by Thomas O’Sullivan   July 9, 2004 This is an extraordinary moment in American and Hmong cultural history: Minnesota�s major museum is hosting two events for two exhibitions. One is the opening of �Currents of Change,� a curatorial celebration of an 1850s steamboat junket in the decade that the state of Minnesota came into existence, seen through high-style antiques and paintings. The other event is…

by Dean J. Seal   July 4, 2004 Dean Seal writes here about the Guthrie’s new play-commissioning initiative. Ambitious plans are afoot. When the Guthrie was launched so many moons ago, it had the effect that Sir Tyrone wanted it to have; to show that a regional center like Minneapolis could produce and sustain world-class theater. If it can happen in Bristol, why not in Seattle or the Twin Cities? The…

by Amanda Vail   June 19, 2004 Like most people, I walk past art every day: outdoor sculptures, architectural facades, benches, murals and more. Also like most people, I gave no thought to how these works came to be until I was in the middle of that process. During the summer of 2002, I was offered a job carving Indiana limestone for Myklebust-Sears, a public design team composed of spouses Andrea…

by Jaime Kleiman   June 19, 2004 In its first three years, the Minnesota Fringe Festival plagued Minneapolis like a bratty cousin, at times amusing, at times whiny and uncontrollable, but overall easy to ignore. The shows were few in number, their quality was spotty, and it was all over within a relatively painless week and a half. Then a funny thing happened. In 1995, founder Bob McFadden handed the reins…

by Lightsey Darst   June 2, 2004 Lightsey Darst, embarked on a project of secret poetry, explores latrines around the city in search of masters of the language. In Strozier Library the bathrooms squeeze onto half-floors, little doors opening off the landings of the narrow stairwells. The bathrooms are galleys, two stalls and then a poorly renovated handicapped-accessible stall, which ignores how…

by Kim Surkan   June 1, 2004 University Avenue just got a little more interesting, thanks to FORECAST Public Artworks and four local artists. The busy commercial corridor between Minneapolis and St. Paul is now host to four commissioned public art pieces, located between Raymond and Fairview Avenues. Part of FORECAST�s Sculptural Seating Initiative, each work is an example of artist-designed �street…

by Jaime Kleiman   May 21, 2004 Jaime Kleiman thinks about what it might mean to follow the injunction of an artwork rather than merely to contemplate it. “A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality.” � Yoko Ono, Grapefruit , 1964 For the past two months, Yoko Ono has asked Minnesotans, via a 14 x 48-foot billboard on Hennepin Avenue and 12th Street in downtown…

by Dean J. Seal   May 20, 2004 The statue Mohegan is cast in bronze with a zinc and silver finish. It is startling in its realness, hefty in size, moving in its immediacy and thrilling to walk up and touch. But it means a lot more to those who would keep it on its plinth at the Ancient Traders Market. This is public art at its most connective, most tangible. It is the story of a community that needs…

by Ann Klefstad   May 9, 2004 This morning my daughter found a fledgling bird in the yard, peeping away like a little machine. She came running in to tell me, and wanted to take it in the house in a box and raise it. A generation ago I�m sure that�s what we would have done, but now, being in our own estimation wiser, I called a woman who knows everything there is to know about birds and who�s raised…