There’s an awful lot of talk about the news lately, but not, unfortunately, the sort of constructive conversation that promotes critical thinking and engages people with their neighborhoods, their country, or their world. No, what people are talking about is the media, or, more specifically, and more onerously, the business of media. The Star Tribune … Read more
Luxury is big business these days, and not just because the world of the rich is more prosperous and populous than ever. The rest of us are also becoming avid consumers of goods and services that were once exclusive to the super-wealthy. Obviously your definition of “luxury” depends on where you reside on the economic … Read more
Not long ago, Colle+McVoy, the second-oldest ad agency in Minnesota, was thought to be a stodgy place; mostly it created ads for agricultural products, a decidedly un-sexy category. But last fall, observers got to scratching their heads when the agency won top honors at “The Show,” an annual awards ceremony from the Advertising Federation of … Read more
I should have known better, having so many questions about a film with an elusive question for a title — and cult actor Crispin Glover as writer, director, and supporting character. I know, I know. But Glover describes What Is It?, a film featuring a number of actors with Down’s Syndrome, as "the adventures of … Read more
Not all fashion designers consider themselves artists, but there is certainly a fine art to developing an exciting and cohesive line of clothing, a one-of-a-kind gown, or, for that matter, a sock-monkey bikini. Just five years ago, when home-grown clothing was paraded on First Avenue’s stage at the first Voltage fashion show, resources in the … Read more
We piled off the bus—field trip!— my teacher saying, suggestive and disinterested, “Just look.” The Minneapolis Institute of Arts free and full of kids, Chinese jades, gods and goddesses from everywhere, room after room of very old faces looking back at us. And here this one naked manso tall and alone in his own room, … Read more
I’m greeted at Susan Hensel Design Gallery by the gallery’s namesake, a small, ebullient woman who is a nationally recognized book artist and recent Minnesota transplant. “I’ve had friends here for years, my son was away at college—it was time,” she explains. As for her gallery, “I wanted the opportunity, not only to show my … Read more
It must be something in the water. One hundred years after Saint Paul experimental composer Arthur Farwell dissected Native Indian melodies and piled up unrelated tonalities, a core of dedicated underground Minnesota sound explorers is still sampling, mashing-up, and otherwise taking musical liberties. Although largely unsung in this state of above-ground musical champions, there is … Read more
While a handful of large companies give our city its national reputation, small, independent theater remains the life-blood of the local scene. Audiences are built by smaller theaters with more affordable ticket prices. Great actors have the opportunity to stretch and grow in smaller venues, without the pressures that they may experience later, in larger … Read more
Billy X. Curmano, performance artist and provocateur, doesn’t care much for the conventional wisdom that says artists must live in a large city. He may have grown up in Milwaukee and spent time in the East Village and other urban centers of art, but ultimately he decided to make his base of operations a picturesque … Read more