News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Thursday December 25th 2025
BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVISSIMO! Sandy Spieler receives the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award
By The McKnight Foundation
June 20, 2014
The McKnight Foundation has named Minnesota visual artist, performer, designer, director, and teacher Sandy Spieler as the 2014 McKnight Distinguished Artist, in recognition of artistic excellence spanning four decades. Now in its 17th year, the annual honor includes a $50,000 cash award and recognizes individual Minnesota artists who have made significant contributions to the quality of the state”'s cultural life.
“Sandy Spieler understands the power of art in context,” said Kate Wolford, president of The McKnight Foundation. “Even as her sculptures and performances transcend place, lifting us to realms of fantasy and imagination, she never loses touch with the earth below. An artist of true distinction, Sandy”'s pieces are an enhanced reflection of the reality around her, and around all of us ”” our joys and challenges as members and caretakers of our communities and the greater world.”
Spieler is well known for her leadership of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater (HOBT), a Minneapolis company she has directed since 1976.… Read the rest “BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVISSIMO! Sandy Spieler receives the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award”
From Greek ΦιλανδÏος (Philandros) “friend of man”; Philander Prescott
Prescott, killed in 1862 at the Dakota Conflict after warning U.S. 6 years earlier of inevitable trouble without changes, was buried on the prairie and reinterred later at Layman”'s Cemetery when Mary died in 1867. His tombstone was encased ca. 1938 by the Hennepin History Museum in order to preserve it longer.
By Sue Hunter-Weir
For the first hundred years of the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery”'s history, Philander Prescott was the cemetery”'s most written about pioneer. In more modern times he is remembered by those with a keen interest in the Dakota Conflict of 1862, otherwise he is mostly forgotten. Prescott arrived at Fort Snelling in 1819 and lived in what later became Minnesota until his death. Over the course of the years he, like many pioneers, did many jobs in order to survive. He was a sutler (i.e., ran the store at Fort Snelling), trapper, fur trader, translator, Bureau of Indian Affairs agent and farmer. He married Spirit of the Moon (also known as Mary), the daughter of Man Who Flies, one of the elders of the Lake Calhoun band of Dakota.… Read the rest “From Greek ΦιλανδÏος (Philandros) “friend of man”; Philander Prescott”
A Traditional Somali Hut, Aqal Soomaali, erected on Lake Street
A traditional Somali hut was donated by a community in Xingalool, Puntland, transported to Mpls., temporarily erected on Lake Street near Blasdell Avenue during Somali Independence Day June 21 displaying its iconic nomadic heritage.
The Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum that opened at Plaza Verde 15th and Lake Street last year facilitated the gift and will display it at its new location beginning July 11th. The Museum is committed to providing opportunities for cross-cultural education and thus is partnering with the Hennepin Theater Trust to co-curate a gallery by animating vacant city spaces with art.
The Somali Museum”'s Made Here gallery at 319 1st Avenue North, Mpls. 55401 opens July 11.
Traditional arts are endangered due to upheaval, migration, and the increasing urbanization of Somali society. The Somali Museum”'s collection of over 700 artifacts offers hope that the tradition will continue and is the only center dedicated to preserving and promoting Somali arts and folklore anywhere in the world. Also fostering connections between community organizations, advocates, and artists like at the Festival on Lake Street. … Read the rest “A Traditional Somali Hut, Aqal Soomaali, erected on Lake Street”
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