Art Hounds have ideas to exercise your art brain

Noam Sienna is a visiting religion professor at St. Olaf College as well as a calligrapher and book artist. For both these reasons, an event that pinged on his radar this week is a discussion Friday with artist Sam Robertson about his new book, The Illustrated Old Testament.

Working over the course of several years, Robertson created about 250 full-page illustrations, inspired by his reading of the New King James version of the Hebrew Bible. The pictures, Sienna says, are “dense, colorful and quirky” incorporating modern settings and activities.

The panel discussion at Open Book in Minneapolis includes professors of history, art history, English, and theology, as well as the book’s publisher, 11:11 Press.

The event is 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., followed by a reception. The event is free, but registration is required.

Minneapolis writer and filmmaker Darren Johnson is looking forward to seeing the group, Cumar blend West African and Irish dance and music. Johnson saw the group perform at the Irish Fair last year. He said they began with a handful of people in the audience, but by the time they finished, “the whole field was full. It got really energetic.”

The upcoming performance brings together master drummers Fodé and Alhassan Bangoura of Guinea, along with Twin Cities performers from the Celtic music scene and dancers from Duniya Drum and Dance and O’Shea Irish Dance.

The performance is Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis artist Tia Keobounpheng recommends a hands-on workshop that uses time-honored fiber arts practices to connect people to local watersheds. The Saturday workshops, “Weaving Water” by artist and botanist Sarah Nassif, teach about dying fibers with locally harvested indigo and the role of water in the process.

This week guest artist, ​​Maddy Bartsch of Three Rivers Fibershed, will show how to spin wool into yarn, drawing connections between the clothes we wear and the land and water around us.

The workshop is Saturday 10 a.m. to noon at the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization in Minneapolis. Register here. Nassif’s related fiber and video exhibit, Personal Watersheds, is on view at the  organization’s Stormwater Park and Learning Center.