Arts & Entertainment

 

America's earliest inhabitants: Celebrating National American Indian Heritage Month
The word "Indian" was derived from Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who mistakenly thought he had arrived in the Indies upon setting eyes on the Native American people. Presumed to settle on American turf 20-30,000 years ago, Native Americans traveled passing through a land-bridge across Bering Sound from Siberia to (what eventually came to be) Alaska. During the 16th century, the time of the European arrivals, it's been estimated that 10-90 million Native Americans had already inhabited America. They diverged into a wide array of tribes as they voyaged across the region. Often coined as "resilient," Native Americans became accustomed to changing environments, and took great advantage of nature's resources. They were firm believers in placing their land at a high esteem, and properly utilizing...

Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World exhibit
Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World, a national traveling photo exhibit raising awareness about plants and animals threatened by climate change, will open Oct. 25 at the Water and Oil art gallery in St. Paul as part of its nationwide tour to raise awareness about the threat to wildlife from climate change and global warming. The exhibit comes to Minnesota as part of a one-year tour with stops already completed in Providence, Missoula, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco. The exhibit will be on display through Nov. 30. Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World is a collaboration of art, justice, science and faith groups that aims to inspire hope, wonder and action through the beauty and power of images. Featuring work by award-winning wildlife conservation photographers, the 40-print exhibit brings the public face-to-face with the wildlife most threatened by climate change.?The Irreplaceable exhibit is co-sponsored by Earthjustice, Noah Alliance, Restoring Eden, International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) and Conservation International’s Center for...

Native American art exhibit opens
Metropolitan State University Third Floor Gallery is pleased to present Common Ground: New Work by Julie Buffalohead and Jim Denomie. This two-person exhibition, featuring the paintings of local Native American artists, examines ethnic heritage and personal narratives in contemporary America. Although the painting style varies greatly between the two artists, there exists a shared interest in Native storytelling. From Buffalohead’s explorations of her biracial identity to Denomie’s searing social commentaries, the show provides a multitude of thought-provoking imagery. Regarding her work, Buffalohead has said, “In terms of visual images, a large number of non-Indians’ conceptions of Indians are stereotypes. This has intrigued, angered and horrified me. Therefore what can be stated about my artwork ought to be understood in terms as being informed by this phenomenon. The direction that my artwork has led me has been toward the review and dissipation of the myths that these images have conjured.” More recently, Buffalohead’s work has become more introspective as she awaits the arrival of her first child...

New play opens Nov. 13
Home Land Security, a world premiere play by D.K. Iversen, opens at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at Metropolitan State University’s Minneapolis Campus in the Whitney Stagedoor Theater. From leaving home and breaking in, to farm policies, foster children and Federal Protective Services, Home Land Security uses black comedy to explore the intergenerational effects of war revisited on Mamie Jorgensen’s family farm in Blue Earth, Minn.—first as a daughter in the 1960s struggling to make sense of the effects of war on her mother, as a wife and mother in the 1980s holding a family together alone, and finally, to the current day threat of her daughter being sent to Iraq. “I felt compelled to write this play,” said playwright Iversen, “with a number of images and ideas in mind, beginning with a palpable sensation of the need for mercy, especially regarding the impact of our actions on children. This play allows a kind of black humor...