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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

A storytelling road trip from Grand Marais to Winona

Rose Arrowsmith is a storyteller and children’s book writer from Grand Marais, and for the second year in a row, she’s making the six-hour drive to Winona to attend the Sandbar Storytelling Festival.

The festival, held on Friday and Saturday, features seven storytellers from around the country, including local talent, offering a series of storytelling events at the Page Theatre.

There are also free events Friday through Sunday at the Historic Mason Theater, the Winona Public Library and two Winona churches. Find the schedule here.

Rose describes the transportive nature of storytelling: This is oral storytelling, so oftentimes it's going to be one person up on stage, and they might be telling a story from their own life. They might be telling a folktale or a myth or some combination thereof.

Some people are really theatrical storytellers and do voices and a lot of physicality. And some people, it feels like you're in a really intimate conversation until you realize you're lost in a story.

Rose is particularly excited to see Elizabeth Ellis, whom the NEA named an American Masterpiece Touring Artist.

Rose says: If you're in the storytelling world, you've known her name for forever. She doesn't really travel anymore, but she tells these traditional stories from her experience in Appalachia.

— Rose Arrowsmith

A play about care, connection and humanity

Twin Cities theater-maker Shanan Custer is looking forward to seeing Martyna Majok’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Cost of Living” staged by Full Circle Theater.

The show runs Oct. 10–18, including accessibility matinees Saturdays at 1 p.m., at 825 Arts in St. Paul. The play lasts an hour and 45 minutes with a 10-minute intermission. Tickets are pay-as-you-are-able.

Shanan says: It's an incredible acting show. You really get to know the characters. And the show has two characters [out of four] who have disabilities. And in this particular production, we have two characters who are using wheelchairs. They both require caregiving, but the show isn't about disability.

All of the characters are fully realized, and the show is asking us to think about all the ways that we intersect, whether it be how much money we make in a year, or how we're able to move about in the world, or how others perceive us.

— Shanan Custer

Glamour, vintage, and Prince-inspired fashion on the runway

Leslie Firkins is a wardrobe stylist living in St. Paul, and she’s looking forward to Glam Jam, a vintage fashion show and corresponding clothing market, both held at The Hennepin in Minneapolis. It’s a Prince-inspired event as well as a fundraiser for Hennepin Arts.

The high-glam 80’s style fashion show kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday night.

Leslie says: The stylist is Richard Anderson. He's a really well-known icon and stylist here in the Twin Cities, and I just can't wait to see what he pulls together.

And then on Saturday, there is a vintage market where you can shop a lot of the vendors that provided a lot of the clothes and pieces that we saw in the show the night before.

I think it'll be a really good time to be inspired to maybe pick up some vintage to mix and match with your modern clothes.

— Leslie Firkins

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Meander through artists’ studios along the upper Minnesota River Valley

Musician Clark Machtemes of Waconia recommends the Meander Art Crawl, a three-day, self-guided tour of artists’ studios across western Minnesota.

This year’s event features 42 artists in towns including Ortonville, Appleton, Madison, Milan, Dawson, Montevideo, Granite Falls and Canby.

The Meander runs:

Friday: 12 – 6 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Sunday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Machtemes notes that several towns will also host evening musical performances. (Find a map here.)

The quiet beauty of the everyday

Minneapolis painter Ken Johnson recommends Justin Terlecki’s solo show, “Hidden Place,” on view at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis through Oct. 11.

Ken says: It's a series of nine paintings in oil. They're scenes reproduced from photographs and from his remembered events of places and friends: sleeping, exploring the outdoors, eating — all relatable.

He's creating a living history through these subtle artworks. His oils are in muted blues and greens. It's best seen in person because he uses these small brushes, and you can actually see these little brush strokes.

— Ken Johnson

Kick-start spooky season with Theatre 55’s production of ‘Sweeney Todd’

St. Paul’s Heather Foxx says she first discovered Theatre 55 — a Twin Cities theater company featuring actors aged 55 and older — through Art Hounds.

After appearing in some of their past productions, she plans to be in the audience for their fall show, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

Heather says: This fall, they’re kicking off the spooky Halloween season with “Sweeney Todd,” filled with beautiful, eerie, haunting melodies, with actors and actresses of 55 and older.

— Heather Foxx

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

The Saint John’s Bible Experience

Calligrapher Maura Lynch of Minneapolis encourages a visit to The St. John’s Bible, a monumental work of sacred calligraphy and art housed on the peaceful campus of St. John’s University.

The Bible, which involved significant contributions from Minnesotans, can be viewed year-round both in person and digitally.

Maura says: Calligraphy is seen first and read second. When you experience the words in the Bible that have been rendered in a visually and aesthetically beautiful way, it elevates the entire experience.

— Maura Lynch

Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander

Hutchinson-based potter Betsy Price recommends the Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander in Carver County. The self-guided studio tour runs through a wooded landscape that gives the region its name, and features over 40 artists, including potters, jewelers, painters, woodworkers and more. Visitors can explore studios, watch live demos, and connect with artists.

The event runs Friday through Sunday, with stops including the Mocha Monkey where there will be a pottery demo by “Jon the Potter.”

Betsy says: It feels like a true wander through art and nature.

— Betsy Price

Kinship and Clay at Form + Content Gallery

Minneapolis arts advocate Becky Smith shares her admiration for “Kinship,” a show at Form + Content Gallery that pairs Chris Cinque’s life-size charcoal portraits of friends from her lesbian and nonbinary community with expressive ceramic vessels by Sharon Jaffe, a radical Jewish feminist artist.

The exhibition runs through Oct. 4 in the North Loop of Minneapolis.

Becky says: They're celebratory, and they also serve as a real documentation towards resistance and survival of people who are experiencing an oppressed sexual identity.

— Becky Smith

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Honoring Marley Kaul’s legacy in book and gallery

Visual artist Paula Swenson remembers painter and former Bemidji State University professor Marley Kaul (1939–2021) as a mentor and a creative force in northern Minnesota.

Swenson is excited for a new retrospective coffee table book, “Marley Kaul: Paintings,” covering six decades of his work.

Book launch events include:

Sept. 18, 5–8 p.m. at Open Book in Minneapolis

Sept. 23, 5–7 p.m. at the Watermark Arts Center in Bemidji

Sept. 25, 5–7 p.m. at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks

A corresponding retrospective exhibition of Kaul’s work is also on view at the Talley Gallery at Bemidji State University through Oct. 30.

Paula recalls one memorable moment turned painting: My husband and I were over to his house, talking to him, and just at that time, a bird of prey flew under the deck — under Marley. It was just that fast.

And later on in that month, we went to visit, and Marley had done a painting of that experience, of the bird flying underneath him, under the deck and out again.

— Paula Swenson

A call and response: Peter Williams at MCAD

Independent curator and art consultant Esther Callahan recommends “Peter Williams: Homegoing — A Call and Response,” on view at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design through Nov. 1.

Esther says: The longer you look, the more you will see the depth of connections that are built into the space. For example, there are sight lines in this exhibition that have artists like Russell Hamilton directly communicating with seangarrison that beautifully builds on the narrative that is foregrounded in this exhibition by Peter Williams in memory and remembrance of his passing in 2021.

This exhibit itself is rooted in honoring the complex experiences of Black Americans through historical and contemporary narratives with both a really good sense of humor and candid honesty.

It’s really important to note that this exhibit is supported by a chorus of 15 Minnesota-based Black artists responding to Williams profoundly human, critical and beautiful work.

— Esther Callahan

Songs with names take center stage

Allison Amy Wedell of St. Paul is Alto 2 Section Leader of the Twin Cities Women's Choir. She’s looking forward to the comedic cabaret “What’s In a Name?” happening for one night only on Sept. 22 at the Hive Collaborative in St. Paul.

Allison says: “What’s in a Name?” is the brainchild of local actress and singer Jen Maren and local pianist and teacher, Andrew Fleser, who noticed the impressive and varied array of songs with names for titles and decided we needed to hear as many of them as they could fit into one show!

I’m already familiar with Jen Maren’s work, especially in her role as the murderess Marjorie Congdon in “Glensheen” at the History Theatre, but I understand that for the first time, she weaved some original stand-up comedy in among the music.

Fleser's gorgeous accompaniment and quiet zingers provide the perfect foil for Maren's raucous charm.

— Allison Amy Wedell

Correction (Sept. 20, 2025): An earlier version of this story misstated the singer’s name in the comedic cabaret section and the Art Hound’s name. The story has been updated with the correct names.

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Queer Muslim coming-of-age on stage

Anita Chikkatur of Minneapolis is an educator and theater enthusiast. She’s excited for Theater Mu’s production of “Maybe You Could Love Me,” a new play by Samah Meghjee.

The story follows the evolving friendship between two queer Muslim women across three stages of life — childhood, adolescence and adulthood — all portrayed by the same pair of actors. Directed by Katie Bradley, the play opens Theater Mu’s 2025–26 season.

“Maybe You Could Love Me” runs through Sept. 28 at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, with previews beginning today.

Anita says: One of the things that I love about Theatre Mu is that it showcases the very diverse experiences of the Asian American communities in the United States

We need to kind of understand how diverse Asian Americans are across sort of cultures, nationalities, religion, sexuality, immigration status and so on.

— Anita Chikkatur

A celebration of children’s literature in Red Wing

Children’s book author Peter Pearson of Minneapolis is looking forward to the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival at the Anderson Center in Red Wing.

The event gathers a wide range of Minnesota writers and illustrators to speak, sign books, and lead activities for children and families. Attendees can explore the estate's Art Barn, sculpture garden, and grounds.

The events has a strong lineup this year, including Art Coulson, Justice Alan Page, Cristina Oxtra, Chris Monroe, Pete Hautman and Molly Beth Griffin.

The Minnesota Children’s Book Festival takes place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Anderson Center in Red Wing.

Peter says: It’s just really wonderful. They have a really good lineup this year.

Just a lot of really good folks, picture book all the way up to YA stuff. So there’s really something for everyone.

— Peter Pearson

Music on every block at Rochester Porchfest

Ken Simurdiak of Rochester recalls the first time he and his wife stumbled upon Porchfest, a grassroots neighborhood music event in the Kutzky Park area.

Local bands perform on porches across the neighborhood while audiences stroll, bike, or bring lawn chairs to enjoy the performances. With four bands playing each hour, attendees can hear a wide variety of styles, including blues, rock and folk.

Porchfest takes place Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Rochester’s Kutzky Park neighborhood.

Ken remembers: Every hour, four bands would play, all located at different houses. And so we walked around looking for music that we liked, and there’s a variety, everything from blues to rock to folk.

And after that, we were hooked, and we have been attending ever since

— Ken Simurdiak

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Ojibwe art and teachings at Tettegouche State Park

Eric Klepinger, an artist north of Duluth, recommends checking out the monthly artists’ shows and the artist-in-residence work at Tettegouche State Park. 

Featured in August is prolific Ojibwe artist Sam Zimmerman of Duluth, whose work will be on view until September. His boldly colored work often features animal forms, and Klepinger says these works were inspired by animals he saw at Tettegouche. 

Zimmerman is also, separately, the Artist-in-Residence at Tettegouche. For this role, he created seven signs, printed on weather-proof aluminum, about the seven Grandfather Teachings of the Ojibwe, which will be installed next spring at the Nature Play Area. 

See all the artists at Artists-in-Residence programs at State Parks across the state here.  

Watercolor artist and naturalist Chris Dillon is the featured artist next month, and there will be an artist’s reception for her Sept. 5. in the Tettegouche Visitor Center starting at 7 p.m.

Arab American women’s stories in silk and animation

Sandra Brick, a teaching artist at the Textile Center, appreciates Hend Al-Mansour's exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. “Mihrabs: Portraits of Arab American Women” is an immersive exhibit of four installations of brightly colored, silk-screened fabric, which are paired with a short animation.

Brick appreciates that visitors enter each pillar to experience the objects, sights, and sounds of the lives of four Minnesota women whose heritages trace to Syria, Morocco, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. “You feel like you’re visiting these women,” Brick says. 

There is an artist talk on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. The exhibit runs through Oct. 26. 

Punk rock meets Gorky in interdisciplinary theater

Actor Kenzi Allen of St. Paul is looking forward to seeing “The Mother: A Punk Rock Musical” next weekend, Sept. 4-7, at Sokol Hall in St. Paul.

Inspired by Maxim Gorky’s novel, the show is a collaboration between Luverne Seifert and Darcey Engen of Sod House Theater and Carl Flink of Black Label Movement, featuring music by Annie Enneking of Annie and the Bang Bang.  

Allen, who was involved in an early workshop of the show last year, is excited by the way it brings acting, dance and music together.

“I think I personally crave a whole lot more work that has this kind of overlap and interdisciplinary focus. So I hope this show kind of shows how much fun and how much vibrancy each of us artists have to give to each other's disciplines,” Allen says.

“The show is about a mother and a son who are living in poverty in Russia, and the son gets involved in what becomes the Bolshevik Revolution. The story follows how the mother is also brought into that whole uprising.

“I think now is a good time to be telling this story, because we're looking back at history in this time and seeing what has happened in the past and kind of reflecting on have we moved past this, or is it possible for things like this to happen again? The show is being performed in St. Paul, and St. Paul has such a rich, rich history of union workers coming together and fighting against oppression.” 

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Edible creativity at the State Fair

Morgan Kempton of Minneapolis, who works in education at Hennepin Arts, is a fan of the Creative Activities building at the Minnesota State Fair, which runs through Labor Day.

While many flock to the rides or concerts, Kempton is drawn to the detailed displays of baked goods:

Morgan: It’s just interesting to see how many different types of pies people can make, and all the designs on the top of the pies can always be so unique and interesting to see.

— Morgan Kempton

Carved emotion in Hopkins

Janet Kilsdonk of Hopkins recommends “… good dog …” an exhibition of wood carvings by artist Fred Cogelow at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The show runs through Sept. 6.

She was captivated by the lifelike quality of the work:

Janet says: It actually makes you step back and feel like you’ve stepped into a drawing when it's actually a wood carving.

— Janet Kilsdonk

Transforming stuffed animals with clay

Courtney Mault of Minneapolis is looking forward to the Spiralia World’s Clay Critter Workshop, led by artist Ricky at Odd Mart in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Participants are invited to bring their own stuffed animals and create colorful masks for them using a variety of materials:

Courtney: You’ll be able to totally change the personality of your stuffed animal.

— Courtney Mault

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Shakespeare with a twist

Luke Fanning of northeast Minneapolis has his eye on Zach Christensen of Jackdonkey Productions, whose staging of “Henry V” is now at Theatre in the Round.

Fanning says Christensen has “an uncanny knack for taking something that might be a little bit old and dusty and shaking it up and making it new and fun.”

This production promises music, movement and “weird vibes” while still exploring the play’s central themes of war, power and their effects on people. “Henry V” runs through Aug. 18.

Luke says: I know I can trust Jackdonkey to add music, movement, weird vibes in a way that I’m gonna lean in instead of zone out.

— Luke Fanning

Tim Harding’s shimmering ‘Double Vision’

Minneapolis visual artist Carolyn Halliday has followed Tim Harding’s textile work for decades, but his new series “Double Vision” is something entirely different.

Harding prints his own photographs on polyester, reprints them at a different scale on organza, then layers, gathers and stitches the fabrics to create a stereopticon-like effect.

The result, Halliday says, “moves and shimmers and distorts the view.” The show is on view at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis through Aug. 30.

Carolyn says: It’s really dramatic.

— Carolyn Halliday

A symphonic ‘Ring’ in Brainerd

Justin Lucero, artistic director of Theatre Latté Da, says the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd is preparing its largest-ever orchestra for an ambitious weekend.

The festival will present an orchestral program featuring music from “The Lord of the Rings,” a new work by French composer Camille Pépin, and “The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure,” a 70-minute distillation of Wagner’s epic 15-hour cycle.

More than 100 musicians will perform on the Gichi-ziibi stage Aug. 16 and 17.

Justin says: It’ll be the largest ever orchestra that has been involved with the Lakes Area Music Festival.

— Justin Lucero

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

A clown’s farewell at the Fringe

The Minnesota Fringe Festival continues through Sunday, Aug. 10, with nearly 100 shows presented in 90-minute intervals at theaters around the Twin Cities.

Phillip Schramm, an improviser and theater maker in Minneapolis, particularly recommends seeing “Clown Funeral” at Theatre in the Round in Minneapolis, Saturday at 1 p.m. The show is billed as appropriate for ages 12–15 and up.

“The funeral is about Bongo, a clown that has passed away, and there are four other clowns that are there to kind of honor his memory, and it goes the way you would think,” Schramm says.

“It's a clown show. So there are bits of physical comedy, of just them assembling the coffin. There's word play. There's one clown that really only speaks through art. Everything you would want in a clowning show is in ‘Clown Funeral.’”

One delightful touch, Schramm says, is red clown noses at the entry that audience members can take and wear. Because the theater is in the round, you can see the audience members wearing red clown noses throughout the show.

Painting the urgency of climate change

Suzie Marty, gallery curator of Everett & Charlie in Minneapolis, recommends “2°C,” a joint exhibit by painters Drevis Hager of Minneapolis and Mark Granlund of Red Wing that focuses on climate change. The exhibit runs through Saturday, Aug. 9 at the Hamilton Gallery in Minneapolis.

Marty called the paintings moving and beautiful, even as they drive home the seriousness of climate change. She pointed toward Granlund’s paintings with unusual materials, including tar, and his surprising pairings, such as a series of portraits of CEOs of oil companies overlaid on landscape paintings.

Hager paints representational landscapes as well as abstracts that invoke wildfires and melting ice caps, as in the darkly humored title “Oh Oh, There Goes Greenland.”

Mozart under the summer sky

Choral singer Beth Gusenius of Minneapolis caught a preview performance of Mixed Precipitation’s summer outdoor opera, this year an adaptation of Mozart’s “1781 Idomeneo, re di Creta (King of Crete).”

This abridged version, first staged by the company in 2012, is called “The Return of King Idomeneo.” It blends Mozart’s arias with other musical styles, including doo-wop.

Next week, performances will be in Ely (Wed., Aug. 13), Hovland (Aug. 15), Grand Marais (Aug. 16), and Finland (Aug. 17). The run continues through Sept. 14 at outdoor locations across the state. It is free and open to all ages, with a suggested donation.

“It's a really fun performance. I think it's one of those that's going to convert people who wouldn't necessarily otherwise go to the opera. They do such an amazing job bringing the story to life,” Gusenius says.

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

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

‘Hidden Herald’ returns with new audio stories around St. Paul

Last year, Jamie Daniels of St. Paul stumbled upon Wonderlust Productions’ mini audio stories, scattered about St. Paul. Season two of “Hidden Herald” kicks off this weekend, with a new batch of five-to-ten-minute audio stories written by Minnesota playwrights and recorded by professional actors.

This weekend’s launch includes a scavenger hunt with prizes. Maps with the audio play locations are available starting Thursday at several St. Paul businesses, listed here. To listen — this weekend and beyond — simply scan a QR code printed on a durable decal on the ground.

Jamie describes the wonder of discovering a new story: You scan [the QR code], and you are transported into a brief five-to-ten minute audio play that takes place in the place where you're standing.

It's kind of like a scavenger hunt all year round, because you can find these stickers all over the place, around Lake Phalan, on Payne Avenue and in downtown St. Paul.

Some of the plays are definitely kid-oriented, and some of them are not. Last year, there was one that took place in Mears Park that was a genuine horror story that gave me the chills. Some of the plays have a content warning at the top, if need be.

Pro tip: bring some headphones or a portable speaker so you can hear them better.

— Jamie Davis

Favorites from St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour in one accessible location

Cindy Ihlenfeld is a visual artist from Mahtomedi who serves on the board of the Weisman Art Museum, and she recommends seeing “A Culture of Pots” at White Bear Center for the Arts, on view through July 25 in the Ford Family Gallery.

She notes that, for those with limited mobility, this exhibit is an accessible way to attend a pottery tour

Cindy says: “A Culture of Pots” is an exhibition of the artists that are typically part of the St. Croix Valley pottery tour in spring. And there are 68 artists, and I think 218 of their favorite pieces.

The most delightful thing about it is that one of the resident artists at the White Bear Center for the Arts has created a display that looks very much like what the artists have in their yards during the pottery tour. It feels very intimate because of the way the structure is built to display the pots.

— Cindy Ihlenfeld

People at Play

Lou Ferreri, a visual artist from St. Paul, appreciates an exhibit by painter David Amdur entitled “At Play.”

The paintings show groups of people enjoying the outdoors. The exhibition is on view at the Hopkins Center for the Arts through Aug. 2.

Lou describes the paintings: They're impressionist, but they're also realistic figures. He incorporates sometimes 10, 15 figures in a setting outdoors, and they could be by the ocean, they could be mountain climbing, they could be by a lake or in a park. They are so celebratory, it makes me feel good looking at them.

He’s a fabulous colorist: he manages to combine primary colors in natural settings, so that the clothing that the people wear becomes part of the composition, and it brings your eye all around the surface of the picture plane.

— Lou Ferreri

Correction (July 10, 2025): An earlier version of this story misidentified Jamie Daniels and had incorrect information about “Hidden Herald.” The story has been updated.