From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

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‘Fíodóireacht Bheirte / A Weaving of Two’

Matt Schneider describes himself as a dancer and dance floor builder for the underground scene of electronic music in the Twin Cities.

He’s looking forward to the Valentine’s Day artist reception of a photography exhibit by married couple Saoirse and Sarah Weiss. Their joint exhibit, entitled “Fíodóireacht Bheirte / A Weaving of Two,” runs through April 5 at the Northside Artspace Lofts Gallery in Minneapolis.

Matt describes Sarah’s work as daytime photographs involving portraits and family and Saoirse’s work as nighttime images that capture the DIY dance scene.

He says the artist reception on Saturday (6-9 p.m.) will be a family-friendly dance scene with live music and a DJ.

Matt says: She's one of the few people who is given the privilege to carry a camera in these spaces where anonymity and privacy are really respected.

— Matt Schneider

‘Fiber, Fragment and Form’

Scott Pollock, museum director at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, made a recent visit to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, Minn., where he enjoyed seeing Martha Bird’s woven baskets.

Her exhibit, “Fiber, Fragment and Form,” includes baskets displayed through the Spring Flower Show, on view now through March 15. Bird, who has a willow garden in southeast Minnesota, will give an artist talk on Sat. Feb. 21 from 1-2 p.m. called “Cultivating Willow: Building community through the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.”

Scott says most of Bird’s pieces are in the visitor center, though he advises stepping into the Arderson Horticultural Library to see Bird’s Japanese-inspired baskets with ikebana-style floral arrangements.

Scott says: What makes Martha's work really special is the level of detail that she goes into. As a basket maker, a willow harvester, she really looks at the functional approaches to form, but then she takes them into a sculptural level.

— Scott Pollock

‘Nordic Echoes’

Jennifer Olson of Golden Valley says she’s been visiting the American Swedish Institute since she was 5 years old. She’s looking forward to seeing the traveling exhibit “Nordic Echoes” when it opens on Saturday, Feb. 14.

‘Echoes’ of Nordic art and tradition across the U.S.

The collection of contemporary Nordic folk arts includes works of textiles as well as work crafted from wood, metal, birchbark and more. A majority of the 24 artists represented are based in Minnesota, including Tia Keobounpheng, Sonja Peterson, Amber M. Jensen, Talon Cavender-Wilson, Pieper Bloomquist and Lucy and Gene Tokheim of Tokheim Stoneware.

The exhibit will be on view through June 7.