From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

The Saint John’s Bible Experience

Calligrapher Maura Lynch of Minneapolis encourages a visit to The St. John’s Bible, a monumental work of sacred calligraphy and art housed on the peaceful campus of St. John’s University.

The Bible, which involved significant contributions from Minnesotans, can be viewed year-round both in person and digitally.

Maura says: Calligraphy is seen first and read second. When you experience the words in the Bible that have been rendered in a visually and aesthetically beautiful way, it elevates the entire experience.

— Maura Lynch

Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander

Hutchinson-based potter Betsy Price recommends the Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander in Carver County. The self-guided studio tour runs through a wooded landscape that gives the region its name, and features over 40 artists, including potters, jewelers, painters, woodworkers and more. Visitors can explore studios, watch live demos, and connect with artists.

The event runs Friday through Sunday, with stops including the Mocha Monkey where there will be a pottery demo by “Jon the Potter.”

Betsy says: It feels like a true wander through art and nature.

— Betsy Price

Kinship and Clay at Form + Content Gallery

Minneapolis arts advocate Becky Smith shares her admiration for “Kinship,” a show at Form + Content Gallery that pairs Chris Cinque’s life-size charcoal portraits of friends from her lesbian and nonbinary community with expressive ceramic vessels by Sharon Jaffe, a radical Jewish feminist artist.

The exhibition runs through Oct. 4 in the North Loop of Minneapolis.

Becky says: They're celebratory, and they also serve as a real documentation towards resistance and survival of people who are experiencing an oppressed sexual identity.

— Becky Smith