All the world's a play

Fagerlund performing in 'Titanic' musical

By Staff reports

Crookston Daily Times

Posted Oct 31, 2011 @ 12:15 PM

Jamestown, N.D. —

Jamestown College student Noah Fagerlund of Crookston is performing in the Jamestown College Theatre production of the Tony Award-winning musical “Titanic” Nov. 3-5 at 7:30 p.m. nightly in the Reiland Fine Arts Center’s DeNault Auditorium.
Fagerlund plays the role of Henry Etches.

Tickets are $10 and can be reserved through the Box Office. Call (701) 252-3467 ext. 2435, send e-mail to tickets@jc.edu, or visit the Jamestown College web site, www.jc.edu and click on “Community” and “Reiland Box Office.”

“This is a powerful and touching depiction of the doomed voyage that changed history,” says director Mike McIntyre. “This is the perfect year for us to stage the show as April 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the disaster. The anniversary will be marked around the world in numerous ways, and, for us, this musical does it in a very impressive way. The sinking of the majestic ship had such impact that society, communication, transportation and industry were all permanently changed by it.”

Copyright 2011 Crookston Times. Some rights reserved

Seth Godin's definition of art and artist

Seth Godin’s Definition of ‘Art’

February 19th, 2011 by Michelle Basic Hendry

Arthur Lismer, Sombre Isle of Pic, Lake Superior, 1927;
Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery

What is Art?

The topic of Seth Godin’s last blog post and his definition of ‘art’ and ‘artist’ in his recent book “Linchpin” has proven touchy in the fine art community.

It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making.
~ Seth Godin

Some time ago when I first read Seth’s controversial interpretation, I found a discussion in the comments section of the Fine Art Views Blog.  The whole idea was making some wonder if their ‘identity’ was threatened or that the meaning of ‘artist’ was in some way being diminished. If anybody can be called an artist in any form of work – what are we?

I shared my thoughts at the time, but, when the topic came up again today, it stuck with me yet again. Clearly I had not resolved it in my own mind. I went so far as to leave the post up in my-e-mail all day.

I was updating my website tonight (I am in the middle of a switch) and I was moving over one of my favourite quotes. I immediately ran back to my e-mail and realized that it seems that one of Canada’s most innovative ‘artists’ of the 20th century agreed with Mr. Godin:

Inside each one of us is an artist. . . . And that’s what an artist is, a child who has never lost the gift of looking at life with curiosity and wonder. Art is not the exclusive possession of those who can draw, write poems, make music, or design buildings. It belongs to all those who can see their way through all things with imagination.
~ Arthur Lismer

Arthur Lismer (1885-1969) was one of the founding members of the Canadian Group of Seven – a group of fine artists that changed painting in Canada and helped Canadians find their identity in their landscapes. These artists/painters risked criticism and overcame resistance in their communities. If Lismer can so broadly define ‘artist’ then why can’t we?

To anyone who lives and acts with imagination – thank you for sharing your art.

from:  http://bit.ly/h3oI4U

Fresh Voices from Crookston Minnesota

from http://inprogresshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/estefania-alvarez-honored-at-walker-art.html

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Estefania Alvarez Honored at the Walker Art Center

In Progress artist Estefania Alvarez had her video Pasos Desde El Salvador exhibited at the Walker Art Center as part of the Twin Cities Youth Media Network's Annual Film & Video Festival.

Estefania attended the video and even went up on stage to answer questions from the audience. Estafania joined In Progress this summer as part of the Fresh Voices program in Crookston Minnesota. Her work is beautiful and we expect to see more of her talents as time goes on.

To view Estefania's video just CLICK HERE

Annie Fitzgerald singer songwriter from Crookston

from the KROXAM.COM website: 

CROOKSTON HIGH SCHOOL GRAD COMES BACK HOME AND PERFORMS SONGS FROM HER NEW CD

Crookston High School graduate Annie Fitzgerald now a musical performer with a new CD. Fitzgerald is visiting her parents Chuck and Val Fitzgerald for Christmas and performed at several places in town. Fitzgerald graduated in 1997 from Crookston High School and then attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from their 2000 with a degree in musical performance. "I worked in theatre at the Ordway and Chanhassen theater and then experimented and started writing my own music and after finishing CATS at Chanhassen and working there for three years as a company member. I moved on and packed up and went to New York, found a roommate on the internet in Hoboken, New Jersey," said Fitzgerald. "I started performing regularly out there in the singer songwriter scene and was in the showcase in 2006 with Stephanie Germanotta who is now Lady Gaga, so it was a lot of up and coming people in the showcase and I got booked into a lot of clubs. I met my husband who is from upstate New York and will eventually move back to Minnesota.” Her first album was released in September called In Good Time and toured about 5300 miles for a couple of months and met a lot of great people and learned a lot in the process.
“Next I will work with some guys who are fantastic musicians and we hope to get together and work together,” said Fitzgerald. “I will continue to write music as I go along.”

Baudette has Vision Despite MN Budget Shortfall

From Friend, John Barbour, Architect, comes this article from "Finance and Commerce." http://finance-commerce.com/2010/12/baudette-depot-rehab-steams-ahead/

Baudette depot rehab steams ahead

Posted: 5:48 pm Fri, December 3, 2010
By Scott Carlson

Scott Carlson

Thirteen years after a handful of people saved the Baudette, Minn., depot from the wrecking ball, the town’s vacant train station is heading down the rehab track.

Anderson and Hammack Construction of Superior, Wis., has won the bidding to renovate the 87-year-old depot, which preservation activists envision as a historic interpretative center and space for public meetings and artisan studios and galleries.

Work on the $428,000 project is expected to start by January and finish by next July, said Phil Waugh, a project manager at Minneapolis-based Collaborative Design Group. The bulk of the work involves rehabbing and updating the interior of the 3,000-square-foot building, including putting in trim and molding to match the building’s circa 1920s-style architecture.

“The station master’s office and the ticket counter are still there, and we will get them restored,” Waugh said.
Built in 1923, the Baudette depot was a train stop for Canadian National Railways. The depot was in use until the mid-1980s.

The depot sat idle and became a target of vandals until the Depot Preservation Alliance of Baudette bought the building in 1997 for $1 from Canadian National, said Joanne Kellner, an alliance member.
“It [the depot] was a real blight on the town,” Kellner said. “If it hadn’t been for a handful of people in 1997, it would have been knocked down.
”
Baudette, which is home to about 1,100 residents, is in the Iron Range.
Waugh largely credits Kellner for cobbling together financial and administrative support from private donations, federal grants, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Lake of the Woods County.

For example, the project could have been derailed in September when bids came in higher than the roughly $360,000 the Depot Preservation Alliance had budgeted and raised, Waugh said. But Kellner responded to the challenge by submitting expedited applications and winning more grant money to make up the shortfall, he said.

Much of the supplemental money is coming from a federal Transportation Network grant.
“She [Kellner] has single-handedly pushed this project forward,” Waugh said.

For her part, the 67-year-old former office manager said she has taken a pragmatic course in the last three years to raise funds, drawing upon her work experience and taking some courses in grant writing.
Along the way, Kellner sought the help of Bemidji State University to get architecture students to study the depot and how to reuse it.

This past summer, the alliance sent out surveys to some 700 area residents, schools and businesses asking for ideas on how to reuse the depot, Kellner said. Providing artists a place to work and showcase their creations was among the top suggestions, she said.

“We want to take the old lobby and freight room and turn into an artisans’ marketplace,” Kellner said. “There will be space to hold art and cultural workshops, galleries, music jams as well as open to meeting, receptions and conferences.”

Kellner has witnessed the reinvention of old buildings in other Minnesota communities. For example, a resident of Grand Marais took an old Forest Service school building and converted it into a place for year-round arts classes. She also has visited old train depots, including one in Bemidji restored about 10 years ago for exhibits and special events.

Between renting out the Baudette depot’s second-floor apartment and picking up fees for artists’ studios, art gallery showings and other events, Kellner said she is confident the depot can support itself and become a tourist draw.

“I think we can make it a go of it,” Kellner said.

Still, the depot needs more money, including funds to carry out its operating budget, which could top $50,000 a year, Kellner said.

“These are tough times for political organizations to put up money for things that some consider to be frivolous,” Kellner admitted. “But I hope that when the county and city see that this [depot reuse] is successful, they will step up to the plate to keep it ongoing.”
Whether the city of Baudette will provide ongoing financial support for the depot’s staffing and operations remains to be seen.

“We are in favor of the restoration,” said Baudette council member Donald McKay. “It [ongoing support] is a tough decision to make until we get something in black and white and what is our money situation.”

McKay said the city doesn’t know yet what impact the state of Minnesota’s projected $6.2 billion projected revenue shortfall will have on local government aid to Baudette.

However, the council has expressed interest in assisting the depot project by donating an upgrade in sewer and water service to the train station, in-kind support that would be worth $10,000 to $15,000, he said.