Art Hounds®

Art Hounds: Peyton Scott Russell's retrospective at White Bear Lake's art center

A man sits in front of a large black and white painting.
Artist Peyton Scott Russell in front of "Icon of a Revolution," his portrait of George Floyd, in Minneapolis on Dec. 12.
Evan Frost | MPR News

Retired science teacher Ellen Fahey says art galleries are her refuge, and she’s gone three times to see Peyton Scott Russell’s retrospective exhibition at the White Bear Center for the Arts. The show features 40 years of Russell’s work, from elementary school through today.

A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Russell is perhaps best known for his murals, including one painted in 2020 of George Floyd, entitled “Icon of a Revolution.” The exhibit features that work as well as examples of Peyton’s Graffiti art, stenciling, jean jackets and sculpture.

The exhibit runs through March 3, with an open house March 2 at 6:30 p.m.


Jendayi ‘Jedi Maji’ Berry of Minneapolis loved creating abstracts to live music back in September as part of MacPhail’s Spotlight Series: Musical Explorations in Spectral Colors. He strongly recommends seeing the next installment of the series, “Translucent Beauty” Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Antonello Hall in Minneapolis.

A woman stands in a doorway with a work of art behind her.
Eyenga Bokamba will pair her work with live musical performances at MacPhail this Saturday evening.
Courtesy photo

This performance will feature visual art and short films of Eyenga Bokamba, created and projected in response to live music that includes Bach’s Suite for solo cello No. 5 and “electronic soundscapes".

Berry says it’s exciting to experience the two art forms combined and speaking to one another in a live setting.

Your Classical MPR is a media sponsor for this series.


Writer Dave Walbridge from St. Paul suggests keeping your eyes open for a Free Little Art Gallery. Like the Little Free Libraries, anyone can set up a box to house a miniature art gallery. People may simply take in the art, or take a piece they enjoy. And as with Little Free Libraries, artists may leave work in the galleries.

The movement began in Seattle and has spread across the world, inside art galleries and community centers as well as outside. In Minnesota, Free Little Art Galleries have popped up in and around St. Paul as well as Duluth, Willmar, Waconia and Hawley, a town east of Fargo.

Writer Tyler Tork of Plymouth, Minn. has come up with an online map of Free Little Art Galleries.

This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.