Arts focused events for 18+

New exhibit coming on March 8 in Conn Gallery

Matt Brown and Sophie Kissen

March 8 – June | Conn Gallery

 

Matt Brown, Artist

Born in Boston, Matt Brown headed west 50-years ago to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Matt has been making art ever since. While attending MCAD, Matt was focused on large-scale sculpture working in a variety of materials. Over time he explored adding paint and color into the sculpture, blurring the line between the two mediums—painting and sculpture—to bring about a transition into painting.

By using a variety of materials in different mediums, a continuing thread weaves through his art from his sculpture to painting and later to his installation work. Often paint is a choice of material from among many to achieve an end. Themes in his new work called “Home” concern housing security, migration and nature.

Matt has had many exhibitions throughout his career, including being one of the youngest artists to have a solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. He has been a visiting artist/lecturer residency at University of California Santa Barbara. His work is widely collected by corporations and individuals. Matt lives and works in St Paul with his wife Lia.

 

Sophie Kissin, Jewelry Artist

Blending the ancient and the experimental, Sophie Kissin crafts jewelry that is personal and avant-garde. Rooted in traditional fabrication and sand-casting techniques, her pieces explore form, texture, and innovation. Sophie began metalsmithing at Carleton College, where she studied Art History and Russian. She began her jewelry practice in 2016, specializing in wearable modern jewelry and custom heirloom redesign.
Inspired by nature, art history, personal narratives, and the stories of those who wear her work, she invites you to make each piece your own vehicle for storytelling and self-expression.

MMT presents Anyone Can Whistle by Steven Sondheim in the Conn Theatre

Presented by the Minneapolis Musical Theater, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is a zany musical about a corrupt mayoress who devises a scheme to attract tourists to her bankrupt town. Chaos erupts when the “Cookies” — patients from a local asylum — escape into the crowd, making it impossible to tell who’s sane and who’s not.

Ever since its infamous nine-performance run on Broadway in 1964, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE has become a cult classic and remains strikingly relevant today – tackling themes like politics, mental health, religion, and societal conformity. With a groundbreaking score that foreshadows Stephen Sondheim’s later work, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE IN CONCERT is a rare opportunity to experience this unsung gem.

All performances will take place in the Conn Theatre on the following dates and times. Details and tickets at www.aboutmmt.org.

  • September 5 at 7:30 PM
  • September 6 at 7:30 pm
  • September 7 at 2:00 pm
  • September 12 at 7:30 PM
  • September 13 at 7:30 pm
  • September 14 at 2:00 pm

Literary Witnesses and The Loft Present an Evening with Terrance Hayes – October 2

National Book Award–winning poet and MacArthur Fellow Terrance Hayes will give a public reading from American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin and his newest collection, So to Speak. The author of seven books of poetry, Hayes is known for his distinctive work exploring popular culture, music, race, masculinity, and language itself. His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, earned multiple Pushcart Prizes, and been finalists for—and winners of—the National Book Award.

This free event will be held at Plymouth Congregational Church (1900 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis) and will include a reception and book signing. Books will be available for purchase from Milkweed Books. We recommend entering off LaSalle Avenue; free parking is available off Franklin Avenue.

Co-presented by Literary Witnesses at Plymouth Congregational Church and The Loft Literary Center.

Don’t miss the opportunity to join the Loft for a creative writing workshop with Terrance Hayes, the next day, October 3.

Sign up here

Musette Mania w/ Dick Hensold and Maria Jette on 8/24 at 3 pm

Here’s a program you won’t hear ANYWHERE else this weekend, or probably this decade: music for Musette, the dainty bagpipe used in the kind of elegant chamber music played by Louis XIV’s pals! Dick Hensold, deluxe bagpiper (and recorder virtuoso) and obsessive musette researcher, leads a petite bande and Maria Jette in several arias by various excellent yet forgotten composers, plus a neat little cantata, LE BOUQUET— plus plenty of instrumental music, most of which has likely never been heard in MN.

If you are unable to make the 3 pm concert, Dick and Maria will also be performing as part of the 10 am worship service that morning.

Prelude: McNaught’s Favor © Dick Hensold, reel pipes

Anthem: Wayfaring Stranger, Maria Jette, voice, Dick Hensold, Northumbrian smallpipes

Postlude: Hills of Glenorchy (traditional Scottish) / Joys of Wedlock (traditional Irish) / John MacLean © Dick Hensold, Highland bagpipes

“Precarious Equilibrium” Art Opening and Exhibit – July 13

Join us for an art exhibition with artists Dan Tran and Barbara (Babs) Larson at the Conn Gallery.

Date: June 13

Location: Conn Gallery

Time: Artist talk at 9 am, Chapel. Opening reception at 11 am, Conn Gallery.

Dan Tran is a self-taught artist from Vietnam and a biomedical engineer.
His paintings, “Precarious Equilibrium of Ambivalent States,” use geometric forms to meditate upon the duality-laden relationships in the physical, emotional, and spiritual worlds. Dan invites viewers to see order and harmony within the chaos and turbulence.

https://www.dantranart.com/artist-statement

 

 

Barbara (Babs) Larson is an epileptic who uses art and poetry to explore and share her life experiences with viewers. “Howling to be Heard” is a series of mixed-media components and poetry using elegant, bejeweled hardwood clipboards from India. Babs is publishing a book of poetry on this series and plans to make it available.

 

Writing Your Sacred Journey: Community & Revision – June 27 at 1:30 PM

Explore the sacred dimension of your stories with Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew. Stephen King says, “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open”—but we can open that door slowly and deliberately. We’ll explore sharing writing as one life-giving way to “see it again.” How can we preserve our sense of safety, freedom, and exploration while facing an audience? Might sharing memoirs deepen our connections with others?

Plymouth Needlers Exhibit in Jack Parsons Room

An exhibit honoring the Plymouth Needlers and their 50 years of dedicated work will be installed in the Jack Parsons Room in May 2025 and continue through 2025.

Please stop in to learn about some of the history, the process, and the over 250 women (and men) of Plymouth who did it all.

We welcome you!