Guido's Guide To The Arts for September and October

by Steve Downing

Bemidji: Bemidji Community Art Center: now through 10/31 “Unique Vision” by John Heller, landscape photography of Utah, Wyoming & Minnesota. Dunn Bros. Coffee: photography by John Eggers. Neilson Place: Terry Honstead’s exhibit “Another Take”.

Brainerd area: tomorrow (9/18) @ 7:30 @ Chalberg Theatre @ Central Lakes College The Cavern Beat Beatles Tribute Band. Saturday 9/19 9-4 in Pequot Lakes: 15^th Annual Arts & Crafts Fair & Taste of Pequot in Trailside Park. Same day/same time in Nisswa: Nisswa Fall Festival @ Nisswa Chamber Building on Main Street. Friday 9/25 @ 7:30 pm @ Tornstrom Auditorium Magnus Martensson, music & comedy. Saturday 9/26 @ Hallet Community Center in Crosby: 8^th Annual Women’s Expo & Fall Arts/Crafts Show 9-3.

Ripple River Gallery near Deerwood: “Great River: Nature in Art”, a group show by 15 artists from the Great River Chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists, opens Saturday 9/19 with an artists’ reception, 3-5 pm. ripplerivergallery.com

Jaques Art Center/Aitkin: “What’s So Funny? A Celebration of Cartooning”, now through 10/3. Today (9/17) Brown Bag Lunch @ noon, “A Century of Minnesota Cartooning” w/curator Duane Barnhart. Saturday 9/19 @ Festival of Adventures in Aitkin City Park Duane Barnhart presents Quill & Ink Sketching (cartoons in the 1800s)

Edge Center in Bigfork: Saturday 9/19 @ 7: Classical Piano Concert, Dr. John McKay. Sunday 9/27 @ 2 a concert by area piano students of local teachers.

Lyric Center for the Arts in Virginia: First Stage Gallery presents Raw Mosaic, a work in progress by Nancy Miller, now through 10/17. Opening reception tonight (9/17) @ 7 w/music by Max Dakota. First Mondays on the First Stage: spoken-word-art @ 6:30.

MN Discovery Center in Chisholm: opening 9/19 and running through 11/29, the exhibit “Iron Dogs: Snowmobiling in Minnesota”---plus other winter-weather-related demonstrations/presentations, including tonight (9/17), two acclaimed films of The Trailblazers (Arctic Cat & Polaris). Admission is always free Thursdays after 5 pm.

Range Creative Art Center in Hibbing: classes starting up in October: woodcarving, pastels, watercolor, drawing, stained glass, clay, and more.

MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids: throughout September, sponsored by Bill & Diane Rutherford: “More, Please” by Minneapolis artist Mari Richards---sculptural & installation art about excess---in the MacRostie Gallery. In the Minnesota Gallery: 2^nd Annual Mail Art Exhibition.

Brewed Awakenings has work by Jay Jones up on the walls this month, Bryan Stenlund next month. Music at various times on various nights, which is also the case (visual art & music, variously) at Rivers Italian.

7^th Annual Goods From The Woods & Green Living Celebration @ Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge Saturday 9/19 9-6, free & open to the public w/free shuttle busses to & from town.

At the Myles Reif Performing Arts Center tonight (9/17) “Plaid Tidings” by Grand Rapids Players @ 7:30, tomorrow & Saturday @ 7:30, Sunday @ 2, sponsored by Drs. Lee Jess & Jordan Anderson/General Dentistry. The Magnus Martensson tour (“Excuse me, does my piano count as carry-on....”) comes to Reif 9/23 @ 7:30. Then Saturday 9/26 it’s Mu Daiko, Japanese drumming, dancing & theatre @ 7:30, sponsored by Ogle’s Marketplace Foods w/funding from Minnesota State Arts Board.* 10/1: Tanglefoot, the farewell tour, @ 7:30, in partnership w/KAXE. 10/3: Brule & American Indian Rock Opera @ 7:30, sponsored by Rowe Funeral Home w/funding from Arts Midwest. 10/9: Judy Collins @ 7:30, sponsored by Woodland Bank. Special note: next Tuesday 9/22 @ 7 (free & open to anyone) the Bush Foundation will be at Reif to talk about their Artist Program fellowships & awards for 2010-2011 (next year the focus is on visual arts).

Out of town: I’m recommending the world premiere of the Jon Ferguson Theatre’s “Super Monkey” in the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie Theater (Mpls.). Opens tonight (9/17), runs through 10/4. It’s a modern and (fair warning) adult farce, concerning a doorman and the people who move in and out of his building, through his door. All he wants to do is make everyone happy, even if just for a few seconds. guthrietheater.org

*The Mu Daiko performance will feature the premiere of a new work, “Taiko Caravan”, commissioned by the Reif Center and the Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing. Mu Daiko, from St. Paul, is acknowledged to be one of the best taiko drum ensembles in the land and three years ago was one of only four North American Japanese-drum troupes invited to the North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles. This will be a powerful visual and musical experience, which will start (weather permitting) with an outdoor party and parade of drummers. (reifcenter.org)