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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A new professional concert band
Ross Wolf of Minneapolis is a band director at Spring Lake Park High School and a saxophone player. He recommends the first full-group concert by Minnesota Winds, a new fully professional concert band in the Twin Cities.
Composer Katherine Bergman, one of the group’s co-founders and artistic director, previously played with Wolf in a saxophone quartet.
Minnesota Winds performs at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on May 30 at 7 p.m.
Ross says: What I think is really special about this is it creates that professional level experience for young students who are playing an instrument for amateur adults like myself to hear the highest level of performance on in a band concert.
— Ross Wolf
Plein air myths and legends
Francesca Bernardi of Minneapolis is manager at Groveland Gallery. She recommends “Myth and Legends,” the newest show at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona. The exhibit features plein air painters from the Outdoor Painters Association of Minnesota connecting outdoor painting with myths and legends of Minnesota and other cultures.
The show recently opened and runs through Sept. 13.
Francesca says: The Outdoor Painters Association of Minnesota, they do a big show every year, and I think that specifically plein air painting does such a good job at storytelling in and of itself, because the artist is there and they're reacting to the outdoors and really being present in these spaces, and so I think including that with the myths and legends, it's kind of a nice combination.
— Francesca Bernardi
Abstract paintings and resilient trees
Raven Miller of Minneapolis recommends a joint exhibit at Vine Arts Center in Minneapolis featuring Andrea Bo and Miriam Queensen. Miller says the two artists are from different age groups, have known each other, and are showing their work together for the first time.
Andrea Bo creates layered abstract paintings based on songs and personal relationships. Miriam Queensen makes landscapes, including isolated trees, which Miller says represent resilience. The show is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through June 6.
Raven says: You think that they wouldn't go together, but they actually do go together.
— Raven Miller
