Performance artist and musician Tri Vo loves the work of Theater Mu, and he’s looking forward to seeing them take on the horror genre in the world premiere of Keiko Green’s play “Hells Canyon.” As with many classic horror pieces, we’re headed to a cabin in the woods with a group of unsuspecting friends. They’ve booked a weekend trip in eastern Oregon, near Hells Canyon. In 1887, it was the location where white gang members massacred 34 Chinese gold miners, an actual event called the Hells Canyon Massacre.As the night progresses, supernatural forces threaten to break in, raising the temperature of the simmering tensions among the friends. Vo recalls being "freaked out” by the digital stage effects in Theater Mu’s staging of “The Brothers Paranormal” in 2019, and he looks forward to seeing how this play and its stage effects work together to create an atmosphere of horror. “Hells Canyon” runs Feb. 24 — March 17 at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis. There is a post-show playwright talkback on Feb 25. This show is recommended for ages 16 and up. Arts appreciator Natasha Brownlee of St. Paul enjoys both the music and the art of Ian Valor. She calls his solo art exhibit “Wild Imagination” at Vine Arts in Minneapolis a “conceptual dreamscape.” Brownlee was particularly intrigued by Valor’s line drawings. Look closely, and you can see a single line of changing thickness; stand back, and the line coalesces into a single image. Valor is color blind, and his earlier work is in black and white. More recent works in color includes bold, eye-catching color combinations. Valor is the frontman of the rock group The Valors, and his art show also includes a wall of hand-lettered show posters for his and other bands. It’s a visual dive into the local music scene. “Wild Imagination” is on view at Vine Arts Center in Minneapolis this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a closing artists reception from 5-8 p.m. John Carrier of Winona is a retired scenic carpenter and an ongoing jazz enthusiast. He’s spreading the word about the debut album from H3O Jazz Trio, a father-and-sons group based in Winona. The father in the trio is a composer and former St. Mary’s University assistant music professor named Eric Heukeshoven, who plays keyboard, among other instruments. The band also includes his sons, Max on bass and Hans on percussion and vibes. Carrier loves watching the trio improvise when they perform in person.  Their new album, “TafelJazz,” translates from German to “table-jazz,” a play on “table music.” Carrier says it’s the perfect album to set the mood while sitting around the table with friends. The 12 original songs include guests Janet Heukeshoven on flute, John Paulson of Paulson Jazz and John Sievers of the Rochester-based D’Sievers. H3O will perform the full album this Sunday from 2-4 p.m. at Island City Brewing in Winona. Island City Brewing also hosts a Jazz Jam on the third Sunday of each month that combines local live jazz, local beer and local support; it’s a fundraiser for a rotating series of area nonprofits. As of early February, H3O Jazz Trio and Island City Brewing helped support local nonprofits with over $43,000 in total donations from its monthly Jazz Jams. 

St. Paul actor, vocalist and community organizer T. Mychael Rambo wants everyone to know about “The Sounds of Gospel” presented by 2nd Chance Outreach this weekend at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis.  The two-hour show highlights the range and evolution of gospel music, from spirituals to psalms to contemporary songs. Rambo says to expect an evening of music that will have you clapping your hands, stomping your feet and raising up a shout for more.The performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Padma Wudali of Minneapolis describes herself as an amateur musician who plays the veena, a South Indian Carnatic classical instrument similar to a lute. She is excited to see local musician Shruthi Rajasekar take to the Ordway stage this Sunday. Presented by the Shubert Club Mix, Rajasekar’s show is entitled “Parivaar — a Celebration of Community as Family.” (“Parivaar” is Hindi for “family.”)Rajasekar’s music combines both Carnatic and Western classical traditions. Wudali loves her approach to this performance: in addition to presenting her own original, commissioned work, Rajasekar has invited other South Asian Twin Cities artists working in theater, music and visual arts to take part in the performance, thus celebrating the local creative community. The performance will include a new work by Rajasekar commissioned for the event and film, dance and writing by other Twin Cities performers.  Schubert Club Mix is a regular event designed to make classical music feel less formal and more approachable to audiences. The performance is Sunday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. at the Ordway in St. Paul. Children and students can attend for free. Shruthi Rajasekar video Musician Leslie Vincent of White Bear Lake saw the one-person play “Honey, I’m Home” twice during its first run, and she’s excited that the show is back for a new run at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis.In “Honey I’m Home,” the main character is a brick house who wants to be a home to a new family. From there, writer and actor Madeleine Rowe goes on to play other characters as well.It’s a show that combines comic clowning and poignant, heartfelt observations about the metaphorical houses we inhabit. Vincent recalls the two performances she saw last time felt “so different, because both audiences were so different, and the performer Madeline Rowe is incredibly adept at reacting to an audience.”The show opens tonight and runs through Feb 24. 

Myron Johnson of Minneapolis, former artistic director for Ballet of the Dolls, recommends “The Conference of the Birds” from Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre. The dance piece is based on an epic poem by 12th-century Persian mystic Farīd al-DīnʿAṭṭār.“It’s been performed and created by one of my absolute favorite artists in this community, Susana di Palma,” Johnson said. “I can’t imagine anyone taking this story and doing an interpretation any better than Susana and her live musicians and singers and flamenco dancers and original music.”“The Conference of the Birds” plays Feb. 10-11 at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis.Minneapolis resident Mary Thomas is an art historian and arts administrator. She is looking forward to “In the Middle of Somewhere,” an exhibit by artist Martin Gonzales.An alum of the University of Minnesota’s art department, Gonzales is based in Massachusetts. Thomas sees Gonzales “grappling with questions of how he takes up space and how he can occupy space in different ways.” “The sculptures are a way to think through and meditate on some of those questions through his own life and his own experience,” Thomas said.The exhibit is on display at the Silverwood Park Visitor Center in St. Anthony through Feb. 29. Linda LeGarde Grover, a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa in northern Minnesota, is a professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She’s very pleased to recommend the Indigenous Writer Series at AICHO in Duluth. The series features Indigenous writers from around the region. “Some of them will actually have drawings for some of their books, and the community will get to listen to them, ask questions of them and especially hear them talking about their writing,” Grover said. The event Saturday will include authors Tashia Hart of Red Lake Nation and Staci L. Drouillard of Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, from 2-4 p.m. at the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center in Duluth.

Puppetry artist Sandy Spieler plans to attend Minneapolis author Patrick Cabello Hansel’s book launch Thursday night for his poetry collection, “Breathing in Minneapolis.”The collection arises from the tumultuous events of 2020: the COVID pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the destruction along Lake Street and the challenges immigrant communities faced.It’s Cabello Hansel’s third collection, and he draws in part from his work as pastor of a bilingual Spanish-English speaking church in south Minneapolis, from which he recently retired.“These are poems of immediate relevance. Here are poems of hiding, of being torn apart, of mourning, of marching, of anger and ultimately of reverent adoration,” says Spieler, “true to the calling of his holy office.” Poets Joyce Sutphen, Walter Cannon and Dralandra Larkins will also participate in Thursday’s reading, along with Chilean musician Ina-Yukka. The event is at 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which Spieler says feels fitting since it served as a medic station during the uprising following George Floyd’s murder.  Art lover Colette Hyman of Winona attended the opening weekend of the exhibit “Aabijijiwan / Ukeyat yanalleh, It Flows Continuously” at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.The show, which first appeared at All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis, pairs the textiles of Ojibwe artist Karen Goulet and the photography and collage of Houma artist Monique Verdin. The two artists live at opposite ends of the Mississippi River, and their work explores the health of the water that connects us all.The exhibit includes several collaborations that tie deeply to land and water. There are a series of weavings that the artist buried and later retrieved from various locations along the river, allowing the natural colors of the soil to permeate the work.Hyman also appreciated a “stunning, understated” star quilt Goulet created from cotton dyed by medicine plants grown by Verdin. The light fabric flows and ripples as visitors walk by.The exhibit is on view now through July 7 at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona.Actor and theatermaker Greta Grosch of St. Paul is looking forward to Theatre 55’s production of “Cabaret,” opening Friday night.Grosch appreciates Theatre 55’s role in the Twin Cities arts scene, mounting iconic musicals with talented actors who have aged out of the roles they previously might have played. Grosch enjoys how they push the envelope of the expected, including “Rent,” “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Hair.”  All actors are 55 and older, and the show includes a mix of veteran and amateur performers. She’s looking forward to seeing the role of Sally played by Prudence Johnson, whose long career includes appearances on “A Prairie Home Companion.”“Cabaret” runs Feb. 2 – 10 at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis.

Opera lover Miluska Novota of Minneapolis says she’s “saltando en dos patitas — jumping on two feet” for joy as she looks forward to seeing Venessa Becerra in Minnesota Opera’s “Elixir of Love.” Novota loved the soprano’s performance in “The Daughter of the Regiment,” and she’s happy to see a Latina performer take the lead role as Adina. In Gaetano Donizetti’s popular comedic opera, lowly farmer Nemorino (Andrew Stenston), tries to win the heart of the beautiful, strong-willed Adina, and a love potion feels like just the way to go. It’s a plot worth of a telenovela, says Novota, but with beautiful arias. Novota appreciates that the Minnesota Opera has been “doing such a good job … recruiting singers of color, and bringing communities that may not have felt welcome in the classical world and in opera.” The production is set in 1916 California. It will be sung in Italian with English captions projected above the stage. The show opens Saturday, Jan. 27, and runs through Feb. 4.Minneapolis-based performer Sam Johnson has long followed the work of choreographer Morgan Thorson, and he’s looking forward to watching her newest creation this Saturday night. “Untitled Night” stands out for its location: it takes place on a frozen lake at night.  “She often tackles these big, huge issues, concepts that we're all dealing with in our lives. But she comes at it in this in a really interesting, very dance-centric way that I really appreciate.” The 30-minute dance performance investigates our relationship with winter and the night sky, performed as a collaboration of a dozen interdisciplinary artists. There are two shows at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Silver Lake in St. Anthony. This performance is part of The Great Northern, a Twin Cities Arts festival that runs Jan. 25 through Feb. 4. Art lover Marc Robinson of Northfield is looking forward to seeing the third and final installment of an interdisciplinary art project traveling southeast Minnesota that investigates the concept of home. Artist Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo created a traveling recording studio, and she interviewed people in Northfield, Lanesboro and Red Wing about home, belonging and community. In each town, their words were transcribed, and community members embroidered selected phrases onto squares that were then pieced together into a giant quilt. Red Wing’s exhibit includes three large quilts with the Mississippi running across all three, uniting them. “Embroidering Red Wing: stories of home told with needle and thread” is on view at the Red Wing Arts Depot Gallery through Feb. 24. There is a public reception Saturday, Jan. 27 from 2-4 p.m. “Embroidering Red Wing” also features an interactive touchscreen, that allows the public to listen to the original, anonymous recording made in 2022, on which the embroidered work is based.  The exhibition also includes The Wandering House - Sonic Archive, a repository of testimonials and ambient sounds designed as an exploration of home from a rural perspective. The archive comprises testimonials that Cornejo has been recording since 2019 with community members in Northfield, Lanesboro and Red Wing.

Carleton College senior Esme Krohn loves the Perlman Teaching Museum on campus, and she was at the opening night of its new exhibit “Towards a Warm Embrace” by Finnegan Shannon and Ezra Benus. The hands-on, interactive exhibit explores themes of ableism and disability as well as the power of touch in a post-pandemic world. Both artists are New York-based, though Shannon is a Carlton grad, and some of the pieces were created in collaboration with Carlton art students. One such piece that Krohn particularly liked consists of a series of heating pads with original cyanotype prints for covers. The heating pads are in a room with warm lighting, creating a space where she could imagine chilling with friends. Many pieces invite visitors to touch them, and there are numerous places to sit, including a bench whose label says, “This exhibit has made me stand for too long.”  The show runs through April 14. The Perlman Teaching Museum is free and open to visitors. It’s located inside the Weitz Center for Creativity on the Carlton College campus in Northfield.  There will be an event connected to the exhibit on Jan. 19, Convocation with Jerron Herman.Sarah Larsson is a Minneapolis-based singer and an organizer of next weekend’s Klezmer on Ice. This Friday evening, she’s looking forward to Abinnet Berhanu’s Ahndenet at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Ahndenet means “unity,” and this performance will combine music from both the East and West African diaspora. Ethiopian drummer and composer Abinnet Berhanu of Minneapolis brings his deep knowledge of Ethiopian and American jazz and pop, featuring the talents of local Ethiopian vocalist Genet Abate. They share the stage with Kevin Washington, who incorporates Afro-Latino, hip hop and R&B beats along with West African diaspora rhythms and jazz. “One thing that I think is really interesting about Abinnet and his music,” says Larsson, is that “he talks a lot about how there are so, so many different styles and traditions of music that come from Ethiopia, but kind of what people tend to hear is only one very kind of sterilized and also almost Americanized style of pop music. And he’s been doing a lot of work for many years to go down into the roots and study these very specific different lineages. He names the teachers and the singers of the songs. And what he’s trying to do is illuminate and bring together these different styles, by actually naming them and where they come from.” Artist Brian Sago teaches photography and printmaking at Blake School, and he often includes the photography of Gordon Parks (1912 – 2006) in his classes. Sago was excited to see a collection of Parks’ photodocumentary work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Parks, who lived in St. Paul during his teens and young adulthood, is considered one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, in addition to his work as a composer, author and filmmaker. He was the only Black photography fellow with the Farm Security Administration when he met Ella Watson, who worked cleaning the building. The 60 photographs on display portray Watson’s life and work, which Parks used to document the social inequities in Washington, D.C., in 1942. His most famous photograph shows Watson holding a broom and a mop in front of the American flag — a visual reference to Grant Woods’ “American Gothic” painting. Sago says Gordon Parks’ photographs offer “a window of the history on what it's like to be a Black American. His photographs give such a nuanced level. They’re beautiful to look at: his photographs are all gorgeous. But the sensitivity with which he was taking pictures and the situations he was able to get into by being a Black photographer who was paid by the federal government for much of his career, that’s really profound.” “American Gothic: Gordon Parks and Ella Watson” is on display through June 23 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Admission is free. 

Theatermaker Joe Hendren wants people to know about History Theatre’s Raw Stages new works festival, taking place through Sunday in St. Paul. There’s a reading of a new work-in-progress each day. These are plays and musicals commissioned by the History Theatre, and this festival is an opportunity for the shows’ playwrights and artistic team to see how an audience reacts, and for the audience to ask questions and offer feedback in a Q&A following each performance. Find the line-up here.Hendren is especially interested in seeing “Secret Warriors,” a new play written by Rick Shiomi, a founding member of Theater Mu and co-founder of Full-Circle Theater. The play is about the nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) who worked with the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II as translators, codebreakers and interrogators. The show highlights a piece of Minnesota history: the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling. That reading is Saturday at 2 p.m.St. Paul artist Stuart Loughridge is looking forward to the opening this Saturday of David Cunningham’s exhibit “City Life” at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis.Cunningham’s oil paintings focus on urban landscapes and on liminal times of day when the light of dusk or dawn does magical things to a city. Loughridge says Cunningham’s paintwork is “exciting and active,” with elements of abstraction, and he appreciates the mysterious narratives of the people who populate his canvasses. Visitors can expect to see familiar Twin Cities sights in a new way. The show runs through Feb. 25. St. Paul playwright Kyle B. Dekker is a big fan of the Minneapolis band Sycamore Gap, who he always enjoys seeing perform at the Renaissance Festival. The group sings old world, revival and original folk music about working people, with sea shanties and some yodeling thrown in for good measure. Dekker loves their harmonies and bass rhythms.  This Saturday, Sycamore Gap will be the closing act in a four-band local concert in South Minneapolis. The event is a fundraiser for the Arbitrarium, an artist coop that is raising money to buy their building and create housing for low-income artists. The show starts at 7 p.m. and will be livestreamed on YouTube.  

Maricella Xiong of St. Paul admires the work of Urban Roots, a nonprofit community and safe space that serves local youth. This November, around the Hmong New Year, local Hmong youth dressed in their traditional Hmong clothes and took photograph portraits at the Urban Roots’ Rivoli Bluffs Farm. Youth at Urban Roots then selected the final pictures for the show. “I thought it was a phenomenal expression of cultural revitalization, indigenous solidarity, and Hmong indigeneity in general," says Xiong. The photo exhibit “Rooted Legacy” is on view now in the front window display of Indigenous Roots, which is a center for arts and activism dedicated to “Native, Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples” in St. Paul. Xiong also recommends stepping inside to enjoy Indigenous Roots’ excellent café and programming. Rachel Mock of Duluth’s Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe has long been a fan of Bold Choice Theatre Company. Its veteran stage actors are all adults with disabilities, and they’ve been working for more than a year on this Saturday’s country western musical “Sundown on the Jasper County Jewel.” The original show has songs and music by Duluth’s Toby Thomas Churchill. In the show, a traveling band shows up for their booking at the Jasper Jewel, a grand old country music hall that has most decidedly seen better days. Based on past experiences, Mock is looking forward to a high-caliber event with good music and some classic western danger, romance and intrigue. The musical is one night only, this Saturday, Jan. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Duluth Playhouse.  Improv actor and comedian Bailey Murphy of Minneapolis is glad that “Off Book” is back at HUGE Improv Theater this weekend. The half-improv, half-scripted show is a long-running HUGE Theater favorite. Murphy has acted in the show several times over the years, but every night is different. The performance is adapted with permission from Upright Citizen Brigade's Gravid Water. In it, one actor goes on stage with a memorized script for a show, and the other must improv their way through. No matter what the improv actor throws at them, the scripted actor must stay on script. Murphy says the show always gets huge laughs.  “Off Book” opens Jan. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and runs Saturdays through Feb. 24. 

Skylark Opera Theatre performs “The Gift of the Magi” this weekend, and members of the Armstrong High School Opera Club from Robbinsdale will be in attendance. Opera Club adviser Mark Mertens and student officer Grace Pawlak recommended this show for Art Hounds.  They appreciate Skylark Opera Theatre for its short, accessible operas, typically sung in English. This 90-minute opera, based on the O. Henry story, tells of a newlywed couple who each make sacrifices to try to buy the other the perfect Christmas present.  The theater stages operas in intimate settings, so you can see the orchestra and performers up close. “The Gift of the Magi” will be at the 150-seat Lowry Lab Theater at the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts. Shows are Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sontha Reine and her 96-year-old mother, actress Vivian Fusillo, are superfans of Johnson Street Underground, a local four-man a cappella group. The singers are all current or former educators who met singing choir in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Reine loves the group’s energy and their wide range of songs, from the Beatles to Jason Mraz. This Saturday, they’ll be donning Santa hats for their holiday concert, which takes place at the Winona Arts Center at 7 p.m. Winona has a great music scene, and Reine gave a shout-out to an additional event: the Sleepy Weekend Festival. It’s a two-day music festival, new this year, featuring and curated by Sleepy Jesus, all-local line-up of including eight other bands. Events take place Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. at No Name Bar in Winona. Mixed Precipitation founder and artistic director Scotty Reynolds says there’s still time to catch the play “A Christmas in Ochopee” in its final weekend. Reynolds says New Native Theatre originally commissioned the play by Miccosukee playwright Montana Cypress for its 10-minute playwriting festival. COVID delayed its production, giving Cypress time to create a short film of the piece and expand it into the full play that’s currently on stage. There’s plenty of drama and laughs, as well as some alligator wrestling, in this story set in the Everglades about a Native American college student who surprises his family by showing up for Christmas with his new fiancee. The final shows are tonight through Sunday, Dec. 17 at Red Eye Theater’s new performance space in the Seward Neighborhood of South Minneapolis. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $35. The upcoming evening performances are theme nights. Thursday is Family Night, with crafts and snacks in advance of the show; Friday is Ugly Sweater Night, and Saturday’s performance invites the audience to “wear your Christmas Best, whatever that means to you!”  

Singer and retired vocal teacher Mary Heston Dahl of White Bear Lake has a special place in her heart for the St. Croix Valley Chamber Chorale. She sang with them for about eight years, but this year she’s looking forward to hearing the performance from the audience. Now in its 49th season, the VCC is the longest-running amateur choir in the Twin Cities, and in that time it’s only had two artistic directors. The chorale includes some 40-50 singers across a range of ages.  This weekend is “Christmas with the Valley Chamber Chorale,” with four performances Fri., Dec. 8 through Sun., Dec. 10. Dahl says the audience can look forward to some familiar carols, beautifully arranged and sung, as well as an opportunity to sing along with a few of them. Performances are Fri. Dec. 8 – Sun. Dec. 10 at the St. Croix Prep Performing Arts Center at St. Croix Prep Upper School. This is a change from the chorale’s typical venue, the historic Washington County Courthouse, which is under renovation. 'Audience members are seated at tables, so buying tickets in advance is best to ensure your party can sit together. Classical music lover Pauline Marlinski of Gaylord plans to be in St. Peter tonight for a performance by the Gaylord-based ensemble La Grande Bande. Now celebrating its fifth season, La Grande Bande specializes in music written from 1600-1800 (Early Music and Baroque). Their instruments, including harpsichord and viola da gamba, are original to the period. Marlinski appreciates the group’s focus on education as they perform in schools and communities across southern Minnesota.  This weekend’s French Baroque Christmas will include eight singers and six musicians, with artistic director Michael Thomas Asmus on organ. The performance will include a selection of works written for Christmas by French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704). Marlinski is looking forward to singing along (in English) to some traditional French carols as part of the performance.  Performances are Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 at First Lutheran Church in St Peter. Sunday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 at Church of the Assumption in St. Paul. Each performance includes a short pre-concert talk at 6:45 to guide the audience through the music and composers. Not all annual holiday shows are serene and thoughtful. If Klingon battles are more your style, then actor and physical comedian Gregory Parks of Minneapolis recommends that you check out “It’s an Honorable Life” at Historic Mounds Theatre in St. Paul. In this telling, Bailey is a Klingon warrior who has a high standing in the empire because of his bravery and his feats in battle. He fears that because he is so skilled, he will never meet a glorious death in battle, which is a great problem for a Klingon. Enter the mysterious Q, who guides Bailey through many possible scenarios of his life. (Parks originated the character of Bailey but for the past three years has enjoyed the show from the audience seat.) Written by local Star Trek fans, with a local make-up artist ensuring that each actor has a proper Klingon forehead, this play is filled with references familiar and obscure. The show is not endorsed or affiliated with any Star Trek enterprise. “It’s An Honorable Life” runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, and some Sundays at 2:30 through Dec. 23. Trekkie uniforms of all empires are encouraged but not required. Masks are requested when not eating or drinking. 

Art lover Bill Adams was delighted to visit the Kaddatz Galleries to see Charles Beck: Rarities and Masterpieces. The Kaddatz and other Fergus Falls venues have been celebrating “A Year of Beck” throughout 2023, marking what would have been the Minnesota artist’s 100th birthday. Charles Beck (1923 – 2017) created woodcuts, paintings, and other artworks that often celebrated the landscape of Ottertail County in west central Minnesota. This is the final show in the series, and it runs through Dec. 23. The pieces in this exhibit include works from private collections that would not otherwise be available, spanning from Becks’ college drawings to his final piece. “I would say that Charles Beck's works are quintessential Minnesota pieces,” says Adams, who was thrilled to encounter new works of Beck’s at this show. “Yesterday when I was driving home from Fergus, I looked through some bare trees and in the background was a blue sky with white clouds above it, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that looks just like a Beck piece.’” Don Fortner has retired as music director from First Presbyterian Church in St. Cloud. Still, he wants everyone to know about the wonderful music series that Granite City Folk Society hosts at the church and at Bo Diddley’s Deli every month. Fortner was involved in connecting the Granite City Folk Society with the church as a venue during Covid, and he’s delighted to see how the First Fridays concert series continues to grow in popularity. He says the 100-year-old church has excellent acoustics.  Folk artist John Gorka will perform December’s First Fridays concert, Dec 1 at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Rupert Wates will be at Bo Diddley’s on Friday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. Find the concert series schedule here.  Oil painter Laura Lindquist of Stillwater says her favorite holiday show each year is “Letters to Santa,” a one-woman show that had her “hooting and hollering” when she first saw it last year. Actor Janelle Ranek transforms into 10 characters, each writing letters to Santa. Sitting in the intimate setting of Bryant Lake Bowl, Lindquist was astounded by Ranek’s versatility and humor. Each year’s show is different.  This year’s version, “Letters to Santa: Shaken, Not Stirred,” runs at Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis from Dec. 2 – 23. 

Artist and photographer Theresa Drift of Cook, Minn., and theatermaker Payton Counts of Net Lake, Minn., both saw the “Native American Art: Past and Present” gallery show at the Northwoods Friends of the Arts in Cook. It’s a mixture of contemporary and historical pieces by local artists, including paintings, metalwork, birchbark baskets, beadwork and quilting. The show also includes a few pieces from Grand Portage artist George Morrison, a well-known mid-century painter. Counts appreciated the range of the show, which is presented in one room. “I thought it was nice to see a mixture of contemporary as well as older pieces of work, kind of this like partnership of art connecting to the community." “It definitely shows the changing culture and [that] it's not a static thing,” agrees Drift. “It's constantly evolving and growing.” The exhibit runs through Sat., Nov. 25. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Art teacher and illustrator Heather Zemien of Brooklyn Park, Minn., has been following Off Leash Theater Productions for the past year, ever since she saw their original “Off-Kilter Cabaret.” She’s looking forward to seeing the second annual production this weekend. The cabaret features seven artists living and making art with a range of mental and physical abilities. The performance includes dance, comedy, puppetry, musical composition, spoken word and storytelling. The show is emceed by storyteller Amy Salloway, whose work Zemien has followed since seeing her on stage last year. The show strikes a special chord for Zemien, whose late partner was in a wheelchair. She says she’s excited to see and support this all-inclusive show.  “Off Kilter Cabaret” will be performed at the Cowles Center for the Performing Arts in Minneapolis Fri., Nov 17 and Sat. Nov 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Nov 19 at 2 p.m.  The building is fully accessible. All three shows have American Sign Language and audio descriptions available. Masks are required. Please note: the accompanying music in the radio piece is “Interlude 4” from A.J. Isaacson-Zvidzwa’s composition “Angels Sang to Me.” Isaacson-Zvidzwa is one of the seven artists featured in this weekend’s “Off Kilter Cabaret.” Philip Muehe, managing director of the Rochester Repertory Theatre, suggests a romantic comedy musical in Lanesboro, Minn., for your entertainment this holiday season. The Commonweal Theatre Company in Lanesboro is staging the musical “She Loves Me” through Dec. 23. The show features cheerful, catchy numbers about two shopkeepers who get on each others' last nerve. Secretly, though, they’ve become pen pals through a lonely hearts group. When they finally find out that the person with whom they’ve fallen in love over letters is, in reality, the person right across the shop, heartwarming hilarity ensues.  If that plot sounds familiar, the Commonweal put on an adaptation of the play “Parfumerie” on which the musical “She Loves Me” is based back in 2011. The story was the inspiration for several movies, including the 1998 romcom “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  

"History repeats itself,” says Twin Cities actor James Craven. That was one of his takeaways after he saw a workshop of Combustible Company’s production of “The Hairy Ape” last summer. Written in 1922 by Eugene O’Neill, this play about labor rights and immigration feels just as timely today. Combustible’s production, staged with the company’s signature focus on actors’ physicality, will be performed Nov. 10-18 at the Center for Performing Arts in Minneapolis. “It aggravated me. It aggrieved me. It made me fearful. It made me sit on the edge of my seat because I realized that the same things that were going on in 1922 are going on in 2023,” says Craven about the version he saw. “That is to say, the rise of Make America Great Again, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the rise of political violence, all these things are on stage done by the Combustible Company." Sarra Beckham-Chasnoff has followed Fortune’s Fool Theatre for years, particularly the shows they’ve done at the Fringe Festival. This week, she’s looking forward to attending their production of a new musical, “Cold Planet Warm Heart” at Crane Theatre in Minneapolis. The script and lyrics are by producing artist director Daniel Pinkerton and the show features his fellow producing artist director — and daughter — Ariel Pinkerton, who is part of an all-female cast. “Cold Planet Warm Heart” is billed as a family-friendly sci-fi musical: A spaceship has landed in a small Minnesota town, carrying with it a being from another galaxy, which prompts misadventures and eventually a pageant.The score is by Robert Elhai, whose wide-ranging by-line spans Broadway’s “The Lion King,” six of the Fast and Furious movies and many works for Minnesota theaters. “I’m sure it will be really quirky,” Beckham-Chasnoff says. “Fortune’s Fool Theatre does a great job with very adventurous plays.”Twin Cities actor and director Ansa Akyea recently saw Full Circle Theater’s production of Naomi Iizuka’s play “Anon(ymous)” at Park Square Theatre in downtown St Paul.  “Anon(ymous)” is a take on Homer’s “The Odyssey” and is the story of a young man who is a refugee. He crosses the Atlantic as he seeks to reunite with his mother in the U.S.  “You’re sitting there and you’re wondering, what does that have to do with today,” says Akyea. “And right away, they make it clear that this is about immigration, immigrants, and they’ve done the specific work of placing Liberia also in that narrative. And so you know, which has resonance for our community, in the Twin Cities in particular.” The play was directed by Stephanie Lein Walseth and continues through Nov. 19.

Minneapolis art lover Ali Kennedy is a huge fan of the DaDa Duende Record Club, a subscription box by Twin Cities creators Chris and Hannah Lynch. Each quarter, subscribers receive a lathe-cut record hand-made by the Lynches, a glossy zine containing photography, poetry and other visual arts and a limited edition 8x8” print of one image from the zine.  “It looks like something you’d buy in a museum gift shop because it’s so beautifully put together,” says Kennedy.According to Hannah Lynch, subscriptions are still available, and Volume Two will be released in late November/early December. The theme will be “Duende,” featuring the Minneapolis-based tango quartet The Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet. The accompanying book will feature work and photography by Alessandra Sanguinetti, Daniela Spector, Rachel Elise Thomas, Ashima Yadova, Dawn Surratt, paintings by Minneapolis artist Megan Bell and poetry by Kelly Gray.To hear the music from the record club or to subscribe, visit the website.Duluth-area artist and curator Wendy Savage is looking forward to the exhibit that opens at AICHO this weekend. “Mazinibii’igewininiwag: Two Woodland Artists” brings together the work of two Minnesota artists painting in the Woodlands Style, a style of art with brilliant colors that shows animals, plants and people as though through x-ray vision, revealing the internal organs. Savage likens the effects of the color to stained glass, adding that the works often have religious connotations.  The two artists featured approach this style through different media. Gordon Coons is a self-taught painter and an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. He is a fumage artist who paints with smoke from burning cedar. Paired with his work is digital art created by Steven StandingCloud, an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. Savage appreciates this combination of painting and digital work, all of it brilliantly colored.  There’s a catered artist reception this Saturday, Nov. 4, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The exhibit runs Monday through Friday, Nov. 6 – Dec. 29. It’s free and open to the public, and Savage says there’s easy parking, too. John Sievers, trombonist of the jazz band the D’Sievers is looking forward to Mayo Clinic Presents: An Evening with Michael Feinstein on Saturday, Nov. 4. Sievers appreciates that this joint performance and learning opportunity celebrates the power of music for everyone, particularly for people living with dementia.  Feinstein is a singer and pianist an Ambassador of the American Songbook. He will perform and participate in a panel discussion called “Your Brain on Music,” which includes a neurologist and an Alzheimer’s researcher from Mayo Clinic. Also part of the panel is Suzy Johnson, artistic director of Resounding Voices, a Rochester-based chorus for people living with dementia and their supporters. Resounding Voices will give a demonstration, and other dementia choirs, including the Minneapolis-based Giving Voice, will lead the audience in a sing-along. The event is free, but space is limited and registration is required. Sat., Nov. 4 from 6 – 8 p.m. 

Maria Asp is the director of education and community engagement with the Speaking Out Collective. She’s a huge fan of Frank Theatre, which for more than 30 years has focused on mounting plays that address social, cultural and political issues. The theater is staging its first live production since the onset of the pandemic, and the new play by former Twin Cities resident Trista Baldwin is certain to spark discussion.  “FETAL” is set in a clinic that provides abortions in Texas on June 24, 2022 — the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion through the Dobbs ruling. The show focuses on three women in the waiting room that morning, each with a radically different reproductive journey, as well as a female health care provider.  Asp is excited to see both the show and the space: Frank Theatre is staging this show in an intimate setting within their rehearsal space on the second floor of the Ivy Building for the Arts in south Minneapolis. The show runs Oct. 27 through Nov. 19. Artist Preston Drum of Burnsville says his whole family was drawn in by the Chronicles of the Chronic exhibit at the Rochester Art Center.  Curated by Zoe Cinel, this group show celebrates the creativity of people living with chronic illness.  The exhibit includes works by local, national and international artists, responding to the subject of chronic illness through a range of media, including 2D, audio, film and interactive works.  “One might walk into the show and see it as a disparate pairing of artworks because they are all different media and all different colors and all different types of expression,” says Drum. “But I think that variety brought a sense of cohesion to the show because everyone lives with their own chronic illness in their own way.”Drum says his children liked the color and tactile experience of the show. He also noted that one corner of the one-room exhibit offers a place to sit and rest, engage in a weaving activity, read literature and take in the view. The exhibit is open through April, 2024. The next virtual program, including Cinel and three of the artists, will be Dec. 2 at 1 p.m.Art lover Veronica Bedon recommends a visit to two arts-driven Minneapolis events on Saturday for Día de Muertos. At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, there will be a community altar created by local artist Mónica Vega. The free, family-friendly event Saturday includes music, dance, art-making and food. That event runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. That event is in partnership with Minneapolis-based Latine organization Centro Tyrone Guzman. Vega has created ofrendas at Mia and Centro for Roxana Linares Arrieta, former Centro executive director, who passed away in August. A mile and a half away is a celebration at the Midtown Global Market, which features live music, dance, ofrendas, activities and food for purchase. That event runs from noon to 3 p.m. 

Twin Cities arts enthusiast Florence Brammer loves Girl Friday Productions and Open Eye Theatre’s production of “Life Sucks,” a play she called “smart and funny and poignant.” The play was loosely adapted by playwright Aaron Posner from Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.”“First of all, when I walked into the theater, I was blown away by how gorgeous the set design is,” Brammer says. “And the performances are so good.”Brammer was struck by the broadness of the performances — but says it became obvious that this was a decision on the part of the playwright, as well as director Joel Sass. “Because as the play continues, the characters become more and more layered and complex. It's sort of like us, isn't it?“ Brammer says that the play made her laugh and cry, “which is my very favorite theatergoing combination.” “Life Sucks” runs through Nov. 5 at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis.Eric Heukeshoven is the director of worship music and arts at Central Lutheran Church in Winona, Minn. He's looking forward to this Saturday’s Winona Symphony Orchestra performance, which features work by three contemporary Minnesota composers — and one Mozart symphony for good luck. Included is the premier of a new piece by Minnesota composer Libby Larsen. Titled “Haying,” the composition will feature local baritone soloist Alan Dunbar. “On the surface, it's about the toils and rigors of bringing in the harvest,” Heukeshoven explains. “But it gets into some other interesting areas of about war and distress and it's incredibly visceral — very vivid.”Additionally, the orchestra will perform “Minnesota Suite” by Reinaldo Moya and “Superior” by Katherine Bergman, along with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Symphony No. 41.” The first two are Minnesota composers; Mozart hailed from Austria.The performance takes place Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at DuFresne Performing Arts Center, Main Stage, Winona State University.Bassoonist Tracy Carr is looking forward to hearing the bassoon shine in the Bakken Ensemble’s upcoming performance this Saturday. Carr is particularly looking forward to hearing them play Wynton Marsalis' composition “Meeelaan” for bassoon and string quartet, written for renowned bassoonist Milan Turković (also from Austria). “It really features the bassoon in a unique way,” Carr says. “It leverages the instrument in a way that's outside of a typical orchestral setting. And also is playful with the instrument in a way that you don't usually see.”The performance features Fei Xie, principal bassoonist of the Minnesota Orchestra. Also on the program: Sergei Prokofiev’s “String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92” and Jean Françaix’s “Divertissement for Bassoon and String Quintet.”The performance will be Oct. 22 at Antonello Hall at the MacPhail Center in Minneapolis.

Theater maker Kayla Hambek is looking forward to seeing the play “The Pavilion” at the Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka, Minn. Billed as “Our Town” for contemporary audiences, the play follows Peter and Kari, who were nominated as the cutest couple in high school, as they encounter each other again at their 20-year high school reunion. It’s a story of love and loss, and how the decisions we make affect others’ lives. Directed by Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan, “The Pavilion” is an intimate show with just three actors; in addition to the roles of Peter and Kari, a third actor plays the narrator as well as all the other people at the reunion. The play was written by Craig Wright, who grew up in Minnesota, and it’s set in a fictionalized Pine City.Hambek noted that the play feels timely thanks to the fact that it’s staged in October when people are attending homecoming events and looking back on what’s changed since high school or college. The play opens Friday, Oct. 13 and runs through Oct. 29.  Director talks about The Pavilion Twin Cities actor Regina Marie Williams is excited about the Afro-Atlantic Playwright Festival taking place this weekend at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis.  The series was co-curated by local playwright Carlyle Brown, who is the Andrew W. Mellon Playwright-in-Residence at Illusion Theater. The festival consists of one full-length play, Zainabu Jallo’s “We Take Care of Our Own” (directed by Brown), about three elderly immigrant men who find themselves together at a care home.That show runs Friday, Oct. 13 through Oct. 28. There will be a round-table conversation following Sunday’s matinee that includes Brown and the playwright to discuss “What is the African Diaspora?” The festival also includes staged readings of two plays, Cassandra Medley’s “My Soul is Not Rested” and Tonderai Munyevu’s “Red Dragon,” on Saturday, Oct. 14. Williams is excited to see three different arts organizations — Camargo in France, the Illusion Theater and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis —coming together to tell the varied stories of the diaspora, adding “We get to discover for ourselves how they are different and how we are alike.”  Dance/installation artist Anat Shinar of Minneapolis is looking forward to the upcoming gallery exhibit for painter Owen Brown. His new show, “Myriorama,” takes its title from a 19th-century children’s game, where picture cards could be rearranged to create new images. Brown’s interactive exhibit contains 451 abstracts, each one-foot square, that are attached to the wall with Velcro. Visitors are encouraged to rearrange them. “Owen’s work is always about something bigger than himself,” says Shinar, “and this new series beautifully demonstrates how individual pieces contribute to creating the whole and with seeming possibilities.” The show opens Sat., Oct. 14, with an artist reception from 5-8 p.m. at the Veronique Wantz Gallery in Minneapolis’ North Loop. The show runs through Nov. 11. 

Artist and educator Preston Drum of Burnsville recommends a visit to the Rochester Art Center.  He highlights two solo shows by Minneapolis College of Art and Design graduates, Roshan Ganu and Ivonne Yáñez. Roshan Ganu’s show “जत्रा (Ja-tra) : A Feeling At The Beginning Of Time” is one large artwork in a space that is made up of various mirrors, projections and animation. It’s a multi-sensory installation, with sounds of vendor calls and sung prayers. जत्रा’ (“ja-tra”) is a Marathi word for a town or village fair. The installation feels carnivalesque, with thousands of tiny interactions that you can choose to focus on specifically or let wash over you. Drum says it feels “as though you were walking into a time-traveling / space-traveling device. And when you walk inside, it's kind of like you're being teleported to India, but also in India in different times.” Ganu, who is the 2022-23 MCAD-Jerome Foundation Fellow, will participate in an artist spotlight tour Saturday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. The show runs until Nov. 5. Ivonne Yáñez’s show “Like a Little Tlaquepaque Vase or Como Jarrito de Tlaquepaque” is an intimate show that Drum says is “full of little hidden treasures to discover.” The title of the show refers to a phrase in Spanish that describes an overly sensitive person. Here, brightly colored vases are made of bright, shimmery fabric. The ceiling and walls of the room are hung with sculptures, which feature detailed embroidery work, images of tarot cards and Mexican lottery games. Drum appreciates the juxtaposition of real human-made plants and the way all the elements work together. This show runs through Jan. 21.Lisa Hartwig of Hudson, Wis., loves to attend the Sogn Valley Art Fair (pronounced “so-gun”), which holds its 51st annual event this weekend in Cannon Falls. She appreciates the high level of quality of the art, ranging from pottery to jewelry, from painting to printmaking. More than 50 artists’ work is on view. Hudson describes it as a park-and-walk event that feels like a street festival and is anchored by the printmaking nonprofit ArtOrg.  “I think it’s such a nice community and it’s such lovely work that you can’t beat it,” Hartwig says.  The art fair is Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Alexander Jabbari, assistant professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota, is looking forward to the Mehtegan Fall Iranian Culture Festival this Saturday in St. Paul. The event, which is open to all, features Iranian music, dance and food. He’s particularly excited to see Twin Cities-based singer-songwriter Marjan Farsad, who sings in Persian in a style he describes as “dreamy indie pop.” Farsad will perform at 1:30 p.m., ahead of a national tour. She will also perform at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis on Nov. 5. Other musical performances include piano, the poetry of Omar Khayyam set to setar, and a DJ playing Persian pop in the evening. There will also be tea and Iranian food for sale.   Marjan Farsad

Pamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland of Minnetonka, Minn., is an animation features editor and textile artist. Recently, she made the trip to the Owatonna Center for the Arts, where she marveled at the multi-sensory, interactive installation that is “Legacy Dream Space.” The exhibit was created by composer Craig Harris and visual artist Candy Kuehn, in collaboration with Kym Longhi and Jim Peitzman. Photographs line the walls, as do scrims, which are overlaid with video of exhibit visitors. Two play spaces invite visitors to interact with the exhibit by pressing buttons to hear spoken words or write their own words that appear on the scrims.Harris’s original piano composition complements the experience. Taken together, the exhibit explores our hopes for the future and the legacy we leave behind. “There's things for everyone to enjoy,” says Ziegenhagen-Shefland. “It just made me feel really hopeful that the arts in this state and in this community are just so vibrant and exciting and explorative because it's not just the normal kind of going to a gallery show.” The show runs through Oct. 15, with an artist event scheduled on Oct. 8 from 1-4 p.m. Jaime Davis of Minneapolis says her current theater obsession is with the musical “Million Dollar Quartet,” currently playing at the Old Log Theatre in Greenwood, Minn. in the west metro. The show captures a real moment in musical history: the 1956 jam session of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tenn. Directed by Christine O’Grady Roberts and featuring all local talent, the show is packed with hit songs that Davis says have the audience tapping their toes and singing along. The actors’ voices and their high-energy performances are “phenomenal,” Davis says. If you attend the Thursday or Sunday matinee, she recommends getting brunch beforehand at the theater’s restaurant. “Million Dollar Quartet” runs Thursday through Sunday through Feb. 17. Janet Anderson recently moved to St. Peter, Minn., and she’s been enjoying discovering the local arts scene. One exhibit that captured her imagination has been Eric Ouren’s textile figures on the wall of The Smallest Cog Bike Shop. It’s a small show with about 10 pieces, but each one is intricately detailed and rewards close attention. The figures, which are about a foot tall, have stitched shoes and handmade clothing, and their faces are stitched with multiple colors of thread that reminded Anderson of an impressionist painter’s brushstrokes. Many of the figures are mounted in elaborate frames that resemble wooden furniture. “There's a folk quality to the pieces,” says Anderson, “as if they were figures whittled out of wood, but they're made of textiles.” Ouren’s show is viewable on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 7. 

Queen Drea of St. Paul describes herself as a sound alchemist. She loves the innovative, community-centered performances of Ananya Dance Theatre. The theme for this fall’s performance is processionals, which can both celebrate life and disrupt its flow when they take the form of protests. Ananya Dance Theater investigated its theme by performing several processionals in the Twin Cities this summer; Queen Drea had the opportunity to be involved with one during the George Floyd memorial service in May. She looks forward to seeing how that idea has developed into a staged dance show, marked by interruption, innovation and liberation.  Queen Drea appreciates that Ananya Dance Theatre’s works involve a confluence of artists alongside the dancers, adding, “Every year, I go, and there's just something unexpected.” “Michhil Amra: We Are the Procession!” plays Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at The O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.  Zoe Cinel, curator at Rochester Art Center, recently saw a striking exhibit in Winona. “Googled Earth: Through a Looking Glass” is the work of artists Patrick Lichty of Winona State University and Negin Ehtesabian, who lives in Iran. The artists, who are married, have never been able to visit each other’s home countries. As they await visas, they use Google Maps and virtual reality to share their homes. This exhibit shares that experience with viewers through a combination of mixed media and virtual reality. One pair of mixed media prints by Ehtesabian, for example, hang facing each other on walls, depicting images and symbols from the U.S. and Iran, respectively. Cinel was particularly intrigued by a series of tapestries created using imagery from the geography where both artists have lived. She says the nontraditional approach to a traditional craft looks like “if glitch art had a baby with a rug.” Overall, Cinel appreciated the personal, colorful show that “speaks about borders and humans at the same time.” “Googled Earth: Through a Looking Glass” is up until Oct. 4 at the Watkins Gallery at Winona State University. David DeBlieck teaches dance in the theater department of the College of St Benedict and St John’s University. He loves the work of Sod House Theater, a Twin Cities-based company whose traveling annual productions invite audiences to engage with the space around them. Their current show “Table” integrates dinner — created by local chefs from local ingredients — and a show. Directed by Sarah Agnew, whose traveling food-centered shows have included “Arla Mae’s Booyah Wagon,” the show is performed by an all-female cast who also serve as wait staff for the meal. It’s an interactive show served up in courses, and DeBlieck looks forward to gathering with friends at the Hallock performance Saturday to enjoy time around a table.  Related Art Hounds: Comedy on the farm and in town “Table” runs through Oct. 1 in various communities across the state, including in Crookston, Minn., Sept. 21 in Waseca, Minn., Sept. 28, and in Rochester, Minn., Oct. 1. Please note that some performances have sold out. 

Katie Carter is an art lover and former arts reporter for Northern Community Radio. Recently, she made the drive to the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork, Minn., where she says she was blown away by Terry Leinbach’s show “Wonder.” The show includes 39 large, abstract paintings, which Carter calls “a feast of texture and color” that offers layered imagery whose meaning and emotion seemed to evolve the longer she looked. Leinbach leaves room for this wonder-led interpretation: she numbers — but does not title — each piece. At the center of the gallery space are small wood block creations marked with words that invite the viewer to stop and contemplate. “It struck me in my cells, when I looked at her art,” Carter says. “It just had such a vibrancy and energetic-ness to it ... To me, her stuff could be right next to Helen Frankenthaler.” Leinbach lives near Blackduck, Minn. A retired Head Start teacher, she taught herself painting during the pandemic, working on large canvases repurposed from secondhand stores or stretched by her husband. “Wonder” runs through Sept. 30.  Jim Robinson is co-founder of Table Salt Productions and an alumnus of the Brave New Workshop. He’s a big fan of writer and performer Josh Carson. Robinson is looking forward to seeing Carson’s show “The (Almost) Complete and (Mostly) Accurate History of Alcohol" which opens Friday at Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis.  Best known for co-creating “A Very Die Hard Christmas,” Carson has also dived into history to create plays on John Wilkes Booth and Nellie Bly, among others. This show explores the way alcohol has shaped our lives, causing — and occasionally solving — problems from ancient Greece through today. “You walk away from these shows breathless because they are so packed with comedy and information,” Robinson says. “He’s a brilliant writer.” The show runs through Sept. 30. Poets & Pints marks its 100th show next Wednesday, and poet Charles Curry of Apple Valley says he “wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The monthly poetry event takes place at Sisyphus Brewing. Curry describes it as "an exceptionally welcoming show for poets," fostering a friendly environment. Both seasoned and novice poets are invited to perform a wide array of styles, including formal and free verse poetry, as well as spoken word and rap.Poet Tony Plocido is the host and curator of the events. At a typical event, poets fill out a quick form ahead of time for an opportunity to present their work; an open mic follows the scheduled readers. The 100th show features Minnesota poets Shane Hawley, Thadra Sheridan, Joe Davis and Khary Jackson, as well as Shawn Pavey of Kansas City.  The nonprofit show is part of the League of Minnesota Poets, whose local chapter is Cracked Walnut. Shows take place on the third Wednesday of the month. Register to read at future events here. 

Theater maker Grant Sorenson of Minneapolis is excited about the return of a unique theater project being staged at Norway House in Minneapolis.Local creative Kurt Engh adapted the Norwegian author Erlend Loe’s cult novel “Naïve. Super” into a one-person play where — here’s the twist — the show will be performed by a different actor each night.The play is about a 25-year-old who one day realizes they aren’t happy with their life. Through a series of small changes and discoveries, they piece their life back together into something they can enjoy.The actors include seasoned veterans and emerging talents. Sorenson, who saw the original pre-pandemic iteration of the show, is fascinated by the ways the play could shift nightly.As to the challenges of directing and performing a show with a shifting cast, Sorenson says “the show is built to support the performer. The script is available to them in a binder, but then also in books, in lists, in projections that happen throughout the space. Part of the fun is sort of seeing where the actor finds the text of the play.”“Naïve. Super” is 90 minutes without intermission. It runs Friday through Sept. 17.Art enthusiast Florence Brammer of West St. Paul has been attending Mixed Precipitation’s traveling outdoor operas for 15 years, having never missed a season. The company’s Pickup Truck Opera series offers inventive takes on famous operas, abridged and performed across the state at parks, vineyards, nature centers, and other beautiful spaces.There’s still time to see this season’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” adapted and updated for modern times from Vincenzo Bellini’s 1830 opera, I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues). In Mixed Precipitation’s signature style, they combine opera sung in bel canto style with pop songs — in this case, works by such “star-crossed” bands as the Fugees, Fleetwood Mac, and the Pixies. Performances are Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Alexis Bailly Vineyard in Hastings. Other dates and locations include Sept. 8 at Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, Sept 9 at Swede Hollow Park in St. Paul, and Sept. 10 at JD Rivers’ Children’s Garden in Minneapolis. Editor’s note: The show was adapted by MPR’s Denzel Belin, who was not involved with this episode of Art Hounds. 

Luverne Seifert is a Twin Cities actor and acting teacher. He recommends going to see “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” from Dark & Stormy Productions.In this edgy production, set at Marcia Blaine School for Girls in 1930s Scotland, the lessons are less about math and reading than they are about love and sex. “It’s a very provocative play,” Seifert said. “And at times I think your jaw will drop.” The cast consists of University of Minnesota students making their professional stage debut, and the production runs through Sept. 17 at the Gremlin Theater in St. Paul.Duluth filmmaker Khayman Goodsky, of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, loves a good book. That’s why Goodsky suggests going to the “Meet the Artist” series at Two Loons Gallery in Duluth any time, but especially on Aug. 26, when Thomas and Betsy Peacock are the artists in question. The two co-own Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing, which specializes in Native written and illustrated books. “Everything they’ve put out has been researched and carefully developed, so, I mean you can’t go wrong with reading their books,” Goodsky said.You can meet Thomas and Betsy Peacock, Saturday, Aug. 26, at Two Loons Gallery, 2025 W. Superior St., Duluth.Luis Fitch is a Mexican artist, designer and creative entrepreneur based in Minneapolis. His recommendation is “Immigrant Roads,” a solo exhibition of largescale paintings exploring the legacy of Mexican-born families who built the Santa Fe railroad in the early part of the 20th century.“What I’m excited about in this exhibition is the hope that the artist brings to restore some of the stolen dignity from Latinx workers,” Fitch said.“Immigrant Roads” is on display through Sept. 22 at the CLUES Latino Art Gallery, 797 East Seventh St., St. Paul.

Meggie Moench is a Minneapolis-based musician and dancer who is excited to attend 10th Wave Chamber Collective’s upcoming event “At Dusk: Outdoor Chamber Music Concert Series.”“I love listening to local live music in Minneapolis, and 10th Wave Chamber Collective is a group whose performances I always make sure to see,” Moench said.This particular concert series is extra special, she said, because it features all BIPOC, contemporary composers with a modern flair playing outside in nature.There are two concerts. The first is at 7 p.m. on Aug. 19 at Lutherie Lab (2619 Ulysses St. N.E., Minneapolis). An additional performance takes place a week later at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 at the University Lutheran Church of Hope Courtyard (601 13th Ave. S.E., Minneapolis).Karla Grotting is a local dancer, choreographer and dance educator who says Rhythmically Speaking’s event, “The Cohort,” makes jazz dance approachable and fun for any audience.“It’s very legible and accessible and captures all elements like jazz music does,” Grotting said.The show runs Aug. 17-19 at the Southern Theater (1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis).Amy Tervola Hultberg is an education consultant from New York Mills, who loves to see the community come together for the town’s annual puppet pageant.“The children involved, the families involved, the residents involved are also very dedicated.” Hultberg said. “Children are learning how to walk on stilts … it’s a true puppet experience.” The pageant tells the story of Kalevala, which is based on the Finnish national epic poem, and tells a story of creation. The community has worked on the puppets for weeks and will get to debut their own latest creation to the public at 7 p.m. on Aug. 18 at New York Mills VFW Post 3289. An additional performance will take place at noon on Aug. 19 at the Finn Creek Open Air Museum.

Former St. Paul art critic Diane Hellekson came out of retirement to rave about Kathryn Nobbe’s exhibition “Indelible Vestiges: Mother, Her Mother, Me.” The exhibition attempts to capture the the blurred reality between the present and past through memory through a vareity of multimedia elements. “There’s old shoes that look like little ghosts walking alongside the gallery.” Hellekson said. “Indelible Vesitages” is open through Sept. 9 at Form + Content Gallery at 210 Second St. N. in Minneapolis. Special performances designed to complement the installations punctuate the run, including a spoken word event 4-6 p.m. on Aug. 19. West Coast transplant Juliet Parisi lives in Eagan, Minn., now, where she uses alcohol-ink and mixed media to turning everyday chaos into something beautiful. No wonder she is drawn to Caponi Art Park’s annual “Hot Art” event, where participants carve sand molds that are then used to create molten metal castings with help from Igneous Metal Arts. “They toss in scrap iron, like radiators, bits of pipe, iron sheets,” Parisi said, “toss it into a huge cauldron and they melt it down to hot, molten lava.”The 2023 event is Saturday, Aug. 12 at noon at Caponi Art Park in Eagan.Minneapolis musician Barb Brynstad is in the band Turn Turn Turn. Every year, she looks forward to the Downtown Minneapolis Street Art Festival. The event features mural art, food trucks and hosts a variety of different musical acts.“Something I really love about this event is that you can actually watch artists creating these unique, beautiful pieces,” Brynstad said. The 2023 Downtown Minneapolis Street Art Festival runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 12-13.

Nat El-Hai describes herself as a Minneapolis writer, organizer and lesbian commentator. She’s looking forward to the latest Southside Shtetl — an outdoor Jewish makers market that celebrates the local Jewish community and includes everything from pottery to political education. Plus: Anyone can join in the klezmer jam session from 6-8 p.m.“This month’s event is really grounded in the Jewish diaspora,” El-Hai said. “You’re not going to find any other Jewish event in Minneapolis like this.”Southside Shtetl takes place 4-8 p.m. Aug. 13 at 3103 Chicago Ave. in Minneapolis.Tinia Moulder is a fan of Sue Scott’s recurring variety show and podcast “Island of Discarded Women.” The actor, choreographer and teaching artist, who just wrapped a production of “Glensheen” at the History Theatre in St. Paul, said the show is a great introduction to all kinds of artists – writers, musicians, spoken-word artists, and more.“I especially love the interview that Sue does with a woman on each show,” Moulder said. In August, that special interview guest was violinist, composer and disability activist Gaelynn Lea. The live events take place in an intimate supper club setting. And the best part, Moulder said, is that if you can’t make it, you can hear it all on a podcast released a few weeks later.The episode of “Island of Discarded Women” featuring Gaelynn Lea was recorded on Aug. 3 at Crooner’s Supper Club in Minneapolis. The next live event, featuring former TV news anchor Pat Miles, happens Oct. 12.Duluth is going a little bit country for the North of Nashville festival. But most of the bands playing at the one-day country music fest didn’t have to travel far.“It features bands that are right on the cusp of making it from southern Minnesota and northern Minnesota,” said Duluth guitarist and songwriter Chris Allen, who is stoked for this outdoor summer concert and afterparty. On the lineup: Lexie Houle, Bo Allen, Luke Lynell. Plus, a blast from the past: 1980s act West Wind. North of Nashville happens 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5 at the Cast Iron Bar and Grill in Duluth; call 218-729-7514 for tickets.

Ian Francis Lah is an actor and the executive artistic director for the Northern Lakes Art Association in Ely, Minn. He’s currently in rehearsals for the musical “Songs for a New World,” but this week he took time out to sing the praises of another event. “I love this time of year in Ely, Minnesota, because it’s when the Blueberry Art Festival happens, he said of the festival, which features more than 200 artists and crafters, 25 food vendors, a beer garden, and freshly baked blueberry pies. “It’s a wild time. Ten thousand people pass through a day and that is triple the amount of citizens in Ely.” The Blueberry Art Festival takes place in Whiteside Park and runs from Friday, July 28, through Sunday, July 30.By day, Carolyn Cherry is an educator with the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District. In her spare time, she is passionate about nurturing her inner artist. She met fiber artist Deborah Foutch while taking a class built around the book “The Artist’s Way.” Foutch, whose work focuses on the natural world, spends a lot of time mentoring other artists. Cherry was delighted to get a sneak peek at Foutch’s exhibition “Nine Artists in Conversation,” which features the work of Foutch and eight of her mentees. ”It’s a nurturing exhibition for those who want to be creative in different ways,” Cherry said. ”In ‘The Artist’s Way,’ they talk about artist dates, and I think this is the perfect artist date.” The exhibition opens with a reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday, July 29, and runs through August at the On2 Gallery in the California Building in Northeast Minneapolis. Sasha Warren is a Minneapolis writer whose work has been published in the mental health magazine “Asylum.” “I try to pay attention to events both in the literature world and in the disability scene,” he said. Cowchella, put on by Cow Tipping Press “is the real big event that joins the two.” The literary festival features writers with developmental and intellectual disabilities. “Every year there’s some kind of surprise,” he said. “But the best part is just walking around, soaking in the scene and feeling the pervasive joy of the atmosphere.” Cowchella takes place 4-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul.

Singer-songwriter Katy Vernon, who was born in London and now lives in White Bear Lake, Minn., recommends Theatre 55’s production of  “A Chorus Line – In Concert,” based on the 1975 musical about aspiring Broadway dancers.“Everything they do is geared towards performers 55 and up,” she says. “And as a performer myself, reaching that age in the next few years, I just really am encouraged and inspired by theater that shows none of us have an expiration date.”She adds: “‘A Chorus Line’ is all about putting yourself out there.”Performances run Friday through July 23 at Caponi Art Park in Eagan.Pamela McNulty of Minnetonka has been retired for four years after two decades of working in fundraising for women's higher education. Her recommendation, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” is produced by The Gray Mallard Theater Co. and is their second production.“It is incredibly special, given the wonderful production, the fact that it's free and open to everyone in the community and presented by outstanding actors who are diverse,” McNulty says. “They provide Shakespeare in a brand new manner.”Performances will be at Sociable Cider Werks in Minneapolis in the parking lot. It runs July 20-August 6.Amanda Malkin of St. Peter, Minn., is an art conservator. She is also a lover of all things art and music and a mother of twins. Amanda is especially looking forward to the Minnesota Original Music Festival, a network of free concerts, workshops and events in St. Peter beginning July 19.Malkin highlights a unique opportunity at the festival: a 48-hour band challenge.“The challenge is a spirited contest, where all musicians playing original music are encouraged to participate,” Amanda explains. “Through a random draft process, new bands are formed for just 48 hours. The new bands then create a new song together for the event and compete in front of a panel of judges with their original tunes.” Winners showcase their music on the weekend mainstage at Minnesota Square Park. The weeklong festival culminates with concerts on July 22- 23.

Anastasia Hopkins Folpe of Rochester, Minn., first encountered the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona several years ago.“I would describe it as a hidden gem,” Folpe said. “It's on the river in Winona, kind of behind the downtown. You have to hunt for it a little bit.” She credited the museum’s director Scott Pollock for investing in spaces devoted to younger visitors.  “It's just a very welcoming and mellow place. I just like to go there and hang out. I think people just don't know about it. So I hope everyone learns and goes there.”Peg Guilfoyle is a writer living in downtown St. Paul and a longtime arts enthusiast. She’s also a fan of sea shanties.“There is something about coming off the street into a room filled with singing,” she explained. “I'm here to testify to the flat fun of the sea shanty sing-along held monthly at the Dubliner Pub on University Avenue in St. Paul, and also in Minneapolis at Merlin's Rest on Lake Street.”“No band, no sheet music or lyrics and all volunteer singers,” Guilfoyle enthused. “Who knew there were so many people who love sea shanties?”The next sea shanty sing-along will be July 10 at the Dubliner.Katrina Knutson of Minneapolis is a teaching artist and muralist. “You should definitely go check out the Chroma Zone Mural and Art Festival,” she said. The event will feature new murals painted by six artists.“I'm really excited to see work by Sydney James, who is an artist who's visiting from Detroit,” Knutson added, “and Leslie Barlow, one of my very favorite Minnesota painters, will also be painting a mural.”She pointed out additional pleasures of the festival, its location in St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone, between the two downtowns: “It's a great neighborhood to go around because there are dozens of murals within a few blocks of each other,” Knutson said, who takes friends and out of town visitors on a tour of the murals.Events related to the festival are scheduled through Sept. 16, including a talk by artist Sydney G. James at Urban Growler in St. Paul on July 14.

Kyle Bernier is a Minneapolis-based art therapist and author of “Lazy Creativity: The Art of Owning Your Creativity.” He wanted to introduce Art Hounds audiences to the work of Susanna Gaunt, whose work can be seen through Sept. 5 at the Merrill Lynch Fine Arts Gallery of the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth.“Susanna is a Duluth-based artist who's been working at the GLA for a year now on the Great Lakes Almanac,” Bernier said. “Susanna has been gathering stories from the community about their engagement with natural history, whether at the aquarium or just out in nature in general. Susanna has taken the survey and created artwork from those stories that she's now put up on display.”Gaunt’s work can also be seen online.Heather Beal of Minneapolis is a journalist who writes about the arts and all aspects of the built and natural environments. She recently heard about an art event that she says “sounds very cool.”The event is Midsummer: a Summer Solstice Festival, taking place Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight at Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minn. “I've always enjoyed touring Franconia’s grounds because of the wonderful way that more than 100 sculptures by contemporary artists are woven into the landscape,” Beal said. “There is always something new to see and experience. This is why I'm especially looking forward to the Franconia Summer Solstice Festival. It offers opportunities to interact with the work of 10 local artists, including several whose work is in progress or has recently been installed at the park.”  Activities include contributing to a prayer flag installation, making Solstice suncatchers and creating crowns from native flowers, as well as taking part in a maple dance, pine tree derby and a lantern-lit procession. There will also be a sunset observation and a bonfire. At 10 p.m., the Minnesota Astronomical Society will provide telescopes that visitors can use to view the night sky.Laurel Podulke-Smith of Rochester, Minn., is a performing arts enthusiast. She recommends a new production of “A Raisin in the Sun” at the Rochester Repertory Theater. “The Rochester Repertory Theater is unique among community theaters because it's entirely volunteer-staffed,” she says. “I'm excited about this production. Because, first of all, it's a fantastic play, a fantastically dramatic play. It has an almost all-Black cast and it's co-directed by two Black directors, E.G. Bailey and Shá Cage.”The play runs through June 25.

Noah Hynick of Minneapolis works at an escape room. He recommends a new play at Bryant Lake Bowl titled “The Assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz Ferdinand.” The play was written by Minnesota stand-up comic Joey Hamburger and is produced by Jackdonkey Productions.“It's all about the events leading up to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand,” Hynick explains. “It's sort of a tragic comedy and follows some real things that happen as well as some not quite true things.” “Lots of places are still feeling the effects of COVID and everything. And now having new theaters come out, I think it's a really good chance to support smaller theaters and new art,” Hynick said.The show runs June 14-17, with an additional performance June 22.Amy Garretson of Rochester is the education and community outreach coordinator with the Rochester Art Center. She’s excited that a new art house movie theater has opened in the Cooke Park neighborhood of Rochester, Pop’s Art Theater.“The type of films they're showing are either films that are shown before the wider release at the big theaters, or they're just independent cinema that you're really just not going to see screened anywhere else in southeast Minnesota,” Garretson said. “After a long drought, there's finally a place where you can go to see interesting, innovative independent cinema here in Rochester.”Pop’s Art Theater’s screenings currently include “Dalíland,” a 2022 film about Salvador Dalí starring Ben Kingsley, and two classics of Hong Kong action cinema, “Police Story 2” with Jackie Chan and 1972’s “Fist of Fury” with Bruce Lee.St. Paul’s Christine Sweet is a former classical music broadcaster with Classical MPR and a current member of the Twin Cities theater community. “Ladyslipper Ensemble is one of my favorite local chamber music ensembles,” she says. “And that's because every time I've been to a Ladyslipper concert, I hear something wonderful that I've never heard before — whether it's brand new or just new to me.”She explains that Ladyslipper is “a group of four instrumentalists plus mezzo-soprano Sahar Hassan, who is its director. They typically don't perform as a quintet but in combinations of those instruments, or instruments and voice and sometimes they also have guest performers.”The next Ladyslipper performance will include music of Gabriel Fauré and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, as well as a premiere of a new piece by Minnesota composer Carol Barnett. The event will take place June 12 at MetroNOME Brewery in St. Paul.

Ellen Mueller is an artist based in Minneapolis. She recommends “Im/perfect Slumbers,” on view in the window galleries and skyway entrance of the Minnesota Museum of American Art through August 20.“You can be walking down the street, and you will get the privilege of passing by several very cool artworks,” Mueller says. She especially likes the work of Peng Wu, “who has some really great vinyl installations.” Mueller also recommends Rachel Breen's recycled textiles and fiber creations and Katya Oicherman’s work.According to Mueller, the theme of the show is sleep, and especially disrupted sleep, “which everybody can connect to.”Jenny Fogarty lives in Le Center, Minn. and attended an exhibition of photographs by Edward S. Curtis, who was raised partially in Le Sueur County and whose work often focused on Native American subjects.“I went to go see the exhibit, not really expecting much. And I walked in and I was floored,” Fogarty explains.She was especially struck by an early 20th century photograph of Nez Percé tribal leader Chief Joseph. “I did a drawing (of him) when I was in college,” she says. According to Fogarty, Curtis’s images offer rich details from their subject’s life, including “the arts, from the boats to the baskets … it's just a very awesome exhibit.”The exhibit will be on display through the rest of the year at 48 N Park Ave in Le Center, Minn.Full Circle Theater is doing a production called “Antigonick,” which is based on Sophocles' (spelled Sophokles in this production) “Antigone.” Twin Cities theatermaker, improviser and writer Shanan Custer says she is excited that the translation is “new and fresh.” Custer is also a fan of Meskwaki actor Oogie_Push, who stars in the title role of Antigone. “I'm just excited for what looks like a lot of movement and a lot of really beautiful storytelling,” Custer says.The play runs through June 4 at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

Kate Lawson, a former arts administrator and current arts enthusiast living in Minneapolis, is excited for Art-A-Whirl, the sprawling northeast Minneapolis open studio art tour that begins Friday. In particular, she wants to point people to Hossle Woodworks. Founder Justin Hossle creates mid-century modern furniture and home decor. “The clean lines and natural finishes of his pieces really let the beauty of the woods stand out,” she said. “And it's a really fun experience to get to see how the pieces are put together in his workshop.”Hossle Woodworks will offer demonstrations and classes throughout the weekend.Sarah McGrill is an art consultant and educator in Minneapolis. She is a fan of visual artist Tammy Ortegon, who she says “has been a force in south Minneapolis, as she's owned her own gallery for 20 years and realized that she had never had a solo exhibition.” To remedy this, Ortegon is offering a retrospective of her work in her own space, called the ColorWheel Gallery. The exhibit is called “30years Reflect Back/30years Inspired Forward,” and, according to McGrill, “it's just an experience to walk in and see the inspiration that she has in her shop to support local and regional artists.”The exhibit begins Saturday.Shannon Twohy is a curator and fiber artist from Minneapolis. She recommends “Living on the Edge,” presented by the North Shore Artists League.“As an artist myself, I think events that are pro-artists are so important,” she says. “I also love that the artwork and the exhibition are featuring the beauty of the North Shore.”The exhibition runs Friday through July 9 at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wis.

Sarah Schultz is a freelance curator and writer in Minneapolis. “I am really excited to see this body of work,” she says of the exhibition “Paysage Français: mémoire et fantasme” by Minneapolis artist Ilene Krug Mojsilov, which brings together decades of the artist’s work.Schultz explains the show title translated into English is “French landscape: memory and fantasy.” She says Mojsilov’s work is inspired by time the artist spent in France.“It's a rich assortment of work. It's both abstract, has elements of realism. [It] is a series of drawings and pastels and also large paintings. It's really beautiful and evocative,” Schultz said.“Paysage Français” is on display at Alliance Française in Minneapolis through June 10.South Minneapolis resident Davis Brinker took time away from cat sitting to recommend the play “West Point Players,” produced by Spiral Theater at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown Minneapolis.The comedy tells about a troupe of aspiring Army thespians who put on a show to raise money for their military academy.“It's a company that I think is really dedicated to just creating like, silly, unserious, very approachable work,” Brinker said. “I think sometimes the theater can feel sometimes a little bit stuffy and a little bit like taking itself very seriously. And this feels very, very antithetical to that.”“West Point Players” runs through May 14.Courtney Mault lives in Minneapolis but loves traveling to northern Minnesota where her family is from.Mault recommends a Duluth exhibit by artist Lori Franklin and describes the Minnesota nature-inspired art as “prismatic.”“A fox will have a big, bright pink splash of orange or pink on it, or a bear will have an image of a flower on it. So, very, very nature influenced but also … heightening that sense of the natural world,” Mault said.Lori Franklin's exhibit “Hidden Realms” opens Friday at Siiviis Gallery in Duluth.

Patricia Anderson of Rochester is a choral director who teaches voice. She is excited about a forthcoming concert by Resounding Voices Chorus, “a wonderful organization that is part of a growing worldwide movement to improve the lives of people living with some sort of dementia and with their support partners through musical participation.”She explains that artistic director Suzy Johnson ”gets a wonderful mix of music … and then she arranges them so that they really fit very well with the people that are singing in the choir.”The concert is called “Rain or Shine” and will take place May 14 at Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Rochester.Louise Robinson of Minneapolis has a career managing professional dance companies in Minnesota. “I grew up in Winona in the 60s and never imagined finding a connection with the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam,” she says. “But years ago, my paths crossed with Ranee Ramaswamy, artistic director of Ragamala Dance here locally, and I have been captivated by the form ever since.”  Don't see video? Click hereSaturday the Fitzgerald Theater will host Ragamala’s Dance Company’s “guru” (as they describe her on their website), Indian dancer and choreographer Alarmel Valli.“Miss Valli’s style of Bharatanatyam is particularly emotional in its intentions and fluid in its movement style,” Robinson says. “Her performances are captivating, and that's not easy to command a stage for an entire evening as a solo performance. But that's her forte.”

South Minneapolis playwright and poet William Nour recommends “Returning to Haifa” by Pangea World Theater. This is a U.S. premiere of a play based on a novella by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani.The play tells of a Palestinian couple who return to Haifa after the 1967 war to find the baby they left behind in 1948. They find a Jewish family of Holocaust survivors living in their old home.“It's my reality,” Nour says. “I came here when I was 16. Basically, because there were no opportunities for Arabs in Israel, like as second-class citizens. So it's very poignant for me and it's just — I cried when I saw it for the first time.” “Returning to Haifa” plays through May 6 at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.Eric Heukeshoven is the director of Worship, Music and Arts for Central Lutheran Church in Winona, Minn. He says he’s “really excited” to attend “Portraits,” the spring concert for the Winona Symphony.The piece that he's most looking forward to is called “Peanuts Gallery.” American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich wrote it, inspired by the characters of the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. “I grew up with ‘Peanuts,’” Heukeshoven says, “and it's for piano and orchestra and it's just delightful.”The performance is Saturday at Wesley United Methodist Church in Winona.Holly Harrison is a freelance writer and a creative located in south Minneapolis, and she recently attended a performance of “Othello: The Remix” by Minneapolis Musical Theatre.“Unlike most tributes to Shakespeare, this one kind of tosses out all of the 17th-century dialogue,” Harrison says, “and rebuilds it as a hip-hop musical. Instead of taking place among Venetian military and political figures, it follows a hop-hop crew that’s going on tour.”Harrison adds that “you really get to know your fellow audience members a little bit by seeing which references really crack them up and which ones slip past them.” “Othello: The Remix” plays through May 7 at Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis.

Updated: 9:35 a.m.Daniel Doktori and his wife moved to Minneapolis and found painter Evan Abrahamson's work at local art fairs. “We kept running into Evan and his booth and his work. And we really fell in love with it,” Doktori says.“His work is oil on canvas. And it combines this kind of really impressive skill in terms of rendering lifelike images of both landscapes and people with this kind of blurring technique that results in a kind of a haunting or like a dream-like type image and we think it's really quite wonderful.”The show at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis runs through May 28.Merritt Olsen recently moved to Minnesota from the West Coast and recommends the Rochester Civic Theatre’s production of “The Miracle Worker” on stage through Sunday.Olsen recommends the play not only because it's a “wonderful, timeless play,” but also because there's an exhibit called “Child in a Strange Country” that accompanies it.“This exhibit highlights the Innovations in Education for the blind and the low-vision,” Olsen explains. “It outlines an alphabet of touch that opened the door for learning in the fields of geography, biology, chemistry, physics, you name it. And Helen Keller's curiosity and lifelong commitment to furthering the learning of others influenced these educational efforts. So it's a wonderful marriage of the play and the exhibit.”The exhibit is open through April 29.Jere Lantz is a longtime music conductor in the Twin Cities and Rochester. He is excited about the debut of a new musical organization, The Classical Music Project.  “It's put together by a bunch of professional musicians who feel that music from the Classical period is not as focused on by the public as it used to be,” he says.The Classical Music Project debuts this weekend with two musical pieces: Beethoven's Sonata for Orchestra No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30, and No. 2b Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58.The Beethoven sonata will be conducted by Yaniv Segal, with an arrangement by composers Garrett Schumann and Segal. The second part of the program, Piano Concerto No. 4, is performed by Nachito Herrera, who also is known for his Afro-Cuban jazz virtuosity, playing at the Dakota in Minneapolis, among other venues. The Classical Music Project will perform at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis on Sunday.Correction (April 20, 2023): In an earlier version of this story, an artist’s name was misspelled. This has been corrected.

Nancy Crocker of Minneapolis recommends the musical “How to Avoid Burnout in 73 Minutes: A Minimally Invasive Musical Procedure.” “I saw this show in its initial run. This is a wonderful, life-affirming show,” Crocker said.The show was created by Dr. Stuart Bloom, who also performs. It depicts his journey from a comedian in New York to an oncologist in Minnesota. The show is built around a simple premise: Bloom reads from a questionnaire designed to determine if someone is experiencing burnout at their job.“And of course, doctors – and especially oncologists – have one of the highest burnout rates of any profession,” Crocker explains. “And so he goes through this questionnaire, one question at a time, but his answers are always in the form of a song.”The musical is at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis from April 19-23. John Orbison of Minneapolis is an amateur musician. He recommends the season finale of the Bakken Ensemble at Antonello Hall at MacPhail Center for Music.“All of the composers on the program are people that I'm not very familiar with … They delve into music that you might not hear anywhere else, featuring some of the finest musicians in the world that we're so blessed to have here in Minnesota.”The season finale is Sunday.Stillwater-born Patrick Hicks is the writer in residence at Augustana University. He’s looking forward to a pair of readings by author Christopher Vondracek, who will be reading from his latest book, “Dancing With Welk: Music, Memory, and Prairie Troubadours.”“This book engages with Lawrence Welk, that cheesy and inescapably popular television bandleader of the 1960s and ’70s,” Hicks said, but also describes the book as “a funny and poignant coming of age story.” Vondracek will read at Fair Trade Books in Red Wing and Paperback and Pieces in Winona on Saturday.

Pamela Lundstrum is a member of the Cultural Centre of Bird Island, which brings fine art to central Minnesota, south of Willmar.The center is offering an exhibit by wildlife painter Bradley Donner called “Wild Art,” which continues through the end of the month. Donner explains on his website that he enjoys going to the “wilds of northern Minnesota, Canada and the Driftless trout streams of southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin” to research art.“I am so excited about the newest exhibit,” Lundstrum says. “It's very exciting to see something that is just so beautiful and so perfect. And we only have to go to Bird Island to see it.”“Wild Art” will be on display at the Cultural Centre of Bird Island through April 22. Bonnie Stewart is the executive director of the Fosston Community Library & Arts Association. She is looking forward to attending performances by singer/songwriter Dan Rodriguez, who she calls “an amazing performer. He's a talented musician. He writes his own songs, he sings beautifully. And he is probably one of the most engaging entertainers.”Rodriguez was raised in Detroit but moved to Minneapolis at age 18 to study music. His varied career includes the song "When You Come Home,” which played as part of a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl in 2014.“He just brings joyful, new, awesome music,” Stewart says.Rodriguez will play at the 318 Cafe in Excelsior Saturday. Annie Deutsch of Minneapolis recommends artist Sadie Ward, whose exhibition, “Midwest Women” will be on display at the Second Floor Gallery in Coffman Memorial Union in Minneapolis.Ward “has been making portraits of women throughout history out of bras,” Deutsch explains. “Brart. You put ‘bra’ and ‘art’ together.”The works are of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama, and Jane Goodall among others.“Her first one that kind of inspired it all was Anna Dickey Olson, who was the first woman from Minnesota to run for Senate.” “Midwest Women” runs through April 23, with a reception Friday.

Catherine Glynn is artistic director of Audacious Raw Theater in Lanesboro. She was able to see a preview of the play that opens Commonweal Theatre’s 35th season: “Bernhardt/Hamlet” by Theresa Rebeck. Glynn calls the play “a love letter to the theater and the art of collaboration.”The play is a work of historical fiction about actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was wildly celebrated in her time. Set in Paris in 1899, when Bernhardt’s theater has become riddled by debt. In order to save it, she decides to play the lead role in “Hamlet.” All of Paris is up-in-arms over whether she can pull off a “pants role.” Bernhardt herself is daunted by Shakespeare’s language.Glynn notes that this a perfect show to cap off Women’s History Month, having been written, directed, costumed and sound-designed by women. Glynn says that the role of the famous actress is beautifully played by Commonweal company member Adrienne Sweeney, who herself is no stranger to playing roles originally written for men. Sweeney played Ebeneezer Scrooge in the theater’s staging of “A Christmas Carol” in 2021.After final preview performances tonight and Friday, the show opens April 1 and runs through June 24.George Roberts, artistic director of Homewood Studios, recently attended the opening of a gallery exhibit at the new, nearby Northside Artspace Lofts. The building was designed as an affordable space for artists to live and work, complete with dance space and gallery. Roberts said he appreciated the variety of works in that gallery show, which is titled “Works in Progress.”The exhibit “speaks about supporting young and new artists to have a space to show their work. And it speaks about a place where more accomplished mid-career artists have a place to act as mentors,” says Roberts, adding that beginning works that “show promise” were happily positioned next to accomplished, finished works. The exhibit “Works in Progress” is on view through May 7. Roberts notes that, since the building is also residential, the doors are locked. But if you ring the doorbell to enter, the gallery is accessible and easy to find.Educator and art lover Kris Prince of Minneapolis plans to be at the Sundin Music Hall Friday evening to hear the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet perform in St. Paul. Prince calls the quartet “wonderful, entertaining” performers, and she loves the range of styles and sounds the four produce with their guitars. Their upcoming series of performances includes music from Spain, Finland and Macedonia; new arrangements of music by Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Japanese jazz composer Hiromi Uehara. They will also perform a new, commissioned work by Twin Cities composer A.J. Isaacson-Zvidzwa.In addition to Friday evening’s concert, founder Joseph Hagedorn, Maja Radovanlija, Ben Kunkel and Milena Petković will kick off a series of performances this spring. The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet will perform Sunday, April 2, at the Walker Community UMC; Thursday, April 13 at the White Bear Center for the Arts; and Saturday, April 29 at the Heart of the City Music Factory in Anoka.

Minneapolis actor Nissa Nordland was drawn to the play “Wish You Were Here” because of the premise: It’s a one-act improvised comedy about grief.A group shares memories about a friend who has died some time before. The show, which tends to vary each night, considers how their relationships have changed since the loss.“I love that it's the idea of bringing joy to a situation that we often are looking at with a sad lens,” said Nordland. “We are celebrating the person… and finding the joy in remembering them, and then figuring out, where do we go now?”The show was created and directed by Mike Fotis, a co-founder of Strike Theater, which is dedicated to building a community of sketch comedy, storytelling and the spoken word.Nordland says the cast features a group of Twin Cities “comedy legends” who are sure to bring a funny and heartfelt show.“Wish You Were Here” runs March 10-11 and 23-25 at 7:30 p.m. at Strike Theater in Minneapolis.Actor Meghan Kreidler of Minneapolis is a big fan of JuCoby Johnson’s plays, which she says explore heavy, thought-provoking topics through the lens of love. She’s looking forward to seeing his new play, “5,” at the Jungle Theater, co-produced with the Trademark Theater.Johnson acts in the play he authored, about two close friends who own a convenience store. When a real estate developer offers to buy the store located in a rapidly changing neighborhood, the two friends face decisions that will test their friendship.Kreidler says it’s a show about family legacy, gentrification, and what happens to friendship as environments evolve.“I think the thing that excites me also about this piece is where it's being done,” adds Kreidler, “because the Lyndale Lake Street area [where the Jungle Theater is located] has so rapidly changed over the last five to 10 years, and I feel like audience members will be able to engage with the show in a different way based on where they're seeing it.”“5” opens Saturday and runs through April 16.Molly Anthony of Richfield is an artist and teacher who lately has focused on teaching art for self-care, and she loves the meditative process of creative Joleen Emery.The Spring Grove resident creates flowers, wall decorations, and other eye-catching designs out of old books and magazines. It’s a process that involves the repeated folding and cutting of paper — and sometimes taking a bandsaw to old books. Anthony watches Emery on Tik Tok as she walks through her creative process.Emery runs yoga and artist retreats at Big Raven Farm in southeastern Minnesota, which also operates as a bed and breakfast. You can check out the space during the Bluff Country Art Studio Tour the last weekend in April.Correction (March 9, 2023): An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled an actor’s last name. This has been corrected.

Updated: 2:55 p.m.St. Cloud-based concert pianist Mark Ochu is looking forward to an eclectic evening by vocal and musical trio Partly Tame, presented by the Granite City Folk Society.The trio consists of the group’s founder Mariénne Kreitlow, violinist Cristina Seaborn and Susan Schleper, vocals. “All three musicians are authentic performers … comfortable in multiple genres ranging from classical to folk, to slap stick comedy, to the introspective and spiritual,” Ochu said, adding that he never knows quite what will be on the program. He said Kreitlow, a composer, is an intuitive performer, shifting to incorporate poetry, jazz improv, and more as the mood of the show requires.The one-night show starts at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in St. Cloud.Art lover Doris Rubenstein of Richfield is excited that after several difficult years, the Artistry Theater and Visual Arts is in full swing. This week galleries will feature visual art shows by local artists, which Rubenstein says makes March a good time to discover or rediscover the Bloomington Center for the Arts.Landscape photography by Marc Ye of Lakeville, whose subjects and photo shoots range all over the world, opens his fine art show in the Atrium Gallery. An artist reception Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs through April 23. In the Inez Greenberg Gallery, Roshan Ganu, Chris Rackley and  John Swartwout’s show uses art made both by hand and through technology to explore memory. Their show, “Hyper Memory,” runs through April 7.Artistry also helped mount an exhibit at Confluence Gallery, located at the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge, of the wildlife paintings by Kat Corrigan. “Wild and Precious Life” runs through April 5. Sarah Prindiville, director of fine arts in the Robbinsdale public schools, recommends “Once on This Island, Jr.” It’s a 60-minute version of the Broadway musical packed with songs created by the same music-and-lyric team behind “Seussical!” and “Ragtime.”Set in Haiti, it’s the story of Ti Moune, a peasant girl, who falls in love with a wealthy boy from the other side of the island. Gods and goddesses are part of the story about class, culture, and the power of love.The production at Stages Theatre in Hopkins is directed and choreographed by Twin Cities theater-maker Kelli Foster Warder. Prindiville says students, some from her district, are part of the ensemble.“Once on This Island, Jr.” runs March 3 though March 19 and is recommended for ages 7 and up.Correction: A previous version misstated where an exhibit connected to the Bloomington Center for the Arts was taking place. The above version has been updated.

Retired science teacher Ellen Fahey says art galleries are her refuge, and she’s gone three times to see Peyton Scott Russell’s retrospective exhibition at the White Bear Center for the Arts. The show features 40 years of Russell’s work, from elementary school through today.A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Russell is perhaps best known for his murals, including one painted in 2020 of George Floyd, entitled “Icon of a Revolution.” The exhibit features that work as well as examples of Peyton’s Graffiti art, stenciling, jean jackets and sculpture.The exhibit runs through March 3, with an open house March 2 at 6:30 p.m.Jendayi ‘Jedi Maji’ Berry of Minneapolis loved creating abstracts to live music back in September as part of MacPhail’s Spotlight Series: Musical Explorations in Spectral Colors. He strongly recommends seeing the next installment of the series, “Translucent Beauty” Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Antonello Hall in Minneapolis.This performance will feature visual art and short films of Eyenga Bokamba, created and projected in response to live music that includes Bach’s Suite for solo cello No. 5 and “electronic soundscapes".Berry says it’s exciting to experience the two art forms combined and speaking to one another in a live setting.Your Classical MPR is a media sponsor for this series. Writer Dave Walbridge from St. Paul suggests keeping your eyes open for a Free Little Art Gallery. Like the Little Free Libraries, anyone can set up a box to house a miniature art gallery. People may simply take in the art, or take a piece they enjoy. And as with Little Free Libraries, artists may leave work in the galleries.The movement began in Seattle and has spread across the world, inside art galleries and community centers as well as outside. In Minnesota, Free Little Art Galleries have popped up in and around St. Paul as well as Duluth, Willmar, Waconia and Hawley, a town east of Fargo.Writer Tyler Tork of Plymouth, Minn. has come up with an online map of Free Little Art Galleries.

Rachel Coyne, an author and artist in Lindstrom, Minn., plans to attend the opening artist reception this Friday for Robert DesJarlait’s show “Woodland Visions” in Hinckley.The solo show at the East Central Regional Arts Council Gallery features 21 watercolor paintings describing Ojibwe stories and culture. Coyne loves DesJarlait’s brightly colored paintings of dancers whose movement seems to leap off the canvas. Coyne looks forward to standing in the middle of this gallery and taking in the energy of the whole show.DesJarlait is a member of the Red Lake Nation. He’ll give an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The exhibit’s opening reception takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The show runs through March 17.Lucy Soderstrom, director of the Ely Folk School, loves seeing the streets and businesses of her town transformed into an outdoor art gallery for the annual February Ely ArtWalk.A team of dedicated volunteers coordinate around 100 artists, whose work is on display in the storefronts of 40 local businesses.Soderstrom says she notices new details every time she passes by. With the warmer weather recently she was able to take time looking. Some of her favorite window displays include Ely’s Old Fashioned Candy Store, where stained glass hangs over locally-made pottery, and Mitska’s Market, where Alexia Springer’s porcupine quill earrings are on display.The Ely ArtWalk will be up through the end of February.Theater-maker Ashawnti Sakina Ford of Plymouth, Minn., is looking forward to seeing Nora Montañez Patterson’s new play “Code You,” which opens Thursday in St. Paul. Ford was able to attend an earlier reading of the play, and she was captivated by its humor and rollercoaster of emotions, which shone even in a Zoom format.The in-person production by Exposed Brick Theatre takes place at Dreamland Art’s intimate 40-seat theater in St. Paul.The play is set during the height of the pandemic with a twist that turns the collective experience on its head. In this play, the main character is the only one who’s heard of the pandemic, and when three unmasked friends show up at her apartment for a party, parallel worlds unfold. The show runs through Feb. 25. 

Mina Leierwood is a Minneapolis art teacher who creates art and puppets of recycled materials. Recently, she saw a retrospective of Anita White’s work entitled “Journeys” at Vine Arts Center in Minneapolis, and was fascinated by White’s documentary art style and the stories told.White has a daily practice of capturing the people and images she sees with marker and watercolor. The exhibit includes White’s world travels, her spiritual journey and her navigation of the medical system.The artist learned as an adult that her grandmother was Jewish, a fact hidden in order to avoid Nazi persecution in Europe. One series of drawings explores her Jewish identity and family history, incorporating old family photos and her travels to her ancestral home in Romania, as well as sparks of the divine.Leierwood was also struck by White’s drawings of her medical journeys as she documented her husband’s illness and death. “Her way of dealing with a crisis was to draw your way through,” said Leierwood. White’s journal images from this period show medical workers, ambulance interiors, and ticking clocks of a waiting room, often with notes in the margins. White later returned to HCMC to create a series documenting a day in the life of the hospital.The Vine Arts Center is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as by appointment. White will be present during portions of both Saturdays, as well as at the closing celebration, which takes place Feb. 18 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.Keila McCracken, a weaver in Turtle River and owner of sustainable design business, Bare Cloth, looks forward to the art show of a fellow Bemidji-area creator, Diamond Knispel. Knispel combines intricately painted animals with whimsical backgrounds in art that McCracken says captures the energy and magic of the Northwoods.The paintings in the exhibit are arranged to represent the course of a day, beginning with vivid colors and ending in richer tones.Diamond Knispel’s show “Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods” opens at the Watermark Art Center in Bemidji on Friday with an artist reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The show runs through April 28.Actor David Beukema of Minneapolis is a huge fan of the Twin Cities theater group, Transatlantic Love Affair. He loves their simple staging and the way the actors use their bodies to suggest props, setting, and character details. He recalls being deeply moved by the theater group’s play “These Old Shoes” during the 2013 Fringe Festival, and he can’t wait to see it again during its current February run.Beukema calls the play “a beautiful show about aging, lost love, and refinding love.” Transatlantic Love Affair’s players created the play, inspired by their family stories. It’s directed by Diogo Lopes with original songs by the Minneapolis-based duo The Champagne Drops.“These Old Shoes” runs through Feb. 19 at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis.

A discussion at Open Book in Minneapolis explores artist Sam Robertson’s illustrated art-book take on the King James Bible. Sarah Nassif’s hands-on “Weaving Water” workshop connects the ancient art of indigo dyeing and spinning fiber with local water systems. And at The Southern Theater, the group Cumar combines West African rhythms and Celtic dance to create something new.

This week’s Art Hounds recommend the spine-tingling play “The Haunting of Hill House” at Rochester Repertory Theatre, a sweet evening of song and storytelling from James Rone and Alsa Bruno in Minneapolis, and “Act III: Who the Heck is Hoffman?” a posthumous exhibit of painter Frank Hoffman’s life’s work, curated by a St. Paul artist who acquired dozens of his artworks on Craigslist.

In the first week of 2022, Art Hounds recommend visual artist Paula Barkmeier, Led Zepplin cover band Zeppo, and Pao Houa Her’s exhibition at the Walker Art Center.

Megan Arney Johnston, an independent curator and contemporary art enthusiast based in Stillwater, recommends a trip to Winona to see Water Stories: New Work by Anne Labovitz at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Johnston says Labovitz, who is based in St. Paul, goes to the “next level,” involving large-scale paintings and an even larger scale installation that evoke the essence and the importance of water.At the entrance, visitors see Labovitz’s large scrolls responding to the Winona area and landscape. Subsequent rooms reveal a series of large abstract paintings, each a different hue,  and using layers of paint to create landscapes Johnston calls “atmospheric” and “sublime.” In the next room, there is a room-sized installation of painted Tyvek house wrap. You walk inside and listen to the sounds of Lake Superior at sunset. Capping off the exhibition is a chance for visitors to write their own water stories in little watercolor books and hang them as part of the display.Labovitz “really has it all in the art in this exhibition: installation, painting, site-specific work and social engagement,” Johnston said.The exhibit runs through Jan. 22.The Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s focus on our relationship to water means that it also has a connection to our next Art Hound’s recommendation, as a sponsor of a Winona-based podcast.Visual artist Anne George of Winona has been listening to the podcast “Back Channel Radio.” The first season dives into the oral history of the boathouse community of Wolf Spider Island, also known as Lower Latsch Island, which is moored in a backwater of the Mississippi River.The podcast is narrated by Gina Favano, who lives in a Wolf Spider Island boathouse. As she delves into local history, past media coverage, and personal interviews, she offers an insider look into this unique community. George says the podcast is “compelling” and “fills in the blanks” even for people who are familiar with the boathouses. The season has six episodes, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Minneapolis-based art enthusiast Robert Borman recommends the musical comedy “Church Basement Ladies: Plowin’ Through.” The long-running show features the same four ladies, working at a church in a small Minnesota town as weddings, funerals and the stuff of life pass through. The ninth installment brings us to the year 1975, with its polyester pantsuits, music and (the church basement ladies’) slapstick humor.“It’s hilarious. It’s witty. It has a heart. It’s just a great show,” Borman said.“Church Basement Ladies: Plowin’ Through” runs through Feb. 15 at the Black Box Theater inside Burnsville’s Ames Center. 

Raul Gomez, longtime publisher of the High Plains Reader in Fargo recalls rushing to put the paper to bed by midnight so they could drive over to Ralphs’ Corner Bar in Moorhead to cap off the week.Ralph’s was a fixture of the music scene in northwest Minnesota, drawing big names from the punk and indie music scene. The bar was demolished in 2005.Gomez says he was pleased with the way the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County paid homage to the venue in its Ralph’s Corner Bar exhibit at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead.Each of the four rooms in the exhibit “captures different styles and vibes of Ralph’s.” One of the exhibit’s four rooms looks like the bar itself, complete with wood paneling, booths, and a wall that looks like a pool table. Other rooms record memories of patrons and pay homage to its musical history, including instruments, band memorabilia and posters. The exhibit is on view through June 25.Musician Sarah Larsson can’t wait to get on the dance floor at the Minneapolis Afrobeats Dance Party Saturday at the Cedar Cultural Center, featuring some of her favorite local DJs and artists.Fanaka Nation, an Afropop/Afrotrap artist, is hosting. DJ Fawzi, whom Larsson calls the “go-to greatest Somali woman DJ in town,” will do a set, along with DJ K-Little and a live performance from singer/songwriter Carolyne Naomi, who recently released a new EP. Larsson loves the energy of these performers.This is an all-ages event. Doors open at 7 p.m. for an 8 p.m. show.If you’re looking for unusual musical theater productions this holiday, Minneapolis actor Anissa Lubbers recommends “Striking 12,” a musical inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Little Match Girl.”Set on a cold, contemporary New Year’s Eve, an overworked businessman plans to hunker down alone at home when he encounters a woman selling holiday lights who is determined to spark some holiday joy.Lubbers enjoys that the band providing the music, GrooveLily, also interacts with the performers on stage.“Striking 12” runs through Dec. 18 at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. The show was staged by Minneapolis Musical Theatre, which specializes in rare musicals.

Ashley Hanson wants you to know about an exhibit that celebrates rural Minnesota artists and stories. Hanson, executive director of the nonprofit Department of Public of Transformation in Granite Falls, recommends “Field Notes: 7 Truths about the Rural,” which draws together the work of seven artists of various disciplines. They explore subjects that make up our rural places, including small-town newspapers, post offices, mining and extractive economies, relationship to the land, and more.Laura Youngbird of the Minnesota Chippewa, Grand Portage Band uses mixed media to investigate “issues of identity as they relate to family members’ forced enrollment in boarding schools.” Installation artist Matthew Fluharty of Winona looks at the ways rural communities are presented in national print media compared with local newspapers. Abstract painters Andrew Nordin and Lisa Bergh of New London look outward to architecture and inward to our emotional landscapes.Hanson highlights the timing of this exhibit makes it powerful as it celebrates the complexities of rural life at a time when political coverage focused on voting blocs can oversimplify rural life. The exhibit runs at Form+Content Gallery in Minneapolis through Dec. 23.Theater maker Ryan Paul North of St. Anthony Village is looking forward to seeing Spiked! at Granada Theater in Minneapolis. A co-production of Table Salt Productions and Rock What You Got, this classic holiday variety show promises music, improv and sketch comedy, along with a great line-up of guests that vary from show to show.It’s family friendly, with a run time of three hours. North is looking forward to a chance to sit back, relax with a drink, and laugh.“Spiked!” runs Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 3 and 4 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 6 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. Dining options are available before the show for additional cost.Nicole Watson, director of the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University, wants to shine a light on a Twin Cities-area art exhibit that she found utterly thought-provoking. “Surface Tension” at Bethel University’s Olson Gallery features the work of four female photographers, Sophia Chai, Paula McCartney, Christine Nguyen and Letha Wilson. Chai is from Rochester and McCarthy is based in the Twin Cities.Each artist pushes their work beyond the bounds of a printed photograph. Sometimes these changes are 3-dimensional, like McCartney’s ceramic geometric shapes that play on the light and shadow in her photographs. “The longer you look at them the more surprises that surface,” Watson said. In Nguyen’s work, light and time change the appearance of her unprocessed photographic paper.The exhibit is open to the public and on view through Dec. 16.

St. Paul poet and artist Hawona Sullivan Janzen was deeply moved by the multimedia exhibition “Beneath the Stripes, Under the Stars,” curated by Fawzia Khan. Ten female artists explore American identity.All of the artists “have lived a life that requires some navigation between American culture and at least one other culture,” says Sullivan Janzen, “and the work that they have produced in response to this is wide ranging. It’s technically, visually and intellectually some of the most complicated work I've seen in a recent show exploring these topics.”Sullivan Janzen was particularly struck by a beautiful bedsheet by Khan, whose intricate embroidery explores “what it means to be a woman and a sexual being coming from Pakistan and living in America.”The show runs through Dec. 11 at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, with an artist discussion Dec. 7, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.Chris Schellinger, director of the Avon Hills Folk School, appreciates the intersection of art and environmentalism that’s happening at the Whitney Gallery in St. Cloud. Their juried art show “Trail Mix” features over 50 works — drawings and paintings, textile and sculpture — by local artists celebrating the beauty of nature and the work to fight climate change.The show runs through Dec. 10, with additional works on view at the Good Earth Food Co-op Gallery through Jan. 1.Schellinger notes that this show is a great chance to see the Whit before it closes Dec. 12. The gallery is also hosting a line-up of “Last Call” shows and events on that closing date.Printmaker and quilter Laura Brown of Grand Marais recommends checking out an upcoming solo show by artist and art therapist Lauren Callis. Entitled “Careful May Fall Apart,” the show uses watercolor, quilting, and writing to process the death of her beloved grandmother and other life events.Callis created a zine with selected writings, so visitors can view the show and read about the “real-time” experiences that inspired the pieces, creating the feel of an interactive memoir.“She’s really bringing in the value of using art as a tool for processing emotion and understanding experiences that happen to all of us,” Brown said.“Careful, May Fall Apart” is showing at the Pink Slip Gallery in Minneapolis, with an artist opening Friday, Nov. 18 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The exhibit is open by appointment Nov. 19 through 25.

Arts and culture enthusiast Tommy Sar of St. Paul recommends checking out the screening of a new documentary centering women and nonbinary people in Taiko drumming. Filmed in Minnesota and Japan, “Finding Her Beat” makes its state premiere this weekend during the Sound Unseen film festival.For centuries, only men were allowed to take part in the traditional Japanese art form of Taiko drumming. That has changed in recent years. Sar remembers when performers gathered at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul several years ago, which is featured in the film. Sar called the documentary of the performers’ Taiko journeys “moving and powerful,” with high-energy performances. Don't see video? Click here.The first showing of the film on Friday has sold out, but there is a second showing Sunday at 8:15 p.m. at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. Virtual tickets are also available.Amateur guitarist Chuck House of St. Paul plans to attend the next concert in the Minnesota Guitar Society’s new Jazz and Fingerstyle Guitar Concert series. The concert on Tuesday features two talented local guitar duos playing hot club jazz.At 6 p.m. the Red Hot Django Peppers duo Ryan Picone and Jose Betanzos show off the intricate fingerwork and swinging rhythms of late Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt. Famous for his improvisations, Reinhardt didn’t write his compositions down. Instead this Twin Cities duo will play a mix of original arrangements and tunes adopted from recordings by Reinhardt and his fans.From 7 to 9 p.m., guitarists Pavel Jany and Dean Harrington take the stage with a variety of styles including swing.The event is free, but seating is limited at MetroNOME Brewery in St. Paul. Don't see video? Click here:As an artist in southwestern Minnesota, Lucy Tokheim of Dawson has seen the ripple effect first-hand of the long career of Franz Allbert Richter in nearby Clarkfield. Richter, who recently turned 80, worked closely with Minnesota poets Robert Bly and Bill Holm, creating drawings from many of Bly’s books during the Seventies Press period.A collection of Franz Allbert Richter’s pencil drawings and clay folk figures, titled “A Life in Art,” is at Madison Mercantile, which has a gallery space, in Madison, Minn. The show’s opening is Thursday at 7 p.m., when Pioneer PBS will interview fans of Richter’s work for a “Postcards” episode to air next year. The work will be on view through the month of November.Tokheim notes that many of Richter’s drawings from the 1970s and 80s were completed at a time when good art photography was scarce, making it difficult to preserve copies of original drawings. She says this gathering of even a portion of Richter’s work is a great opportunity.

Mark Ceilley of St. Paul has picture books on the mind, as a debut author himself. On a recent trip through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Ceilley discovered Picture Book Parade.The series features one picture book by a Minnesota author every two months through next August. Individual pages are blown up on panels so that visitors may feel they are stepping into the story.The book for this month and next is “In Search of the Gingerbread Man” by Timi Bliss, followed in 2023 by Peter Pearson’s “How to Eat an Airplane,” Molly Beth Griffen’s “Ten Beautiful Things,” Cheryl Minnema’s book “Johnny’s Pheasant” and Bao Phi’s “A Different Pond.”  The exhibit is located between gates C18 and C19 at Terminal 1.Wendy Knox of Frank Theatre stopped at Prove Collective in Duluth to see Carolyn Sue Olson’s work. Olson created a series of brightly colored oil pastel portraits of essential workers, beginning with the stay-at-home order in March 2020 and continuing through July 2021.The portraits have been on display in various locations around the state, but this is the first time all 100 have been exhibited together. Olson has put the complete series in a book, which is available through her website. The show runs until Nov. 18.Knox found encountering the entire collection a powerful experience. “You forget certain things that have happened” over the course of the pandemic, Knox said, “it is a little stroll down a not-pleasant memory lane, but it is really informative to see” what we’ve been through.Breanne Tepler, lead singer/songwriter of Breanne Marie and the Front Porch Sinners, loves the art and music scene in Duluth. This Thursday evening, she’s heading to Wussow’s Concert Cafe, which she calls “the heart and soul of the Duluth music scene,” for a concert and artist’s opening reception.The artist is Annmarie Geniusz, a “wickedly talented” Duluth-based artist who creates joyful, whimsical creative works, from illustrations and murals to stained glass creations. Geniusz will be the November featured artist at Wussow’s, and the artist’s reception will feature local ska band, Woodblind, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Tepler also says to check out the mural Geniusz painted next door Wussow’s, at Zenith Bookstore.

Musician Woody Stulberg looks forward to wearing his Halloween costume to Cabarave: MadHaus III this weekend. He says the event by RatHaus Productions as an “immersive nightclub experience with a theater twist.” Pop-up live performances include aerial silks, fire dancing, live music and performance painting, which take place around — and above — the audience. Stulberg describes the atmosphere as “sensual” but also welcoming to all. Halloween costumes and audience participation are encouraged. The shows take place this Friday and Saturday evening at Brother Justus Whiskey Company in Minneapolis. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the shows start at 8 p.m.Greg Krausert of Austin, Minn. is also planning on wearing a Halloween costume this Saturday night when he attends a cabaret performance at the Austin Country Club by local drag performer Roxie Manacoochi. Backed by a DJ, Manacoochi sings a range of styles from Cole Porter to Madonna to contemporary fare. She was named first runner up to Miss Gay Iowa USofA and is preparing to compete again this January.“It’s unbelievable fun,” says Krausert of the show, recalling Manacoochi’s September performance, which kept the audience laughing and singing far beyond the scheduled run time. Saturday’s cabaret show starts at 7:30 p.m. Twin Cities filmmaker Peter Groynom is looking forward to attending the Twin Cities Film Fest, which continues with a full lineup of showings tonight, Friday and Saturday. The films play at the ShowPlace ICON Theatre in St Louis Park, and Groynom says this centralized location makes it easy to see multiple shows and also have a chance to connect with other filmmakers and enthusiasts. The year’s festival has drawn about 70 films by local, national and international filmmakers. The films are also accessible to stream through the festival website. Groynom appreciates how the festival spotlights diverse programming. On his watch list: a series of dramatic shorts called “American Tales” Friday at 2:30; a block of comedic shorts called “The Joke’s on Us” Saturday at 12:30 — both with filmmaker Q&As afterward; and a Saturday afternoon documentary, “Jimmy in Saigon,” which explores the life, romance and death of a queer veteran in Vietnam. Find the schedule here.

Actor Heather Meyer of Eden Prairie has a goal to watch all 11 productions in the Twin Cities Horror Festival. Advertised as “the longest-running horror theater festival in the country,” the event pays homage to the horror genre from psychological thrillers to true crime, spooky cabaret, and scream-inducing plays replete with stage blood.Meyer says each show in the line-up is rated for language, violence and blood, so you can pick the brand of horror that works for you.The festival runs Thursday through Oct. 30 at the Crane Theater in Minneapolis. Masks are required except when eating, drinking or performing on stage.Minneapolis actor Cathleen Fuller calls concerts by the Minnesota Bach Ensemble “balm for the soul.” She enjoyed watching their concerts online when venues were closed amid the pandemic, and she’s excited to see them return to live performances as they launch their 10th anniversary season, beginning this Saturday.As the name implies, the ensemble focuses on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and other baroque contemporaries. This performance includes Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” and G. F. Handel’s “Water Music,” along with works by Rameau and Purcell, featuring soprano, tenor and baritone soloists.Concerts are Saturday at 3 p.m., Monday at 7 p.m. at Antonello Hall at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. Can't see video? Click here:Actor Leslie Vincent loves the podcast “This Queer Book Saved My Life.” She appreciates that each episode focuses on one book from the LBGTQ+ cannon that profoundly affected one reader. The podcast leans into the power of reading and sharing stories.Host J.P. Der Boghossian and producer Jim Pounds are based in the Twin Cities, and while guests are national and occasionally international, the most recent episode delves into local history.Recorded live at Lush Lounge and Theater in Minneapolis, the episode is about a memoir, “The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s: A Gay Life in the 1940s,” by Ricardo J. Brown, and a reader who found that book at the perfect time in his life.The second season dropped Oct. 4, with new episodes each Tuesday.Correction: A previous headline misstated the type of art featured in the Twin Cities Horror Festival. The above headline is correct.

Karen Mary Davalos, professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, suggests a visit to see Dougie Padilla and Xavier Tavera’s new work at Anderson Center at Tower View in Red Wing. Titled “Frontera Liminal,” the show investigates borders both physical and spiritual.Padilla’s series of screen prints forge a connection with his great-grandmother, whom he never met. Among his images are ghost prints, the second, third, or more pulls on the same inked plate of a printing press, that produce ethereal remnants of the original image. Even the hanging of the images is ghostly, said Davalos. The images hang free from the ceiling, allowing them to move in the breeze and adding a sculptural element to 2-D images.Tavera is a photographer who has been traveling to the Mexican border for more than six years. He’s interested in the intersection of Catholic and Indigenous spiritual practices, creating images that Davalos calls “charged and emotionally compelling.”The exhibit runs through Nov 5. and is capped with an artist talk and closing reception at 1 p.m. that afternoon.Beverly Roberts of Homewood Studios appreciates the intricate felted creations of Susan J. Sperl. Sperl’s latest exhibit, entitled “Voices from the Water,” showcases her detailed, colorful sea creatures with such enticing names as warty frogfish, leafy sea dragon, wolf eel, Tasmanian sawshark. Many of these creatures face challenges due to plastics and pollution in their ocean environments.Bringing these ideas closer to home are the cartoons about local water conservation and clean-up efforts, created by Winter Crenshaw and Donte Beck, students at Plymouth Youth Center’s Arts and Tech High School. Together, the exhibit is part inspiration and wonder, part encouragement to protect our water, from Minneapolis storm drains to ocean depths.The show runs through Nov. 20 at the Westminster Gallery, located within Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis.  There’s an artist reception Sunday from 2 - 4:30 p.m.Ilene Krug Mojsilov has long admired the work of sculptor and painter Dodie Logue and she highly recommends a visit to see her show “Color Thoughts” on display at One Division Art in Buffalo, Minn.Mojsilov recalled visiting Logue’s studio this summer and looking out through the open barn doors at the restored prairie in full bloom. The prairie’s color and texture infuses Logue’s abstract paintings, whose grids and dots always deserve a closer look. Mojsilov explains Logue’s work celebrates “the unexpected poetry of hard and soft…the interactions between color and texture.”The exhibit runs through Oct. 22. The gallery is open Friday 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Rita Walaszek Arndt, White Earth Nation, recommends “Kindred Spirits: Three Indigenous Artists Who Speak Through Beads” at the Gordon Parks Gallery on the Metro State University campus in St. Paul.Curated by professor and gallery director Erica Rasmussen, the exhibit features three artists, from Minnesota and Wisconsin; Walter Super LaBatte, member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Sarah McRae, member of the Red Lake Nation, and Douglas Limón, member of the Oneida Nation. The art displayed includes traditional clothing, paintings, wall art and wearables.The exhibition runs through Oct. 20.Painter and scientist Suhaila Ihsanullah attended the opening night of the two exhibits currently running at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, and suggests others check it out.“[The opening] was very impressive, and I think that’s why I wanted other people to go and see it,” Ihsanullah said.The two exhibits are “Night Shadows” and “Thinking Outside,” featuring the works of Michael Kareken and Jean Gumpper, respectively. Kareken’s medium is drawings and paintings. Gumpper works in woodcut prints.Both exhibits close Oct.15.Former owner of the Grand Hand gallery Ann Ruhr Pifer is excited for the upcoming American Craft Made market in St. Paul. The event, formerly known as the American Craft Council show, was last held in 2019.Sponsored by the Minnesota-based nonprofit American Craft Council, the event brings artisans from across the country to showcase and sell their work.Ruhr Pifer also says this year will feature more emerging artists and Minnesota artists than in past years. “It’s like a new version of an old favorite.”The American Craft Made show is Friday through Sunday at RiverCentre.

Heather Lawrenz of Red Wing Arts was deeply inspired by Journey to Rock Bottom, a visual arts show that celebrates athleticism. Burnsville artist Annie Young began creating this show after running an ice marathon in Antarctica in 2018.She interviewed her fellow runners about their Antarctica journeys, then created paintings inspired by their stories and her imagination. An artist living with blindness, Young also collaborated with 10 local artists with a variety of backgrounds and abilities.A free artist reception Saturday will bring together many of the artists as well as the “athletes coming in from all over the world who inspired these pieces,” Lawrenz said. Some of the runners plan to compete in the Twin Cities marathon on Sunday. The reception is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The show runs through Nov. 5 at the Ames Center Art Gallery in Burnsville.There is an audio description of the exhibit scheduled for Oct. 15, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., including a discussion led by the artist.Singer/songwriter Clark Machtemes of Waconia is preparing for a trip west this weekend to meander through towns along the Upper Minnesota Valley, checking out arts studios. The annual Meander Art Crawl is a juried event with more than 30 stops at studios in Ortonville, Appleton, Madison, Milan, Dawson, Montevideo and Granite Falls.This free, self-guided tour includes potters, printers, basket weavers, painters, and more. Machtemes says he discovers something new every year. The Meander runs Friday through Sunday. Find a map and description of all the stops here.Farther north, the 19th annual Fargo Moorhead Visual Arts (FMVA) Studio Crawl invites visitors to check out the work of 40 artists and organizations Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Find a map here.If you take the studio crawl, Naomi RaMona Schliesman of Fergus Falls recommends a stop in Moorhead to see the collaborative “Mother Trees” exhibit from Ms. Anna Lee’s Gray Matter Series.The title refers to trees in the forest that connect with and nourish others through the mycorrhizal relationship between fungus and plant.The multi-step collaboration behind this exhibit moved from art to dinner party to more artwork. Chris Larson’s mural was the backdrop for a fungi-themed dinner party created by chef Candace Stock. Local creatives gathered at the dinner possessed skills ranging from photography to poetry to hairstyling. Photographer Sarah Faith Strong, artist Nancy X. Valentine, and poet Julie Larson created works resulting from that evening.The works are on display at the Arthouse Gallery, a new space in Moorhead.

Updated: 9:47 a.m.Raya Esmaeili of northeast Minneapolis is looking forward to the “Music of Iran” concert, part of the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Festival.  The show will feature Minnesota-based artists performing a variety of Iranian music.One of the groups performing is The Ensemble Aras, consisting of Niloofar Sohi, Negin Chahardoli, Yashar Alizadeh and Aidin Milani. Esmaeili said the group performs music from different ethnic groups and cultures found in Iran, including in different languages.“If you haven’t heard it before, I think it’s a great introduction,” Esmaeili said.Others performing include the Twin Cities Daf Ensemble and vocalist Aida Shahghasemi.The “Music of Iran” concert at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is Sunday at 2 p.m. in St. Paul.Co-artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company Aparna Ramaswamy highlights an event for Minnesota writer Will McGrath’s new book “Farewell Transmission: Notes from Hidden Spaces”. The book, published in August, is a collection of essays featuring insight into the lives of people from different parts of the world.  One of the people featured in the book, comedian Ali Sultan, will be performing at the event. A conversation with novelist Curtis Sittenfeld will also take place. A launch event is Tuesday, 7 p.m. at Sisyphus Brewing in Minneapolis.Theater professional Catherine Glynn in Lanesboro recommends checking out History ALive! Lanesboro’s pop-up plays “Roma,” “Norskies” and “Bumtown.” Organized by Artistic Director Jane Peck, the pop-up plays depict real events from the towns’ past and are performed for audiences as they tour throughout Lanesboro.  This year's stories are set in 1935 and allow audience members to walk through a Roma camp, experience a short play in Norwegian and interact with local historical characters like journalist Cecil Ward.  The pop-up plays take place on Saturday and Sunday, with tours departing from Lanesboro’s Sons of Norway Lodge, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. both days.  Correction (Sept. 22, 2022): An earlier version of this article misidentified where Raya Esmaeili lives and had the incorrect name of the ensemble. The article has been updated.

Art curator and bilingual instructor William Franklin recommends a trip along the St Croix River this weekend for the River Valley Potters Fall Tour, with stops at three pottery home studios in Shafer and Marine on St. Croix.Nick Earl, Peter Jadoonath and father-daughter duo Guillermo and Alana Cuellar are the host potters, each of whom will host an additional four to six artists, ensuring that there will be plenty of handmade ceramics to see at each stop. Franklin particularly appreciates the work of fellow Venezuela-to-Minnesota transplant Guillermo Cuellar.The pottery tour runs Sept. 16-18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s part of a larger event called Take Me to the River, which celebrates “art at every bend in the river” through Oct 2.Rachel Miller looks forward to her hometown Lakeville Art Festival every third weekend of September. Held on the grounds of the Lakeville Area Arts Center, Miller says the two-day festival is a celebration of art that is intimate in feel. She loves getting to know the creatives who return year after year for the juried arts show as well as those emerging on the scene.“Each time I go, I am so inspired, and it’s not just because of the fine artists. It just gives me a sense of community,” said Miller.She particularly recommends checking out the vivid paintings of Olga Krasovska, originally of Ukraine, now living in Granite Falls, and the wooden furniture of Justin Hossle of Minneapolis,  who she says won Best in Show at last year’s festival. The festival also includes a community art project. This year it’s a 3D sculpture whose theme is “Setting Sail” — along with a youth art tent, live music, food, and art demos.The festival runs Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sharon Mansur of Winona was a McKnight dance fellow from 2018, and she is looking forward to seeing SOLO: the world-premiere dance performances by the 2020 and 2021 McKnight cohort. The performance will be a night of hip-hop, rhythmic Chicago footwork, Brazilian contemporary choreography, and modern contemporary dance. Each of the six dance solos lasts up to 10 minutes, interspersed with short videos showing behind-the-scenes looks at the artist’s process.Each year, this prestigious award goes to three dancers who each develop a new solo dance work with the help of a choreographer they commission. Last year, the previous two cohorts presented their work as dance videos amid the pandemic; this year, the performances will be live.The 2021 dance fellows whose work will be presented this year are Alexandra Eady, Hassan Ingraham, and David Stalter, Jr.  The 2020 fellows are Non Edwards, Melissa Clark, and Marciano Silva dos Santos.The dancers take the stage Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Goodale Theater at the Cowles Center for Dance and The Performing Arts in Minneapolis. Saturday’s performance is pay-as-you-are and will be live-streamed.

Cynthia Hall-Duran of St. Paul has been a fan of the AZ Gallery (also called Argyle Zebra Gallery) in Lowertown for a while, and she was able to attend the soft opening of their September show “Rejected.”More than 2,200 artists, both emerging and professional, submitted their work to the State Fair’s Fine Arts show this year, and only 324 were on display. Plenty of quality work didn’t make the cut, and AZ’s “Rejected!” gives these photos, paintings and other works a second chance to be seen. Hall-Duran called the show delightful.AZ Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. There’s an artist reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. The show runs through Sept. 25.Art lover Florence Brammer of West St. Paul said she can’t stop telling people about the Weisman Art Museum’s fall exhibition, surveying three decades of art by Piotr Szyhalski. “We Are Working All The Time!” displays an impressive array of Szyhalski’s work, including posters, painting, web projects and public performance.Raised and trained in Poland, Szyhalski is a professor of design and media arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Brammer singles out Szyhalski’s Labor Camp Report posters: a series of 225 hand-inked posters created daily over the course of eight months during the pandemic.“To see them all together, chronologically hung, is really stunning,” Brammer said.The show is open for public viewing now, but the gallery will host an opening bash on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m, its first such event since the pandemic hit. The exhibit will be on view at the gallery on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus through Dec. 31.Teacher, theater director and artist Justin Spooner of Minneapolis is looking forward to attending Exposed Brick Theatre’s Through Our Eyes Festival that starts this weekend. The festival spans two weekends and features two new plays back-to-back. “Freeing Assata” by interdisciplinary healing artist Sterling Miller takes on the incarceration and liberation of political activist Assata Shakur. Siddeeqah Shabazz’s play, “A Love Story in 8 Scenes,” which explores the clash of love and religion for one teenage Muslim girl.Spooner appreciates that, in addition to showcasing two world premieres, the festival includes a series of short workshops, whose subjects include  Spontaneous Storytelling, Decolonizing the Artist, and Exploring Childhood through your Senses. The festival starts Friday Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Sept. 18 at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis. 

Monarda Thrasher loved Mixed Precipitation’s traveling production of “The Magic Flute” when they saw it earlier this month in Grand Marais, and they highly recommend this fun, modern take on Mozart’s opera.Mixed Precipitation calls its traveling series “The Pickup Truck Opera” because the truck and trailer are both the mode of travel and part of the set design. Set in Strange Land Middle School, this production explores teacher shortages, burnout and toxic positivity. Papageno and Papagena are janitors, and the raging Queen of the Night is recast as an education administrator.The dialogue is in English, and performers slip easily from German arias to pop songs and back again. As an opera lover, Thrasher worried that this shortened production might leave them wanting more, but they said there was enough of the original music to satisfy, danced and sung in a way that kept their whole family entertained.The outdoor production takes place Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Alexis Bailly Vineyard in Hastings, as well as Sept. 10 at Swede Hollow Park in St. Paul and Sept. 11 at JD Rivers’ Children’s Garden in Minneapolis.Minneapolis comedian Robert Fones plans to spend his Labor Day weekend at Prairie Fyre music festival in Wood Lake in southwestern Minnesota. The camping/music festival runs Friday evening through Monday, with a line-up of over 50 bands and performers. Fones says the space that will hold the event is beautiful, and he’s intrigued by the line-up of music, burlesque, comedy, and poetry.Festival attendees can also join in on glitch art workshops Saturday and Sunday mornings in nearby Granite Falls and get back in time for the musical events that start at 2 pm. Friday evening’s opening event features a Q&A with comic book author Rob Sheridan, who is best known for his art work with Nine Inch Nails.Will Dykes of the band Montclair really enjoys the sound of the Rat Castle Jazz Ensemble. He says the Minneapolis group has a unique sound that doesn’t pander and they collaborate and connect with other local bands.You can find the Rat Castle Jazz Ensemble’s work on all streaming platforms as well performing across the Twin Cities.Here they are at the White Squirrel bar in St. Paul: Don't see video? Click here.

Nancy XiáoRong Valentine is a visual artist in Underwood, and she was deeply moved by the exhibit, "Return to Normal? COVID Diaries from Local Youth" at the Otter Tail County Historical Society in Fergus Falls, Minn.The exhibition by five high school students and one college student uses a range of artistic styles to tell the story of how COVID-19 affected their lives and education — and what it means to return to normal.Valentine was struck by how thoughtful and vulnerable each of the artists were in considering the complexities of the pandemic. She says she was moved to tears by the work of Sylvia Pesch, who wrote an original piano piece that pairs with poetry and visuals.The show runs through Sept. 30.Retired arts educator Le Ann Gehring-Ryan of North Mankato recommends a show at the Owatonna Arts Center, the solo exhibit by landscape painter Andrew Judkins.Judkins, also of North Mankato, is an avid hiker, and many of his landscape paintings feature water — from the waterfalls in the Mankato area to scenes on the North Shore.Gehring-Ryan appreciates Judkins’ eye for color and his carefully layered paint that makes images “jump right off the canvas.”Aurora: Landscapes by Andrew Judkins runs through Sunday.Bill Childs of St. Paul runs a weekly radio music show for kids called “Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child,” and he loves the new album, “The Greats,” by Louis and Dan and the Invisible Band. The Northfield-based group is the brainchild of Louis Epstein, who teaches musicology at St. Olaf College, and Dan Groll, who teaches philosophy at Carleton College. Childs calls the album “goofy and funny and very smart.”“It’s kind of like a standards album, except that none of the songs are covers.” Childs added that Louis and Dan are masters at each genre they tackle.The album includes several guest artists, including Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, Chapel Choir director at St. Olaf, who joins in on a jazzy tune about the joy of singing and a blues number about barbeque.The band will be performing on Sept. 4 as part of the 10th annual Fest du Nord at Camp du Nord in Ely. The festival runs Sept. 2 - Sept. 4.

Puppeteer Karly Bergmann was a fellow in the previous PuppetLab cohort, and she is excited that the series is back after a pandemic hiatus for its 10th year. Four residency artists have spent the past six months developing and workshopping new, experimental works with puppets, which will air as two distinct shows this weekend and next. Titled, The PuppetLab Festival of New Work at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis, Dominique Herskind and Mary Plaster will perform this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Amoke Kubat and Liping Vong perform Aug. 19-21. Both shows run about 60 minutes. Masks are required in the theater.Brian Parmeter has been a fan of Prudence Johnson’s singing career for decades. He’s looking forward to seeing her and a number of other performers he recognizes from “Prairie Home Companion” at the Backus Community Center in International Falls on Friday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. The free concert is entitled “An Evening of Stories, Songs & Laughs” and it features storyteller Kevin Kling along with musicians Dan Chouinard and Randy Sabien, as well as special guest Anishinaabe comedian Pebaamibines.Visitors can also check out a show of paintings and photography, “Natural Wonders II,” at the Backus Center through Aug. 12. There is an artists’ reception for both performers and artists at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.Matt Wehling of Northfield is an artisan violin bowmaker and musician, and next weekend he’s ready to head to the Cannon River Clay Tour in and around Northfield. Wehling remembers last year’s event as “a wonderful weekend to be out,” adding that he invariably runs into people he knows and pottery he likes. This year, 21 potters are displaying their creations at four different locations in the Northfield area Aug. 20-21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can find a map of the locations here.

Mai Tran, a woodcut and print artist from Mankato, is looking forward to seeing an exhibit at her favorite local gallery, 410 Project. The show is titled “Art Inside,” and it features 60 works made by people incarcerated at Minnesota Correctional Facility - Faribault.The artists are students in Scholars Serving Time, a Minnesota State University, Mankato program. Tran is impressed with the works the gallery has revealed so far online.  The exhibit runs Aug. 5 - 20, with an opening reception Friday from 7 - 9 p.m.The Fringe Festival kicks off Thursday and runs through August 14 with shows running under an hour at venues across the Twin Cities. Callie Aho, a director and intimacy counselor from Savage, is looking forward to attending. In particular, she’s planning to see Sheree Froelich’s show “My Empty Arms.” The two-woman show tells of Froelich’s decision to give her daughter up for adoption more than two decades ago. The subject strikes a personal note for Aho, whose mother was adopted, and she says this poignant show is bound to spark conversation.The show runs August 4, 6, 7, 11, and 13 at the University of Minnesota’s Rarig Center Arena. The show is appropriate for ages 16 and up. Find information on attending all the Fringe Festival shows here.Suzanne Tibbetts is a huge fan of Twin Cities comedian Trish Cook, who will be performing along with Jonny R. and “The Rez Reporter” Rob Fairbanks at the NDN Way Comedy show next week. Tibbets, who saw the show a few weeks ago and plans to watch it again, says the three Native American comedians play off each other, but each has their own style.Cook has ties to both the Red Lake reservation in northern Minnesota and to Minneapolis; she uses both of those worlds in her storytelling.The show will be at Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy in the Mall of America on Aug. 10. Cook performs at 7:30 p.m.

Laura Burlis of Minneapolis appreciates the work of the organization “Art to Change the World,” and she’s looking forward to attending the artist talks at Saturday’s closing event for their “Age of Age” project.The exhibit features 10 pairs of artists, roughly 20 years apart, who create art works either together or in conversation with one another. The artists’ ages span from 25 to 103 years old, and they vary in experience level. Burlis enjoyed hearing about the connections that the creatives formed.One pair, Madalina Kelner, 25, and Layl McDill, 51, reached back to their childhoods to create habitats for fairies and Smurfs from found objects. Other pairings created paintings and self-portraits, and other works sure to spark conversation in this exhibit designed to spark conversation about age.The exhibit at Homewood Studios in Minneapolis is on view Friday 1 to 6 p.m., with a closing event Saturday from 2-4:30 p.m. The Saturday event is one of many taking place during the FLOW Northside Art Crawl Thursday through Saturday.Painter Alena Hrabcakova is at an artist residency in Pennington, Minn., and she’s heading to Puposky, north of Bemidji, this weekend to see a concert performance of a new musical. “Water from Snow” was written and directed by Minneapolis playwright Janet Preus, with music co-composed and co-arranged by Fred Steele, of the singing family The Steeles, and Robert Elhai, Tony-nominated for his work on Broadway’s Lion King, also of Minneapolis.Set in northern Minnesota, the musical tells the story of a single mother finding her way in the world, who returns to her hometown to make peace with her teenage daughter.Produced by Mask and Rose Women’s Theater Collective, which lifts up work by women playwrights, the concert performance has three showings: Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2.Novelist Linda LeGarde Grover of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe has a recommendation for families in Duluth. Every Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m. through Labor Day, there is an Ojibwe story time at the Lake Superior Ojibwe Gallery, located on the fourth floor of The Depot.Through the stories told each session, listeners can learn about Ojibwe cultural teachings. Books were selected by the St. Louis County Historical Society American Indian committee.Story time is aimed at children ages two to 12, but all are welcome and it’s free.

Brad Pappas of St. Louis Park performed in Theatre 55’s concert production of “Hair” last summer. Now he’s looking forward to seeing the company’s performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” opening Friday.Pappas said the show promises strong actors in a beautiful setting, at the outdoor amphitheater at Caponi Art Park in Eagan.Lyrics will be provided for the audience to sing along to the title song during the encore, though the audience is welcome to sing along during the show as well. It runs through July 24. Tickets are $15 a person or $30 per vehicle with up to six people inside.St. Paul actor and director Greta Grosch recently discovered the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra, and she’s excited to spread the word about this community ensemble with several upcoming concerts. Formed in 1991, the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra has about 25 musicians playing a range of classical and contemporary music on plucked stringed instruments.“It's what a community orchestra is supposed to be: people coming together because they have a passion for music,” she said.Grosch said she was delighted to learn that Minnesota has a rich history of mandolin orchestra. Because the instrument was affordable and fairly easy to learn, mandolin groups were hugely popular in Minnesota in the early 1900s, though they fell out of fashion starting in the 1940s.The Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra performs this Sunday at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. An entry ticket to the Arboretum is required.Upcoming free public performances will be at the Richfield Band Shell on July 26, the Loring Park Art Festival in Minneapolis on July 31, and Centennial Lakes Park in Edina on August 1.Escape room enthusiast Michael Larson of Minneapolis recommends a new backstage escape room set inside a theater. In “The Show Must Go On,” two to eight participants must find the missing diamonds of a visiting Broadway legend before she takes the stage in 75 minutes. The escape room is designed by David Pisa of Walking Shadow Theater.Larson appreciates Pisa’s inventive shows, which explore the line between immersive theater and escape room puzzles. There are no live actors in this particular escape room but, like the best puzzle experiences, this one will leave you feeling like you’ve lived through the drama.“The Show Must Go On” takes place at Daleko Arts in New Prague and runs through the summer. Individual tickets go on sale Friday.

Bobby Marines of Rochester heard about a juried arts show about walking and wondered what such a pedestrian topic would yield. The Rochester Art Center show blew Marines away.Titled “Walk With Us,” the show of 15 local, national and international artists is varied and creative in its use of space. The exhibit is tucked into the hallways and alcoves of the building.Artists explore the physical act of walking, its meditative properties and our connections to land and water. Marines liked Presley Martin’s cairns made of plastic that the artist found walking along the Mississippi River and painted to resemble rock. The exhibit runs through October 3.Emma Fitzsimmons is a dancer and choreographer in St Paul. She’s been able to get a sneak peek at the show La.dy.like opening Saturday at Lowertown Underground Artist Gallery.Andrea Bagdon (she/her) and Spencer Gillespie (she/they) investigate femininity. The space uses painting, projections, and multimedia works to ask what and who gets to be called “ladylike,” and what does it mean?Fitzsimmons says the exhibit invites guests to peer into boxes or hold art pieces in their hands. “From the moment you step in, you're going to be immersed in this feminist experience,” said Fitzsimmons. The show runs through July.Sometimes there are performers whose work you enjoy so much, you’d see whatever they are in. That’s how Sean Dillon, managing director of HUGE Improv Theater, feels about James Rone, Mike Fotis and Jen Scott.The three Twin Cities artists are teaming up for a night of original songs and funny stories Friday at Bryant Lake Bowl Theatre under the title “There’s a Crack in Everything.” Rone is a songwriter and musician, Fotis is a storyteller and comedian and Scott is a musician who performed as Penny and the Bandits.Dillon says the show promises to be full of humor and heart. The show starts at 7 p.m.Correction (June 30, 2022): A previous version of this report misidentified Presley Martin. The story has been updated.

St. Paul creative Tommy Sar recommends checking out the play “Cambodian Rock Band” at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis, co-produced by Theater Mu. The play follows a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia after 30 years as his daughter prosecutes a war criminal.Key to the show is its music, as the actor-musicians perform popular Cambodian psychedelic rock music from the 1960s and new music by the American band Dengue Fever, whose lead singer is Cambodian.“Many times, whenever we Cambodians are portrayed as survivors and victims of tragedy, and that is very valid,” said Sar, whose father survived the Khmer Rouge and was also a musician. “But I also feel it's important to see Cambodians not just as survivors but as rising again and thriving again and rediscovering and creating new music, we have so much to offer. And we are very proud of our heritage.”The play runs through July 31 at the Jungle Theater. Single tickets are valued at $45, but people may choose to pay less or more depending on their situation.Jean Marie Durant is a big fan of public art, and she plans to hop on a bus tour this Saturday for a Women on Walls tour of murals by women artists. The bus tour is part of Chroma Zones Mural and Arts Festival, which runs through Sunday, celebrating murals and graffiti art by local and international artists. Five women artists will collaborate on a new mural over the course of the five-day festival.The 45-minute guided bus tours will explore the stories behind at least eight woman-created murals in the University-Raymond Ave. area, including a look at the mural-in-progress. Tours leave from Workhorse Coffee at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.Tanya Anderson, co-coordinator of the St Anthony Park Arts Festival, loves the original jewelry of Louise Payjack-Guillou. Anderson loves the unique ways the Duluth artist pairs gems and metal. Her store, Atelier & Stone is located in Duluth, and the trained goldsmith will be at Park Point Art Fair this weekend and at the Grand Marais Arts Festival July 9 and 10.Her jewelry “just has this stately presence. It's kind of magical in how it makes you feel when you see it and and wear it,” Anderson said.

Sally Power, a paper marbling artisan in St. Paul, took a trip to the Owatonna Arts Center for Kristin Peterson’s exhibit, “Children of Nature: Find your Wonderland.” This solo exhibit of pencil drawings and watercolor is an invitation to pause and find delight in plants, insects, and shells.“You can walk through the show and see the different things that caught her attention and come out thinking, well, what should I focus on?” Powers said.The show runs through June 30.Rachel Doran of Crash.Dance.Productions. calls RatHaus’ immersive Cabarave performances “what you wish every night out could be.” The cabaret includes aerial artists, fire performers, singers, dancers and painters performing short sets around — and occasionally above — the audience.The audience has a 360-degree-view of the artists. Doran’s favorite part is when the performers teach the audience a brief dance sequence and everyone joins in.Prior to the pandemic, Cabarave shows took place twice a year. The theme of their newest show is “Euphoria.” It takes place Thursday and Friday at Brother Justus Whiskey in northeast Minneapolis, with an outdoor pre-party at 6:30 p.m. The performance begins at 8 p.m. Proof of COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 of the event is required for admission.Sandra Agustin has been an active member of the Twin Cities arts scene for decades as a choreographer and arts administrator. Recently, Agustin attended a concert by Minnesota Boychoir and she says she was “hooked” by the joyful noise. Singers aged six to 18 performed a range of genres from classical to pop.“Their voices were uplifting. The confidence and pride that they showed us all and camaraderie was infectious,” Agustin said.Minnesota Boychoir is celebrating 60 years with a concert on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. The performance has a livestream option through the Boychoir website.

Behavioral artist Aki Shibata is delighted that the all-night festival Northern Spark will return to her Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods. This year’s festival takes place at four locations along and near University Avenue in St. Paul, from 9 p.m. Saturday until 2 a.m., with a closing event Sunday morning that ends shortly after sunrise on Raspberry Island.The theme for the artists’ work is “What the World Needs Now.” Visitors may navigate their way among the locations to admire a range of art, many of which have interactive elements.The locations include the Victoria Theater Arts Center, the Rondo Community Library, Springboard for the Arts, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Shibata says she plans to attend them all, but she is particularly looking forward to the Drive-in Movie Extravaganza with shadow puppets, created by Eva Adderlay at the Victoria Theater, and to watching the sun rise over the interactive closing event by Sequoia Hauck, which will include painters, singers, and dancers celebrating our connection to the water.Allison Baker, an art professor at Hamline University, was excited to see the solo show by Ta-coumba T. Aiken at Dreamsong Gallery in northeast Minneapolis. Baker said the show “couldn’t have been better timed,” coming weeks after Aiken was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for 2022. The exhibit, entitled “Awakenings,” features Aiken’s large, abstract paintings and works on paper.“He talks about channeling the spirits of his ancestors into form and color,” said Baker, adding that he does so in “beautiful and incredible ways.” In some paintings, figures seem to emerge from the energetic lines on the canvas. She also recommends paying attention to the smaller studies and collages, which are a delicate counterpoint to the larger work.The exhibit at Dreamsong runs through June 25.You may see more of Aiken’s work at Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis. The show, opening Sunday, is “Change is God-Take Root Among the Stars: Black Abstraction in the Midwest” and features the work of 17 artists.Minneapolis-based performer and costumer Anissa Lubbers suggests catching the “10-Minute Play Festival” from the Lakeshore Players, which runs through Sunday at the Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake. Lubbers said the festival is an audience favorite that traditionally wraps up the players’ season.The show features 10 plays, written by playwrights around the world and performed and directed by local talent. As for style, the audience can expect a bit of everything, from the silly to the serious and timely, from comedy to horror.

Elementary school music teacher and singer Ellen Christensen, of Minneapolis, is a big fan of the Bakken Trio, and she’s looking forward to their final show of the season where they will perform Pavel Haas’ String Quartet No. 2 “From the Monkey Mountains'' alongside the puppeteers of Z Puppets Rosenschnoz.To create the show, the Bakken Trio invited listening groups to describe what they saw when they heard the music. Those imaginings informed the storytelling puppetry that will accompany the live performance.Haas was a prolific composer whose musical career was tragically cut short when he was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. His music was nearly lost following his death but has seen a resurgence in recent decades.Christensen is glad that Minnesota audiences will have a chance to hear and see this 1925 composition presented in an imaginative way. The performance is Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Barry Family Campus of Sabes Jewish Community Center in Minneapolis.Arts enthusiast Doris Rubenstein of Richfield recommends painter Carolyn Kleinberger’s solo show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.True to its title, the large portraits allow viewers to feel “Up Close from a Distance.” The 28 paintings in the show were all created over the last two years as the artist’s antidote for social isolation during the pandemic. The portrait exhibition in Hopkins runs through June 18.Marisa Hoogenakker loves to visit open artists’ studios in her hometown of Duluth, and that interest led her to the studio of abstract painter David Austin. Austin’s enthusiasm as he described his abstract paintings drew her in. Although the abstract and mixed media forms felt new, Hoogenakker was soon spotting tunnels, lakes and other familiar landmarks of the Lake Superior city.Austin holds live painting demonstrations, sometimes featuring his young son painting on his own canvas, Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. on Instagram.Hoogenakker recommends visiting Austin’s open artist studio on the third Saturday of the month if you’re in the area.

Beth Bergman, former owner of the art store Wet Paint, recommends a visit to the Form + Content Gallery in Minneapolis during its 15th anniversary exhibit.“You never know exactly what you’re going to see,” says Bergman. The style and medium of art on display changes month-to-month with each show.The anniversary exhibit includes all 36 artists who’ve been members of the artist-run cooperative since its inception. True to name, the show specifies the form but not the content to its artists. In this case, all pieces are 15 x 15 x 15 inches. The content–the subject, form and style–will vary with each artist.“Thoughtful Dialogue: 15 Years of Form + Content” runs through May 28. The gallery is open Thursdays through Saturdays.Minneapolis photographer and writer George Slade appreciates a current photography exhibit by Andy Richter entitled “Walking with Julien.” Richter took the photographs during walks with his young son around his Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood over the past five years. Slade says the photography project was a way for Richter to cope with parenthood and escape the confinement of COVID. Young Julien is in some of the pictures. In others, his presence was the spark for the conversation which led to meeting and photographing neighbors.The work is  on display in two different locations: in a gallery and outdoors where the photos were taken. The photographs will be on view at Artspace Jackson Flats in Minneapolis through May 25.; The gallery is open 12-5 on weekends and on weekdays by appointment. An outward-facing exhibit will be viewable on 23 storefronts and businesses in northeast Minneapolis through mid-August.Jill Fisher of Duluth says she plans on attending all the events for Duluth Dylan Fest, which kicks off Saturday and runs through next week. This year’s festival is a grand finale of sorts for the “Year of Dylan,” which began with the musician’s 80th birthday last year. Robert “Bobby” Zimmerman was born in Duluth on May 24, 1941 and his family moved to Hibbing when he was 6 years old.The festival begins with a free concert by Cowboy Angel Blue at The Rex at Fitger’s in Duluth starting at 7 p.m. Fisher says the band has “honed their Dylan songs to a very fine and original sound.”Musical performances, lectures, and other events take place through the week in Duluth and in Superior. Other events of note are a front porch birthday party on Tuesday at Dylan’s childhood home from noon to 1 p.m. at 519 N. 3rd Ave. East with music by Greg Tiburzi.The CD release party for “Free Wheeling Duluth Does Dylan,” takes place May 26 at the Earth Rider Festival Grounds in Superior at 6 p.m. Each of the local bands on the CD will perform one song. Many of the events at the festival are free, though the CD release party is $5.

Civil rights attorney, activist and Racial Justice Network founder Nekima Levy Armstrong appreciates the work of independent photojournalist KingDemetrius Pendleton, who has long documented social justice demonstrations and events. Levy Armstrong said he’s known on the streets as the Black CNN, “because he’s always there, always documenting.”His photography exhibit, The Movement Never Stops, runs Friday through Sunday at Block Portrait Studios in St. Paul. Pendleton’s exhibit will include photographs taken across the Twin Cities after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers.“I think that people will be in for a real surprise, just to see the scope and depth of what he has been able to capture through his lens, and through his dedication and steadfast commitment to the fight for racial justice and pushing for an end to police violence,” said Levy Armstrong.Dancer Erin Thompson of Minneapolis called the Riverside Park Sound Garden installation last spring a “delight for the senses,” and she’s looking forward to attending again this weekend.The family friendly outdoor event features dance and poetry along with an immersive soundscape created by J. G. Everest.“I just found that it kind of stopped time for me,” Thompson said. “It just combines nature and art in such a beautiful way. And it's very healing.”The Riverside Park Sound Garden runs noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the northwest corner of the park in Minneapolis. The event is free, but reservations are required.Comedian Tane Danger wants people to know that there’s still time to catch Fearless Comedy Productions’ production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” before it closes on Saturday.Delayed by the pandemic, the comedy features the epic battle of wits and witticisms between Beatrice and Benedick, who are perfect for each other — if only they could stop arguing long enough to realize it. Director Duck Washington sets the play in the postwar 1940s. The production is staged at the Mounds Theatre, a renovated art deco movie theater in St. Paul.The Mounds Theatre requires proof of full vaccination, including boosters as recommended by the CDC, as well as masks when not eating or drinking. Danger recommends checking out the themed cocktails that the theater pairs with its shows. Shows run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Florence Brammer of West St. Paul says the newly refurbished St. Anthony Main Theatre is “absolutely gorgeous,” and she’s excited for its new life as MSP Film at The Main. The Minneapolis St. Paul Film Society has taken over operations and will now be programming all five screens year-round.Brammer looks forward to attending in a space dedicated to independent and international film.The society will also highlight the work of Minnesota artists through such special programming as Minnesota Made, Cine Latino and Nextwave, a youth filmmaking initiative.The space will debut as host for the 41st annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, with films starting Thursday at 7 p.m. The MSPIFF has a full lineup for those attending in person as well as virtual screenings this year. The festival was fully online in 2020 and hybrid in 2021. Cheerfully titled “Shine Through,” the festival runs through May 19, with additional films at the Landmark Center in St. Paul, the Capri Theater in Minneapolis, and Gray Duck Theater and Coffeehouse in Rochester.Sarah Larsson of the Nightingale Trio is a dedicated performer and student of the Eastern European folk music of her ancestors. She recommends the Ukrainian Village Band as “an incredibly addictive party band” playing both traditional and contemporary music.Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UVB has gone from party band to organizing force, and they are behind two musical fundraising efforts this weekend.On Friday, UVB will be performing in a “Musicians for Ukraine” concert at the Dakota in Minneapolis at 7 p.m. That concert line-up also includes the Orkestar Bez Ime, who plays music of the Rom people across Eastern Europe, and the folk-rock band SlovCzech. The event is being organized by Natalie Nowytski from Okrestar Bez Ime. MCN6 will be streaming the concert online.Then on Sunday, members of UVB will host as eight Twin Cities bands play in the “Band Aid for Ukraine” concert at the Minnesota Music Cafe from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The event will also be live-streamed through its Facebook page. Funds raised go to Stand With Ukraine MN.Dinesh Krishnajois of Bloomington loves listening to improvisational music from around the world, and he wants to spread the word about the “ethereal voice” of scholar and vocalist Pooja Goswami Pavan. Pavan will perform "Jashn-e-Awadh,” a celebration of love ballads from the Awadh region in northern India, written during the early days of British occupation.“Awadh was the epicenter of intense political, cultural and social activities,” Krishnajois explains, adding that “in these tumultuous times, the poets, composers, and folklorists wrote music and poetry full of hope, compassion and communal harmony.” Some of these classic songs have since entered the public sphere through Hindi film. More about Pooja Goswami Pavan Songs of Sufi love from a Hindustani voice anchored in Minnesota The chamber music format will also feature Kedar Naphade on harmonium, Pankaj Mishra on sarangi, and Pavan on tabla. The 6 p.m. Sunday performance is at the Plymouth Playhouse, located within the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in Plymouth. Can't see video. Click here.

Miles Taylor of Wood Lake, Minn. is a burlesque DJ and visual artist with a particular interest in glitch art. He admires the innovative work of Autumn Cavender, a Dakota artist and midwife. Her art finds a common thread in digital media and traditional Dakota quillwork and hide processing.A year ago, she recorded the sounds of the birth of her second son. Cavender turned those sounds into a digital image which Taylor says bears striking similarities to her quillwork. “Wowicakekage: Dakota Art Encoded” is currently at the K. K. Birge Gallery through May 7, and then it will travel through the summer. The exhibit will be at the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council in Marshall May 12 through June 17, then spend August at the Crossing Arts Alliance gallery in Brainerd.Adam Wiltgen, residency coordinator and development director at the Anderson Center at Tower View, is enjoying the ongoing collaboration between Minnesota artists and poets through nearby Red Wing Arts. This year is the 21st annual juried Poet Artist Collaboration, which asks artists to illustrate selected original poems. The result, Wiltgen said, stretches visual artists outside their comfort zone to create something new.Wiltgen recommends visitors check out Jacob Yeates’s visual response to Casey Patrick’s poem “Medusa,” where the hyper-realistic image changes and morphs; and Cole Redhorse Jacobson’s “provoking artwork” in response to Gwen Westerman’s poem on the significance of the Mississippi River for our wildlife and our collective wellbeing.The exhibit is on display at Red Wing Arts through May 15, with Thursday night poetry readings running through that date. Red Wing Arts has created a chapbook of this year’s collaborations. A reception of the participating poets and visual artists will be held Friday starting at 6 p.m. at the St. James Hotel in downtown Red Wing and is open to the public.Amy Garretson of the Rochester Arts Center has her tickets for the Mid West Music Fest in Winona Friday and Saturday. The two-day event offers a full line-up of artists from the region performing indie rock, pop synth, classic folk and more on multiple outdoor and indoor stages.Garretson said it’s a great opportunity to discover the bars, coffee shops, and other venues in the Mississippi River town on a spring weekend. She’s looking forward to catching headliners Polica, Haley, and Bad Bad Hats. Proof of full vaccination or negative PCR test within 72 hours of event start is required.Garretson offers a  tip: VIP tickets to this Mid West Music Fest also include admission to a sister event in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in September. 

Art aficionado Linda Tacke of Lanesboro says she plans to devote a day or two to this weekend’s Bluff Country Studio Art Tour. It’s the 21st year of the event, which grew from four artists to around 36, spread across 23 locations.Visitors can stop by the studios of painters and potters, jewelry makers, woodcarvers, fabric artists and more. Print off a map of artist studios here, or download the mobile app through the website to guide your arts tour across the Driftless Region. The event runs Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.John Sievers, trombonist of Loud Mouth Brass is sharing the word about a new work by fellow Rochester artist and musician Becky Schlegel. “The Lullaby Collection” is an alphabet book with Schegel’s animal illustrations with poems and original songs for each. From the book The book includes a CD, which Schlegel recorded in the granary of her family farm. Schlegel will hold a book launch and concert for Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with music from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dwell Local in Zumbrota.Carol Jackson is a Twin Cities theater fan and blogger, and she’s looking forward to seeing the new show this weekend from Minneapolis Musical Theatre. The theater specializes in staging lesser-known musicals, sometimes in site-specific venues. Their new show, “Hands on a Hardbody,” about an endurance competition to win a new truck, is set in a car dealership.The musical, which was briefly on Broadway in 2013, is based on a 1997 documentary about 10 Texans all vying for a new pickup truck. The rules were simple: Keep your hand on the truck; last person standing wins.“Hands on a Hardbody” opens Friday and runs through May 8 at Luther Cadillac in Roseville. The theater offers a range of ticket and pricing options in this non-traditional venue, from regular seats to Bring-Your-Own chair to — somewhat immersive — standing room only. The show is not recommended for children under 10 due to mature themes.

Actor Gabriele Angieri of Burnsville went with his family to see the play “The Family Line” at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis. The 2-man show takes place entirely within a car, as a Jewish grandfather and his 15-year old biracial grandson meet for the first time and embark on a 24-hour road trip from Florida to Minnesota. The grandson, whose mother has just died, struggles with a sense of abandonment as his grandfather swoops into his life to deliver him to a new life in Minnesota with a father he does not know. Set in 2020 during the unrest in Minneapolis, it's a show interwoven with family secrets and social commentary that Angieri said sparked both laughter and tears, as well as an excellent discussion with his 12 year-old daughter afterward.“The Family Line” is the second show for Stage North, which launched in fall of 2021 with a focus on plays about urban life. Its shows are performed at the newly remodeled Capri Theater in North Minneapolis. Stage North has a partnership with Patrick Henry High School Drama Club, whose student members worked on the crew for the show.The show runs through April 17th, with 2 PM matinees Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and evening shows Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM.Fiber and textile artist Nora Rickey has enjoyed watching Cecilia Rolando’s evolving art show at the Front Porch Coffee & Tea Co. in Ely. In place since January, the show has been extended through April, and Rolando has continued to add new work as pieces sell. Rolando’s creative work is wide-ranging, from realistic watercolor florals to bold abstract paintings, from collages to jewelry to haiku. Rickey says the throughlines of the visual work on display are Rolando’s vivid colors, which add to the warmth of the popular community coffee shop. If you miss the show at the Front Porch, Rolando’s work is also on display at Art and Soul Gallery and Gift House down the street.Bassist Rob Morgan clearly recalls the massive transition he made from music student to touring performer, and he’s excited to see a theater version of that launching ground when the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater’s BFA students mount “The School for Lies,” starting Friday. This will be the first time in two years that graduating seniors in the acting program will take to the Dowling Stage on the Guthrie’s 9th floor. The play by David Ives is an adaptation of Moliere’s classic comedy “Le Misanthrope,” so you can expect to see larger-than-life characters and drama with plenty of witty repartee. Scenes, costume, light, and sound were all designed by University of Minnesota faculty. The show runs through April 23.

Artist, poet, and activist Dougie Padilla recommends a visit to ArtReach St. Croix in Stillwater to see the exhibit “Jim Denomie, Sweet Dreams,” which runs through May 7. Denomie passed away March 1. Padilla, his longtime friend, said Denomie was a “truly brilliant painter” and “a sweet and gentle man, a blessing to many in many different communities.”“Jim was also the master of his own style of portraiture, and of what can only be called Dreamworld painting. With his own unique palette of blues and purples, pinks and oranges, greens and golds, Jim told stories that came out of some deep underground stream from far down inside his psyche, in the psyche of his Ojibwe ancestors,” Padilla said. “It penetrates the heart softly, even while shaking the very ground beneath our feet.”The show in Stillwater includes portraits and character studies. Denomie painted figures with antlers and rabbit ears, riding on horseback.“Are they leaving this world headed for the next? Are they already in the next world looking back, waiting for us? Named almost a year ago, this exhibit “Sweet Dreams” not only foreshadows Jim's leaving us here on this troubled Earth. It takes us along with him for the first mile or two of his ride home,” Padilla added.Eric Heukeshoven, a jazz musician and composer who teaches at St. Mary’s University, plans to drive from Winona to Rochester to attend “A Tribute to John Paulson: Jazz at 70.” Paulson plays saxophone and flute, and he’ll perform original compositions and jazz standards. The rest of the quintet has musicians drawn from Rochester, Winona, and environs: Cliff Jack on guitar, Larry Price on piano, Miles Johnston on drums, and Robert S. P. Gardner on bass.The Rochester Chamber Music Society event is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church in Rochester. Masks are optional, and the show is free.  Don't see video? Click here:Musician Keith Nystrom of Ham Lake says he was “blown away” by Minneapolis musician Jesse Norell’s new concept album, “Aorta Borealis.”  Norell’s daughter Alyssa was born with Trisomy 21, also called Down’s Syndrome, as well as a serious heart defect. The album describes learning the diagnosis, the darkness and uncertainty of the heart surgeries and, ultimately, the love and joy of family. Alyssa is now 6. Don't see video? Click here: “Jesse has a real knack for doing very complicated things, but doing them in such the right way, that you don't really notice how complex they are,” said Nystrom.Jesse Norell has an album release show on Friday with guests Ben Noble and Chris Mason at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. Doors open at 7 p.m. Music starts at 8 p.m.

Musician and educator Harry Chalmiers has admired the music and performances by Gao Hong since he first saw her in the ‘90s. Gao Hong, who teaches at Carleton College, is a master of the pipa, a Chinese instrument used for thousands of years and which is similar to a lute. The style of play is both highly technical and poetic. On Sunday, she’ll celebrate 50 years of performing in a 3 p.m. concert at the Ordway in St. Paul.Chalmiers called her a “fabulous collaborative spirit” whose adventurousness in exploring different styles and performing with others across genres continues to produce innovative music.The lineup of Sunday’s performance is an example of her wide-ranging collaborations. It will include rapper-singer Dessa, members of the Minnesota Orchestra and Gao Hong’s group Speaking in Tongues, whose musicians hail from Ghana and Mexico as well as the U.S.Elementary school music teacher Becca Michaelson knows the power of video games to ignite a passion for music. She recalls transcribing her favorite “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” tune for flute as a fifth grader. That’s why she’s excited to attend the Video Games and Music Convention in Minneapolis, which will have listening and playing opportunities for all ages.The three-day convention features opportunities for gamers and musicians alike. Bands will perform jazz, funk and classical, and takes on favorite video game tunes.Michaelson recommends the orchestra clinic, open to all who want to bring their instruments and play video game music.The conference is Friday through Sunday at Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West in Plymouth, Minn. There are online options as well. Proof of COVID vaccination is required to attend in person.Padma Wudali of Minneapolis is a longtime student of Carnatic classical music. She loves the sound of the Twin Cities musical group, Maithree.Maithree is Sanskrit for “friendship.” Wudali enjoys how the six musicians combine south Indian instruments like veena and mridangam with keyboard, cello, clarinet and voice to create a variety of styles of world music.Hearing a clarinet or cello blend perfectly with Indian classical music is an “extremely endearing” image of friendship, Wudali said, where the musicians bring the best of their skills “into each others’ spaces” to make something beautiful.“Maithree: the Music of Friendship” takes place on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Lakeville Area Arts Center, part of their ongoing coffee concert series. The in-person event will also be livestreamed.