Arts

​Shane Balkowitsch: Sizing up humanity through antiquated craft

July 19th, 2017

Shane Balkowitsch was nervous. He squatted under an inky shroud, gazing ahead above the rim of his eyeglasses. In front of him, hoisted on a modern tripod, was his accordion camera with its intense red bellows. Only steps away unfolded a 19th century sea scene of travail and strife, of a deathly woe and a fervid vitality.

Or at least its reenactment. Volunteers – clothed in shoddy garbs and smeared in dramatic makeup – clamored on a wooden make-do barge in the open prairie. Gathered…

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​Living legend

July 12th, 2017

At 94 years old, acclaimed regional printmaker Charles Beck continues to work on artworks every day. Although he has had to stop his daily printmaking practice and now lives in a nursing home, Beck has not been detoured from continuing to create art.

Instead of printmaking, Beck now uses acrylic paint and ink to create colorful images of nature that are inspired by his memories of places in Otter Tail County and the Red River Valley.

Before his stroke several years ago, Beck would…

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​Brittany Anderson’s landscapes: the contents of a void

June 28th, 2017

Brittany Anderson’s travels have led her to many places, from Bismarck to Moorhead, Iceland to Switzerland and North Carolina back to North Dakota. Rather than documenting a place with a camera, Anderson chose to use her paintings to express the attitude and environment of the places she’s stayed.

On view now at Ecce Gallery in Downtown Fargo is Anderson’s exhibit “Temporary Voids,” a dramatic, conceptual look at the landscapes Anderson’s experienced throughout her life.

After…

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​Write down the memories that last forever

June 7th, 2017

“I was devastated, scared, and lost. My family’s world changed and our relationships with one another changed too.” said Lonna Whiting.

Whiting, co-founder of Brains on the Plains, went on. “In addition to a dramatic shift in our family dynamics, we didn’t know what the future would hold for my mom. All we know is it wouldn’t be good and very far from what we expected for my mom reaching her retirement years.”

Whiting’s mother, Beth, was diagnosed with early-onset…

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​F-M Visual Artists announce Meg Spielman as Member of the Year

May 31st, 2017

Since its founding in 2004, the Fargo-Moorhead Visual Artists has been creating opportunities for visual artists within the Fargo-Moorhead community. In 2011, the FMVA awarded its first Member of the Year award as a recognition of the great work members are producing in the area.

This year, FMVA awarded Member of the Year to Meg Spielman, a photographer and potter who has been a member of FMVA since its foundation. Spielman was the second president of the FMVA. Troy Pederson, the…

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​The woman who wears many hats

May 24th, 2017

Artist Anna Lee brings years of knowledge to Fargo in new workshops

Organizing and participating in locally-grown fashion shows, years at corporations like Target. And now working as an independent artist, Anna Lee has done it all, making her new workshops perfect for anyone looking to gain a new perspective on their work.

Anna Lee recently moved back to the Fargo-Moorhead area after moving to Minneapolis and building a career there. When she moved back to Fargo, Lee was interested in…

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​Reviving the lost art of birch bark scrolls

May 17th, 2017

The Plains Art Museum Native American Art Program Director, Laura Youngbird, is pairing with Lise Erdrich to teach a class on Birch Bark Scrolls at the Plains Art Museum on May 18 and 19.

Weaving together stories and words, the Ojibwe tribe wrote stories on birch bark scrolls, known in their native language as wiigwaasbakoon. The class will be free to Native artists as part of the Plains Art Museum’s initiative “Creativity Among Native Artists,” which aims to bring visibility to…

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​Five years of compassion: Plants for Patients celebrates

May 17th, 2017

The organization Plants for Patients (P4P) is having a fifth birthday party and everyone is invited. The event is May 25, 7-11pm at Pounds, at 612 1st Avenue North in Fargo. The celebration is titled, “A P4P Celebration: 5 Years and Growing” and it will include the chance to participate in a group art project, eat delicious food, and check out new merchandise for P4P.

You can also purchase plants and watch local artist Kim Jore as she does a live mural painting. Music will be…

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​New murals at International Market Plaza promote unity and diversity

May 10th, 2017

A drab strip on Main Avenue in Fargo will soon be brightened by murals on the International Market Plaza, reflecting the growing diversity of Fargo. Created by local artists and a youth mural painting group at the Plains Art Museum, the murals will be installed at a reception this Saturday afternoon.

“We think that visual art is important for the aesthetics and identity of our city. And what is represented in our art should reflect the identities of people experiencing it. With a…

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​Emma Beatrez; the Inverted World

May 10th, 2017

Beatrez has created a series of chromatically inverted negative paintings – abstract nude forms. The artworks are designed to be more approachable and Beatrez intended creating the style to engage audiences with form, color, and anatomy. The show that Beatrez is presenting is the work form that she has made from testing out a negative painting to having a nude portrait of her – the artworks are rejected from two different art shows because of the nudity – Beatrez hoped to combine…

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