Target Free Thursday Nights in March Feature Chef Marshall Paulsen, Composer Douglas Ewart, a MN Artists Forum, and In Conversation: Ron Athey and Jennifer Doyle

Minneapolis, February 12, 2015—The Walker Art Center’s Target Free Thursday Nights in March feature a Gather by D’Amico Chef-in-Residence event with Marshall Paulsen of the Birchwood Café.
(Thursday, March 5); a Sound Horizon in-gallery music performance by Douglas Ewart (Thursday, March 5), the Mn Artists 4 x Forum: Upload, Then What? (Thursday, March 19),
And the event In Conversation: Ron Athey and Jennifer Doyle
(Thursday, March 26).

Target Free Thursday Nights

Galleries open 5–9 pm; special events follow.

Thursday, March 5

Guest Chef at Gather: Marshall Paulsen

Gather by D’Amico, 5–9 pm

Top talents from Twin Cities’ restaurants create limited-edition small plates exclusively for this ongoing series—meet them on the first Thursday of every month for a tasting. In March, join Marshall Paulsen of the Birchwood Café.

Chef Marshall Paulsen grew up in St. Paul and began his restaurant career working as a busboy, waiter & bartender at the age of 15. After moving to Wisconsin to attend school he began working as a line cook and eventually executive chef. Seven years ago, Marshall found a perfect match with the Birchwood Cafe and as chef he has been creating “Good Real Food” for multitudes.

In his 11 years as a chef he has established many long-standing relationships with farmers – knowing that seasonal, locally-grown produce and meats are of much higher quality than when shipped from elsewhere. Located in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, Birchwood Cafe is in its 19th year of business, and reopened last summer after a remodel and expansion.

Sound Horizon: Douglas Ewart

Perlman Gallery

Exploring the interstitial spaces between live sound and visual art, the in-gallery music series Sound Horizon returns this spring with three of the country’s most respected composers and sonic adventurers. Intended for both close listening and moments of happenstance for gallery-goers, this free, aurally eclectic series features three short sets by each artist.

Gather in the galleries of the exhibitions Art Expanded, 1958–1978 and International Pop for Sound Horizon’s fifth sparkling season on Thursdays March 5 (Douglas Ewart), April 16 (Holly Herndon), and May 14 (Aki Onda).

Join multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart on March 5 for “atmospheric multicultural, non-cultural music at its finest” (Jazz Times). Perhaps best known as a composer, improviser, sculptor and maker of masks and instruments, Ewart is also an educator, lecturer, arts organization consultant and all around visionary. In projects done in diverse media throughout an award-winning and widely-acclaimed 40-year career, Ewart has woven his remarkably broad gifts into a single sensibility that encourages and celebrates–as an antidote to the divisions and compartmentalization afflicting modern life-the wholeness of individuals in culturally active communities.

Beyond sound itself, Ewart’s music finds natural extensions (in every sense of the word) in the instruments he makes, which run the gamut from unique wind instruments to percussion instruments. Beyond these are sculptures, sound sculptures, and individually handcrafted masks that have been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. All these elements of his art are on display every year in Chicago and in other cities in stagings of “Crepuscule,” which in Ewart’s own opinion best represents his celebratory spontaneity and commitment to organic inclusivity. A massive collective composition, “Crepuscule” is a celebration of sunset that brings together diverse musical groups, dancers, artists and activist for a musical and visual event that has become one of the signature programs of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, being held annually at the city’s Washington Park.

Thursday, March 19

4 x Forum: Upload, Then What?

Walker Cinema, 7 pm

Panelists discuss how artists are using the web to do more than circulate their art—they’re digitally building audiences, developing professional and creative identities, and using the net as the medium for the production of new work.

Mn Artists is a project of the McKnight Foundation and the Walker Art Center, and was made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Thursday, March 26

In Conversation: Ron Athey and Jennifer Doyle

Walker Cinema, 7 pm

In 1994 the Walker presented Ron Athey’s performance of 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life at Patrick’s Cabaret, which sparked a national debate on art and censorship. The infamous performance, which involved ritual incision, lead to the slashing of the National Endowment for the Arts budget, the near-complete elimination of individual artists grants, and a powerful chilling effect on controversial artwork. Twenty years later Athey reflects on how, and if the needle on creative freedom has shifted. He is joined by art historian Jennifer Doyle.

Ron Athey is an iconic figure in the development of contemporary art and performance. In his frequently bloody portrayals of life, death, crisis, and fortitude in the time of AIDS, Athey calls into question the limits of artistic practice. These limits enable Athey to explore key themes including: gender, sexuality, SM and radical sex, queer activism, post-punk and industrial culture, tattooing and body modification, ritual, and religion.

Jennifer Doyle is a Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside. She writes about the cultural politics of art and performance. Her most recent book is_ Hold It Against Me: Difficult and Emotion in Contemporary Art_ (2013). Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire (2006) was a finalist for a LAMBDA award, and received honorable mention for the Alan Bray Memorial Prize. She was the 2013-2014 Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of the Arts, London and is the recipient of a 2012 Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital | The Andy Warhol Foundation. Jennifer Doyle is also a sports writer, and blogs at The Sport Spectacle (thesportspectacle.com).

Copresented by Patrick’s Cabaret and the University of Minnesota’s Departments of American Studies; Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies; English; Political Science; Art History; Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature; History; and Theatre Arts & Dance; with additional support from the Steven J. Schochet Endowment.

Target Free Thursday Nights Special in the Walker Shop

The Walker Shop offers a discount on selected items during Target Free Thursday Nights. The special for March is a Lemon Tea infuser. Here’s a generous lemon wedge that will actually brew your tea. Tuck your tea leaves inside and let the slice steep! Lemon Tea is made of food safe silicone for easy cleaning and durability. Regularly priced at $10, Lemon Tea infusers are $5 during Target free Thursday Nights in March. Limit one per customer. Offer valid in-store only and not combinable with other discounts.