Art Hounds: Massive masterpieces at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum

Great River Shakespeare Festival board member Rod Baker says if you're ever anywhere near Winona, you must pay a visit to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Located near the banks of the Mississippi, the museum boasts a collection most major cities would swoon for: Georgia O'Keefe, Picasso, Marsden Hartley, Ansel Adams, Monet and Mary Cassatt, as well as an impressive selection from the Hudson River School. The one thing they all share in common? Every painting includes some sort of water imagery.

Actor Sasha Andreev was squirming in his seat as he watched Gremlin Theatre's production of "Ideation." Set in a typical office conference room, a group of consultants is asked to work on a project whose details aren't completely clear. Andreev says the play deftly skewers office politics, corporate-speak and groupthink techniques while also presenting a troubling reminder of what happens when people "just do their job" to execute a morally horrific plan. "Ideation" runs through July 29 at Gremlin Theatre.

Textile Center teaching artist Sandra Brick recommends checking out "Wallpaper: An altered book experiment." It's a group show in which 12 different artists were given the same book — a collection of wallpaper patterns — and asked to make art with it. The results include sculpture, paintings and even animation. The works contemplate the walls that divide us as well as the nature of our interior lives. The best part? Visitors are welcome to touch the art. "Wallpaper" is on display at Traffic Zone Gallery in Minneapolis.