by Jean Sramek   October 18, 2004 Rob Reiner�s cult-classic mockumentary includes a scene with the fictional band�s lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel. The interviewer asks Nigel what he would do for a living if he weren�t a rock musician. Nigel, played by the wonderfully deadpan Christopher Guest, chews his gum thoughtfully and answers, �Well, I suppose I could work in a shop of some kind �maybe in a…

by Julia Durst   October 10, 2004 Across from the bustle of Whole Foods Co-op on 14th Avenue East in Duluth sits a world many walk by but few have explored. Inside a rambling, century-old green-and-white home snuggled into the steep hillside is a trove of art prints. Printmaker Cecilia Lieder has transformed the first floor of her house into a gallery that exhibits only prints by regional artists. A…

by Glenn Gordon   September 12, 2004 Whenever I went to the old Walker Art Center, it felt like visiting art that had been hospitalized. It always made me feel I should put on scrubs. The Walker�s formal garden across the street has some great sculpture, but it has the same effect. It all stands there like a collection of filled prescriptions. The Walker�s garden is designed to induce cultural awe, but…

by Lightsey Darst   August 15, 2004 Here’s Lightsey Darst’s second installment of her Fringe Diary—the performance and its aftermaths. Ten minutes to house opening and we�re on stage for the last time before the show. We�re stretching or rehearsing but what we�re really doing is touching the stage: black, rough wood, tape-pocked, solid. This stage is something we�re going to have to trust and know, our…

by Lightsey Darst   August 7, 2004 Lightsey Darst is dancing in the Fringe—here’ s her take on what it feels like to move from the audience to the stage. Brinsley opens a bag of Twizzlers. She is wearing a nude under-leotard and a satin faux tutu with fuchsia lacing up the front. Her legs are bare and her platinum hair (brown roots flaunted) is spiked up into little knots and ponytails. Next to me one…

by Juliet Patterson   August 7, 2004 Five public art projects funded by the city of Minneapolis will be dedicated this summer and fall, as part of the city�s Art in Public Places, a regular part of the City�s Capital Improvement program since 1992. The program commissions new artworks, conserves and maintains existing works, and provides support on special projects to other City departments and boards…

by Dean J. Seal   July 29, 2004staid and prestigious in its long-running success, has spawned an unruly pair of offspring. Both the Loring Art Fair and the Powderhorn Art Fair are anecdotally traced to artists who were successful at one time in Uptown, but didn�t make the cut, as the juried fair drew from more and more national artists. Now Uptown is firmly embedded in the national scene, and the two…

by Chris Godsey   July 19, 2004 Under the highway that shepherds tourists in and out of Duluth, squalor and inspiration coexist among art most people will never see. The Graffiti Graveyard, a quarter-mile stretch of filth and creativity, lies under Interstate 35, just half a mile west from tourist mecca Canal Park, and quite close to the Depot (an arts center and museum). The Graveyard offers a stunning…

by Dean J. Seal   July 9, 2004 Public art has a place; we need more of it, so that walking down the street is an adventure and a pleasure. We need it so that artists can make full-sized work and be paid for it. We need it to bring people together. We need it, even though it sometimes doesn�t work out. It was April, 1998. I was editor of a small neighborhood newspaper that covered the two neighborhoods east…