“Table legs,” sighs Tib Shaw, chief cook and bottle washer for the American Association of Woodturners’ Gallery of Wood Art. “For too many people, that’s the only thing they think of when they think of woodturning. That’s why having this space is so important — we can show visitors how much more woodturning can be.” […]
Article · September 5, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
There’s a fascinating little exhibition on view right now at the University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Museum of Design: “Beyond Peacocks & Paisleys: Handcrafted textiles of India and its Neighbors.” The pieces in the gallery — a mix of manufactured and artisanal products, intended variously for commercial, household and sacred use — are but a small […]
Article · August 31, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
“I am large, I contain multitudes.” My mind keeps going to Whitman’s famous line from “Song of Myself” as I mull over Kathryn Kysar’s newly published poetry collection, “Pretend the World.” Her poems here, like Whitman’s, are at once deeply personal and expansive. She channels a diversity of voices and experiences — from near and […]
Article · August 29, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
When the Minnesota Museum of American Art (MMAA) announced early in 2009 it would close up shop indefinitely and move out of its downtown St. Paul gallery space, it wasn’t much of a surprise. There’d been rumbles: turbulence in the leadership, money woes, ineffective management, the loss of its space to redevelopment. Honestly, aside from […]
Article · August 24, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
School’s starting up again around here, and for those with kids at home, I bet a fair number of kitchen-table conversations are underway about extra-curricular activities, like what to take on, how much to pay for them and where to find the right fit for each kid’s inclinations? Given the budget squeeze faced by St. […]
Article · August 22, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
One of the things I love best about my job is that, years and years into covering the arts beat around here, I still regularly get the delightful surprise of stumbling onto new-to-me cultural enclaves. For example, I’ve long favored the arts-friendly Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar for lunch dates and live music — anyone […]
Article · August 17, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
There’s a gem of a park, tucked into a neighborhood that stretches westward from downtown St. Paul and which is bounded by the city’s Cathedral Hill area, Interstate-94 and University Avenue. Western Park is a vestige of the old Rondo neighborhood, the tight-knit, largely African-American community demolished in the 1960s to make way for I-94. […]
Article · August 15, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Working-class neighborhoods don’t wear their art on their sleeves, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have culture. In fact, you’ll find some of the most ambitious artists go about their business in just such unlovely communities. Cheap rent allows creative people freedom from worrying so much about the bottom line. The Hamline-Midway neighborhood of St. […]
Article · August 10, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
There’s irony to great design: The better the innovation, the faster it becomes unremarkable. This is especially true of design leaps that improve on the form and function of things we use every day — easy-to-turn can openers, bagless vacuum cleaners and kitchen utensils that feel good in your hand. The innovation works so well, […]
Article · August 8, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
In recent years, I’ve noticed a marked uptick in arts programming that places public engagement at its center. It’s more than audience outreach (although that’s part of it). The kind of community programs I’m talking about go far beyond the goal of awareness to full interactivity, where the public not only participates in but is […]
Article · August 3, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
St. Paul is home to the largest youth circus arts school in America. Who knew? In the realm of kids’ activities, Circus Juventas is a far cry from piano lessons and Little League. It’s just so much more fabulous. The school, which has been packed to the gills with area kids and growing exponentially since […]
Article · August 1, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler