ART
Bird x Bird
More fun than a flock of starlings! This improbably cool event is a snowballing phenomenon. Artists passionate about something besides art. A show that’s rife with feeling. The only unusual thing is — jeez, Minnesota! — the dearth of collectors in the mix. For God’s sake, people, this show brings together some wonderfully skilled artists. And it doubles as an auction to support bird-related causes (it’s organized by a nonprofit that “links the collective action of artists to organizations dedicated to the stewardship of avian species”). So show up already, get bargains, and meet a lot of interesting-looking folk. –by Ann Klefstad
Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., Northrup King Building, Gallery 322, 1500 Jackson St. N.E., Minneapolis; 952-994-0914.
Landscapes Transformed into Visual Energy
I’m not much for tooting my own horn, but I’ll gladly toot my colleague’s horns if I deem it well-deserved. It’s an easy thing to do here at The Rake with so much creative talent abounding. I’m not just talking about our writers and designers, however. This weekend our very own sales coordinator, Mary Olson, exhibits her work at the O’Shaughnessy. And I have to say, regardless of how good she does her job at The Rake — and, indeed, she does it well — I will never see her as a “sales coordinator” again. This woman is an artist. Her voice, like her lines and her palette, are strong and confident. It’s chaos ordered. It’s landscape deconstructed, reconstructed, and restructured, layered, reflected. Frankly, it doesn’t feel Midwestern to me at all. It’s too bold and textured — feels more like Minneapolis transported to the Caribbean: the textures and reflections of winter seen under the lens of a hot Caribbean sun. Go catch a ray or two of her heat, and experience it for yourself. Mary is one of four artists featured in Landscapes of the Mind. Enjoy these and other great artists this evening as part of The College Art Gallery Collaborative Fall Art Tour, a multi-campus gallery crawl with free shuttle buses arriving at seven locations every 20 minutes. Make a night of it.
Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Lobby Gallery, 2115 Summit Ave., University of St. Thomas, St. Paul; 651-962-5560.
Fall Colors Fine Art & Jazz Festival
Though there’s a chance of rain, this might be the last warm weekend we’ll have for quite a while — probably a good opportunity for an open-window drive along the St. Croix River, with a stop in Stillwater for the Fall Colors Fine Art & Jazz Festival. Nearly 100 artists from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota will show their work outdoors and indoors in the various studios and galleries of the picturesque downtown area. You’ll find all sorts of styles in all sorts of mediums: clay, glass, fiber, metal, wood; jewelry, paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery. You’ll find it all, along with great food and live music. Saturday’s lineup features Pickin’ up Steam (10:30 a.m.) and Billy McLaughlin (12:30 p.m.); while Sunday’s features Greg Herriges & Troy Berg (10:30 a.m.) and Suede Baby (2:30 p.m.). Take the kids on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. for ArtReach Alliance’s Art in the Park hands-on stations (in Lowell Park).
Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Historic Downtown Stillwater; 651-439-4001.
Georgia O’Keeffe: Circling Around Abstraction
This is a strongly curated show — just as the Walker’s recent Picasso exhibition was. Both venture to transform familiar work by presenting it with vigorous scholarship and a fresh eye. In this case, the focus is on the circle — the paradigmatic composition in many of O’Keeffe’s abstractions — and it’s a valuable insight that had been lying there in plain sight but had not been picked up. Through this frame, O’Keeffe’s work is stripped of any potential mawkishness and restored to living status. What’s more, these curator-driven shows are fun even if you’re not a huge fan of the artist, because the thought behind them amplifies the effect of the work — like a lens that suddenly sharpens. –by Ann Klefstad
Opens Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-870-3131; $8 (students/seniors/groups $6, children $4).
MUSIC
Regina Spektor
I can’t say enough about Regina Spektor, except to say that she’s the only musician who has truly truly impressed and inspired me in the past half decade. The Russian-born American singer-songwriter began her musical training as a classical pianist, was penning her own songs at the age of 16, and writing her own music by 18. Of course, it’s no surprise that she has risen so quickly since then. While she’s often compared to artists like Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, Spektor’s relationship to music seems far more organic than anything I’ve seen (or heard, for that matter). She moans. She buzzes. She gurgles. She whines. She shifts and breaks and begins and stops. Each song seems to create itself on the spot, breaking every rule and every expectation in the sweetest lulling way, never offending, always surprising, always pleasing.
Saturday at 7 p.m., Myth Nightclub, 3090 Southlawn Dr., Maplewood; $23.
Christian Scott
Don’t stop at Regina Spektor this weekend. On Sunday, you have another great opportunity to catch a hot new jazz star: trumpeter Christian Scott. Breaking into the scene just last year with Rewind That, Scott pulled off one of the most remarkable debuts the genre has seen in the last decade. “Steeped in the jazz tradition and intent on participating in the music’s evolution, the New York-based Berklee College of Music grad is indeed a significant new voice poised to make an impact on the future of jazz. Scott has developed his own distinctive and compelling trumpet voice: a breathy tone that has more in common with the way Ben Webster played the tenor saxophone than the piercing, clarion call the trumpet usually delivers.” — a beautifully accurate description, you’ll find, upon being lulled by that breathiness.
Sunday at 7 & 9 p.m., Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet, Minneapolis; 612-332-1010; $20 & $15.
FILM
Jane Austen Book Club
Tonight is the opening of The Jane Austen Book Club. “The premise of The Jane Austen Book Club is simple: six variously connected people (five women, one man) form a book club centered on the six complete Jane Austen novels, focusing on one book per month. As the six move through the books, their lives take on echoes of the plotlines and themes of the books that they read.” Be sure to read Danielle Kurtzleben’s review in our Talk about Talkies blog.
1:40, 4:20, 7, and 9:30 p.m., Landmark Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; 651-649-4416; $8.25 (children/seniors $5.75).
GREEN EDUCATION
National Solar Tour
Sure, we’ve all heard about solar energy, and some of us even have a basic idea of how it works; but have we seen it in action? Do we truly “get” it? Do we trust it? Is so, then why the hell aren’t we using more of it? Inertia? I suspect ignorance and fear to be the primary reasons, and one is usually a result of the other. Do the socially responsible thing and head out to the National Solar Tour this Saturday (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to learn about renewable energy. Heck, it may even be fun. The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society has organized free self-guided tours as part of the American Solar Energy Society’s 12th annual National Solar Tour, the largest demonstration of installed renewable energy technologies and energy efficient building practices in the United States. The tour offers an opportunity to learn how your neighbors — 50 homes, business, and institutions — are trimming their energy bills, increasing their energy independence, and taking steps to address global warming. Get site lists and maps here.
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