Activists take music, fashion and printmaking tour around Northern MN

There’s an intimacy in gathering around fire, a place where people can connect, stories are told and music is shared.

A group of artists, musicians and activists are touring through Northern Minnesota, hoping to create similar spaces of connection at venues around the area.

Fire In The Village is a new arts collective led by Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt and Shanai Matteson, who are bringing their interactive show to Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Brainerd, Aitkin, Ely and Duluth in the month of November. The first event is Friday, Nov. 1, at Rapids Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids.

The trio stopped by KAXE to chat about the project, where Humphrey shared an Anishinaabe story about the fire and the crow. The crow was originally a brightly colored bird who saw the people could not cook their food or stay warm in the winter. The crow flew to the sun to get fire for humans, scorching his feathers and changing his voice in the process.

“Now Crow is obviously black, but if you look at the colors, the feathers in the sun they’re iridescent,” Humphrey said. “Aandeg means changing in the light. Aandeg is the word for crow.”

Inspired by the story, Humphrey created the group’s logo with crow and sun, an image that printmaker Matteson will help attendees create at each event. Making art interactive and accessible is one of the group’s main goals, hoping that it will inspire people to recognize their own power.

“We’re making the art-making experience and the relationships that are built around it the center of what we we’re doing,” Matteson said, “rather than it being an add-on to a campaign on a specific issue.”

In addition to the printmaking, Fire in the Village events will feature live music from musicians Humphrey and Huckfelt. Humphrey, an Anishibaabe folk singer from the Leech Lake Reservation, has released six albums with her latest, The Light in My Bones, arriving last year.

Huckfelt is an Americana singer with two solo albums and a former co-founder and member of indie-folk group The Pines. He also recently produced a documentary for KAXE on Bob Dylan’s legacy. He sees strong connections between music and the metaphor of the communal fire.

“You know, musically speaking, gathering around small fires is a way that songs are transmitted. It’s a way that beginners learn to play music,” Huckfelt said. “It’s the beginning of feeling vulnerable.”

He also sees parallels between the art world and broader society. In the same way that many people are insecure about their individual ability to create or make art, Huckfelt thinks people are insecure to make connections and enact change.

Thus, if Fire in the Village can create a space where creativity and community connection flourish, Humphrey, Matteson and Huckfelt — who all have a long history of activism — believe people can become activists in their own way through art.

In addition to the concerts and printmaking, Fire in the Village has a fashion show featuring “deconstructed, reconstructed, redesigned thrifted clothing.” According to the group, it is many people’s favorite part of the event.

Lee Pelcher

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Contributed

After this Friday in Grand Rapids, Fire in the Village will be in Bemidji on Nov. 2, Brainerd on Nov. 8, Aitkin on Nov. 9, Ely on Nov. 17 and Duluth on Nov. 23.

For more on Fire in the Village listen to the complete conversation with Humphrey, Huckfelt and Matteson above.

Centerstage Minnesota, Fridays at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. on KAXE/KBXE, is made possible by the citizens of Minnesota through the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.