Twin Ports Art Scene

A lot happening in the Twin Ports art scene these days. The Empty Bowl event at the Depot raised over $57,000 for the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank this week. This was the 17th year of the fund raiser which includes lots of soup and an original bowl that you can use for the rest of your lives.

Tonight Jeredt Runions, curator for the Homegrown Festival and other collaborative events here, will be having a solo show at J. Lydia Salon, located at the corner of 12th Avenue East and Positively 4th Street. Runions, who grew up in the vicinity of Solon Springs, is a gallery assistant at the University of Wisconsin, Superior's Kruk Gallery. In addition to live music, wine and food, there will also be a performance by the Spin Collective, our local fire dancers.

The Homegrown Festival kicks of Sunday night, May 1. There are more venues for music and the arts than you can shake a stick at. Jeredt created the cover of this year's sixty page guide to who is playing what and where. This is Homegrown the 13th, and the Twin Ports is loving it. You can pick up the book-sized magazine at all the usual distribution points for free local rags, from the Red Mug to India Palace to the libraries.

Sunday night I will be at the Pizza Luce art opening with three new pieces in a collaborative show there. The art opening is from 7:00-9:00 p.m. but the paintings will be on display throughout the month, if you can't make it Sunday.

Another new happening here is the formation of Twin Ports Underground (TPU). Andrew Perfetti of the band Uprising has begun the process of assembling a team to produce a television show for PAC-TV covering the local arts and music scene, giving greater exposure to all the local talent here. In less than a month they have almost completed the first show with some exceptional moments including a strong Alan Sparhawk interview among other things. TPU is aiming for a one-hour monthly program which will also be distributed online. The current vision for the show includes skits and comic relief in addition to artist profiles and musician interviews. An, of course, some great local music. There's a lot happening here in the Twin Ports and the TPU team wants to shine a light on it.

NOTE: Anyone interested in being part of Twin Ports Underground can visit their Facebook page and join. There is a need for writers, editors and camera crew members.

This interview with Jeredt Runions, which aired on KUMD this week, will give you an idea of his personal enthusiasm for the local art scene.

And finally, you can check out some of my recent work online at the Limbo Gallery, Eris Vafias curator. Eris is also assembling a joint show for mid-May that I will be telling you more about as the day approaches. Like I say, there's a lot happening. Stay tuned.

Photo courtesy Andrew Perfetti. Jeredt Runions live painting at the Clyde-O-Thon.