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Arts and Culture

MPR News has you covered with news and stories about local art and culture happenings across Minnesota.

Art Hounds: Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. You can explore arts events here, or become an Art Hound today.

Art Reviews: Our arts team offers insight on the latest in theater, music, visual arts and more. We explore the breadth of creativity and innovation found throughout Minnesota, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the works and artists shaping our cultural landscape. Read more here.

Art Friend: Everyone needs an art friend. Art Friend is a new segment with our arts team. Art spaces can feel exclusive and art can be confusing, obtuse, and even boring. But, especially with the right context, everyone can be a critic. So let us be your guide- your Art Friend. Listen or read Art Friend stories here.

Our arts coverage is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Hazel Belvo on why stamps are a good way to celebrate the work of George Morrison

Hazel Belvo on why stamps are a good way to celebrate the work of George Morrison

Friday, April 22, the U.S. Postal Service will honor George Morrison by releasing stamps featuring his work. Morrison is one of the nation’s greatest modernist artists and founding figure of Native American modernism. Hazel Belvo was married to George Morrison. She is a painter based both in Minneapolis and Grand-Marais and she speaks with Cathy Wurzer about Morrison's life, work and love of stamps.
by Cathy Wurzer and Ellen Finn

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Art Hounds: Art studios open for spring visitors and a musical stages in a car dealership

Art Hounds: Art studios open for spring visitors and a musical stages in a car dealership

The weather may be more like winter, but one spring art tour commences this weekend in the Driftless Region with the Bluff Country Studio Art Tour. In Zumbrota, Art Hounds recommend the book launch-concert for Becky Schlegel’s “The Lullaby Collection.” And, Minneapolis Musical Theater stages “Hands on a Hardbody,” about vying to win a new truck, at a Roseville auto dealer.
by Emily Bright

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Stephanie Trudeau on The Dylan Tapes

Stephanie Trudeau discusses the upcoming book, The Dylan Tapes: Friends, Players, and Lovers Talkin’ Early Bob Dylan, with host Cathy Wurzer.
by Cathy Wurzer and Simone Cazares

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Racial trauma expert Resmaa Menakem on 'The Quaking of America'

Racial trauma expert Resmaa Menakem on 'The Quaking of America'

Over the past few years, Minneapolis trauma expert and author Resmaa Menakem has been in the national spotlight. Tuesday at 9 a.m., MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with Menakem about his latest book, “The Quaking of America.”
by Angela Davis and Samantha Matsumoto

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From the archives: Don Winslow on the war on drugs

From the archives: Don Winslow on the war on drugs

As we anticipate a conversation with novelist Don Winslow this Friday, we throwback to the last time he spoke with MPR News host Kerri Miller. In 2019, they discussed the conclusion to his trilogy that detailed the drug cartels and the lives of the investigators who pursue them.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Love in a cornhusk: Tamales ritual makes family out of friends 

Tamales are delicious, but are hard work to make, particularly on your own. Food writer Mecca Bos tells us about how the creation of this iconic dish helped one first-generation Mexican American create a community while also providing a link with his distant family.
by Mecca Bos

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Relief efforts boost interest in Pysanky and a storied Minneapolis shop

Relief efforts boost interest in Pysanky and a storied Minneapolis shop

The Ukrainian Gift Shop has seen a rush of orders from churches and other groups making and selling decorative Ukrainian eggs to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
by Tom Crann and Ngoc Bui

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Emily St. John Mandel on time travel, destiny and what might have been

Emily St. John Mandel on time travel, destiny and what might have been

The best-selling author of “Station Eleven” and “The Glass Hotel” is back with a novel of art, time, love and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Art Hounds: Creative work abounds this spring

Art Hounds: Creative work abounds this spring

The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA class of ‘22 take to the stage after a pandemic hiatus with the farce “The School for Lies.” Cecilia Rolando’s bright paintings light up the walls at the Front Porch Coffee & Tea Co. in Ely. And it’s the final weekend for the new, intergenerational play “The Family Line” from Stage North at the Capri Theater.
by Emily Bright

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