MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.
‘Scissors and Stories’ — Collaging Workshop with Ryan Flynn in Moorhead
July 25 — Artist Ryan Flynn is hosting a collaging workshop Friday night at the Rourke Art Gallery + Museum in Moorhead. Called “Scissors and Stories,” it’s focused on how to tell stories through symbolism and imagery. The workshop will provide artists with time to create, instead of offering a step-by-step process. Flynn will even go over sourcing materials for collaging, giving advice on where the best content can be found.
Flynn is a mixed-media artist, but has a strong emphasis on paper collage, using materials from vintage magazines, comics and books. They use chaos and color in their art to explore themes like mental illness, disability, body positivity and queer identity. They see using secondhand paper as a way to reject hierarchy and exclusion in the art world. (Anika Besst)
Pillsbury Creative Commons grand opening
July 26 — The longtime community arts hub Pillsbury House + Theatre in south Minneapolis will officially transform into Pillsbury Creative Commons from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. To celebrate the grand opening of its campus expansion, Pillsbury is hosting an Inside Out Block Party.
There will be tours of new facilities, including 24-7 broadcast and recording studios for the community radio station KRSM 98.9 FM; two onsite apartments for artists-in-residence; and a new scene shop which offers a technical arts training program. Signe Harriday, the senior artist producing director at Pillsbury, says the changes have been in the works for years.
The event “launches an important long-term vision of the community to bring KRSM radio to Chicago Avenue, where our community will not only be able to hear our KRSM DJs, but be able to see them live on the air,” Harriday says. The scene shop “will be home to our technical arts training program, teaching hands-on skills like scenic design, sound design, lighting and really focusing on folks of color who haven't had access to that training in the past.”
The block party will have live music, an artist market, roller-skating, stilt-walking, face-painting and a bouncy house. Commissioner Angela Conley and Minneapolis Poet Laureate Junauda Petrus will speak. (Alex V. Cipolle)
‘The Return of King Idomeneo’
July 26 — Outside Eagan’s beautiful Caponi Art Park, an opera will commence Saturday evening. Pick Up Truck Opera is presenting “The Return of King Idomeneo,” an adaptation of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” in the great outdoors. The show, set on a 1950s street corner, is host to a blend of passionate arias, captivating choruses, ’50s doo-wop and ’60s girl groups.
Mozart based his opera on the Greek story of General Idomeneus, inspired by the Greek Pantheon and Homer’s Odyssey — but this production takes the story to mid-century America. (Anika Besst)
Roe Family Singers Celebrate 20 Years at the 331 Club
July 28 — The Roe Family Singers have long been a staple in the Minnesota music community. At 8 pm Monday, the bluegrass-country-rock outfit celebrates 20 years of a Monday night residency at the 331 Club in northeast Minneapolis.
“It’s free and it’s open to everybody, and that’s always been the point for us,” says Quillan Roe, who does vocals, banjo and more. “It’s how you build community.”
“Some of our younger fans are now a little bit older, and they have their own kids, and they, you know, they first saw us at the 331 and now they bring their families,” says Kim Roe, vocals and autoharp. “We’ve made a lot of connections, and it’s really special.”
The theme is “Mustache Monday,” which, according to the band, means: “You show up with a mustache. Because we’re creative people, and you are, too, you’re welcome to interpret that in whatever way suits you and your particular, lovely face. If you can’t grow one, doesn’t mean you can’t own one: Draw it, tattoo it, whatever you fancy.” (Alex V. Cipolle)
’Love and Baseball’
July 28 — Perfect for lovers, baseball fans and theatre kids, Artistry’s “Love and Baseball” closes on Monday. It follows the story of a scrappy filmmaker and a philosophy teacher who just can’t get rid of each other. They cross paths three times in four years. Their love story is one like a game of baseball: full of unmatched talent, the unexpected — and pure luck.
Kendra Mueller stars as the teacher Michele and Dustin Bronson is opposite as the filmmaker. (Anika Besst)
‘Running Errands’
July 29 — For the past few years, Twin Cities impresario Kurt Engh has been producing a recurring series of new theatrical works. “Running Errands” uses a showcase format to allow theater artists to workshop ideas or try something new in front of an audience, similar to how chefs organize pop-up restaurants to test out recipes.
“I’m trying to think of theater as like a pop-up performance,” Engh told MPR News earlier this year.
This round of “Running Errands” features four 15-minute plays, involving theater makers who have appeared in productions across the Twin Cities.
The show takes place at the Hive Collective in St. Paul. (Jacob Aloi)
Minnesota Fringe Festival
July 31–Aug. 10 — It’s the return of the Fringe Festival, offering more than a week stuffed with experimental and genre-defying performing arts across eight Fringe-managed venues in Cedar-Riverside, along with dozens of independently produced shows throughout the Twin Cities.
Special events include a preview night on July 30, a mascot scavenger hunt in Cedar-Riverside and a closing-night party on August 10. (Max Sparber)
‘Verdant Remedies: Unearthing Hmong Art and Nature’
July 31-Sept. 21 — The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska opens a new group art exhibition July 31, “Verdant Remedies: Unearthing Hmong Art and Nature.” Art from 12 Hmong artists explores ideas around nature, the land and home. Artists are working in ceramics, painting, digital illustration, performance, textiles. The exhibition helps mark the 50 years since the Hmong community began fleeing war in Laos and immigrating to Minnesota.
“Food has a profound way of conjuring up memories, nostalgia and sometimes even pain,” says St. Paul-based artist Xee Reiter in her artist statement. She says her illustrations about food — like “Snack,” which shows and instant oriental noodle soup package — are inspired by her mother, who she says made magic in the kitchen even when money was tight. “Everything I unintentionally know about cooking and gardening was from her. She wasn’t a teacher. She was a doer and you just had to observe and learn at your own discretion.”
There will be an opening reception Aug. 9. (Alex V. Cipolle)
