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Megan Arney Johnston, an independent curator and contemporary art enthusiast based in Stillwater, recommends a trip to Winona to see Water Stories: New Work by Anne Labovitz at the Minnesota Museum of Maritime Art. Johnston says Labovitz, who is based in St. Paul, is taking it “to the next level,” featuring large-scale paintings and an even larger-scale installation that evoke the essence and importance of water.
At the entrance, visitors see Labowitz’s large scrolls, appropriate to the area and landscape of Winona. The following rooms reveal a series of large abstract paintings, each a different hue and using layers of paint to create landscapes that Johnston calls “atmospheric” and “sublime.”
In the next room is a room-sized installation of painted Tyvek house wraps. You walk inside and listen to the sounds of Lake Superior at sunset. Completing the exhibition is a chance for visitors to write their own water stories in small watercolor books and hang them as part of the exhibition.
Labovitz “really has everything in art in this exhibition: installation, painting, site-specific work and social engagement,” Johnston said.
The exhibition continues until January 22.
The Minnesota Museum of Maritime Art’s focus on our relationship with water means it also ties in with our next Art Hound recommendation as a sponsor of a Winona-based podcast.
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Visual artist Ann George of Winona listens to the “Back Channel Radio” podcast. The first season dives into the oral history of the houseboat community of Wolf Spider Island, also known as Lower Latsch Island, which is anchored in the backwaters of the Mississippi River.
The podcast is narrated by Gina Favano, who lives in a boathouse on Wolf Spider Island. As she delves into local history, past media coverage and personal interviews, she offers an inside look at this unique community. George says the podcast is “fascinating” and “fills in the blanks” even for people who are familiar with houseboats.
The season has six episodes available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Minneapolis-based art enthusiast Robert Borman recommends the musical comedy Church Basement Ladies: Plowin’ Through. The long-running show features the same four ladies working at a church in a small Minnesota town as weddings, funerals and other things in life go by. The ninth installment takes us back to 1975 with its polyester pants, music and (for the ladies of the church basement) slapstick humor.
“It’s funny. It’s witty. It has a heart. It’s just a great show,” Borman said.
“Church Basement Ladies: Plowin’ Through” runs through Feb. 15 at the Black Box Theater at the Ames Center in Burnsville.
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