Dates: Saturday and Sunday, September 25 & 26
Times: 11:00am – 5:00pm/unless otherwise noted in brochure
The Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council (PRLAAC) is pleased to sponsor Art Leap 2010, an “open studio event” featuring artists’ studios and culturally rich destinations in the Park Rapids area. For the fifth year, art lovers can use our map to find their way to area artists’ and artisans’ studios and workshops. Art Leap is free and open to the public.
There are familiar studio names to visit, as well as several new sites this year. Visitors will have more opportunities to meet mature artists/artisans who have been practicing their individual skills and talents in their chosen fields for decades. Seeing the work in each studio setting, and hearing the artists talk about their tools and materials will help visitors learn more about the creative process.
New stops for Art Leap 2010 are five artists who live on Island Lake in the Rochert area of Becker County. They are David Norstad of Ragged Edge Art Studio, Judy and Jerry Wegenast of Touch of Art Studio and Jon and Lucy Normann. Visiting them will be well worth the trip with the bonus of driving through the Smoky Hills State Forest.
Another new stop this year is Earth Eagle Forge. Artist/metalsmith Paula Jensen will show her one-of-a-kind creations of copper, bronze and steel. Include her on your way to or from Forestedge Winery, just a few miles away.
Paul Albright’s Sculpture Studio in rural Akeley returns to Art Leap 2010 after a one-year hiatus. Albright’s art continues to evolve in new and wonderful directions.
Live performances will be featured at Long Lake Theater in Hubbard from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25. The theater will host the soulful jazz music of “Smoke” (Joe Holt and Roy Hershberger), literary/poetry readings by the Twigs and the three-part vocal harmony and instrumental stylings of Alabaster Falls (Julie and Bill Kaiser and Paul Jones). These performances are free and open to the public.
The White Birch Artists, local artists who work in a variety of media, will exhibit at the North Country Museum of Arts in Park Rapids. The Northern Light Wind Quintet will play from 1 to 2 p.m. in NCMA’s Great Gallery.
From 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday be sure to visit the Minnesota Folklore Theater at 6 Broadway Street (Highway 34) in Akeley. The theater’s creative director, Fred Rogers, will display costumes from his extensive collection as well as costumes from the Guthrie Theater and historical artifacts from the Guthrie, Shubert Theater and others. In addition, “Spitfire” will perform classic country music.
This year Terrapin Station, an independent music, art and wellness center in Nevis, will host silversmith Jim Kropp, acrylics by Ramona Howey and Stacey Skinness’ prints and drawings. Terrapin Station also is planning an Art Leap Music Festival. Check out the impressive line up of music, including Home Grown Tomatoes, Greg Herriges, Kazyak, and Brothers and Friends at www.imaninatural.com.
The list of participants and sites also includes Park Rapids/Nevis/Menahga area artists.
Maps are available at Blank Canvas Gallery in Park Rapids and the Park Rapids Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce or can be downloaded at www.parkrapids.com or www.prlaac.org.
Art Leap 2010 is sponsored by the Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council with assistance from the North Country Museum of Arts and is funded, in part, by a Region 2 Arts Council grant through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature arts and cultural heritage fund supported by Minnesota voters on Nov. 4, 2008.
r2arts.org 