Arts

Inspiring Abstraction

October 27th, 2017

Jay Fox paints his love letter to the Aquarium

One day, Jay Fox started to paint over one of his previous murals in the entryway of The Aquarium.

“I went in one day without asking permission, and it pissed a lot of people off,” Fox said. “And I just painted over the old one. The old one had a lot of detail in it, but it just didn’t work. It never really worked for me, it felt unfinished. ‘Trust me, this will be 100 times better.’ So I did it.”

Nearly five months and 650…

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​Beau Thiege, Guitar Man

October 18th, 2017

The High Plains Reader ran into Beau, master craftsman, who works with what the Minot Daily news called “junk repurposed into musical masterpieces.”

High Plains Reader: How did you get into luthiery?

Beau Theige: I came across a guy on YouTube playing a 3-string cigar box and I thought it would be fun to make myself one. I ended up making 7 or 8 of them. The only place to buy guitar strings in Williston at the time was Books on Broadway, a local bookstore. My friend I was with at the…

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Fritz Fest, celebrating the life and work of Fritz Scholder

October 4th, 2017

The Plains Art Museum, the Rourke Art Museum, NDSU, the Red Door Art Gallery (Wahpeton, ND) and the Fargo Theatre have teamed up to bring Fritz Fest, a three-day event, celebrating the life and work of influential 2oth century painter, sculptor, printmaker and poet with local roots, Fritz Scholder.

According to Andy Maus, Director of the Plains Art Museum, the impetus for the event came from a meeting with Rourke Art Museum board member Peter Schultz and the need to “have a more…

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​F-M Studio Crawl sampler

September 28th, 2017

Since 2004, the Fargo-Moorhead Visual Artists have been opening studios and encouraging the public to get a more intimate glimpse into the creative process as part of Studio Crawl.

Encompassing Fargo, Moorhead, Harwood and Felton, the Studio Crawl includes a total of 75 artists opening their studio doors to the public for one weekend. This gives the public a chance to glimpse into the working spaces and minds of a variety of artists. From potters to painters, glassblowers to printmakers,…

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Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: a chance to be recognized for your talent

September 20th, 2017

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. This nonprofit organization described their mission as “To identify students with their exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.”

For the main opportunity is to compete for recognition at the state level. There are three different levels of awards; Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. Any…

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​Zhimin Guan: Opening Reception

September 20th, 2017

Zhimin Guan has been a professor of art at Minnesota State University since 1998. Guan’s artworks have been exhibited throughout the United States and China and he has appeared in more than 200 selective professional exhibitions and received 25 art awards.

Guan grew up in one of China’s ancient regions, called Anhui province, which is located in central China. Guan was influenced by the people around him and he explained the environment while growing up. “It seems that the people…

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Ben Rheault opens “Enantiodromia: Studies” at Rourke Museum

September 13th, 2017

Enantiodromia: noun; a principle that states any force will inevitably produce its opposite. After stumbling upon this term in a book about psychoanalyst Carl Jung, artist Ben Rheault discovered the theme for his upcoming exhibit at the Rourke Art Gallery and Museum.

The pieces in the exhibit started when Rheault was approached by friends of his in a band to design cover art for songs they were releasing.

“Listening to their music, their themes were similar to what I was dealing with,…

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​Decent exposure at the Hodo

September 13th, 2017

photo by Lew Ableidinger

High Plains Reader had the opportunity to chat with our very own J Earl Miller about Exposure 2.0, a group exhibition of photography curated by Miller, currently on display at the Hodo Lounge.

High Plains Reader: Can you tell our readers how Exposure got started?

J Earl Miller: Honestly, Lew Ableidinger is the main reason I started this show. I started following him on social media. I thought his photographs were next level but he lived in Harvey, N.D. I am pretty…

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King of his castle

August 23rd, 2017

Gary Greff’s new sculpture and the future of the Enchanted Highway

When HPR spoke to Gary Greff in 2015 he was in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign to fund his latest sculpture. We spoke of his plans to build a 70-foot spider web composed of ¾ inch cables suspended from an array of colorful prairie flowers. Cement mixers were to be transformed into salvaged metal spiders.

Greff, the visionary behind the world’s largest salvaged metal sculptures and creator of North Dakota’s…

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​The Buzz at Red River Market

August 16th, 2017

Interactive Hive through Plains Art Museum goes to market

Photo by Jerry Sherven

This summer, interns between the ages of 11 and 18 participated in Buzz Lab, a program through the Plains Art Museum that gives students the opportunity to teach the public about pollinators through art, design and interaction.

On Saturday, the Buzz Lab interns will bring part of their summer project to the Red River Market. Called the Hive, the interns enlisted local artist Dwight Mickelson to design and…

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