Saturday, December 13 2008

Gertrude Stein’s groundbreaking “cubist” novel, The Making of Americans, is the launching pad for this innovative, media-rich chamber opera. Celebrated Boston-based experimental theater director Jay Scheib, Brooklyn-based composer Anthony Gatto, local new-music stalwarts Zeitgeist, and upstart New York string quartet JACK conspire to reimagine Stein’s groundbreaking history of all humanity. This ambitious collaboration unfolds in front of sets and machines designed by Minneapolis artist Chris Larson.

Theatre in the Round stages this rediscovered 1950s gem. Click here for tickets and information, and here to read Dwight Hobbes’s Daily Planet review.

Internationally renowned jazz vocalist, Charmin Michelle and jazz saxophonist Doug Haining, return with the Twin Cities Seven jazz orchestra to the Capri stage with their holiday hit: A Copasetic Christmas Carol created by Charmin and Doug.

Suitable for (in the words of Nat King Cole) “kids from one to ninety-two,” this fresh, snazzy and hep jazz take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol will surely warm the heart of the even the coldest Scrooge.

Classy bags to Pabst pillows, hot-rod-inspired vinyl to retro kitchen towels, sexy aprons to cozy scarves…unique, one-of-a-kind creations that make perfect holiday gifts. For more information, see sooosweet.com. Free parking!

Renowned for the elegance of his melodies, the intelligence of his lyrics and the purity of his voice, Dan Wilson is a Grammy Award-winning Minnesota-based singer/songwriter known both as a solo artist and as a member of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare.

The countdown to the holidays is upon us and we at Nicademus Art are proud to announce our new show Home for the Holidays on December 13th 2008 starting at 7:00pm. John Grider (Broken Crow) and Mike Fitzsimmons (Paint Goggles) have been working steadily over the past year and are taking over Nicademus Art to bring you all fresh new art.

WHAT:
> Celebrating its first holiday season in Minnesota, Holiday Lights in
> the Park is a new community event that focuses on raising funds for
> local charities and providing an impressive and affordable means of
> holiday entertainment for people of all ages. Visitors will enjoy a
> spectacular array of holiday lights and animated displays as they take
> an evening drive through Phalen Park in Saint Paul. The delightful
> tour is approximately 0.6 miles in length along Lake Phalen and Phalen
> Golf course.

Andrea Carlson
EARTH DIVER

EARTH DIVER features new works from Andrea Carlson’s ongoing series that both challenges and champions issues of cultural appropriation, assimilation and consumption. Drawing heavily on contemporary museum studies, Carlson’s new paintings on paper reference cannibalism as a metaphor to describe the commodification of culture and cultural tourism in museums and on film.

Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, noon to 5 pm

With surreal beauty and deliberate ambiguity Megan Rye’s paintings encourage viewers to see the Iraqi War through the eyes of those who’ve witnessed it firsthand. Her works in “Long Night’s Journey into Day” explore her ongoing fascination with images taken primarily by her brother, Ryan Nosek, while stationed in Iraq as a U.S. Marine. Rye has based her work off her brother’s photographs since 2005, the year he returned from duty.

An exhibit of Polaroid photography by Sean Tubridy. Click here for details.

A retrospective exhibit celebrating 15 years of Kulture Klub Collaborative, a non-profit pairing artists with homeless youth. Click here for details, and here to read Sheila Regan’s feature on the exhibit.

Artist Greg Lindquist will unveil a painting of the 35W bridge rebuilding when his exhibit “Remembrance of Things Present” opens at Bethel University’s 9th Street Entry Gallery on November 7. Details of the event are below.

Explore the traditions associated with Saint Lucia, from her origins as a fourth-century martyr to the legends of her appearance in Sweden.

There are many legends associated with Lucia starting in fourth century Sicily. A young woman gave her dowry away to the poor and confessed herself a Christian. For this she was accused of witchcraft and put to death. Another legend tells of a famine in medieval days. A glowing figure dressed in white, Saint Lucia came across a great lake in the province of Värmland, Sweden.
She brought gifts of food to the starving people.

A major exhibit of contemporary art from India, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Bethel University’s Olson Gallery pleased to present new works by Bethel University Associate Professor of Art Jeff Wetzig.

Jeff Wetzig’s collection of prints transform their traditional roots in Japanese woodblock prints to explore the medium as a means of installation. He investigates the idea of boundaries and borders as they relate to themes such as mass communication, repetition, and fear. The delicate nature of line and color in his woodblock prints are an interesting contrast to their subject matter.