Entertainment briefs - Jan. 17

■ Flipside scheduled released

The Crossing Arts Alliance announces its Flipside events that are hosted from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month through May 11 in the former cafeteria at the Franklin Arts Center in Brainerd.

The schedule is as follows:

• Jan. 19: Literary Art and Illustrations with Bob Fulton, author of “Pickle Bumps for Baby Dill.” This date was changed due to weather conflict on Jan. 12.

• Feb. 9: “Animals in Art ... Arty Party,” painting, drawing, sculpting, cartooning and edible art with Kate Carlson. Participants are asked to bring a photo of their favorite pet.

• March 9: Whimsical Weavings with Wendy Olson.

• April 13: Adventures in Art with Michelle Pfeiffer.

• May 11: Collages in Bloom with Stefanie DeVries.

The event is co-sponsored by the Brainerd School District Community Education.

Suggested material fee donation is $3 per child or $5 per family. No child will be turned away due to financial need.

■ Pillager students to perform

two plays in two weeks

PILLAGER - The 2012-13 season of plays from Pillager High School promises laughs, tears and everything in between. This week, the season is kicking off with the Introduction to Dramatic Literature class producing “A Walk in the Woods” by Debbie Metzler. A week later, the students in the One Act Play will give a public performance of their play, “Twelve Dreams” by James Lapine, before heading off to competition.

“A Walk in the Woods” performances will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Pillager Performing Arts cafeteria. The play is a modern, family-friendly comedy that melds classic Grimm’s fairy tales in a hilarious fashion. Journey with the narrator, Goldilocks, as she takes us through the zany adventures in Grimm’s Woods, where she meets Red Riding Hood, the Three Pigs and a Big Bad Wolf, to name a few.

“Twelve Dreams” is a half hour long and the public performance will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Pillager Performing Arts cafeteria.

The one-act play is based loosely on a case study of Carl Jung’s, where a young girl has a series of odd dreams, ones that are usually attributed to those who are old or dying. The play takes a turn for the worse, as the girls’ father begins to interpret these dreams and watches his daughter’s health crumbling before him.

Both shows are $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and younger. Seniors age 65 and up are free.

For ticket information, contact Kristen Rohloff, head of the drama department at Pillager, at 218-746-2160 or krohloff@isd116.org .      

■ New group in town

The lost art of handwriting and the disappearance of personal communication in today’s society is prompting the beginning of a new group called Letters, Ink!

This group will bring together those who wish to further the artistic talent of beautiful lettering, calligraphy and those who wish to pass on the heritage of handwriting letters. Organizers of the group say the thrill of receiving a handwritten letter is all but a memory and that the art of calligraphy is becoming unknown. The fonts on computers are many, but the visual expression created by a calligraphic pen is an art form that transcends the mind and transforms your thinking.

Whether you have a passion for the art of beautiful writing or a passion to pass on the tradition of personal correspondence, this club will interest you.

This group will be a place to encourage the art of beautiful writing, share your ideas, expand your talents and incorporate the art of lettering with the art of letter-writing. The group will work to send handwritten letters and cards to people needing encouragement, such as soldiers, children, veterans, elderly and prisoners.

The first meeting will be from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Brainerd Public Library, with monthly meetings to be continued through April.

For more information contact Sue Sterling at 831-3550 or sterlingwords@gmail.com .

■ Alison Scott to perform in Staples

STAPLES - Minnesota musician Alison Scott will perform as part of the Staples Motley Area Arts Council’s season at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in Centennial Auditorium in Staples. The concert is underwritten by Mid-Central Federal Savings Bank.

Scott, who is said to have the strongest voice coming out of Minneapolis in many years, has a soulful, organic sound. Scott has performed with multi-platinum guitarist/producer Kevin Bowe (Paul Westerberg, Etta James, Jonny Lang), drummer Peter Anderson (Polara, Honeydogs), bassist Steve Price (Rex Daisy) and keyboardist James Tyler O’Neill in Minneapolis and has sold out the Dakota Jazz Club over a dozen shows in a row.

Scott was the recipient of an Arts Tour Minnesota grant as part of the arts and cultural heritage fund through the Minnesota State Arts Board, which helped make this concert possible.

Also on the docket for this year’s arts council season are perennial favorite, Monroe Crossing and Collman and Miller, a piano duo featuring Richard Collman, the former pastor of the United Methodist Church of Motley, in an intimate night of chamber music.

Tickets are $12 for adults in advance or $15 for adults and $1 for students at the door. Tickets are available on the council’s website at www.staplesmotleyarts.org and also at the Staples Motley Public Schools Community Education Office at 218-894-2497. Anyone purchasing five or more advance sale tickets to any event, or series of events, at the community education office will receive a special season price of only $10 per ticket. The five ticket discount is not available online.

■ Heartland Poets to meet

Heartland Poets, a local chapter of the League of Minnesota Poets, will meet from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the small room of the Brainerd Public Library. After a brief business meeting, poets will receive a short presentation by Charmaine Donovan, Brainerd, regarding line breaks and writer’s block, from a workshop by poet Pattiann Rogers. After this program, poets will share a poem-in-progress. Participants are asked to bring copies so that others may better-appreciate the poem presented.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information regarding Heartland Poets, contact heartlandpoets@gmail.com or call 829-5402 at night.

■ Grant deadline approaching

for arts projects

The Five Wings Arts Council (FWAC) is accepting applications through Jan. 25 for arts projects produced or presented by arts and community organizations in Cass, Crow Wing, Wadena, Morrison and Todd Counties. Applications must be submitted using FWAC’s new online grant application, which can be accessed by visiting www.fwac.org . These applications will be reviewed at the Feb. 26 board meeting for projects that begin March 15 or later.

Funding for these grants is made possible by an appropriation from the Minnesota state legislature and the Legacy Amendment. For more information, visit the FWAC website or call 877-654-2166.

■ Wildlife painter’s work on display

Wildlife painter Jerry Raedeke work will be on display at the Crow Wing County Community Services through March.

Raedeke sold his first wildlife paintings when he was 11. He emerged as an artist best-known as a transparent watercolorist who has savored nature and who cherishes nature. He works with a sense of mission to capture and communicate delicate, fleeting moods and moments which he perceives, seeking to capture not photographic detail but rather the essence of his subjects.

After early experiences with fine arts in Minnesota, Raedeke relocated to Los Angeles where he developed a fascination with watercolors while studying with the Chinese-American painter Jake Lee. He pursued field research which by now has taken him to 38 states, six provinces of Canada and 19 nations.

Raedeke’s work has been shown at nearly all major exhibition in the nation. He has been given recognition as Artist of the Year by the prestigious Southeastern Wildlife Exhibition at Charleston, S.C., by the National Wildlife At Show at Kansas City and by the Wildlife Heritage Show at Minneapolis. The Easton Waterfowl Festival has given him a 20-year exhibition medallion. Raedeke was selected from a national search for inclusion in the National Wildlife Federation Show at Washington, D.C. While he was at the capital he was permitted to a one-man show for members of Congress in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.

Raedeke has painted official duck stamps for the states of Georgia, Iowa and Kansas. He has been given Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year recognition in Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio and Oklahoma.

Raedeke was featured nationally in a specially-produced documentary for public television and in the “Prairie Sportsman” series on Minnesota Public Television.

The syndicated television series, “The Sportsman’s friend,” filmed the artist painting on a remote marsh in Canada.

As a artist and conservationist, Raedeke has been introduced to readers of Midwest Art, Wildlife Art News, Artists’ Magazine, American Hunter, Ducks Unlimited, Turkey Call, Minnesota Waterfowler, The Correspondent, Cenex Land-O-Lakes Partners and The Minnesota Volunteer.

■ Just For Kix dancers perform

at Outback Bowl

Seventeen Brainerd Just For Kix dancers and one Pequot Lakes dancer performed in the Jan. 1 pre-game and half-time shows at the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla.

The game was between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Michigan Wolverines, with South Carolina coming out on top.

CBS ranked the Outback Bowl as their top bowl game out of the 35 college bowl games from this season.

Dancers performed before a crowd of more than 55,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There were 295 dancers who performed in the pre-game and half-time shows.

The pre-game show featured 23 male dancers opening with a performance to “Soul Man” while the rest of the female dancers joined in with a celebration type routine to “Dance To The Music.”

This year the National Anthem was sung by hit recording artist Darius Rucker, formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish. Before the anthem the dancers opened a large American flag and stood behind him.

During the half-time show, dancers filled the field from the 35 to the 35 yard lines with 1,300 high school band students surrounding the dancers, uniting as one mass band to play the music for the show.

The half-time beach themed show featured such numbers as “Beach Baby,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Surfing USA” and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny.” The performance came to a close with a patriotic finale’ to “Armed Forces Salute.”

Choreography was done by Cindy Clough, executive director of Just For Kix, with help from Amanda Clough, Ali Clough and Julie Davidge. Davidge and Adina Balenger worked with the younger dancers all week, and Brittney Schubert, Ali Clough, Terry Lilly and Amanda Clough worked with the older dancers. Dani Frederickson worked with the all male team.

Cindy Clough said, “We had an incredible group of dancers representing Brainerd this year. They had fun and were easy to work with. They joined in with dancers from 11 other states.

It is something they will remember forever as there is nothing quite like this large scale performance.

The most exciting thing for me personally is when the dancers get to watch their performance on the projection TV at the final banquet ... I feel this year’s show was the best one we have put on to date. We used hooplas, capes, poms, pool noodles, surf boards and swim rings. The props looked bright and colorful from far away.”

All dancers learned the choreography from a DVD sent to them in early December and once they got to Florida the show was put together.

They had exactly 12 hours to work on formations and polish the routines.

Traveling from Brainerd were Avery Davidge, Danielle Popp, Jordan Rudolph, MaKayla Clough, Macy Clough, Leah Johnson, Kaycie Carlson, Julie Davidge, Sadie Jordan, Madison Gohman, Gracie Ostrowski, Ari Rodahl, Madison Riley, Cindy Clough, Anna Vreeland, Hannah Ryback, Chloe Holen, Sharaia Goble, Dani Frederickson, Amanda Clough, Adina Belenger, Ali Clough, Brittney Schubert, Parker Frederickson and Brionna Haag.

Chaperones and family members traveling from Brainerd/Pequot were: Andrea Carlson, Matt and Amanda Clough, Julie Davidge, Dani Frederickson, Kari Gohman, Kim Johnson, Kathie Kinder-Goble, Pam Look, Elizabeth Robeck, Michelle Rodahl and Talia Ostrowski.

Driving the truck of uniforms and props from Brainerd to Tampa were Bill and Robin Thiffault.

Videographer was Luke Kavanaugh and photos were taken by Sherry Li.

Support staff included Joel Clough, Jerad Clough, Steve Clough, Stacie Hanfler, Aaron Sloth, Ben Rosvold, Tony Clough, Chase Weideman, Brady Schellin, Tom Clough, JoAnne Clough and Matt Clough.