Inside, featureless faces stared out from a wall while two men sat at laptops. “How did you find us?” one asked. “I was cycling past and noticed the open door,” I replied. Perhaps anticipating another prosaic response, he didn’t ask for my thoughts about the art. Or, maybe, he’d already asked.
Category: Arts
There’s Stories Everywhere
My cycle ride took me to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Fireplace in St. Paul’s Como Park. Kilmer was a poet (“I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree”) who was killed in the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. He never visited Minnesota.
Loo or Louvre?
Stopped for coffee, resisted a waffle, at Black Coffee and Waffle Bar near the University of Minnesota East Bank Campus. Couldn’t decide if the back of the bathroom door was graffiti or art. Decided I was overthinking.
Theater Night
Walked over to the Guthrie for “Sweat.” Angry workers in a bar as their factory succumbed to the inevitable pressures of NAFTA in the early days of the 21st century.
Boundaries
Minnesota Orchestra tonight. Enjoyed our usual pre-show wine in the upper bar which had been set up as a piano lounge. At our usual seats in Orchestra Hall, found ourselves next to the just-announced music director, Thomas Søndergård, and his husband. Pretended not to notice… even when he stood up when he was welcomed from… Continue reading Boundaries
Bike, Art, Lunch
Cycled, then stopped for a bit of art and lunch at the Walker. Revisited the Hockney exhibit, where I was reminded he’s much more than gorgeous Los Angeles swimming pool pix. Over his career he’s worked many forms, including stage set design. This large-scale model was for a provocatively titled opera, Les Mamelles de Tirésias.
Mystical Journey
I sometimes point my bike through this yard where sculptors work. I like the accidental sunlight flare on the lens creating a mystical water effect at the bottom. Continued my ride while imagining interpretations of the sculpture, not knowing if it was unfinished.
Kids with Swords
On our walk: kids with steel swords. They’re attending summer school at the Guthrie Theater.
Back to the Fifties
Walked over to Theatre in the Round for “Perfect Arrangement.” Set in 1950, sham marriages, State Department witch hunts against LGBTQ people and “moral turpitude.” I fear people who want America to be like this again.
When Doves Cry
Meandered through Minneapolis on my bike. Got a sneak preview of a new Prince mural that “will be unveiled at a Purple Block Party” tonight.