February 4, 2012
Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction

Join us for the Twenty-first Annual Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction. The evening will begin at 5:30 and will include a multi-course meal prepared by Chef Justin Welsh and numerous works of art by artists from around the region. Dress is black tie optional and valet service is provided.

February 12 - March 18, 2012
Living Through Violence: The Oncebay Textile Family

This Peruvian textile family comes from Ayachuco, the birthplace of the Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla organization. During the most dangerous period, Saturnino gathered his family of textile workers and they taught themselves to make the Pre-Columbian textiles of Paracas, the place where the textile arts reached heights unattained anywhere or during any time period. The textiles are accompanied by photographs that presents a compelling look at political violence in Peru between 1980 and 2000.

February 12 - March 18, 2012
McCanna House Studies
Explorations of Studios and Living Spaces by NDSU Architecture Students

Nineteen third-year students in the Architecture Department at North Dakota State University were assigned the task to explore, research, and create sketch and model proposals for four cabins or artist-in-residence live-in studios for the Museum’s new artist-in-residence site McCanna House. The students’ proposals are meant to spark a discussion for North Dakota and Minnesota architects.

Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne
February 19, 2012

One of Syria’s most beloved musicians, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh will be joined on the piano by Sri Lankan-born Dinuk Wijeratne in a concert of Arabic music infused with Western sounds and rhythms drawn from both Jazz and classical. Hailed as a “virtuoso” by the New York Times and cited for his “incredibly rich sound” by the CBC, Kinan Azmeh is one of Syria’s rising stars who is fast gaining international recognition.

Ironing Board Sam February 25, 7 pm Tickets: $10 Born July 17, 1939 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Ironing Board Sam’s first memory was of pounding away on his family’s pump organ as a two year old. By age fourteen, Sam had his first gig under his belt. In the 1950s, he spent his time immersed in the Miami R&B scene and inventing his “button board,” a homemade portable keyboard which he mounted to an ironing board that simulated the Hammond B3 organ sound. In the 1960s, Sam relocated to Memphis where he became a staple in the black entertainment district along Jefferson Street and performed regularly on the television show Night Train, an all-black R&B and soul music TV show out of Nashville, TN.

Ironing Board Sam
Blues Brunch
February 26, 11 - 1 pm
Tickets: $25

Come and enjoy Sunday brunch with Southern Blues musician Ironing Board Sam. Tables of eight or nine are available. Seating is limited. Currently residing in Chapel Hill, NC, Ironing Board Sam is known for his piano-based blues, soul, boogie-woogie and New Orleans rhythm and blues.

Dawn Avery and Steven Alvarez
March 25, 2012

Rarely are performers as at home at Lincoln Center as they are in a sweat lodge. Mohawk composer, cellist, vocalist, educator and Grammy-nominated performer Dawn Avery is equally comfortable with either. She has sung and played with musical luminaries from Luciano Pavarotti to Sting, as well as R.C. Nakai, Shenandoah, Cale, and Cage. 

Big Ron Hunter
April 14, 7 pm
Tickets: $10

Ron Hunter was born in Winston-Salem, NC.  His father, who was a sharecropper, taught Ron how to sing and play the guitar at a young age.  Mentored by the legendary Guitar Gabriel and versed in R&B, Rock & the Blues of BB King, Ron plays both electric and acoustic guitars in dramatically different styles.

Big Ron Hunter
Blues Brunch
April 15, 11 - 1 pm
Tickets: $25

Come and enjoy Sunday brunch with Southern Blues musician Big Ron Hunter. Tables of eight or nine are available. Seating is limited. Currently residing in Winston-Salem, NC, Big Ron Hunter is known for his unique acoustic and electric blues.