Art Hounds: War and healing, celebrating human creativity and a theatrical take on Virginia Woolf

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 original submission.

A path to healing

Ruth Sloven is a St. Paul-based artist. She recommends the group exhibition “WITNESS עֵד,” a group art show by Jewish artists for Palestinian liberation, at Modus Locus in Minneapolis.

Ruth says: This exhibit includes ceramics, sculpture, community, quilting, painting and video. Many of the works are traditional Jewish subjects, which have been repurposed in non-traditional ways.

What I’m excited about is that it’s a doorway into experiencing and expressing the grief about the destructive war in Israel and Gaza, and hopefully can be part of a path to healing.

— Ruth Sloven

Stop, collaborate and listen

Joseph “JoJo” Howsley is a music enthusiast based in Fargo. He recommends a showcase by Human Artistic Collaborations on Saturday, May 31, starting at 6 p.m. at Brühaven in Minneapolis.

Joseph says: I met Kyle Krause last weekend. He is the head of Human Artistic Collaborations, whose aim is primarily to champion human-led art in a space that's constantly being inundated by artificial intelligence.

They’re doing an event with one of my favorite producers in the scene. His name is Deerskin, and they have over, I believe he said, 12 artists who will be showcasing and selling their art.

— JoJo Joseph Housley

Epp squared

Kari Olk is a Brooklyn-based teaching artist who grew up in Minneapolis. She recommends “Orlando: A Rhapsody,” playing at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis through June 8.

Carrie says: “ORLANDO: A Rhapsody” by Vinora Epp and Steven Epp is a thoughtful reflection about art, gender, storytelling. It’s both based on Virginia Woolf — a few of her writings: “The Waves,” “A Room of One's Own” and, of course, “Orlando” — and it’s also combined with writing from Vinora and Steve.

To see them working together is really special. And so it’s really exciting to see her directorial debut, and it’s really exciting that she’s doing this work with her dad, Steve.

The story of “Orlando” is a story about a person who, over 300 years, goes back and forth between being a young woman and a young man, and they both perform as Orlando, and they both perform as versions of themselves.

— Carrie Olk

Correction (May 29, 2025): An earlier version of this story misspelled Kyle Krause. The story has been updated.