Culturology 3-24: Pecha Kucha in Bemidji

by Travis Ryder

Public speaking is routinely ranked as one of our top fears.  Maybe you're still haunted by memories of freezing up in front of your high school speech class.  (I remember one poor girl in ninth grade performing a pantomime with an open zipper.)  But a new global phenomenon has come to the Northwoods, and it has area folks volunteering for public speaking. In this feature, independent producer Doug MacRostie discovers the magic that is Pecha Kucha. The next Bemidji event is on Thursday, March 31^st, 6:30 p.m., at the New City Ballroom. 

Bemidji-area artist Paula Jensen has a sculpture on display through the end of March at the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota Members' Show, housed in the historic Grain Belt Bottling building in northeast Minneapolis.  AMPERS member station KUMD's Maija Morton visits with Jensen about this show, her work in painting and current endeavors at her own Earth Eagle Forge.  Specifically noteworthy on her website is the documentation of progress on her eagle sculpture.  The story we aired is here.

CULTURE CALENDAR

Fri., Mar. 25         

Flautist Linda Chatterton with pianist Matthew McCright present a recital at BSU's Thompson Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m.

Grand Rapids Players present Chicago, 7:30 Fri and Sat, 2 pm Sunday at the Reif Center.

Grass Roots Concert Series presents Irish trio Chulrua at the Live Well nightclub in Nisswa, 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Mar. 26       

Free digital photography workshop, sponsored by Grand Rapids Area Library.  9 – 2:30, GR Fire Hall meeting room.  Professional photographer Jon Gregor presents.  Cameras available to borrow.  Contact the Library to sign up at 326-7640.

Central Lakes College will host auditions for the children’s play The Clown Who Ran Away, Saturday at 10 a.m.  Actors and actresses in 3rd through 12th grade are invited to audition. 

Boreal Brewers annual homebrew tasting comes to the basement of the Keg ‘n Cork, downtown Bemidji, from 2 to 6 pm.  Brewers, bring 8 to 10 bottles of your finest.  Spectators 21 and up, bring curiosity and a small cover charge.

Tue, Mar. 29       

The acclaimed men's vocal ensemble Cantus performs, 7:30 p.m. at Davies Theater at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids.

MINNESOTA HISTORY DATEBOOK

March 23, 1971: Minnesota is among the first states to ratify the twenty-sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gives U.S. citizens eighteen years of age or older the right to vote in local, state, and national elections. Both Minnesota and Delaware claim to be the initial actor on the issue.

March 24, 1999: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the rights of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe to fish and hunt in ceded lands without state regulation, as dictated by an 1837 treaty.

 

Culturology 12-23: Copper Art and Sordid MN Christmas History

Dan and Frances Hedbloom make art from copper in a unique process created by Dan's stepmother.  Justin Cook talked with Dan at the recent Gifts Worth Giving event in Grand Rapids.  Though these Hedblooms don't have a website yet, they suggest that the general idea of their work can be seen at Dan's parents' website.


This week in Minnesota history:

12-23-1846 A bill is introduced in Congress to create a territory called "Minasota." Although the bill fails, this is the first legislative use of the name.

12-20-1902 Clearwater County is established, named for Clearwater Lake and River.

12-21-1998 Television's original Betty Crocker, Adelaide Hawley Cumming, dies in Seattle. Cumming starred in the Betty Crocker Show beginning in 1949 and remained General Mills' advertising icon until 1964.

12-25-1842 The first U.S. flag in St. Paul is raised on a pole in front of Richard Mortimer's house. Born in England, Mortimer had served successively in both the British and American armies and served at Fort Snelling before settling in upper St. Paul. The flag flies briefly and then is cut down by "some wicked scamp" from the rival Lowertown neighborhood.

12-25-1866 Two Mankato fur traders are lynched in New Ulm after they kill a citizen in a bar fight. The following day, 300 angry residents of Mankato, along with a company of militia, march to New Ulm to investigate the lynching. Liscomb and Campbell's mutilated bodies are found stuffed under the ice of the Minnesota River. A subsequent investigation names many members of the lynch mob, but no indictments are ever made.

12-25-1874 On Christmas morning, firemen at St. Paul's No. 3 engine house brawl with each other in "a very disgraceful fight" that leaves two seriously injured, several badly bruised, and five arrested on a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. The fight is apparently caused by an "unpleasant feeling" between the principal parties, an insulting remark about a piece of equipment not working properly, and a cigar stump thrown at one of the men.

Gifts from the Edge (Center) on 'Culturology'

by Travis Ryder

The holiday showcase at the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork

There's now a name for KAXE's series of programs featuring stories from Northern Minnesota's arts, culture, and history scene.  Culturology takes to the air select Thursdays in the 8 o'clock hour.  On December 9, we hear from Lynn Nachbar and Patricia Feld from the Edge Center for the Arts. 

The Edge Center, attached to the schools in Bigfork, offers a holiday shopping experience through this Sunday, December 12.  That's the same day that the Center welcomes the group Not Necessarily Bluegrass for a Christmas concert. The group features members of the LaPlant Family and friends. That show starts at 2 p.m.

Other marketplaces around the region also offer high-quality, local artisan gifts, like the Bemidji Community Art Center, Lyric Center in Virginia, and MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids.

Ben Moore and 'Boom Drawings'

by Travis Ryder

Luther College assistant professor of art Ben Moore is primarily a painter.  His new work at MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids departs from that form, with silkscreened images from past parties he has attended intermixed with exceedingly subtle pencil drawings of explosions and dust clouds.  They're called "Boom Drawings", and he says the images portray "calamity, things that are about to go wrong.  That moment right when you know something bad is going to happen."

Double Head

Don't Be Jealous

These works and many others are hanging until Thanksgiving week at the center in downtown Grand Rapids.  I speak with Ben about his new images Thursday morning in the 8 o'clock hour.

Klueg, Molberg Create New Ceramic Work

by Travis Ryder

UMD art and design professor and ceramics area head James Klueg spoke with me at the opening of his exhibition, "Weapons of Mass Seduction," last Friday. The work features layers of glazing scratched back to match the graphics he creates digitally and projects onto the flat-sided vessels. The deliberate and highly-contrived nature of Klueg's work contrasts nicely with the stark concrete, steel, and weathered wood of Marie Schrobilgen's sculpture, also on display at MacRostie Art Center in downtown Grand Rapids through the end of September. See more of his work here.

Roald Molberg lives and produces pottery north of Duluth. He talked with us recently about a new technique he learned that involves creating aesthetic vessels from the inside of a temporary shell. The result is striking to the eye, creating a remarkable level of relief without the usual pitfalls of a traditional applique method. More images of Molberg's work are located here.

The audio from these stories is available on the front page of kaxe.org and via the AMPERS.org arts and culture archive site.

These segments are made possible with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Gaea Returns to the Bemidji Sculpture Walk

Last night, the Bemidji City Council voted to return the statue “Gaea” to its place on the Bemidji Art Walk at the corner of 4th Street and Beltrami Avenue. [Click here to see pictures]. The fiberglass beaver had been removed last week by order of City Manager John Chattin, who felt the painted front of the beaver looked like female genitalia. Gaea was one of 11 beavers to adorn the art walk this year. The beaver is the Bemidji State University mascot.

Gaea had lots of supporters in Bemidji, many of whom turned out for the city council meeting, filling the council chambers and spilling into the hall. Gaea herself was also present for the meeting, placed at the back of the room. 15 people spoke during the comment period, including artists, city residents, students, a representative of the ACLU, and a member of the Sculpture Walk Committee.

The civil discussion that ensued covered censorship, the extent of the city manager’s authority, dismay over his single-handedness and lack of artistic input in removing the sculpture, and the lack of clear guidance or agreed-upon criteria for public art. One commentator asked those who found the piece objectionable to “get your minds out of the gutter.” Another equated the piece with “woman-ness, womanhood, feminine strength and beauty.” Others expressed dismay that Bemidji, which calls itself the First City of the Arts, had become the center of national media attention for its attempt to censor the piece: “If you Google ‘pornographic beaver’ your first search result will be ‘Bemidji’,” said one BSU student.

Just one elderly gentleman spoke in opposition to the majority: “It is not obscene to me, no,” he said. “But yes, it is offensive…I would not want my daughters and granddaughters to see it and have to explain what they’re looking at…It belongs in an art gallery where people can intentionally view it.”

Gaea’s creator, Deborah Davis, said she had recently spoken with supporters, journalists and celebrities from as far away as Japan and New York. “Gaea has touched people,” she said. “Gaea makes people feel peaceful, happy, positive and empowered.”

Council member Barb Meuers moved to “Put the statue back,” with a second from council member Ron Johnson. The vote was unanimous.

After the motion, the statue was picked up by a group of enthusiastic supporters and marched back to its pedestal, occasioning both applause and tears. “Communication is so important,” said Meuers after the vote. “Obviously, it wasn’t what it should be.”

~Maggie Montgomery

More info:
Sculpture Walk: http://thisismytownbemidji.com/?p=318
KAXE: http://www.kaxe.or

Leave It To Beaver: Controversy in Bemidji

by Doug MacRostie

When I first heard that there would be a series of beaver statues painted by local artists displayed around Bemidji, I'll admit I giggled. And when some of the artists would do status updates on Facebook about "working on my beaver" I also would giggle. What I'm talking about is a new series for the Bemidji Sculpture Walk, funded by the George W. Neilson foundation (they bought the blank beavers). Area artists were selected by committee to paint the beavers. 9 were put up for display on June 20th. Get more info here. They will be displayed for a year, and then auctioned off to benefit the Sculpture Walk, with 30% going to the original artist.

Here is the series sitting together, before being displayed throughout downtown Bemidji:And now the controversy: Gaea, the third beaver from the left has been removed from the Sculpture Walk. Here's the description by Deborah A Davis of her Beaver Gaea, "That the fertile earth itself is female, nurturing mankind is a belief that crosses culture, time and borders. Gaea means Mother Earth. It also means 'God is Gracious,' and is one of the 52 feminine aspects of God in the Christian Bible. Gaea in mythology was a female Titan. If we could embrace the strength of womaness, celebrate it, we would become the people we are meant to be: nurturing, loving, whole." Or, is it obscene and pornographic?

Here's Gaea in her downtown Bemidji location:As you can see, there are forms of the female body, there's a tree growing up from the tail...and what's that on the front? A person rising from bubbles? A flower? A vagina? Mother Earth?

This is where the question comes in: is it pornographic? Bemidji City Manager John Chattin says yes. And he told the Bemidji Pioneer that he doesn't regret the decision.

Deborah disagrees, "I did not intend it to be sexual or titillating in any way," Davis told the Pioneer, "I would never do pornography. I am anti-pornography."

Gaea was taken down on Thursday, July 1st and as of right now there are almost 1000 people who say "Bring Back Gaea to the Bemidji Sculpture Walk" on Facebook. The Bemidji Pioneer has a poll running on their website that shows 77% favoring the returning Gaea to the Sculpture Walk, and the City of Bemidji seems to be at odds with an active arts community, with other pieces in the beaver series now showing signs of solidarity (aka: wrapped up Burqas). This topic is expected to draw a lot of people to the Bemidji City Council Meeting tonight at 7pm. I know I'll be there...