Xavier Tavera, from “Dulce Maria and Other Stories.” Courtesy of Serpentina Arts. As you enter the small Gordon Parks Gallery at Metro State University for Xavier Tavera’s new photography show, your eyes go first to the typewriters: a battered old Olympia, inexplicably covered with Simpsons stickers; an ancient IBM word processor; an avocado-green manual model […]
Article · September 16, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Charles Campbell interviews a volunteer from the audience in “Small Art 3.” Photo courtesy of Ben McGinley Last Thursday, I was sweating out the hot night with 30-or-so others in the second floor apartment of a Cathedral Hill neighborhood duplex, watching the quiet works of “Small Art 3.” And it might just have been the […]
Article · September 11, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
From the larger, updated hand-drawn maps (detail) of St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood by Roberta Avidor, included in the new edition. Courtesy of the “Saint Paul Almanac” The “2014 Saint Paul Almanac” has just been released, and it includes stories and poems by more than 100 area writers – among them a diverse array of local […]
Article · September 9, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Doug Aitken’s cross-country Station to Station tour is rolling into St. Paul’s Union Depot soon, for a one-night-only public art spectacle with live music, art, film and food. The New York/L.A.-based installation artist is taking a three-week “nomadic happening” on the rails, crossing the country from New York to San Francisco by train from September 6 […]
Article · September 4, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Concrete and Grass Lowertown Music Festival runs Sept. 5-7 with a main stage in Mears Park and an indoor stage at the Black Dog. I don’t know about you, but we’ve used up pretty much all of our vacation days at this point. St. Paul public schools are starting this week, the state fair is […]
Article · September 2, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Jean Matzke, “Silver Tongued Devil or A Way With Words,” 1984. Coiling with wool, cotton, metal thread and raffia, linen fringe. Photo by Peter Lee, courtesy of the Saint Cloud Arts Commission Municipal Art Collection When Lowertown artist Jean Matzke died in a fluke accident in 2009, her loss left many in the state’s arts […]
Article · August 26, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Were you one of those who braved the rain this year to take in Northern Spark? Well, then, clear the decks this weekend because there’s something pretty magical going down in Lowertown, and you’re going to want to be there. “The Big Lowdown,” jointly presented by Bedlam Theatre and Live Action Set, is billed as a “roving Lowertown […]
Article · August 22, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
St. Paul skyline. Photo by cliff1066 via Flickr via Creative Commons license More than 1,000 Minnesotans responded to the Forever Saint Paul Challenge last February, submitting their ideas for what would make the city an even better place to live, in an open contest co-presented by the Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Idea Open. A small army of […]
Article · August 19, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
In “Twin Cities Noir (The Expanded Edition),” crime scenes and stories are set across the cities’ neighborhoods. Image courtesy of Akashic Books Indie press-made-good Akashic Books just released an expanded version of the Twin Cities installment in its globe-spanning, city-by-city Noir anthology series. In publication since 2004, with editions set in dozens of cities around […]
Article · August 14, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Bedlam Theatre’s eagerly anticipated Lowertown location isn’t yet open for business – but soon! According to manager Lucas Koski, a grand opening party is scheduled for this fall, and will be announced soon*. In the meantime, Bedlam is in the middle of a six-week-long, live music series at the newly restored Union Depot across the […]
Article · August 12, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Some of 2013 Inroads writers, L to R: Nimo Farah, Robert Karimi, Lillian Brion, Cyril Thomas, Luis Lopez, Eva Song Margolis. Photo courtesy of the Loft Literary Center This summer’s Inroads Mentoring Award recipients celebrated the conclusion of more than two months spent honing their craft with two readings on Friday, August 2 and Saturday, […]
Article · August 5, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler