Published by
of the Red River Valley
A guide to the area’s arts and culture
november/december 2012
Photos by Dan Francis
What the new
Center for Creativity means for our community
By Kris Kerzman he Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity at Plains Art Museum made its long-awaited public debut in October. After years of fund-raising and rallying community support, the kickoff was made in style, with the afternoonlong affair starting off several weeks’ worth of exciting offerings, including a hiphop graffiti festival and an appearance by polymath artist DJ Spooky. After the dust settles on this new expansion, though, and the celebration ends, what does this new facility offer the Fargo-Moorhead community? Plenty. And, plenty that should both give us pride and serve as an example to other communities across the nation. Our commitment to arts education. By replacing the deteriorating Creative Arts Studio, the Center for Creativity will give area school kids an opportunity to stretch their creative wings in an environment enriched by its proximity to the museum’s galleries and our downtown art community. The phrase commonly used is “going from seeing the artist to being the artist.” Instilling creative skills helps children develop other skills more easily and provides attitudinal and social development perks on top of that. In other words, more well-rounded children ready to face the challenges of the 21st century.
T
More center
for creativity on page 6
Top right: Museum Director Colleen Sheehy cut the ribbon to the Center of Creativity along with community members. Clockwise from top left: Activities abound during the grand opening celebration for the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity. Attendees were able to try out the Center’s new studio spaces, receive instruction from arts educators, and even draw on the walls.
‘Yarn bombs’ adorn downtown lampposts By Randi Olsen n case you haven’t noticed, Downtown Fargo has officially been “yarn bombed.” The lampposts have been bundled up for the winter with sleeves created by local artists. It all started as an idea, or complaint, really, about how Fargo needed to be jazzed up a bit. Mara Morken, after moving back to the F-M area from New York, found herself missing the public art she was used to seeing in a big city. But unlike most, instead of just complaining, she actually did something about it. Morken saw “yarn bombing” while she was in Brooklyn and fell in love with the concept. She figured it would be the perfect project for Fargo because fiber arts is so traditional in the Midwest, and a large variety of artists would be able to participate. It was no problem getting the city of Fargo to cooperate with the Knit Fargo project. In fact, the citizens and city leaders were pretty much begging for it. Morken put out a call for artists on her personal website and Facebook page, and passed out cards in yarn stores and coffee shops. Not only did local artists respond, but people from all over the country wanted to be a part of it. Sleeves were donated from Texas, New York, Virginia and Nebraska, as well as surrounding areas like Minneapolis, Lake Park and Alexandria. Dawn Conant, a local artist, said, “When I first came to Fargo, I saw the painted bison. After seeing the bison, I really wanted to be a part of a themed public project. Knit Fargo was something I knew would be exciting, doable and fun for an artist with a day job.”
I
Photo by Kris Kerzman
Mara Morken, left, and Fargo City Commissioner Mike Williams replace a damaged yarn sleeve on a downtown lampost.
More Yarn
bombs on page 4
• inside artspulse •
p h o t o d u o pa i r s u p fa r g o ’ s u n d e r g r o u n d a r t i s t s c o l o r o n w h i t e c o m m u n i t y s u p p o r t e d a r t
CROPLINE: DOES NOT PRINT SCALE: MECHANICAL AT 100%
2
212.536.4110 KRIS_HENTNIK@ANNTAYLOR.COM
CulturePulse.org
C
M
Y
november/december 2012 K
NICE TO MEET YOU, FARGO NOW OPEN
WEST ACRES MALL IN THE HERBERGER’S WING • 277-4670
november/december 2012 A guide to Fargo-Moorhead area arts and culture
Publisher The Arts Partnership Executive Director and Managing Editor Dayna Del Val
VIEW point A year in review Dayna Del Val
Executive Director, The Arts Partnership
Co-managing Editor Kris Kerzman Publications Committee Lisa Farnham Pam Gibb Erin Koffler Sue Spingler Design and Layout Shawn Olson Co-Founders John Gould Steve Revland Contact us
1104 2nd Ave. S., Suite 315 Fargo, N.D. 58103 701-237-6133 admin@theartspartnership.net This publication was made possible by the cities of Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo through their allocations for arts & culture and members of The Arts Partnership. ArtsPulse is published six times a year by The Arts Partnership. All rights reserved by ArtsPulse. Reproductions of any kind without written permission are prohibited. The publisher and editor assume no responsibility for unsolicited material, manuscripts or photographs. All materials are compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but published without responsibility for errors or omissions. ArtsPulse accepts advertisements from organizations believed to be of good reputation, but cannot guarantee the authenticity or quality of objects, events, or services advertised. Opinions and/or ideas expressed by authors are not necessarily those of the publisher. Letters to the editor should include the author’s name, address and phone number. All letters are subject to editing. Letters can be submitted to artspulse@theartspartnership.net
Foundation and Institutional Support • Cities of Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo • North Dakota Council on the Arts • Carol L. Stoudt Donor Advised Fund (II) of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation For calendar listings visit culturepulse.org and for The Arts Partnership information visit theartsparnership.net.
3
CulturePulse.org
We are seeing our arts community come together in myriad ways, and this growth has been very exciting.
I
t’s been quite a year at The Arts Partnership. We launched the successful Community Supported Art Program, see more on page 15. We also hired another full-time employee, Kris Kerzman, our digital media producer, to take ARTSpulse electronic; see what he’s up to below. We also unveiled our new website in the spring, so for more information about anything regarding The Arts Partnership, please go to theartspartnership.net and find out more. By the end of the year, we will have begun our first Rural Arts Partnership initiatives in Casselton, N.D., where we are bringing our Primary Partner artists out to these communities to teach senior citizen and after-school children’s art classes. We awarded our first-ever Individual Artist Arts Partnership grants and were able to provide financial support to five area artists for everything from additional training to working on a documentary and more. We received additional funding from the City of Fargo to facilitate a Public Art Project. We launched Walking, Waiting Wondering Words by inviting community members to submit poems, thoughts or ideas to be stamped into sidewalks around Fargo. We worked with NDSU, MSUM, the Fargo Park District, the Fargo Public Schools and the City of Fargo to make this project happen. For more on this, go to w4fargo.
theartspartnership.net/ and submit your own writing for next year’s round. We partnered with LOFT to help them launch their new store at West Acres. We brought in two Primary Partner artists, Bree Reetz and Carmen Bruhn, who sketched shoppers in the store. It was a great event with hors d’oeuvres and champagne from Green Market, a DJ, and a photographer on hand to capture the moment. Finally, we have added 21 new artists to our list of Primary Partners for a current total of 91. We are seeing our arts community come together in myriad ways, and this growth has been very exciting. If you are an artist of any kind, please consider applying for Primary Partnership. You can find the application online at theartspartnership.net/partners/become-a-partner/. Thank you to those of you who have become Advocate Partners throughout this year. Your support has allowed us to expand and try new programs. If you haven’t supported us in the past, I invite you to make an end-of-year donation. We’ll happily add you to our growing list of Advocate Partners, you’ll have our eternal gratitude and you will be directly supporting our mission to cultivate the arts in our community. Happy end of 2012 and thanks for all your support!
Get clicking: ARTSpulse online By Kris Kerzman he new ARTSpulse blog has been up and running since midJuly. In that short time frame we’ve been able to do a multitude of things that simply haven’t been possible with our print edition, things like: • Providing on-the-spot coverage of issues like the recent public art vandalization downtown, or the recent attempt by the Moorhead Public Service Commission to reverse progress on a public art project at the Moorhead Power Plant; • Posting great photos, videos and audio of events and interviews from our evergrowing arts community; • Bringing critical insight (and not-so-critical levity) into arts and culture issues here and around the world; • Partnering with storytelling event The Tell to provide audio recording/production expertise to bring the performances to a broader audience. Not too shabby. And, we’re just getting started. We’ve started an intern program that is bringing in fresh multimedia production talent and extends our reach even further, and we’re working on finding more new, fresh angles to provide a running narrative of our community’s cultural offerings.
T
And that’s the thing: as our artists, musicians, actors and creators make a more and more interesting Fargo metro area, we need to have a place where we can keep up with their stories, a place that gives them a voice. That’s what we’re achieving with the new ARTSpulse blog. A more up-to-date companion for a community that is becoming increasingly active and creative. We’re also hearing back from more of you every day about how much our weekly email and social media streams are providing you with compelling content on a daily basis. If that’s true, please forward along the goodness to anyone you think
...we’re working on finding more new, fresh angles to provide a running narrative of our community’s cultural offerings. would be interested. If you haven’t seen ARTSpulse yet, give it a try today. Just visit artspartnership.net/artspulse, or search Facebook or Twitter for ARTSpulse. You’ll be helping us build a wider audience for this great new service, and spreading the word about our fantastic community … and its talented creators.
The Arts Partnership’s Board of Directors Brad Bachmeier, board chair Andrew Mara, vice chair Nicole Crutchfield, treasurer
Erin Koffler, secretary
Beth Fortier
Carol Schlossman, past chair
Michael Olsen
Alyson Bjornstad
Michael Strand
Roxane Case
Ellen Shafer Mark Weiler
4
november/december 2012
CulturePulse.org
news briefs FM Opera launches new gala By Bernie Erickson argo-Moorhead has a tradition of kicking off the holiday season with a black tie and ball gown event hosted by a premier performing arts organization. This year, Fargo-Moorhead Opera is proud to launch its first Snow Ball on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Hilton Garden Inn. FM Opera is taking the best elements of the Opera Gala — silent auction featuring some of the best art, travel, entertainment and unusual gift items, innovative musical entertainment and a fine dinner served by the Hilton Garden Inn — and combining them with an opportunity to dress up in your holiday finery and dance the night away to officially launch the holiday season. Mark your calendar for this premier event. Tickets are limited, so phone FM Opera at 701-235-4558 or visit fmopera.org to make your reservations today. Coming up in January, just in time to chase away the winter blahs, FM Opera will be bringing you The Face on the Barroom Floor at the HoDo bar in downtown Fargo. Don’t miss this wild-west shoot-‘em-up complete with a drink on Jan. 10, 11 and 12.
F
‘Ritual’ is theme for annual A Woman’s Perspective By Vicky Jo Bogart merging and experienced visual, literary and performing artists are invited to enter A Woman’s Perspective on RITUAL Multimedia Art Exhibition, Literary and Performing Event held throughout Fargo and Moorhead FebruaryApril 2013. Entry forms are due postmarked Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, for visual art in all media, prose, poetry, music, vocals, dance, theatre and filmmaking. Opportunities for teaching and mentoring are also encouraged. A Woman’s Perspective is a noncompetitive, nonjuried series of multimedia arts exhibitions, performances and workshops open to artists age 15 and above. There is no entry fee or membership required. This event is sponsored in part by Quilters’ Guild of North Dakota with venue support by Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County. For a prospectus and entry form, visit awp.handwork.org.
E
Two artists provide colorful offering at the VIP Room BY TAP staff uring December, Donna Chalimonczyk and Sherbanoo Aziz of Moorhead have an eclectic style art show at the VIP Room, 624 Main Ave., Fargo. The hours are 11 a.m.2 p.m. week days. From landscapes to still life, abstract to representational, Chalimonczyk has included an array of styles and subjects in her exhibition featured throughout the VIP’s dining rooms and alcoves. Some paintings are contemplative, others full of life and color. Diners and guests should be able to find some “eye candy” to top off one of the VIP’s entrées. Aziz has an eclectic style, with a wide range of subjects. Some paintings are scenes from her native country India. They are colorful and painted in watercolor and other media. She believes that this region offers a wide variety of subjects to pick from. The VIP Room is hosting a special brunch for art lovers to view the exhibit and to meet the artists from 10 a.m.–noon Saturday, Dec. 8. Painted note cards, unframed paintings and other gift items for the holidays will also be on display and for sale. Brunch RSVP by Dec 1: 701-293-1999. Book early as seating is limited.
D
yarn bombs: Continued
from page 1
But this project did come with its fair share of trials. Shortly after the sleeves were installed, they fell victim to theft and vandalism. Word quickly got out, and the community was outraged. Commissioner Mike Williams begged Morken to keep the project going and personally offered to hang the sleeves himself, this time higher up on the lampposts. Store and bar owners have also come together to prevent this from happening again. So far, there haven’t been any more problems. Depending on the weather and durability of the sleeves, they should stay up until the end of January. Morken is unsure if she will have the time next year to do this again, but she encourages others to build upon what she has done. She is more than willing to pass the torch on and hopes others will come up with their own ideas to keep public art alive in Fargo.
Buy Tickets Now! Hot Club San Francisco “…There aren’t enough superlatives to describe their sound….” —All About Jazz
This gypsy-jazz ensemble will carry you back to the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris in the 1930s. Featuring French singer Isabelle Fontaine (channeling Edith Piaf), the amazing violin of twice Grammy Award winner Evan Price, and a swinging rhythm section of guitars and bass. Hot Club San Francisco
Saturday, December 1, 7:30 p.m., Gaede Stage
Daniel Bernard Roumain with DJ Scientific “…Daniel Bernard Roumain is creating a miracle…” —The New York Times
Discover DBR’s genius for fusing classical music, hip-hop, concert violin, and progressive electronic beats. DBR, on six-string amplified violin, is backed by DJ Scientific. Thursday, January 31, 7:30 p.m., Gaede Stage Daniel Bernard Roumain with DJ Scientific
For tickets, call the MSUM Box Office at (218) 477-2271 M-F from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or buy online at www.mnstate.edu/perform
Powerful performances right here. Minnesota State University Moorhead is an equal opportunity educator and employer and is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
november/december 2012
5
CulturePulse.org
Theatre B looks at combat By Scott Horvik heatre B and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs will be touring the docudrama ReEntry by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez. ReEntry is an unflinching look at the lives of Marines getting ready for, and returning from, combat. Performances are free and open to the public and will take place across North Dakota. Katherine Smith, Veteran’s Administrator Caregiver Support Coordinator in Fargo, saw a production in Washington, D.C., a little over a year ago. After that performance, she and a co-worker agreed the show need to be performed in Fargo. “These are real stories and are more common than you might think,” Smith said. “To read an article about veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is one thing, but to see it performed has a greater impact.” Smith contacted Theatre B, and the project took shape as a group of staged readings, free and open to the public. Theatre B Ensemble Member Brad Delzer is directing this production. The cast includes other ensemble members, community members and former Army Sergeant Keith Huff. “We tend to think of war as the actual fight itself and not the battle of coming home,” Delzer said. “Huff is a veteran — he heard about the project from a professor and called me. He felt compelled to be involved, even though he has never been on stage before.” Smith said all performances will have VA counselors available after the show. The show will be educational to veterans, caregivers, family members, business owners and community members. “Not everyone comes back from war traumatized,” Smith said. “Some people have higher resiliency. Some don’t.”
T
will tatkee. s e c n a m the stea Perfora s s o r c place : Nov. 11, 3 p.m. at th
ll • Fargo the Legion Ha 3 p.m. at & American n o o n , : Nov. 20 • Fargo . Campus p.m. at Fargo V.A : Nov. 9, 7 s k r o F • Grand e Theater .m. at the The Empir v. 17, 3 p o N : k • Bismarc ee Auditorium at L Sidney J. ege State Coll k Bismarc
Afterschool theatre program comes alive
By Tim Morrissey wo groups of Kennedy Elementary students recently debuted the latest performing arts programming in the Fargo Public Schools, as part of a building-level partnership with the district’s Trollwood Performing Arts School. In October, two groups of students enrolled in the first-ever Trollwood Children’s Theatre (TCT) after-school program took the stage and performed Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Kids. The programs, which took shape last spring, are created for students in grades K-2 and grades 3-5. The activities are taught and coached by theatre and elementary education professionals, designed to expose students to the world of theatre performance and production. Students in the grade 3-5 program were immersed in the activity’s creative process from Sept. 18 through their October performance, and became cast and crew for their production. In the K-2 program, held the week leading up to the performances, professionals engaged those students in introductory theatre games, voice instruction and movement. The K-2 program concluded with public pre-show performances presented before the Disney production. TCT has been in the works for a year and on the radar even longer. It is the brainchild of TPAS Executive Director Kathy Anderson and Moorhead music educator Joan Degerness. The two wanted to create a program for kids that could literally be delivered to schools,
T
artspartnership.net/artspulse
facebook.com/artspulse
unpacked and bolted together. Funding for Trollwood to design and implement TCT – approximately $7,000 in start-up costs – finally became available in 2012, thanks in part to funds from The Arts Partnership through the City Arts Partnership grants. TCT is designed as a turnkey program, in a way that participating schools can cover costs through their own means: registration fees, ticket sales, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) or other sources. Last spring, the TCT program concept was introduced to principals. Kennedy Principal Jerry Hanson became the first to request it, with support from his school’s PTA. Following the finish of the Trollwood summer musical in August, Anderson, Degerness and TPAS Program Coordinator Nancy Glaser set about organizing teams to build and create Kennedy’s TCT program so that it was ready to launch in September. Many of the people on the teams include Trollwood alumni and FPS educators. Kennedy students showcased the inaugural production of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Kids on the auditorium main stage at Discovery Middle School on Oct. 12 and 13, to enthusiastic houses. As the curtain closes, Glaser and Anderson will review the Kennedy program and plan for future sessions of TCT. Their vision is to continue developing teams and a roster of turnkey productions to be available in partnerships with other school districts in the region. In the meantime, the Kennedy students are right where they want to be…in the spotlight.
The Arts Partnership directly supports the organizations and programming that you have been reading about in this issue of ARTSpulse through re-granting. You can help support all the arts in the metro area by becoming an Arts Advocate Partner at any level. Join us today! Name_______________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________
@artspulse
artspulse.tumblr.com
Telephone _______________________________________________
ARTSpulse delivers thoughtful, up-to-the-minute coverage of area arts and culture right to your inbox and social streams. Email event info to kris@theartspartnership.net.
ARTS pulse ARTSpulse is a service of The Arts Partnership 1104 2nd Ave. S., Suite 315, Fargo, ND 58103 • 701.237.6133
Email ___________________________________________________
$10 $25 $50 Other $______________ Please mail to: The Arts Partnership 1104 2nd Ave. S., Suite 315, Fargo, ND 58103 701.237.6133 or go online to donate at TheArtsPartnership.net admin@theartspartnership.net cultivating the arts in our community
6
CulturePulse.org
center for creativity: Continued
november/december 2012
from page 1
Expanded program offerings. A museum is a fine place to see things, but it’s not exactly built for doing things. This attitude is changing in museums and other public facilities across the world, where preferences are steering away from passive involvement and moving toward participation. In the expanded Center for Creativity space, participation will be an absolute priority, meaning that the public will be treated to more classes, more opportunity to build skills and be part of activities that haven’t yet been conceived. This means more bottom-up involvement, too, in a manner similar to Walker Art Center’s hugely popular Open Field program ... which prompted the first-ever Internet Cat Video Film Festival, which made the front page of the New York Times. In other words, loads of possibilities. An incubator for innovation. Broadly speaking, increased arts education and a new hub for creative community involvement means more ideas in the air, more people interacting around those ideas and more of them coming to fruition. This will lead to innovations in local artistic trends, sure, but it also provides a fertile ground for new nonprofits, new volunteer organizations, new groups united around new interests and new business ventures. Quality of life. Ultimately, as all of the above steps come to fruition, the Center for Creativity will operate across ages, income levels and skill levels to bring the satisfaction and positivity of creative life to anyone within reach. This adds to livability, which adds to overall community value, which adds economic value. And do we really need to make an argument for a sustained economic growth model? There’s plenty to celebrate about this opening. The Center for Creativity represents an important step forward for our artists, our school children, and our public as a whole. It’s going to be the setting of a number of great things to come, and we’re excited to see it all unfold.
Photos by Dan Francis
Clockwise from left: Kids and adults delight in a puppet show at the Center grand opening; attendees create decorations from used CDs; artist Michael Strand creates a ceramic cup; a youngster tries his hand at painting.
Photo duo
pair up again By Ann Arbor Miller hotographers Ann Arbor Miller and Britta Trygstad are collaborating to present a new series of images at The Spirit Room in downtown Fargo during December. Called Commons: A Curious Pairing of Photographs, the exhibition of 20 color photographs explores a Photo by Ann Arbor Miller myriad of dynamics when two seemingly unrelated photographs are placed side-by-side. Images included in the show were created over the past 18 months. The exhibition opens Dec. 1 and will remain on display until Jan. 11, 2013. A public opening reception is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6. Miller of Fargo is an established photojournalist Photo by Britta Trygstad and visual storyteller who Commons, an exhibition at The Spirit Room in downtown Fargo, features owns Arbor Photographic. a collaborative effort by local photographers Ann Arbor Miller and Britta Trygstad of Moorhead is Trygstad. an accomplished wedding and portrait photographer who owns Britta The Photographer. Miller and Trygstad previously collaborated to produce Parallels: A Curious Pairing of Photographs, which was exhibited in Fargo in 2010. More information about the photographers is available at annarbormiller.com and brittathephotographer.com.
P
3DQJHD
november/december 2012
7
CulturePulse.org
Cultivate Our Cultures Hjemkomst Center Free Admission
November 10
10 am - 4 pm
Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County
202 1st Ave North, Moorhead www.hcscconline.org 218-299-5511
Moorhead Human Rights Commision
Nutcracker the Classic
presented by
Choreographed by Matt Gasper
7pm | December 14 & 15, 2012 2pm | December 15, 2012 NDSU - Reineke Festival Hall Tickets: $20 Adults | $10 Students Tickets available through NDSU Fine Arts Box Office and Gasper’s School of Dance (home of the FM Ballet). Seats are reserved. 701-234-9440 | fmballet.org
Founders
Heritage Craft Workshops
Hosted by the Heritage Shop at the Hjemkomst
German Feather Christmas Tree
Saturday, November 3 1 - 4 pm Take home a 6� tree for the holidays. Bring your own scissor and pliers. Fee is $25. Registration deadline is October 27.
Chip-carved Christmas Ornament Saturday, November 15 1 - 3 pm Carve your own historic tree ornament. Fee is $25. Call for the supply list. Registration deadline is November 10.
German Cookie Ornament
Saturday, December 1 1 - 4 pm Take home a hand-made ornament. Fee is $25 (includes materials). Registration deadline is November 24.
Rag Rug Workshop Saturday, December 15 1 - 4 pm Workshop teaches the fundamentals for making a rag rug. Participants will make a small rug that can be used as a coaster. The fee of $25 includes a take-home handloom. To register, contact Kelly Bring your own fabric scraps and scissor. at 299-5511 ext. 6731. Registration deadline is December 8.
Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County Hjemkomst Center 202 1st Ave N, Moorhead, MN www.hcscconline.org 218-299-5511
8
november/december 2012
CulturePulse.org
Tanna Lee Hill By Libby Walkup would never call Fargo’s art scene mono-directional. Working for this newspaper I’ve seen it all: glass blowing, canvases of many shapes, colors, shades and paints, I’ve seen clay bowls — heck, I’ve helped make one — I’ve seen photographs with the old on top of the new. I’ve seen drawings and fiber arts and metalwork and stylish bags. Fargo’s art scene easily competes with the rest of the world: in case you weren’t sure about that, I’m clearing it up for you: Fargo is a competitor, and it’s throwing another one in the ranks with an upcoming show. Artist Carrie Lee Wendt is curating Beyond the Veil: Bringing Pop Surrealism to Downtown Fargo opening at the Spirit Room November Nov. 1-30 (reception is from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 17). And let me tell you these eclectic pieces of art are in tearaway-pants, pouring bottles of water over their heads and shooting layups to Let’s Get Ready to Rumble from Jock Jams One (should there have been a number two?). The house lights go dim and spot lights zig zag, do figure eights and circle the floor over the art as it dribbles the balls between just its legs. When the song hushes, and the lights come up the cheers and screams of the crowd simmer and the announcer calls the artist by name as each piece of art comes out to the center of the court, er, gallery (announcer voice):
I
On the roster for this show we have internationally known painter and colored pencil artist Star Wallowing Bull, Gallery4 owner and metalworks artist Karman Rheault, eclectic printmaker Eric A. Johnson, surrealist photographer Eric Bobby, cross-genre, multi-media artist Modern Man, multi-media sketch artist Colby Nelson, sculptor, painter and ceramicist Amber Parsons, ink and water color painter Tanna Lee Hill, screen printer, painter, mixed media artist and graphic designer Punchgut, surreal painter Wade Myszka, graphic designer and publisher of High Plains Reader Raul Gomez, multi-media painter Mackenzie Leigh Kouba, and the curator of the show, the mastermind behind the whole thing, organizer extraordinaire and paper manipulator Caaaarrie. Leeeee. Wendt! Maybe basketball isn’t the right metaphor for art. And putting these folks into boxes with these sorts of labels is absolutely arbitrary, but in looking at their individual pieces I can’t help but see a collection of varied rock-star-like work that I feel I must define in order to give you, the reader, an idea of what you’ll be seeing. This group is so rich and diverse while at the same time seemingly fitting together, as if they were meant to be. Not one of them is afraid to jump a genre or two, mix it up or work with what they can find, anything they can find such as piano strings, deer antlers or blocks of scrap
punchgut
Tanna Lee Hill Above Top: Queen Framed , Above: Blue Dress Girl, Right: Icarus
Suspense and psychological torture wrapped in original score Tin Roof Theatre presents Angel Street By Karla Pederson ometimes, just before a storm breaks, the unusual behavior of animals transmits an eerie sense that something is wrong. In the opening seconds of Hamilton’s Angel Street, a similar feeling seeps over audiences as they watch Bella Manningham convey, without uttering a single word, a sense that something is wrong. The Tin Roof Theatre Company will perform this Victorian thriller by British playwright Patrick Hamilton on Nov. 8-11 at The Stage, the home of FMCT. Wrapping all the suspense in a unique package, local musician Topher Williams (3rd & Main) has written an original musical score to augment the emotion of Tin Roof’s 8th-season opener. Even though the drama unfolds in late 19th-century London, the relevance to psychological abuse occurring in our own 21st century is all too clear. In the darkness of late afternoon, just before the lighting of the gas lights and the serving of tea, the diabolical Jack Manningham (Malcolm Thompson) awakens and resumes his devious game of slowly convincing his wife Bella (Andréa Peterson) that she is going insane. The rest of the mystery — wealthy murdered woman, missing rubies, dimming gas lights —
S
starts to unravel when retired Inspector Rough (Charles Chinquist) calls on Bella. Hamilton’s play was first presented with the title of Gas Light in December 1938 on London’s West End. The Broadway version Angel Street had a very successful threeyear run from 1941-44 with Vincent Price playing the evil Jack. In 1944, four years after a British film adaptation, the famous Hollywood remake came out, winning Ingrid Bergman her first Best Actress Oscar. The play, as well as its film adaptations, gave rise to the term gaslighting — a form of psychological abuse in which the victim is gradually manipulated into doubting his or her own reality, memory and perception. Roger Kalinowski, the director of Tin Roof’s mystery-thriller, observes that “in order to be able to defeat the effects of gaslighting, you have to know what it is, or you’re doomed.” Tin Roof’s Angel Street runs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8, 9 and 10, closing with a 2 p.m. matinee Nov. 11. The Rape and Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo-Moorhead will help facilitate a discussion following the Nov. 9 performance. A portion of that evening’s ticket sales will be donated to the center. Reserve tickets at 701-235-6778 or tinrooftheatre.org.
november/december 2012
9
CulturePulse.org
colby nelson Clockwise (left to right): Icecream Bonbon Lush, People Wearing Things 40, Colby Dominic Nelson, selfportrait, People Wearing Things, Screen prints by Colby Nelson
wood. Wendt considers these folks her friends and peers in the underground art movement that’s happening all over the world. She said, “[Fargo has] local galleries and beautiful museums, however, I still feel that there is this underground art movement happening all over the country moreover here in the F-M area, and I wanted to shed some light on it.” Aside from their work, the thing that strikes me about these folks is their — how shall I say? — snark, their earnestness, their true love for making. These folks, Wendt said, “moonlight as tattoo artists, graphic designers, teachers, etc., but what people should know is that these artists are amazing people with vision and soul.” Punchgut, a crossgenre, multimedia artist working with sculpture, paint, wood, distorted photocopies to pretty much anything it seems he can get his hands on said, “I am happy to have an audience but I would still be doing it in my basement either way…I didn’t know there was a movement…I hope it doesn’t involve running because I can’t find my sneakers.” It’s good for Punchgut that this basketball game is metaphorical. Tanna Lee Hill, a pen and ink artist, is modern by rejecting the modern. Many artists have quickly embraced digital art, drawing things on their iPads (like Wendt drawing a fun painting on her iPad after a long day) or scanning works into
the computer to be edited and adjusted digitally, but all of Hill’s “paintings are done the old fashion way with pencils, pens and water color paint If I have a major screw up, I make it work or scrap it; I have no undo button.” Like much of our country’s counter-culture going back to planting our own food and making our clothes, Hill’s art goes against the grain by mixing her modern vision with a classic medium. And so much more will be represented in this show. Wendt said, “I think the artists involved in this show including myself blurr [sic] the boundaries and defy genres of art.” As an artist they “remind me that I don’t have to conform to any expectations.” This show has a seriously eclectic and underground set of artists coming in. Wendt chose these folks for their work, for their soul and for the way in which they guide her as an artist in the F-M area. She said “I wouldn’t say we are all part of only one specific art movement, but I would say we are inspired by others who aren’t afraid of change, of honest work and some degree of humor and probably a heavy dose of sarcasm. You will see a lot of that same voice coming from the underground, low brow, pop surreal artists out there.” So, please, go check out the roster at the Spirit Room in November because these words and photos won’t do justice to what you’ll see, and remember your tear-away pants.
colby nelson
punchgut Far Left to Right: Birdhiver, Lennon Guns, Go Jimmy Go Zombie, VHS Tape Head, Deerrr
Fargo Public Library welcomes noted Beatles expert Walter Everett November 18 By Melisa Duncan, Fargo Public Library first number one hit, the third and final event in the series is a Day In the Life is likely the Beatles’ most monumental five presentation by Beatles expert Walter Everett titled “A Day in minutes. It’s the final track of their revolutionary psychedelic the Life,” a nod to The Beatles’ song by the same name. His masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and in a session is set for Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. at the downtown way it’s really the linchpin that kept the album from floating off main library. its spindle. Considered an expert on The Beatles and their music, Everett In November, the Fargo Public Library will host a three-part will discuss “the ways in which John Lennon and Paul Mcseries about the Beatles and their music. Starting off the series Cartney joined their independently written fragments to create is a screening of the movie Backbeat (1994, rated R). The film an irregular, ambiguous and haunting illustration of what the screening is set for Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at Fargo’s downimagination can draw out of the mundane.” town main library. This British-German drama chronicles the He will also follow the Beatles’ recording process and demearly days of The Beatles and their experiences in Hamburg, onstrate how the group’s earliest music attempts were “layered Germany, before they were famous. together in the studio, by listening to guitar lines and drum parts Photo courtesy of Walter Everett The second event in the series is a presentation and discussion that were drafted but later cast aside when inspiration brought Walter Everett, Professor of Music Theory. Photo by Dr. Tom Strait, chair of the MSUM Music Department. This more evocative ones.” Part of his presentation includes recordused with permission. event, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the main library, will ing-session photographs of John, Paul, George, Ringo and full cover various aspects of The Beatles, their music and their influence on today’s music. orchestra. Everett will present A Day in the Life’s rich colors, harmonies, rhythms and Marking the 50th anniversary of the month in which The Beatles recorded their underlying message.
A
10
november/december 2012
CulturePulse.org
Add a little lor co
By Rob Neuteboom asmussen College presents its second annual Color on White student artwork showcase at the Spirit Room Gallery in downtown Fargo on Friday, Nov. 30. The showcase and its title were initially inspired by the blank canvas of the first winter that Alex Fogarty, design instructor and New York transplant, experienced in Fargo. Color on White, Fogarty explained, “is profoundly affected and inspired by the weather. Last year I challenged my students to create artwork that would bring life into an often solitary and inward time, when we lose a lot of the color in our environment to a blanket of white.” Her students did not disappoint. Their work quickly evolved well beyond a portrayal of the physical landscape of the North Dakota winter. Using their white, snowy surroundings as a blank canvas, they explored a number of disparate topics. For example, James Ness designed a portrait of an aged soldier, a possible remnant of a decommissioned and disenfranchised Soviet military, Jason Radabaugh rendered a still of two otherworldly lions in turquoise and pink, and Nick Wigtil generated an abstract countryside that appears to be in motion. To Fogarty’s delight, her students exceeded the expectations of her vision — their artwork truly expressed the topography of an internal landscape manifested in carefully crafted and visually appealing designs. In addition to these 2D digital images, which resemble oil paintings, her students also explored 3D art and animation, web design and videos. This year’s event promises another engaging selection of student designs from “the variety of mediums” with which Fogarty’s students work. Their 2D digital paintings illustrate several different themes and concepts: pop culture icons, such as a version of Batman’s nemesis the Joker; the seasons, represented by cropped images as fleeting and transient as the seasons themselves; and disjointedness of self, depicted by an arm reaching out of the pupil of an eye and the profile of a woman’s head imperfectly pieced together, or slowly coming apart. The exhibit will also display 3D art, multimedia, and video animation. Fogarty encourages this level of creative exploration in her design classes because she understands its value in her profession. If she can get her students to take chances and generate new, fresh ideas, they will graduate with an impressive design portfolio and an even more valuable portfolio of experience and creative courage. Displaying student work publicly is an integral part of this process. As Fogarty quickly learned, however, finding the right location to exhibit student work can be challenging. Last year, Fogarty visited a number of potential venues before discovering the Spirit Room. She was impressed by members’ “openness to collaborate and willingness to feature student work.” Further impressed by the organization’s mission “to enrich people’s lives through the development and practice of creative, contemplative and healing arts,” Fogarty finally found a community space conducive to showcasing her design students’ work. Of the Spirit Room, Fogarty said, “The welcome we received was heartwarming and says a lot about the Spirit Room and the art community as a whole in the FM area. There is a genuine desire to work together to celebrate who we are and the art we make.” Fogarty and her students will, in fact, celebrate art and discuss their creative processes at the Spirit Room on Nov. 30 to inaugurate the showcase. In addition to hosting this kickoff event, the Spirit Room has also designated space for the artwork to be exhibited throughout December and part of January. Young or old, art enthusiast or not, the Rasmussen College Color on White student art showcase promises to be an intriguing journey into the emergent craft of digital design and animation. Fogarty encourages community members to stop by the gallery to check it out, to add a little color to the visual monotony of winter.
R
Dustin Gire, Lose Yourself.
Jason Radebaugh, Lions.
a l a G l l a b w o n S December 1 Hilton Garden Inn
the Face on the
Barroom Floor January 10, 11 and 12 HoDo Bar on Broadway in Downtown Fargo
FARGO-MOORHEAD
701.239.4558 for more information
www.fmopera.org
november/december 2012
11
CulturePulse.org
TAP’s Advocate Partners 2012 Alan J. Kluger Alyson Bjornstad Andrew & Miriam Mara Bernie’s Wines & Spirits Beth Fortier Bonnie Bowman Bonnie Cote Brad and Carol Schlossman Brian Slator Britta Trygstad Burton & Patricia Belknap Catalyst Medical Center Carol L. Stoudt Carol Zielinski Caroll & Jo Engelhardt Charles and Helen Grommesh City of Fargo City of Moorhead City of West Fargo Davis Anthony Scott Dayna Del Val & Andrew
Marry Duane Henricks Eric & Anna Runestad Erin and Monte Koffler FM Convention & Visitors Bureau Gen Eidem Gene Okerlund Green Market Catering Helen & Charles Grommesh Insight to Action, LLC Dr. & Mrs. James McCulley Jane Hella Jeff and Anne Peltier Jennifer Paulsrud Joan Justesen John and Sherri Stern Kate Priesler Lisa Tate Marjorie Schlossman Mark and Betsy Vinz
Martha Keeler-Olsen Michael Olsen Michael J. Strand Microsoft North Dakota Library Association NDSU Women’s Club Nem Schlecht Otter Tail Power Corp. Randi Martin Roger Minch Sam & Coralie Wai Sanford Health Susan Spingler Thomas and Ann Riley Virginia Dambach West Acres Development, LLP West Acres Merchant Association William and Mary Schlossman
Grant funding provided by:
TAP’s Primary Partners 2012 Acappella Xpress, Inc. Andrea Baumgardner Angels of the Muse Arbor Photographic Bachmeier Pottery Bree Reetz Camria Ballet Academy Carmen Bruhn Carrie Lee Wendt Concordia College Dan Francis Photography Density Over Duration Productions Doug Hamilton Downtown Community Partnership ecce art + yoga Eric A. Johnson Erika Lorentzsen JPII Catholic Schools
Fargo Park District Fargo Theatre Fine Arts Club F-M Area Music Club F-M Area Youth Symphonies F-M Ballet F-M Chamber Chorale F-M Drum & Bugle Corps. F-M Master Chorale, Inc. F-M Opera F-M Symphony Orchestra F-M Visual Artists FM Golden Notes New Horizons Band Friends of the Fargo Public Library Gallery 4, Ltd. Givinity Press Gooseberry Park Players Great Plains Harmony
Green Purse Group Gypsy & the Fish Harwood Prairie Playhouse Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County Hotel Donaldson Jenna Holt Rheault Kathryn Luther KCCM, Minnesota Public Radio Lake Agassiz Concert Band Lake Agassiz Girls Choir Learning Bank McCal Joy Studio Michael J. Strand Midwest Mud Moorhead Area Public Schools Moorhead Parks & Recreation MSUM College of Arts & Humanities Music Theatre F-M
New Rivers Press Nordic Arts Alliance Nordic Culture Clubs NDSU NDSU Department of English Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society Penny & Pals/Kid Core Perry Rust Plains Art Museum Prairie Public Broadcasting Quilters’ Guild of ND Raine Design Rasmussen College School of Design Red Raven Espresso Parlor Red River Boy Choir Red River Dance & Performing Company Red River Watercolor Society
Rourke Art Gallery & Museum Rust Belt Bindery Sherbanoo Aziz Spider and Company Spirit Room Steven Hammer Studio e Susie Ekberg Risher Tangerine Life The Jass Festival The Listening Room The Stage at Island Park Theatre B Theatre Tales Tin Roof Theatre Company Trollwood Performing Arts School West Fargo Park District West Fargo Public Schools Willi Nilli
Featured Music Events The Concordia Orchestra Home Concert 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 Memorial Auditorium Free and open to the public
PRISM Concert This unique concert is a continuous surround-sound experience, with one ensemble seamlessly following another without pause. 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 Memorial Auditorium Free and open to the public
86th Annual Concordia Christmas Concert “All Are Welcome” Moorhead Concerts: Dec.7-9 Individual ticket sales start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30. (Group ticket sales start Monday, Oct. 15.)
Tickets may be purchased at the Memorial Auditorium box office, at www.ConcordiaChristmas.com, by phone at (888) 477-0277 or by mail.
Minneapolis Concerts: Nov. 29 Tickets may be purchased beginning Oct. 30 at www.MinnesotaOrchestra.org, at the Ochestra Hall box office or by calling (800) 292-4141.
Percussion Ensemble and Marimba Choir Concert For more information, visit www.ConcordiaCollege.edu
With guest soloist Russell Peterson, saxophone 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10 Memorial Auditorium Free and open to the public
12
CulturePulse.org
november/december 2012
FMCT presents holiday classic at The Stage
By Anna Rice or the past 66 years, the Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre has been home to hundreds of local artists. For those who thrive in the creative process, FMCT is a familiar name. As the community joins FMCT in focusing on family, with the upcoming production of It’s a Wonderful Life, we are invited to welcome another artistic name into our households: The Stage at Island Park. With the addition of the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Pavilion to The Stage, FMCT is thrilled to welcome community patrons and share the venue with many production companies and other artists seeking a place to bring their hard work and passion to fruition. The existence of The Stage will continue to encourage the artistic community to cooperate, collaborate and support one another — to operate as a family of creators. This Christmas, FMCT will present the theatrical adaptation of the holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. It is sure to bring to life all of the familiar characters that we know and
F
love from the film. With the assistance of a guardian angel, the story takes an everyday man, George Bailey, through an image of life without him. Learning lessons about hard work, love and family, George is lifted from his despair. The production will be held Dec. 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Visit fmct.org for showtimes and tickets. For the holidays, The Stage will offer a special deal on the Stagedoor Pass, which functions as a season membership to The Stage at Island Park. For $70 per pass ($8.75 per ticket), you can purchase a Stagedoor Pass for the remainder of the 2012-13 season which includes The New Year’s Revue, Rumors, Forever Plaid, Bus Stop, Gypsy, Carol Burnett Skits and Songs, Charlene Shakespeare and Winnie the Pooh. Gather up your loved ones, and come support an old friend, FMCT, in its first holiday season as the resident company at The Stage at Island Park. Let us celebrate the family of artists in this community. For Stagedoor Passes and tickets to It’s a Wonderful Life, call The Stage at 701-235-6778.
German artist Moritz Götze bridges geographic and cultural gaps Submitted by Randi Olsen he Rourke Art Gallery Museum will soon be featuring the works of German artist Moritz Götze. He got his start as a screen printer, making posters for his punk rock band, but has worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist since the mid ’80s. His unique style is described as being a mixture of comic illustrations and Pop Art. He uses this medium to make commentary on politics, history and growing up in East Germany. Götze is quoted as being “a passionate storyteller whose work combines historic and art-historic references with elements of the everyday into multi-layered and often humorous or ironic pictorial compositions… [His art] could be termed a kind of conceptual history painting, with its very own system of simplification, ciphers and collage-like assemblages of fragments borrowed from the various social, historical and artistic contexts.”
T
The Mortiz Götze Exhibit is being brought to The Rourke to reconnect the F-M area to its German roots. Some of Götze’s work is based on the times of the Prussia Prime Minister Otto Von Bismarck, the same Bismarck that North Dakota’s capital is named after. The founder of The Rourke, James O’Rourke, also started his career as a screen printer. O’Rourke went on to found the museum and bring in Pop Art from Grand Forks native James Rosenquist. O’Rourke’s love for screen printing and Pop Art makes Götze’s works a perfect fit along-side other iconic Pop Artists on exhibit. Götze’s exhibition, Deutsche Kunst/ German Art, will be making its American debut here at The Rourke. His works have been featured all over Germany and other parts of Europe, but this is the first time his works have been brought to the United States. The exhibit runs from Oct. 20, 2012-Jan. 20, 2013.
november/december 2012
13
CulturePulse.org
Dancing with The Joffrey Ballet Prairie Public will air the revealing documentary on December 28 Submitted by Marie Offutt he Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet technique, combining art with social statement and setting ballets to pop and rock music scores. Now, American Masters is telling the dance company’s story with Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, which includes rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as breakthrough collaborations with choreographers Twyla Tharp (Deuce Coupe), Kurt Jooss (The Green Table) and Leonide Massine (Parade). The documentary weaves a wealth of rare archival footage and photographs along with interviews featuring former and current Joffrey star dancers, showing the full history of the company from its founding through how it repeatedly resurrected itself after devastating financial and artistic setbacks.
T
Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become their principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance with bold new perspectives for edgy ballets that challenged conventions. Aggressive touring took the company from school auditoriums across America’s heartland, to the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, on to Russia for a month-long tour during the height of the Cold War, and beyond. They also garnered extensive media attention for their daring originality, which included appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cover of Time magazine, and in major motion pictures such as Save the Last Dance and Robert Altman’s The Company (which is based on the Joffrey).
Submitted by Prairie Public Broadcasting
Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become their principal choreographer, in the 1960s.
A Day in the Life Celebrate the Beatles and their music! Tuesday, November 13 - 7 p.m. Screening of Backbeat (rated R)
This film chronicles the early days of the Beatles.
Wednesday, November 14 - 7 p.m. Presentation by Dr. Tom Strait
Professor of Music, Minnesota State University Moorhead He will present a companion program and discussion of Beatles’ music to complement Walter Everett’s visit.
Sunday, November 18 - 2 p.m.
Presentation by Dr. Walter Everett Professor of Music Theory, University of Michigan “The Beatles’ A Day in the Life”
He will discuss his latest two-volume book, The Beatles as Musicians. Sponsored by the Friends of the Fargo Public Library.
Library events are FREE and open to the public. Main Library ▪ 102 Third Street North 701.241.1492 ▪ fargolibrary.org
Photo by Herbert Migdoll
Joffrey Ballet’s Light Rain choreographed by Gerald Arpino.
14 Actress/playwright Ginna Hoben performs The 12 Dates of Christmas at the American Shakespeare Center in 2011.
CulturePulse.org
november/december 2012
When you’re down and out,
make art
Theatre B to stage play written after bad breakup Photo by Lauren D. Rogers
By Carrie Wintersteen hen she suffered a bitter breakup in 2009, Ginna Hoben had no idea the experience would lead to a turning point in her theatrical career. As she began re-navigating single life in New York, her own desire to create a one-woman play just happened to coincide with everyone else’s interest in getting her “hitched.” The idea for The 12 Dates of Christmas was born. Hoben was playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol for the third year in a row at the American Shakespeare Center (ASC), a regional repertory company in Virginia. As she watched her friend enjoy the novelty of playing David in the one-man play The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, she felt inspired to write a new Christmas play for a single female performer. With a mix of her own quirky dating experiences and the comical stories of others, she drafted The 12 Dates of Christmas in just six months. Then the question became how to get the play produced. She sent the play to the artistic director (AD) of ASC but did not hear a response. She thought the worst — the play had no appeal; it had been a cathartic way to process her heartbreak but would not stand on its own as a piece of theatre. But as she began to negotiate her next contract, she got up the courage to ask the AD what he thought of the play. “Oh, your play!” He had not gotten around to reading it! He read the play that night and called her the next day to let her know he wanted to produce it. Together they began working on the subsequent drafts of The 12 Dates of Christmas, with him directing and Hoben making cuts and edits as needed. “I quickly realized I just needed to do what was in my head,” Hoben said. Her director allowed her to take the lead. “I was brutal,” she said. “I could just cut and cut. I wasn’t precious about it.” She whittled the play down to an hour and ten minutes and premiered it during the 2010 holiday season. She continued to develop the play, adding a couple of musically talented friends as DooWop Girls. They add music, sound and mood to the play, and she got a chance to act with others after a year of working solo. “Some of my most rewarding performances were of
W
this play, and I wanted other actresses to be able to do it,” she said. “The character goes on a journey, and the performing of it can be so fun for any actress when she gets it.” Could the story become something more than hers? How would she get the play out to actresses and theatres? She knew that sending the script all over the country would be a lot of work for little reward. So, she did her homework. She thought about what made the play work for the ASC and realized that it worked in a small venue where the emphasis was on technical simplicity and the interaction between character and audience. These aesthetics became her search criteria, and that was how she found Theatre B. Hoben emailed Theatre B just as the Artistic Direction Committee was putting together the 10th season. In a year that Theatre B would produce two new Tony-winners by established playwrights and launch a new play Incubator Series for emerging writers, The 12 Dates of Christmas seemed like a natural fit. Since those early conversations, the play has been picked up by a publisher. “The process of publishing made me ask what was really necessary and which version should be available for production,” Hoben said. After several years of working on the play, there were a host of rewrites. “But ultimately, I had set out to write a one-woman play, so that is the primary version,” she said. Because Fargo-Moorhead is brimming with talented performers, Theatre B decided to produce the version with the Doo-Wop girls. And Theatre B is not alone. Many theatres are producing The 12 Dates of Christmas this year. “There’s even a production in England!” Hoben said. “That’s how you know you have arrived as a playwright, when theatres all over can find your work, and they want to produce it.” This is the third holiday season since that fateful breakup, and Hoben has moved on personally and professionally. She is married and actively performing with the ASC and other theatres. “The American Shakespeare Center is running the show in rep again this holiday season,” Hoben said. “But this time with a new actress. I am writing another play.” And when the new play is done, she will send it to Theatre B.
november/december 2012
15
CulturePulse.org
Fargo CSA continues By Laura Zabel, ED of Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul onight I got to attend the final pick-up event of a very successful Community Supported Art program in Fargo, N.D. Like all the CSAs I’ve had the great fortune to visit, this one is unique and completely locally-owned. Dayna Del Val of The Arts Partnership in Fargo is a truly passionate and inspired leader and has done amazing things in a very short amount of time. I love seeing the ways that this simple model gets adapted and changed and made better by every community that touches it. The Arts Partnership really made the most of the pick-up events, stretching them over six months; and they also used the CSA program to start a new grant program for individual artists (awesome, right?!). And I love the things that all the CSA communities share: like the passion of the artists and the amazing projects they come up with — at this pick up I got to hear the Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society talk about their process of stonecasting cabbage leaves; potter Brad Bachmeier talk about arranging grasses and plants to imprint in clay and the ancient glaze he uses; and photographer Ann Arbor Miller talk about visiting CSAgriculture farms to make her photos and how her CSA project led to a gallery show. I got to see shareholders filling their beautiful handmade bags with art to treasure and share. I got to see community members meeting each other, connecting, eating delicious food, sharing a glass of wine. I got to hear the fantastic Bonnie and the Ah-Men vocal group. The evening ended with a staged reading by Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre of UNITED: The Heroes of Flight 93 by local playwright, David Lassig. It was a simple play that shares the stories of the passengers of flight 93 on September 11, 2001. I was so moved by this reading — obviously the subject and context of the day was moving. But I was also moved by the ritual that theatre provides. The common human need to share our stories, to stand on a stage and tell the story of another person, to share our common narrative, to connect to each other, to make sense of the world. Driving away from the event, I was struck by how ordinary and how powerful art can be. Art allows us to come together — to laugh, to share, to meet, to learn and sometimes to weep. To connect.
T
From L to R and top to bottom: Bonnie Bowman and the Ah-Men provided musical entertainment that got the crowd dancing. The Stage at Island Park offered a beautiful location for the final CSA party. The Northern Plains Botanic Garden created unique pressed cabbage leaves for shareholders. Photographer Ann Arbor Miller was onhand to discuss her photos of community supported agriculture images. New Primary Partner and CSA shareholder Perry Rust talks with TAP’s ED Dayna Del Val. Rustic Trunk created the beautiful design for the party, and the shares of art fit perfectly into it. Artist Brad Bachmeier’s pressed flower ceramic art was a real crowd pleaser.
Photos by Natalie Smith Carlson
HCSCC hosts cultural heritage craft workshops By Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County Staff ot a passion for heritage holiday traditions? Join the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County at the Hjemkomst Center for one or more craft workshops now through the holidays. On Saturday, Nov. 3, Kelly Wambach will teach a three-hour workshop on German Feather Christmas Trees and attendees will take home their own six-inch tree for the holidays. The fee is $25 for materials. Bring a pliers and scissors. Registration deadline is Oct. 27. Markus Krueger will teach a Saturday, Nov. 17, two-hour workshop at 1 p.m. on chip-carved Christmas ornaments, and you’ll take home your own. The fee is $25. Call for the supplies list. 218-299-5511. Registration deadline is Nov. 10. Virginia Dambach will teach a Saturday, Dec. 1, three-hour workshop on German cookie ornament making. The fee of $25 includes materials. Registration deadline is Nov. 24. On Dec. 8, enjoy a free 1 p.m. holiday floral arrangement presentation during the HCSCC holiday open house. No registration is required. Donations to HCSCC are welcomed. Enjoy a cup of cider and some goodies, too. Saturday, Dec. 15, learn how to weave rags into coasters or even floor rugs using a small, wooden hand loom. This $25 fee includes a take-home hand loom. Bring your own fabric scraps and scissors. Registration is Dec. 8. These workshops have limited seating and are expected to be popular. Please register by contacting Kelly at 218-299-5511, gift shop extension.
G
Photo courtesy the HCSCC.
Learn how to use a hand loom, shown here, during the cultural heritage craft workshop series at the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County.
16
CulturePulse.org
november/december 2012