MIA 40 years of Art in Bloom – Minneapolis, MN

MIA 40 years of Art in Bloom – Minneapolis, MN

Christi Belcourt (Métis, born 1966), It’s a Delicate Balance, 2021, acrylic on canvas.
Gift of Funds from Andy and Meg Ubel in honor of Mia’s Docent class of 2015. ©Christi Belcourt

Party in Bloom

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Poppies in Bloom by Cynthia Ann Premium Gallery-Wrapped Canvas Giclee Art 

ICYMI

Lakewood Cemetery Celebrates Earth Month – Minnneapolis, MN

Walker Art Center: “Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody”

Walker Art Center: “Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody”

Artist-in-Residence Keith Haring painting a mural in the Walker-Guthrie concourse, created March 12th –16th, 1984.
Photo courtesy Walker Art Center.

In March of 1984, Keith Haring was an artist-in-residence at the Walker, and created a mural of epic proportions. The mural was created in a single day.

Walker Art Center: In celebration of the opening of the exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, join us for a panel with Gil Vazquez, Ann Magnuson, and Muna Tseng, moderated by Kimberly Drew. The discussion will introduce several facets of the artist’s wide-ranging practice and consider his influence on contemporary culture. With an artistic language that moved seamlessly from the underground into mass cultural prominence, Haring’s career traversed several artistic and social worlds. Panelists will reflect on Haring’s radical vision for art’s place in the public sphere as well as his diverse connections in a cross-disciplinary scene composed of musicians, activists, designers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, and critics.

Event

Opening-Day Programs: Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody

Saturday, April 27th, 2:00pm

(Exhibition runs through Sunday, September 8th)
Free tickets to the talk are available from the Main Lobby desk starting at 1 pm.

Location

ICYMI

The Twin Cities’ Most Anticipated Spring Restaurant Openings

Lizzo Embraces ‘Body Neutrality’

Lizzo Embraces ‘Body Neutrality’

Credit…Yitty

Lizzo’s new Yitty Swim collection was influenced by the line of sports bras, leggings and other shapewear she introduced in 2022.

“These suits have a power to hold,” Lizzo, the Grammy-Award-winning singer and fashion entrepreneur, said in a video interview. “Let me tell you something: I have broken into a sweat trying to get some of these on.”

That Lizzo, a trailblazer of fat acceptance, has had to squeeze into bathing suits she developed for her brand Yitty was a striking confession. But she has tailored the concept of body positivity — that popular movement that urges self-love no matter your shape or size — to fit the times.

“The idea of body positivity, it’s moved away from the antiquated mainstream conception,” she said. “It’s evolved into body neutrality.”

Yet to hear her tell it, she is anything but neutral. “I’m not going to lie and say I love my body every day,” Lizzo, 35, said. “The bottom line is, the way you feel about your body changes every single day.”

She continued, “There are some days I adore my body, and others when I don’t feel completely positive.”

Lizzo posing in front of a gray backdrop in a low-cut, white one-piece swimsuit. She has shoulder-length dark hair styled in loose waves, is holding out both of her arms and is wearing colorful makeup, a chunky bracelet on one wrist and metallic anklets around both of her ankles.

Credit…Yitty

“The idea of body positivity,” Lizzo said, has “evolved into body neutrality.”

A promotional campaign this year that teased Yitty swimwear, an extension of the line of bras, leggings and other shapewear Lizzo introduced two years ago, showed the singer flaunting her backside in a one-piece thong swimsuit. Models in the campaign similarly reveal generous amounts of flesh, wearing a series of one- and two-piece swimsuits.

“I’ve made my own wardrobe,” Lizzo said. “And now I get to be the C.E.O. and supermodel for my brand.”

Produced in partnership with Fabletics Inc., Yitty’s parent company, the swimwear is offered in sizes from 6X to XS. (The brand lists the largest sizes first.) It is aimed at the kinds of customers who may already own Yitty undergarments or similar items from Skims or Savage x Fenty — each of which, like Yitty, makes products using a stretchy combination of nylon and spandex.

What’s the difference between those products and Yitty swimwear? The bathing suits are made partly from recycled fabric, are meant to resist chlorine and are engineered, Lizzo stressed, “to create even more of a hold.”

The swim line includes a square-neck bikini top as well as bikini bottoms, shorts and one-pieces described in promotional copy as “cheeky,” “high-waist” and “waist-cinching.” Items are priced from about $50 to $100.

The range of available sizes, according to Lizzo, makes it easier to find something a little tighter (or looser). “If somebody wanted more or less compression, we give you the power to do that,” she said. “Just buy a different size. This line is about freedom.”

Lizzo, who is not touring at the moment, has lately had a bit more freedom herself to develop her line or to take up feel-good pursuits like exercise. “I’m taking the time every day to put some love into my body,” she said. “There is never a day when I regret taking a walk or doing some Pilates.”

She is dieting as well. “I’ve been methodical, losing weight very slowly,” Lizzo said. Others recognized for advocating candid self display have faced pushback after losing weight from people who see it at odds with self-love.

The singer, of course, is no stranger to controversy. She declined, through a publicist who was present for Lizzo’s video interview, to comment on ongoing lawsuits accusing her of harassment and of creating a hostile work environment, allegations she has repeatedly denied. Through her publicist, Lizzo also declined to comment on attacks on her appearance and character by Candace Owens, a conservative political commenter.

Speaking generally about some people’s obsession with her appearance, Lizzo said, “My body is nobody’s business.”
Lakewood Cemetery Celebrates Earth Month – Minnneapolis, MN

Lakewood Cemetery Celebrates Earth Month – Minnneapolis, MN

Flowering crabapple trees border Jo Pond

Lakewood Cemetery

Lakewood Cemetery: Our flourishing urban woodland boasts 4000 trees, made up from100 different species and varieties. In addition to the intricate beauty and dappled shade that our trees offer, we are grateful for their role in supplying the oxygen we breathe, buffering us against extreme temperatures, filtering water, storing carbon, and providing habitat for other plants and animals. You’re welcome to visit Lakewood’s arboretum, which spans our entire grounds, every day of the year.

Plan Your Visit

Lakewood visitors stroll under a canopy of grand oak trees.
A Lakewood visitor finds comfort in the shade with a view of the wooded landscape.
You can see the tree canopy increase over time in these aerial photos from 1940 and 1964.
Source: John R. Borchert Map Library, University of Minnesota.
ICYMI: Keefer Court Bakery Makes a Grand Return at Asia Mall – Eden Prairie, MN

ICYMI: Keefer Court Bakery Makes a Grand Return at Asia Mall – Eden Prairie, MN

Photos by Tim Evans

The iconic bakery is back with all the same Hong Kong-style pastries — plus Vietnamese desserts

Eater Twin Cities:  Court, the enduring Chinese bakery that Sunny and Paulina Kwan first opened in Minneapolis’s Cedar Riverside neighborhood in 1983, has reopened at Eden Prairie’s Asia Mall under new owners Michael and Mai Bui and Peter Do. The Kwans, joined by their daughter Michelle, attended the bakery’s opening on March 14, serving steamed barbecue pork buns and curry beef puffs from behind the counter. They’ve passed all of Keefer’s pastry recipes — for Hong Kong-style pineapple and coconut cream buns, silky egg tarts, lotus and red bean cakes, and savory meat-stuffed buns — onto the Buis and Do, who’ve painstakingly recreated them, down to the last sesame seed.

Michael Bui says that the Kwans have been in the kitchen with the new bakery team for the past week and a half, helping them perfect the recipes. Bui himself was a Keefer Court customer for 30 years — he started eating there when he was in college. “It was the only thing I could afford back then,” he says. “It brings back a lot of memories.” He’s excited to carry on the family’s legacy.

Michelle Kwan, wearing glasses and a baseball hat, and Paulina Kwan, wearing a purple sweater, stand behind the counter of Keefer Court Bakery and smile.
Michelle and Paulina Kwan behind the counter.
A small boy standing behind a glass pastry case and looking at the pastries in it a woman bending over him to his right.
Caden and Sena Anderson pick out pastries.
Rows of golden coconut custard buns dusted with sesame seeds on silver trays with white sheets of paper.
Custard Buns
A whole round frosted white cake with shredded coconut on the sides, sitting in a pastry case.
Keefer’s new coconut pandan cake.

Bui, Mai, and Peter also own Vietnamese restaurant Pho Mai, which was one of Asia Mall’s first tenants, and accompanying bakery Bober Tea and Mochi Dough. The three of them bought Keefer Court from the Kwans in 2023, a few months after the family announced they were closing the bakery. “We’ve been at this for several years, so just having it come to reality, and having this turnout for the soft opening is really exciting,” Michael says. More than 100 people queued outside the restaurant ahead of the 11 a.m. opening.

The Kwans say it’s been an emotional — and joyful — process to watch the bakery they ran for nearly 40 years come back to life. Michelle took over the bakery from her parents in 2017. “My parents are so excited to have their legacy carried on,” she says. “My mom was just saying she’s so happy, she’s getting kind of teary-eyed. Even though it’s not ours, but just to see Keefer live on.” It was hard, she says, to say goodbye to the bakery in 2022. “At least they can carry on the business, and the name, and the products,” Sunny says.

In addition to Keefer’s Hong Kong-style pastries, the Buis and Do have added new Vietnamese desserts to the menu, including whole frosted cakes, banana and sweet taro pudding, cendol (a pandan jelly dessert), slices of coconut cassava cake, and chè ba mau (a sweet tri-color bean dessert), plus Vietnamese iced coffee. The recipes, Michael says, come from Mai and her mother.

Here’s a peek at the new Keefer Court

Michelle, Paulina, and Sunny Kwan; Michael and Mai Bui, and Peter Do standing together in Keefer Court Bakery, smiling as Sunny and Michael shake hands.
From left: Michelle, Paulina, and Sunny Kwan; Michael and Mai Bui, and Peter Do.
Four people holding trays milling in Keefer Court Bakery, selecting pastries from glass cases with gold trim.
Savory pastries are served behind the counter; sweet pastries on the shelves.
Behind the glass walls of the bakery, people stand in line as they wait to get in. In the foreground, a person with a beard, glasses, and a gray baseball hat takes a photo with his phone.
More than a hundred people queued outside Keefer Court for its soft opening.

Location

Keefer Court

12160 Technology Drive
Eden Prairie, MN
Justine Jones is the editor of Eater Twin Cities

ICYMI

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