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:

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.