Art You Don’t See

Writer Jay Orff says his collection of incidental art - upcycled industrial castoffs, flattened machinery bits left on the roadside - started with a stray 'E' and an open mind, in this essay questioning, what really constitutes art?

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Credit: Open Mind, photo by the author

A HUGE Stage for Improv

Writer and performer Britt Aamodt profiles the artists behind HUGE Theater, the Twin Cities’ only mainstage for long-form improv and now beginning its second year of acclaimed performances by the area's best players in the form.

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Credit: Photo courtesy of HUGE Theater

Clothes that Made the Man

Camille LeFevre reviews the Goldstein Museum's retrospective of master costume designer Jack Edwards's storied career, including nearly 20 years at the Guthrie and more than a decade spent as the holiday display guru for Dayton's department store, as well as stints working with Bob Mackie, Lorie Line, Sir Cecil Beaton, and more.

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Related exhibition details:

Character in Costume: A Jack Edwards Retrospective is on view at the University of Minnesota's Goldstein Museum of Design through May 20.

Credit: Photo of Jack Edwards courtesy of the Goldstein Museum of Design

The Family Business: Art, Work and Motherhood

In partnership with mnartists.org, the Walker’s Education and Community Programs department is launching a monthly series of personal essays, interviews and exchanges with and by local artists — “The Family Business.” We hope these dispatches from the intersection of art and real life will offer a window on the lived experience of Minnesota’s working artists, with stories told in their own voices about the day-by-day juggle of art-making with the rest of their responsibilities: kids & family, day-jobs and other everyday obligations. From grocery shopping to daycare, caring for older relatives to community activism, we aim to offer snapshots of what a life in the arts really looks like, as seen through the eyes of the creative people living it every day.

Our first “Family Business” column features an email exchange in three parts, led by artist Carrie Thompson, between a group of acclaimed photographers — all mothers with children of varying ages — about the struggles and hard-won insights that come with parenthood, from the unexpected epiphanies and self-discovery to the frustrations of watching one’s productivity take a back seat to the necessity of caring for small kids and the slow process of integrating family with a vibrant career.

Read part one >>

Read part two >>

Read part three >>

Credit: (Top) photo of Carrie Thompson and her son, Goma. Courtesy of the artist. (Bottom) photo by Greta Platt.