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In this Issue: Midwinter's Tale

As the chill of the season tightens its grip and the holidays approach, it's natural that we're all focusing our attentions closer to home, rediscovering our roots. For this issue, we're reflecting on an intimate struggle, peculiar to this place we call home, between the bitter cold of winter and our citizenry's equally hard-bitten pride in weathering its extremes; we're doing so by way of that distinctively Minnesotan artist, Chris Larson (whose work is now on view at Rochester Art Center), and the always-trenchant observations of essayist Andy Sturdevant.

 

• ESSAY: "A Plenitude of Lumber and Lutheran Grit" by Andy Sturdevant
• MnArts Magazine highlights include: a review of this year's Choreographers' Evening, profiles of Parsons School of Design luminary-turned CVA President Ann Ledy, local author-made-good David Schwartz, and the quirky new Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo
• An assortment of new artist opportunities in every discipline, drawn from our daily-updated list on mnartists.org

• A handpicked selection of holiday-riffic events, including a grab bag of seasonal shows and festivals, as well as lots of new music, film and theater & must-see exhibitions

PLUS: A Monster Drawing Rally at Midway Contemporary Art where you can buy original art handmade by acclaimed artists - for just $35

Andy Sturdevant offers his reflections on the peculiarly Minnesotan virtues of Chris Larson's new show at the RAC, with an eclectic, engaging essay on the artist's effective use of both "a plenitude of lumber" and old-fashioned Lutheran grit.

One will not expect to find here the mellowness of cities, villages and countrysides in the older States. With the exception of a few villages, mostly in the southeastern section, the towns can claim little charm; the unbeautiful brick stores and banks of Main Street testify to grim physical work. Not many of the New England settlers had leisure to indulge their esthetic tastes, and the immigrants who poured into the State in the 1850’s were all too glad to exchange the picturesqueness and discomfort of their Old World stone cottages and thatched barns for a plentitude of lumber.  – “Minnesota Today,” The WPA Guide to Minnesota, 1938

ROCHESTER IS JUST SUCH A MINNESOTA TOWN, and one that can lay claim to very little charm, at least in its physical manifestation. It is through-and-through a company town – that company being the Mayo Clinic – and with the exception of a few picturesque old buildings like the Kahler Hotel, its downtown has little of the stereotypical romance of a small, Midwestern Main Street to recommend it. Unlike Red Wing or Stillwater or Winona, there’s almost no romance to Rochester, despite its being tucked away in some the most beautiful landscapes in the state. It’s a city-sized primer in contemporary institutional architecture; a series of sprawling, interconnected layers of frosted glass and steel and cement, plopped down overtop the framework of an old street grid, oblivious to its own charmlessness and content simply to hum along with the important business of healing the sick. A few blocks off of the downtown core at the head of one of the city’s main thoroughfares stands a statue of the two Mayo brothers, Charles and William, side-by-side in their surgical scrubs. The two doctors gaze upon downtown Rochester with a slightly bemused clinical detachment, as if to suggest “Yes, this is exactly what we had in mind. Now, we have a one o’clock surgery to get to.”

There’s a certain hard-bitten Protestant work ethic, a testimony to “grim physical work,” that runs as an undercurrent in the Minnesota psyche, transmitted from those New Englanders and Scandinavians who originally settled here. It’s an ethic that is expressed well in the roll-up-your sleeves, all-business feeling one gets from the Mayo Clinic and the town that surrounds it, the idea that it was all built by a plentitude of lumber and Lutheran grit. This is an ethic that artist Chris Larson understands – an ethic he embodies, actually – as one can see in the work in his new solo show at the Rochester Art Center. ...continue reading the essay on mnartists.org

Exhibition details:

What: Deep North by Chris Larson
Where: Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
When: Exhibition runs through January 18, 2009
Visit the RAC website for gallery hours and admission prices

Click here to read the rest of Andy Sturdevant's marvelous essay on the new exhibition of work by Saint Paul-native, Chris Larson, on view at the Rochester Art Center through January 18, 2009

About the author: Andy Sturdevant is a Minneapolis-based artist, curator and writer who is a regular contributor to ARP! and Secrets of the City. He curated the History Room: 20 Years of No Name and the Soap Factory exhibition at The Soap Factory last season, and is currently working on an accompanying book about the gallery's history. Andy is also a contributor to the Electric Arc Radio Show music and performance series at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. 

Credits: (Top) Chris Larson, Untitled (Deep North machine), 2008, 12’ x 18’ x 12’, White pine, flat black paint. Courtesy magnus müller, Berlin; from the installation Deep North, Rochester Art Center. (Middle right) Chris Larson, still from Deep North, 2008, single channel, high definition video, 6 minutes 30 seconds, continuous loop. Courtesy magnus müller, Berlin and RAC. (Middle left) Shotgun Landscape, 2007, black painted plywood shot 774 times with a 12-gauge shotgun. Background: Baptismal font, 2008, Plywood, glacial tint paint, plaster. Courtesy magnus müller, Berlin and RAC. (Bottom left) Photo of Andy Sturdevant, caught mid-sentence (courtesy of the author)

You Are Here: A handpicked sampling from the events listed on mnartists.org/calendar

Holiday Events Grab Bag

Irresistible: A Local Arts and Crafts Sale at SooVAC Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, December 20 Nautilus Music-Theater Rough Cuts: Electric Arc Radio presents selections from Don't Crush Our Heart! along with a collection of "Cranky Christmas Songs" December 15 @ Nautilus Music-Theater Studio, St. Paul December 16 @ Open Eye Figure Theater, Minneapolis Gifts! Gifts! Gifts! Edina Art Center, Edina, through December 23 Handcrafted Holidays The Grand Hand Gallery, Saint Paul, through December 24 Local Stimulus Package at North End Arts Gallery North End Arts Gallery, Superior, WI, through December 31 ARThouse Holiday Exhibit ARThouse, New London, December 13-31   Rubber Chicken Holiday Comedy Revue Proctor Area Community Center, Proctor, December 19-30 Nutcracker Suite ballet Schneider Theatre, Bloomington, December 1-14 Childish Films @ The Library: Timeless Tales Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, December 20 A Don't Hug Me: Christmas Carol Hennepin Stages, Minneapolis, December 21-28 A Christmas Carol Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro, November 28-December 22 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! SteppingStone Theatre, Minneapolis, December 5-December 23 Miracle on 34th Street Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts, Red Wing, December 10-14 Credits: (Top) Photo courtesy of Soo VAC; (Bottom) Production photo courtesy of SteppingStone Theatre

Classes and Workshops

WORKSHOP: Spinning Clinic - come with your spinning questions and get help tuning up with your wheel Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Minneapolis, December 13 CLASS: Youth and Adult Winter Dance Classes at Zenon Hennepin Center for the Arts, Minneapolis, January 3- March 15 CLASS: Winter Visual Arts classes - painting, ceramics, glass, and much more Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, January 5-February 28       Credit: Photo by Scott Pakudaitis, courtesy of Zenon Dance

Festivals and Group Shows

Mixed media Paintings by Savita Bettaglio and Kari Maxwell Minnesota Women's Building, Saint Paul, through December 31 La Raccolta - an eclectic exhibition by 5 artists Plateau Gallery, Minneapolis, December 12-14 MNdn 150: Native American Artists Mark the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Ancient Traders Gallery, Minneapolis, December 5- January 24 Hardscapes and Softscapes - art by 11 U of MN grad students explores issues surrounding development, ecology, and environmental concerns Northrup King Building, Minneapolis, December 12-13 Pottery Studio Holiday Open House Squeaky Wheel Pottery Studio Holiday Open House, Bemidji, December 13-21 One-Act Play Festival Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts, Red Wing, January 10

Lectures and Readings

IFP MN Presents Talk with Paul Federbush of Warner Independent Pictures IFP MN Center for Media Arts, Saint Paul, December 13 Saint Paul Almanac launch party- readings followed by live music by The Fantastic Merlins Black Dog, Saint Paul, December 12 Poetry reading Snoodle Ceramic Gallery, Duluth, December 13 VACUM hosts a critic's Trialogue on the new MAEP exhibition of work by Margaret Pezalla-Granlund and Max Schollett Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, December 11 Artist David Coggins discusses his books The Nostalgic Heart and Eden The Bookcase, Wayzata, December 13 Meal Ticket: A Winter Feast and Benefit Reading: join authors Patricia Cumbie, Carla Hagen, Alison Morse, Marcia Peck, and Julia Klatt-Singer for Moroccan food, Italian cheeses, chocolate, and poetry Butter Cafe, Minneapolis, January 24 (Proceeds to benefit Minnesota Emergency Food Shelf Network)

Music & Film and Video

Dan Wilson Pantages Theater, Minneapolis, December 13 Folk Night at the Fallout Fallout Urban Art Center, Minneapolis, December 12 Sounds of Youth Concert Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Excelsior, December 13 Bluegrass New Years's Eve with Monroe Crossing Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts, Red Wing, December 31 Robert Robinson 2008 Holiday Tour Buffalo Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, December 23 Cinema Revolution presents the Dance Film Project Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, December 12-13 MNTV 2008: A showcase of the finest films and videos produced in Minnesota over the past two years Films will air on Twin Cities Public Television from December 14-January 3, 2009 Credit: (Top) A still from one of Kevin Obsatz and Justin Jones' Four Frame Dance Project pieces, this one featuring Anna Marie Shogren. (Bottom) Still from Birds at Night (Might Fall) a short animated film by Bridget Riversmith which will air as part of the MNTV 2008 line-up.

Openings and Parties

Monster Drawing Rally at Midway Contemporary Midway Contemporary, Minneapolis, December 13 Support - a benefit for Free Arts Minnesota Art Of This Gallery, Minneapolis, December 13 Jungle Red "Treasures for Teens" Auction & Fundraiser Jungle Red, Minneapolis, December 13 Get Lucky 2009: Lucky Seven and the Seven Deadly Sins Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, January 10 Springboard's Art Opening and Reception Springboard for the Arts, Saint Paul, December 16 REVIEW=REFLECT=RECYCLE: by James Michael Lawrence - an unusual retrospective in which a local artist literally lets his work go Susan Hensel Design Gallery, Minneapolis, the opening is January 9-take down/take away closing reception is February 21

Visual Arts

Winter 2008-09 Salute to the Arts Q Gallery. Brainerd, December 9 - January 22 The Urban Landscape – Alternate Angles: Photography by Bradford Kissell Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, through January 11 Fabrications - an annual exhibition of textiles Crossings at Carnegie, Zumbrota, through December 31 Localities show Great River Arts Association, Little Falls, through January 3 Don Gahr: New Work Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, through January 10 Works on Paper: paintings, drawings, prints by Carolyn Brunelle, Carol Lee Chase, Stella Ebner, Jean Gumpper, Duncan Hannah, Tom Maakestad and Larry Welo Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, through January 17 Home For the Holidays: New work by John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons Nicademus Art and Framing, Saint Paul, December 13 through February 7, 2009

You Are Here event listings are drawn entirely from the mnartists.org calendar, so if you want to improve the odds that you'll see your happening linked here, you'd better start posting your events!

We've made it super easy to begin: here's a step-by-step guide that'll show you how to promote your own events on the new arts calendar. Browse through more up-to-the-minute events listings or post a show of your own on mnartists.org's member-driven, DIY arts events calendar.

The mission of mnartists.org is to improve the lives of Minnesota artists and provide access to and engagement with Minnesota’s arts culture.