Art Hounds: Music festivals and Norwegian textiles

This week the Art Hounds head to Eau Claire, Wisc., and Hutchinson, Minn., for music festivals and peruse Norwegian textile art and paintings at Norway House in Minneapolis.

Musician Elliot Novak is a big fan of Bon Iver, and so he'll be heading to Eau Claire Friday to attend Festival Eaux Claires, the new homegrown music festival organized by Bon Iver front man Justin Vernon. The two-day festival includes performances by locals Doomtree, Haley Bonar and Lizzo alongside national acts Indigo Girls, Blind Boys of Alabama and Sufjan Stevens. While predominantly devoted to music, the festival will also present film screenings and performance art.

Textile artist Laurie Jacobi is enchanted by the exhibition "Norwegian Threads" at Norway House gallery in Minneapolis. The show brings together clothing designer Lise Skjak Braek and painter Anne Langsholt Apaydinli. Braek creates bunads — traditional folk dresses — made with textiles from around the world and featuring modern complex designs. Apaydinli paints women in nature, also wearing abstracted bunads with exaggerated headdresses. Jacobi says together they make a lush, gorgeous and soulful exhibit. Norwegian Threads runs through October 30.

Arts reporter Kay Johnson loves escaping the grind by heading down to the Masonic/West River Park on the North Bank of the Crow River and taking in some grassroots music at the annual RiverSong Music Festival in Hutchinson. The line-up includes folk, bluegrass, roots and country as well as lots of activities for kids. Acts include Birds of Chicago and the Legendary Shack Shakers.