Arts

​Exposure 2019

November 13th, 2019

Cover design by Raul Gomez

By Jill Finkelson
jsfinkelson99@gmail.com

For the fourth year now, “Exposure” will showcase the work of area photographers. The yearly celebration of photography runs through the month of November. Put together by our own J. Earl Miller, photographer, and enthusiast, he opens the show to all, young, old, professional, and amateur. 

There are over 30 photographers showing work at The Toasted Frog, Bernbaum’s, the HoDo, Blackbird Woodfire and Fargo Photoworks. Though the group party is…

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​31 drawings in 31 days

October 23rd, 2019

Inktober - drawing by Colby Nelson

Each October a number of drawing challenges appear across social media. Think 31 drawings in 31 days. The original Inktober challenge was started in 2009 by artist Jake Parker to boost his drawing and inking skills. Since then multiple drawing challenges have popped up and countless artists around the globe have joined the call to action through facebook and instagram united by the hashtag #inktober. We had a chance to check in with three local artists who accepted the challenge and …

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​Masquerade at the Art Ghoullery

October 23rd, 2019

Drawing by Christina Johnson

By Jill Finkelson
jsfinkelson99@gmail.com

From October 4 to November 3, the Rourke Museum’s upstairs gallery becomes the Art Ghoullery: Black Cats and Vampire Bats. It’s the perfect backdrop for a masquerade party. Costumes are encouraged but not required for this fun event at the beautiful Moorhead museum. The collection features creepy cats, halloween masks, whimsical witches and more. The artists are competing for “Best in Show” and “Audience Choice” to be given away on…

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Folk arts make happy hearts

September 25th, 2019

Tree of Life - photograph by Sabrina Hornung

By Lonna Whiting
lonna@lonna.co

Not long ago at a North Dakota nursing home located in Nelson County, a storyteller from The North Dakota Council on the Arts helped an elderly woman express in writing an important milestone from her long life as part of the Art For Life program.

In the story, the elderly woman described details about leaving the family farm to her adult son.

A few days later, the son came for a visit just when the facility’s activities coordinator planned to read the…

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​Life, Love, and Art at Funhouse Press

September 25th, 2019

Maybelline - by Cameron Peterson

Shared passions can lead to lifelong partnerships, and that is certainly the case for Cameron Peterson and Annette “Nettie” DuBord. The two are not only husband and wife as well as MSUM alumni, but each are talented and successful printmakers in their own right, whether working together or striking out on their own. DuBord’s most recent undertaking is the art show “It’s Always Something”, currently on display at the Rourke Art Gallery and Museum until October 13, where…

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Intrigue behind a Sitting Bull Painting: The little know story of artist Caroline Weldon

September 25th, 2019

Sitting Bull portrait by Caroline Weldon 1890

By Kim Jondahl

Sometimes the curious, behind-the-scenes stories of museum artifacts are as intriguing as the actual pieces. In the little-known story of a painting of Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull hanging in the State Museum, the art, the subject, and the artist all share remarkable roles.

I’ve walked past this 1890 oil painting of Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Iyotanke, hundreds of times during my museum career. I’ve squinted behind the glass case at the amateur painting and the…

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​Becoming unhinged in Fergus Falls

September 25th, 2019

Cyanotype of the Kirkbride building in Fergus Falls by Sabrina Hornung

In early October 2018, I had the opportunity to participate in a two week Hinge Arts Residency in Fergus Falls Minnesota. The application wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be but I still sweated my way through it. Naturally I was pleased as punch when I found out my proposal was accepted. As part of the residency I stayed in a beautifully renovated apartment just off the grounds of the former Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center also known as the Kirkbride. Resident artists…

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It’s the Time of the Season for Art Appreciation

September 25th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

By Kristin Gruber
perriex1@gmail.com 

"Art is a nation's most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation." - Lyndon Johnson

It's only a matter of time before Fargo-Moorhead lands on the "Best Cities for Arts and Culture" lists, and the annual Studio Crawl, now in its 16th year, is part of the reason.

Growing every year, the Studio Crawl reaches north, to Hillsboro, and south to Christine. It exists…

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​A Symphony for The Other Four

August 28th, 2019

By Kris Gruber
perriex1@gmail.com

The High Plains Reader spoke to Plains Art Museum Executive Director Andy Maus about “Symphony of the Cosmos,” the upcoming improvisational, live performance with artists Aida Shahghasemi and Nima Hafezieh. Andy discussed the facility’s “pride in doing something that is adventurous and unique” that to his knowledge, “hasn’t been done to this extent before.” Speaking of the interconnectedness of the performance and exhibition, he said that…

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‘Local American epics’

July 17th, 2019

Advance Guard of the West was painted by Edward Buk Ulreich - photograph by Sabrina Hornung

The US Postal Service recently released a set of stamps celebrating the New Deal era post office murals that were federally commissioned during the Roosevelt administration, though the mural that graces the walls of the New Rockford Post Office titled “Advance Guard of the West” wasn’t featured on any of the stamps, it provides a shining example of the Roosevelt administration’s depression era public art program.

According to its registration form for the National Register of…

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