May 19th, 2025
By Raul Gomez
Minutes before Modern’s Celebration of Life opened its door at the Sons of Norway, I was fiddling with the bar computer, trying to pull up the playlists of Modern’s work I had set aside for the audience to see. Soon, the Sons of Norway would be packed with friends and fans of Modern. I finally get the audio working just as the room fills. It was a packed house.
There were heaps of laughter as folks shared stories, passing the mic from stranger to stranger.…
April 17th, 2025
By Raul Gomez
Modern Man was a gentle soul. If you were down or just wanted a friend, he’d be there for you.
I remember the first day I met Modern Man. It was Jeremiah Fuglseth and me. He wanted to write about this legendary artist he’d met. When I stepped into Modern’s studio, I saw a giant canvas, a 12-foot tall canvas, airbrushed in a deep, dark red. It was of Hitler and a group of men. When Modern turned off the lights, you would see this group of dead bodies crammed into the…
April 2nd, 2025
By Sabrina Hornung
Photo by Chad Nodland, "Artistic Freedom"
On January 19, 2025, the last full day of Joe Biden’s presidency, he commuted Leonard Peltier's two consecutive life sentences to home confinement at his residence in Belcourt, North Dakota. On February 18, 2025, Peltier was released after 49 years in prison.
Peltier is a Native American activist and a leader in the American Indian Movement (AIM). He was convicted of murdering two FBI agents in a shooting on…
March 15th, 2025
By Sabrina Hornung
Telling Queer History is an LGBTQIA+ organization that utilizes oral storytelling and community building to educate, honor and collect oral histories. To honor its final year in operation, the organization is on a five stop Minnesota tour featuring new work and retrospective work.
We had a moment to chat with founder and Executive Director Rebecca Lawrence prior to the upcoming exhibition titled “We Live On: Stories of Radical Connection” at Red…
February 21st, 2025
By John Showalter
Everyone has heard the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” However, it is safe to say there are far more than a thousand in Mickey Smith’s photographs. When one hears about photography exhibitions, one often thinks of subject matter ranging from architecture to nature to people. In Smith’s case, she has spent years chronicling the changing landscape of libraries and their contents.
Originally from Duluth, Minnesota, Smith…
November 23rd, 2024
By Sabrina Hornung
In 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.
“There were maybe four women who were artists, who just started to get together and paint. They wanted to have a way to display their work,” said former Executive Director Taylor Barnes. “More people joined, so they had this gallery above a drug store…
November 13th, 2024
By Sabrina Hornung
Ted Martin, retired educator and western North Dakota native, currently has his art on view at Mind Virus Counter-Culture Books and Media. The exhibition features Martin’s colorful ink drawings and will be on display from November 15 through December 1. The exhibit launches with a pre-show artist discussion on Friday, November 15 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
When asked if there was a common theme in his work, Martin said, “Male nudity? The male form —…
September 19th, 2024
By HPR Contributors
They are the inventive, passionate, adaptable, resourceful, sometimes over-enthusiastic, wack-tacular people who create art in our community, and they’re opening their studio doors to you for the 2024 Fargo-Moorhead Visual Artists Studio Crawl party. At fmva.org, there’s a map that shows where these studios are, and you might be surprised to see they’re in your neighborhood! Who knew?
A lot of you probably do know. The Studio Crawl is now in its…
June 20th, 2024
New Minnesota sculptures include artist’s largest troll
By Sabrina Hornung
According to Danish artist and environmental activist Thomas Dambo, “All trash is treasure.” So far, he and his team have built 138 giant recycled troll sculptures in 17 countries and 19 states in the U.S. This summer, they added Minnesota to the list with a new installation in Detroit Lakes. Now the hunt is on to find them.
“I make them in a big treasure hunt,” Dambo said. “So I hide…
May 16th, 2024
If your Spidey senses are tingling, it may be because Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross is coming to the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. The traveling exhibition, developed by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County, Illinois, will bring the gravity-defying world of Marvel Comic illustrations to Bismarck from March 16 through June 9, 2024.
The exhibition includes more than 50 original illustrations, including cover art, storyboards,…
By Bryce Vincent Haugen The Republican Party of Minnesota nominated business executive and Army veteran Kendall Qualls for governor at its convention in Duluth the last weekend of May. Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, one of…
Saturday, June 13, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.Paradox Comics-N-Cards, 814 Main Ave., FargoCalling all nerds: it’s time to get down and nerdy with vendors aplenty, who are selling comics, toys, video games, board games, various collectibles…
June 6-7StatewideYou grab a line and I’ll grab a pole — and if you’re a North Dakota resident, you can head on down to your favorite fishing hole, no license needed (for this weekend, anyway). All other rules still apply…
By John Strand It took us over 30 years for us to reach out and ask for your help. The High Plains Reader has always been subscription free and paywall free. Our content has — and always will be — free to access for all of our…
By Ed RaymondWere women created to do the work of God?One of the first requests made by new Pope Leo XIV was to invite an expert on the alt-right conservative Catholic organization known as Opus Dei to brief him about its…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick GionThe scarfing of canned fish and seafood products by online food influencer types is hard to miss on social media these days. Some of the consumed morsels range from exquisite to downright nasty. However, there are many…
By Bryce Vincent Haugen The curtain has come down on Jade Presents. Fargo-Moorhead’s largest event promoter has brought thousands of shows — more than 150 per year — and hundreds of artists to the area over the past 36 years. On…
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By Greg Carlson The feature directorial debut of established internet phenomenon and entertainment hyphenate Hayley Kiyoko — known unironically to her fans as “Lesbian Jesus” — carries with it a curious backstory becoming more…
By Jacinta Zens I recently sat down for a chat with ceramicist Louie Albertson, Clay and Studio Program Manager at the Plains Art Museum. Before the interview, I had the pleasure of getting to know him a bit as a colleague when I…
Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By Eli Liverani Cholesterol is probably one of the first molecules I have ever heard of in my childhood. Most of the relatives on my mother's side had high cholesterol in their blood, and apparently, levels above a certain range…
January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…
Chris M. Stoner I was recently dismissed from my role as drag show director and emcee for Dakota OutRight, a role I had been fulfilling for more than two decades. The reason given? My political commentary during shows, while…
