Saw the “Jessi Reaves: process invented the mirror” exhibition at the Walker today, featuring impractical furniture built from found objects. I couldn’t stop remembering a day when Dwight and I were a great source of amusement for my father-in-law as we struggled to assemble an IKEA storage unit for him. This exhibition really took the idea of “furniture as a challenge” to the next level.
Category: Arts
Nora’s groundbreaking walk
Tonight at the Guthrie’s A Doll’s House, I anticipated the moment the central protagonist, Nora, walks out into the snow, leaving her home and loveless marriage. Earlier, I had learned from the Guthrie’s study guide that this depiction of Nora was groundbreaking in 1879. Back in the elevator in our building, we had to reassure a neighbor who had attended the performance that Nora was seeking a new life, not ending her own.
Processing The Ruins: living, dying
Walked over to the Guthrie for the first production in the Dowling Studio since its closure due to the pandemic. The new play, The Ruins, is mildly surreal and explores themes of living well and dying well: I’m still figuring it out. Here, one of the two actors was already on stage as the audience filed in.
Where industry meets art
Got a preview of Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival later this month in an industrial area of St. Paul. Over the years, more than 80 murals have been painted on industrial buildings in the neighborhood, and it’s surprisingly free of graffiti. This year’s festival includes this new mural, “Pitzik’ Q’ij: Court of the Sun” by local artist Cadex Herrera. His mural depicting George Floyd against a massive sunflower is recognized worldwide.
Affirming life at the Dakota
Tonight: dinner and a high-energy evening with Aloe Blacc on his ‘We Stand Together’ tour at the Dakota.
A thread to my childhood
While walking to Zen Box Izakaya for dinner, we passed the Guthrie Theater, whose thrust stage towered above us. The 2025–26 season had just been put on display, but we already have season tickets. When I was a teenager in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, my mother and I regularly had season tickets for the People’s Theatre. My need for theater has persisted since.
Art truck at the House of Balls
On our walk, I introduced my friends to the House of Balls, where we saw sculptures all over the property made from found materials—including this whimsical art truck. Artist Allen Christian has been doing this for over 30 years. The property appears in articles with titles like “Weirdest Museums in Minnesota” and “Twin Cities’ Most Fantastically Odd Museum.”
Patti Austin at the Dakota
Thanks to friends attending a funeral, we inherited great seats at the Dakota for dinner and a Patti Austin show. She first performed in 1954 at Harlem’s Apollo at just four years old. Her performance offered mature interpretations of songs and stories, and with recent nominations for Best Jazz Album, she’s clearly still going strong. The arts offer resistance to the times we’re living in, and her message of love stands out.
Lunch break in the park
Walked home past groups of children enjoying a lunch break and the lovely weather in Gold Medal Park. They were likely there for activities at the adjacent Guthrie Theater or Mill City Museum. The Guthrie, for instance, offers several one to two-week summer camps for older kids, covering everything from stage management to performing Shakespeare. Seeing kids engage with the real world rather than screens really gives me hope.
Childhood, conflict, and perception
It looks so Instagrammable: “Very volcanic over this green feather” features enlargements of artist’s childhood drawings while living in a Kosovo refugee camp. The reverse sides depict war, including a terrified little boy. Other exhibits continued to unsettle our perceptions of reality. Ways of Knowing, today, at the Walker Art Center.