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City of art: Minneapolis
A culture vulture’s dream
By Alice Vollmar
A major arts explosion is bringing new digs
for the lauded Guthrie Theater, expansions to the Walker
Art Center and
Minneapolis Institute of Arts,
and more. Undergirding these headline-grabbing cultural heavies is an everyday-everywhere
arts presence in this city: You’ll encounter street sculptures, building
murals, galleries, arty coffee houses, lawn art, art gardens and even
art hotels.
If you check into Graves 601 Hotel, a Hirotoshi Sowada sculpture fashioned
from recycled paper greets you in the reception area. There’s art
photography in every room, and Chambers Hotel, a soon-to-open “art
hotel,” will actually be furnished by local art collector Ralph Burnet.
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden allows a stroll alongside
masterpieces, and in adjacent Walker Art Center’s 20.21 Restaurant,
every plate is “created.” Restaurants such as Zelo surround
you with sculptures and paintings before a concert at nearby Orchestra
Hall or a Broadway production
at the historic Orpheum, State or Pantages theaters. The
city boasts noted performing arts companies including Tony Award winners Theatre
de la Jeune Lune and Children’s Theatre Company,
and satire/improv comedy veteran Brave New Workshop.
Annual art events include the popular Uptown Art Fair and the Fringe
Festival’s
plays, storytelling, visual arts and dance. Some 400 studios open their
doors during Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. Throughout the city,
galleries proliferate and independent coffee shops exhibit regional art,
such as the upbeat cartoons of Cathy Carlson and “outsider art” paintings
by Mari Newman. Art has a palpable presence here. It’s an attitude
and a way of life – an arts immersion.
Alice Vollmar is a freelance writer who lives in the Minneapolis
area. Click here for more about
Alice and additional travel features she has written on Minneapolis.org.
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