Art Hounds: Ice shanties and a 1950s townhouse

This week on Art Hounds: artful ice shanties on White Bear Lake, an exhibition in St. Cloud, and a staging of "Clybourne Park" in Osseo.

Interact Center's new Managing Director Shannon Forney loves the Art Shanty Project, which sets up camp on a Minnesota lake every other winter. White Bear Lake is hosting the shanties again this year, and in addition to the traditional "sparkle parade" and creative shanties, there will even be flamenco dancing. Special events and programs are scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each weekend in February. Forney is particularly excited that the second weekend will focus on accessibility, with audio described and ASL-interpreted tours as well as kick-sleds shuttling people who might have difficulties walking on ice.

Justin Quinn, an art professor at St. Cloud State University, recommends paying a visit to Gallery St. Germain in St. Cloud to check out "Infinite Field," featuring the artwork of Peter Happel Christian and David Ruhlman. Quinn says you can tell the two artists spend a lot of time hanging out in each other's studios, because their work feels like a conversation. He says while Happel Christian takes seemingly useless things and infuses them with meaning, Ruhlman overloads his work with meaning to the point that it's inscrutable.

Actor and director Brian Columbus is looking forward to seeing Yellow Tree Theatre's production of "Clybourne Park," a reply to Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." The theater, located in a strip mall in Osseo, has managed to make a name for itself staging smart productions with talented casts. Columbus says that by looking at a townhouse in the 1950s and again 50 years later, "Clybourne Park" offers an insightful take on the changing codes of racism. Craig Johnson directs, and Columbus is particularly excited to see how he'll mine the play's humor.