday's launch from 7-10 p.m. includes a chance to screen-print a t-shirt with one of Thompson's designs. Rieger describes Thompon's style: "I would describe the artwork as almost, like, otherworldly, but also very familiar. It's almost like you're looking at a still life, but from like the year 30,000."
Jul 23

Art Hounds: Handmade art, hometown laughs and scenic photography

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. Wheel Appeal Lorrie Kummeth of Maple Grove has been attending the Minnesota Pottery Festival in Hutchinson for the last five years and says it's always a fun event. The festival runs Saturday, July 25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Masonic West River Park in Hutchinson. She notes the area is flat and accessible with easy parking. Artists will be selling pottery at a range of price points. Kummeth also recommends watching the demonstrations: "They do pottery throwdowns: Four or five potters up on their wheels, and they have to produce a specific item or a quantity of items,” said Kummeth. “I know this year there are also a couple of raku demonstrations. They're very dramatic. [The pottery] actually is put into fire, and that is part of what creates the colorations, like iridescent blues, blacks, burgundies. The potter doesn't know what the final glazing will look like until it's done firing." Hotdish and Hijinks Twin Cities actress and singer Jen Maren suggests seeing "A Second Helping: A Church Basement Ladies Sequel." This musical comedy is the second of nine shows in the series, set in a rural Minnesota church basement in 1969. The show runs through Aug. 9 at the Plymouth Playhouse in Plymouth. Maren says to expect laughs, hotdish and dancing from veteran comedians Greta Grosch (who also wrote the show), Dorian Chalmers and Janet Paone: "These three women know these characters so well,” said Maren. “They're in their 21st year of running these shows, so it's a great chance to go see some great comedians at work." A Wider View of Winona Michael William Doyle is a poet, musician and historian living in Winona. He appreciates the way photographer Mary Farrell captures the landscapes and architecture of his beloved town in her exhibit, "Wide Angle Winona: A Panoramic View," on view at the Winona County History Center through Sept. 13. "Mary decided to try to show us the horizontality of our community with its tree-covered bluffs, and the islands, and the historic built environment: the last remaining boathouse community on the entire length of the Mississippi River; the Wagon Bridge where many of them are moored near Latsch Island; the port of Winona [and more]. Because she's lived here for so long, she knows exactly where to go at what time of day to capture the way the light falls on this distinctive area," said Doyle.
Jul 16

Art Hounds: Shakespeare in Grand Marais, the Jayhawks in Aitkin and dance by the lake

'As You Like It’ puts Shakespeare to music in Grand Marais Scotty Reynolds, producing artistic director of Mixed Precipitation, is shining a light on the Grand Marais Playhouse. The theater is staging a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It" this summer. Music and lyrics are by Shaina Taub, the creator of the Broadway musical “Suffs.” This local production opens Thursday and runs through Aug. 9 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. This is Artistic and Technical Director Sue Hennessy’s final summer production before she retires in spring 2027. She has two more community plays planned for this fall and spring. Reynolds says: “’As You Like It’ is one of Shakespeare's fantastical rom-coms, which has lots of fun frolicking and gender bending happening in the forest of Arden. The way [Taub] sets it to music using a multi-generational cast is just really special, fun, magical; it makes you laugh and cry, kind of within 20 seconds, with its sweetness and earnestness.” The Jayhawks headline Nature Rocks in Aitkin Stephanie Mollet loves the arts and music scene of her hometown of Aitken, Minn., where she is the executive director at the Aitken Area Chamber of Commerce. She recommends the annual Nature Rocks concert put on by the Long Lake Conservation Center. The Jayhawks are headlining this year’s fifth annual event. It’s the Minnesota band’s only concert in its home state this summer. Martin Zellar & the Hardways open, though the whole event kicks off with a special performance by kids from Long Lake’s camp, who have been learning about live music this week. The concert, a fundraiser for scholarships at the Long Lake Conservation Center, takes place July 18 at the Aitken County Fairgrounds. Attendees should show up early to grab a picnic table or bring your own chair and shade umbrella. Mollet says to arrive by 5:45 p.m. if you want to hear the children: “I'm really excited to see it because these kids — let me tell you — it's amazing the things that they know and how much they care for the area that's around them.” Dances at the Lake brings movement to the Lake Harriet Rose Garden Jose Leonardo Santos is an anthropologist at Metropolitan State University. A big fan of the arts, Santos particularly enjoys watching dance. He recommends bringing your lawn chair to see Dances at the Lake, which takes place at Lake Harriet Rose Garden July 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. This year’s event, organized by KASM Dance Collective, includes 15 dance troupes in various styles. Santos says there’s something special about seeing live dance performance in that beautiful outdoor setting. “The thing I love about dance is that it's totally immersive, right? A video of [a dance performance] is not the same thing; you've got to be there to enjoy it. Dance can be just like the funnest little thing, or it can make you cry, and you don't even know why because there's no words, right? It forces you to just go off of your senses.”
Jul 9

Art Hounds: Audio story walks, bluegrass and a Broadway favorite

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. Experience immersive audio story walks on the North Shore Art enthusiast Erin Walsh of Minneapolis is looking forward to heading to the North Shore this weekend to attend the launch of Diver Van Avery’s original immersive story walks. These two new, site-specific audio stories are designed as self-guided experiences for listeners on nature trails near Sugarloaf Cove in Schroeder, Minn. A launch celebration is scheduled for Saturday, July 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. After that, the stories will remain available year-round. You can check out a listening device from the Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center, or you can download the audio any time and listen on your phone. Walsh says: “One of the walks really invites us into the history of that site. Another of the walks just invites us to just sit down and receive the offerings of the place. For myself, I do a lot of efficient listening to things: I walk my dog and I listen to podcasts and I fill my brain with information. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to put something in my ears that doesn't take me away from my body and away from the landscape around me, but actually invites me towards both of those things.” A bluegrass band with a punk spirit Rachel Felicia Calvert is a fiddle, vocalist, and music educator living in Minneapolis. She recommends that people explore the music of bluegrass band Pert Near Sandstone and their recent album “Side by Side.” They perform Thursday, July 9 at Milk and Honey Ciders in St. Joseph at 7 p.m. and Friday, July 10 in Jackson, Minn. as part of the 20th annual Rhythm of the River Festival. Calvert says: “Sometimes I describe them as if, like, a punk band played bluegrass music. They just bring more of a rocker sensibility to this old folk music that they perform. They are excellent live—just wonderful. They have a really beautiful community of fans as well. They're also really great mentors to up-and-coming bands.” A funny, heartfelt musical about acceptance Twin Cities vocalist Jennifer Eckes is looking forward to seeing the musical “The Prom” performed at Lyric Arts in Anoka. The musical comedy, which was on Broadway in 2018-2019, is set in a small town in Indiana that chooses to cancel its high school prom rather than allow two girls to attend together. Four Broadway actors grab onto this cause and decide to throw a prom for the school. “Mayhem ensues,” Eckes said. She added that the show has a message of acceptance. The production runs July 10 through Aug. 9. Of Lyric Arts, Eckes says: “It's a lovely little theater, very intimate. There's not a bad seat in the house. This production is bound to be chockfull of great talent, great singing, great music, great dancing," said Eckes. "I have every confidence it's going to be a gangbuster show.”
Jul 2

Art Hounds: Surreal drawings, sculpture strolls and a timely theatrical return

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. A sprawling surrealist exhibit Twin Cities painter David Amdur recommends seeing "The Internal Affairs of Mr. Invincible," an exhibition of more than 100 mixed-media drawings by Lou Ferreri at Hopkins Center for the Arts, on view through August 1. Amdur says: “To get some sense of it, imagine a collaboration between Salvador Dalí and R. Crumb. They are entire editorial pages from the New York Times that have been painted on with acrylic pens, so they're very colorful, and most of the images are quite complex and very surreal, very strange. Also in the exhibition are monumental charcoal drawings that are more than four feet across. It's not a show to rush through. There's really a lot to take in. I would give myself time to linger with the drawings. You'll find unexpected and surprising connections emerge.” Sculpture walking tours Tony Austinson of Fridley got interested in public sculpture during the pandemic, when viewing art indoors wasn’t an option. Visiting the sculpture walks created by various Minnesota cities has turned into a hobby, and he likes to go with his literal art hound, Tillie, at his side. Over time, he’s come to recognize and appreciate the work of individual artists, such as Tim Nelson of Bemidji, who makes sculptures from scrap metal. Austinson recommends checking out the sculpture walks in a city near you. Here are links to self-guided walking tours in Mankato, Bemidji, Park Rapids, Fergus Falls, Hutchinson, Red Wing, and Delano, as well as Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Performance art meets political theater Sarra Beckham-Chasnoff is a theater superfan in the Twin Cities. One standout theatrical performance from last fall—which she is excited to see return this weekend—is “In the Backroom,” created and performed by Michael Torsch. The show is 70 minutes without intermission and runs July 2-5 at 7 p.m. at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Beckham-Chasnoff says this play-within-a-play surprised her at every turn, and its themes feel timely for the Fourth of July. “Michael Torsch is just a local treasure, so he does a type of performance art that is very smart and funny, and simultaneously very accessible. He introduces some controversial 21st-century American figures. I think it just kind of has a more complicated view of what America is, and so with the 250th anniversary, I just think it will be a poignant piece to see. “The [theater] is just a few blocks away from where the fireworks will be in Minneapolis, and so for folks going to the July Fourth show, they'll be able to walk over and watch the fireworks afterwards.”
Jun 25

Art Hounds: A 1967 time capsule, North Shore landscapes and folk dance traditions

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. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here. 1967: Summer of Love “Summer of Love-In,” presented by Adventures in Hostessville at the Hive Collective in St Paul runs June 25-28. Shows will run Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Jen Maren says: “This event is fascinating. Melanie Wehrmacher curates a themed evening that is part cabaret, part comedy, part TED talk, part cooking show, part trivia game, all with live music AND complimentary 1960s themed food and drinks. She takes a specific year and highlights food, music, style, trivia, and history from that year. There is also a deep dive into a specific event from that year, this one being Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love. It is one of the most unique events I have been to in a very long time.” Kelly Schamberger’s scenes of the North Shore Aurora Webster, an artist and designer who works at the Duluth Art Institute, was delighted to attend the artist reception of Kelly Schamberger. Schamberger was recently named the 2026 Artist of the Year by the Depot Foundation, and she painted this year’s official Grandma’s Marathon 50th Anniversary Commemorative Poster. Her solo oil painting exhibit, “International Attentions” runs through Labor Day weekend at the Great Lakes Aquarium gallery in Duluth. Webster says: “All but the largest of the vibrant, dreamy landscapes on view were done en plein air, often over the course of days, weeks, or months of trekking out to a remote North Shore vista with the full oil painting setup—quite the accomplishment. The aquarium's gallery is a hidden gem, featuring shows that connect visitors to the beauty of the natural world, and Schamberger's work in the space feels like a literal breath of fresh air.” Folk Dances from Latvia, Bulgaria, Ireland, and more Rita Pelecis is looking forward to seeing “Land of 10,000 Ethnicities: Vol 2,” a folk-dance performance by Ethnic Dance Theatre. Shows are June 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. and June 28 at 2 p.m. at the E.M Pearson Theatre in St Paul. A Q&A will be held with the company following Saturday’s performance; Sunday’s performance has ASL interpretation. Pelecis says Artistic Director Donald LaCourse “has traveled the world to find dances and buy costumes from very remote regions, a lot of them Eastern European and Northern European. From the dance to the story to the costumes, their performances are just stunning. I love the storytelling that goes along with it.”
Jun 11

Art Hounds: West African drumming, Football-meets-Dance and Red Wing Arts Plein Air

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. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here. West African Drum & Dance Conference Joshua Gillespie, a Minneapolis drummer and storyteller who performs as Brotha Ase, wants everyone to know about the Fakoly Drum & Dance Conference this weekend, put on by Duniya Drum and Dance. The conference includes classes in West African drumming and dance for beginners as well as experienced performers. Instructors are visiting from Guinea, Mali and Nigeria. Classes run Friday through Sunday at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Campus. A culminating performance, “Bridges of Rhythm: A Path of Generations,” is open to all this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Duniya Drum & Dance also teaches weekly community classes. Brotha Ase says: It's a great opportunity that you should take advantage of this weekend, if you're looking for something cool to do and getting some cultural healing in your spirit. — Brotha Ase Plein Air painters flock to Red Wing Joshua Cunningham is a landscape painter in St. Paul who works primarily with Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. He highly recommends the 20th annual Red Wing Arts Plein Air events taking place this month. Artists are painting within a 25-mile radius of Red Wing, including in the city itself, over the next week. Opportunities to watch artists at work — and for kids to paint for free — include this Saturday from 9-11 at the Red Wing Arts. An exhibition of the work they create runs June 20 – Aug. 16 at the Depot. Joshua says: They have had between 50 and 100 paintings done every year, so you can imagine the body of work that has been created over the last 20 years. Though some of those areas get painted more frequently than others, [each] day only comes once. The light and the air of a given day is what defines all of the colors and the values — and often the mood of the place — so you're never really standing in the same place twice. — Joshua Cunningham Football meets dance performance Scott Pakudaitis, board chair of Revolution Dance Works, has been a fan of Corpus Dance Works since he saw their fringe show inspired by plant biology in 2022. He’s looking forward to their new dance show inspired by sports team culture, “Line of Scrimmage,” at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis June 11-15. He anticipates high energy and some comedy that will appeal to sports and dance fans alike: Scott says: They create very innovative and frenetic dances that touch on a lot of things that everybody can relate to. There will be things like mascots and a marching band and dancing referees, a look behind the locker room, tackles and lots of balls flying in the air from dancers who do not know how to catch footballs. — Scott Pakudaitis

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4.3

out of 5

25 Ratings

Good Overview, ANNOYING Intro

06/13/2013

Lnvk

I love getting these tips for cool art stuff to do each weekend but I absolutely cannot stand the intros. I listen to this as a podcast and every week I try to gauge how far to fast forward so I don't have to listen to the "cheeky," "creative" introduction to the show. Please stop trying so hard, it shows, and it would be stronger if you dropped the attempt to be cool and just added another review.

Each week three people from the Minnesota arts community talk about a performance, opening, or event they're excited to see or want others to check out.