LOCAL BRIEFS

The Brainerd Warrior Football Association and the Art Matters Studio and Gallery will present an opening reception for an exhibition of Fields of Autumn, a tribute to - and photographs of - the 2008 Brainerd Warrior football team and a fundraiser for the Brainerd Warrior Football Association.

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The reception is scheduled from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at the Art Matters Studio and Gallery at the Franklin Arts Center in Brainerd. The exhibit will be on display through May 17 or be appointment at (218) 330-1780.

Prices will be reduced 25 percent Sunday on all photographs, including non-football photographs, with 50 percent of all sales to benefit the Brainerd Warrior Football Association

Music event slated Saturday at arb

Four Midwestern bands with ties to the Brainerd area will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Northland Arboretum.

Featured artists include Minneapolis 1989, Seth Doud, Crisis Line and Scattered Trees. Also, Brianna Deihl will show a screening of her new short film "Strays" and her directorial debut "Going to Seed."

Nature artist exhibit at Ripple River Gallery

"Grasses" was created by Sonja Larsen, whose work will be on display through May 3 at the Ripple River Gallery in Aitkin.

AITKIN - Sonja Larsen, an accomplished nature printer, will have her work on display through May 3 at the Ripple River Gallery in Aitkin.

Larsen's nature prints at the gallery will be original, hand-inked and hand-pressed plant impression. Her work has been included in a number of art technique books.

Her prints have been juried into two major exhibitions: The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in 2002 and the Forest Lawn Museum's "Artistic Nature" show in 2005.

Larsen, Lake Shore, is a member of the Nature Printing Society and served as the society's editor for 10 years. She edited the NPS guidebook and led several NPS workshops in Minnesota.

For more information on the exhibit, call (218) 678-2575 or go to www.ripplerivergallery.com.

Just For Kix annual spring show set Saturday

Brainerd Just For Kix's annual spring shows are scheduled Saturday - at 11 a.m. and 1:30 and 4 p.m. - at the Brainerd High School Gym.

The opening number of "Hoppin '09" will feature dancers who performed at the Outback Bowl. The dancers will wear their bowl-game costumes, with the theme "Wizard Of Oz." Younger dancers will join in as the munchkins, with dancers cast as the lion, tin man, witch and scarecrow.

Each show will include about 28 numbers. Routines will include numerous rock-'n'-roll numbers, a father-daughter routine to "Cinderella" with younger dancers as Cinderella, medium-age dancers as "Prom Queens" and the older dancers as "Brides." All jazz and kick classes will perform their competition routines and all younger classes will perform their new spring routines. The closing number will be "At The Hop," with more than 400 dancers in each show.

Each show varies but will include all kick competition routines, all jazz competition routines, hip-hop numbers, Tiny Kix, Tiny Tap, Tiny Ballet and more.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. There is no charge for those 5 and under. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each show.

Geritol Frolics auditions set

Singers and dancers over the age of 55 are invited to audition for the Geritol Frolics from 7-9 p.m. April 30 and from 10 a.m. to noon May 2 at the Franklin Arts Center.

No prior performing experience or training is required. Singers may bring a prepared piece if they wish. Dancers should wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.

For more information, call Ed or Yvonne Yunker at 825 3777.

Author Will Weaver to headline event Friday at college

Author Will Weaver will headline the inaugural Central Lakes College Writers Conference on Friday at the Brainerd campus.

Weaver, who was born and raised in northern Minnesota, writes fiction for adults and young adults. Several of his works have been adapted and produced for both television and film, including "Sweet Land," which won the independent film industry's Spirit Award for Best First Feature in 2007.

Weaver's novels and short stories have earned the praises of reviewers from coast to coast for their unflinching realism. He has won numerous literary awards for his work, including "A Gravestone Made of Wheat & Other Stories," which won the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction.

Weaver's public workshops will be in room E354 - the 80-seat campus lecture hall. The agenda: 9-10:30 a.m., "Writing Our Own Stories;" 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., "Short Stories;" 2-3:30 p.m., "Writing Literature for Young Adults;" and Weaver's keynote address, "Fiction to Film," will be in Chalberg Theater from 7-8 p.m., focusing on "Sweet Land."

For information, contact any of the CLC faculty coordinators of the event, Marilyn Moses, Julie Austin or Ryan Deblock, at 855-8000.

Artists to be featured at Love of the Arts event

The Love of the Arts event is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. May 1 at Iven's on the Bay, sponsored by Iven's, Claudia from Integrity Realty and The Path Less Traveled.

The event will feature Erika Mullen-Hagberg's tapestry painting and thermograph sculptures and Tom Larson from Turning Trail Studio. Mary Tuomi and Karen Kersten from the Mary Tuomi Art Gallery also will be in attendance and Jay'd Hagberg will play the flute

The public will have a chance to meet Mullen-Hagberg. Some of Mullen-Hagberg's recent work may be seen at the Hunt Utility Group, a teaching campus in Pine River, where she constructed three-dimensional mud murals. She also has painted an undersea mural on a climbing wall at the Crosby Children's Park at Serpent Lake. Mullen-Hagberg's "Body Heat," two thermographic sculptures depicting the male and female form, will be displayed.

Grants available for art projects

STAPLES - The Five Wing Arts Council, serving students in Crow Wing, Cass, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties, is offering several grants for art projects. Deadline is May 15.

For applications, go to www.fwac.org, call the council at (218) 894-5485 or go to the office at 200 First St. N.E., Staples.

A production/scholarship grant is available in which applicants may apply for matching funds up to $2,500 to help defray costs of each project. This grant is available to community groups, nonprofits and public schools.

Small grants up to $500 are available to arts organizations, schools and community groups to sponsor any arts related activity. The deadline for this application is the first day of each month.

Individual artist grants are available to practicing artists for up to $1,000 per artist. Artists/mentor scholarship program scholarships are awarded to rural high school students in grades 9-12 who demonstrate high motivation to work in the arts.