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Frankenstein Seed Art

Editor's Pick: The Walker's "MN Made" will celebrate local creativity on Saturday

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Our world-class contemporary-art showcase, the Walker Art Center, will be celebrating--and inspiring--made-in-Minnesota creativity this coming Saturday, April 9, with MN Made, a day of events and workshops keyed to our lovable local blend of sophistication and earthiness. The Walker, like The Line, defines creativity in capacious terms, so you'll not only be able to take part in a crafts sale, seed art and knitting workshops, a gallery tour, and a neo-folkie concert, but you can glean tips on chucking your day job and starting your own offbeat business.
Rob Byers

As the snow melts, the metro area gets ready for its most bike-friendly spring yet

Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, March 30, 2011
In the past year or so, the Twin Cities have solidified their reputation as one of the bike-friendliest metropolitan areas in America. And we're not resting on our laurels. An expanded bike-share program, a brand-new online bike-rental business, new trails and connections, a new bike/coffee shop combo in the works, and more--they all point to a great spring for the human-powered-transport set.
Arms and the Man at the Guthrie Theater

Editor's Pick: How Do They Do That? Guthrie Theater secrets revealed this weekend

Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Going to the theater can be soul-satisfying and exciting, but it also prompts questions. How did they get that lighting effect? Why did they decide to put the lead actress in such a strange costume? Why did they choose this play? This Saturday, fans of Minneapolis' internationally renowned Guthrie Theater get a chance to ask anything they want about a major current production, George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, and get answers from senior Guthrie staff and starring actors.
Nicollet Towers

Despite tight money, local developers are rallying to house, and help, the homeless

Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 23, 2011
When the Great Recession swept in, it took a toll on development--including the building of new housing for the homeless. But now, along with other signs of life in the economy, local developers in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors are back on the job in a highly visible way, rehabbing major buildings and creating "support housing" within them--places to live that also offer services that help keep people off the streets.
David O’Brien Wagner of SALA Architects

Architect David O'Brien Wagner: There's more to green building than systems and certificates

Meleah Maynard Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Another local David--who is also connected to the Pacific Northwest--is an advocate for the role of good design in sustainability. David O'Brien Wagner of Minneapolis' SALA Architects speaks up for the subtle, even spiritual side of green building. Systems and certificates are important, he tells Meleah Maynard, but a building isn't green if it isn't carefully designed to connect the human and the natural worlds.
The ICC's Anna Chernakova, Massimo Bonavita, and Nassim Rossi

Looking for the real Italy in Minnesota? The Italian Cultural Center can help

Susan Klemond Wednesday, March 09, 2011
In colloquial Italian, the word spunto means a creative idea. Italy has given the world more than its share of spunti in art, architecture, music, design, and more--and five years ago some adoptive Twin Citians got a spunto of their own: to create a place that celebrates all things Italian. Today the Italian Cultural Center teaches language, sponsors film showings, collaborates with art and opera venues--and it's just getting started.
Jenni Undis, owner of Lunalux

Lunalux: Where fine printing is hip, funny, and fashionable

Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Lunalux, Jenni Undis' hip printing shop and paper-goods boutique on Minneapolis' Loring Park, pioneered in the crafting of "indie" greeting cards--cleverly conceived fine-press alternatives to Hallmark. Some of the most design-savvy people and organizations in town have gone to Undis for their printing needs--and her retail shop is full of offbeat paper goods you won't find anywhere else.
St. Anthony Falls Lab

Dale Connelly, Resident Tourist: Saint Anthony Falls Lab, where water meets the future

Dale Connelly Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Our Resident Tourist takes a tour of a boxcar-shaped building on the Minneapolis riverfront where, even in winter, scientists use inflowing water from the Mississippi to model all kinds of interactions between land and water. Scientific esoterica? Not really. The scientists at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory want to help Louisiana rebuild its delta. They want to understand the algae blooms that create fish-killing "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico. And with new federal support, they're turning their expertise toward the study of wind power, biofuels, and "hydrokinetics"--nothing less than the discovery of "new ways to power our civilization."
The Walker's Out There Series 1

Editor's Pick: The Walker kicks off this year's Out There performance series with Euro-puppetry

Wednesday, January 05, 2011
We've learned to count on the Walker Art Center to bring some of the freshest, edgiest performance troupes in the world to the Twin Cities, from venerable modern masters like choreographer Merce Cunningham and Japanese  dance legend Kazuo Ohno to young companies that fuse theater, dance, video, and installation art in unpredictable ways. Tomorrow night (January 6), the WAC inaugurates its 2011 Out There series, an annual showcase for eclectic, genre-bending and -blending stage performance, with Show Your Face!, a decidedly grown-up puppet drama.
animal train

Making the Holidazzle parade happen--the people behind downtown's lit-up holiday tradition

Susan Klemond Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Captain Hook is all lit up and the Joe Maurer snowman is spinning. The Holidazzle parade is nearly two decades old--a holiday tradition born of the urge to get people to experience downtown Minneapolis during the holiday season. It's impossible to miss the bright lights and music--but the people who make the parade happen aren't always as visible. From the folks who fit the fanciful costumes to the people who keep the floats on pace to the light-bedecked performers themselves, a bevy of workers and volunteers labor to make the magic seem effortless.
John Foley of Level

John Foley's 4Front festival: turning our towns into world centers of creativity

Chris Steller Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Like it or not, the Twin Cities are competing with major metropolises around the world--we're talking Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, and the like--to attract creative, innovative, entrepreneurial people who can live anywhere. That's the message of adman John Foley, whose brand-new nonprofit, 4Front, aims to raise awareness of this high-stakes situation by creating a yearly festival that's part competition, part showcase of Twin Cities innovation. The goal: to lure the best and brightest worldwide to our towns.
Triple Rock

Replacing the Replacements: Our music scene is still hot, and here's where to catch rising stars

Dan Heilman Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The palmy days of Prince, H�sker D�, the Replacements, and other iconic Twin Cities bands may have passed, but our music scene is just as vital, and a lot more diverse, today. Just as in the golden age, seeing and hearing the bands live is crucial to really getting to know the scene, so here is our list of definitive venues--from the legendary and cavernous former home base of the Purple One, First Avenue, to the beer-fragrant holes-in-the-wall where tomorrow's stars are plugging in their amps.
Meatloaf at the Uptown Cafeteria and Support Group

Bringing ideas to the table: Three hot restaurants that break the mold

Ellen Shaffer Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Nothing helps a new restaurant get off the ground faster than a fresh idea--a brand-new way to dine as well as great food and a hot location. Three new Twin Cities restaurants--the Uptown Cafeteria and Support Group, Barrio Tequila Bar, and Ringo--offer this special kind of conceptual freshness. But they give it an egalitarian Twin Cities stamp too, by fusing the drop-dead hip and the decidedly democratic.
Ron in his studio

In the TractorWorks building, art comes off the walls and into the lives of office workers

Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The trendy new TractorWorks office building in Minneapolis' North Loop looks a lot like an art gallery inside-- ex-SoHoite Ron Ridgeway has made it that way. The artist and design professional curates the building's art collection, but what he's actually creating is an art center where employees of the firms in the building can explore their creative selves and get their art on. In the world of "tenant amenities," this just might be 2010's answer to the workout room.
Bjorgvin and Maikel of Element Six Media

The earthy admen: Element 6 Media turns snowbanks, water, and volcano dust into ads that go viral

Dan Haugen Wednesday, July 28, 2010
There's a pair of European-born marketers who, from a table in a literary coffee shop in Minneapolis, turn the earth itself into an ad platform. Dutchman Maikel van de Mortel and Icelander Bjorgvin Saevarsson stamp logos into snowbanks, draw slogans in dirt and dust, and plant flower gardens that spell out client identities. The Internet loves it, and so do the duo's mostly European and coastal-US clients. Is this the earthy new face of advertising?
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