TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK
The Danish String Quartet was honored with its first Grammy nomination this year. And although the group didn’t come out on top last Sunday, its dynamic takes on the classics and European folk music are certainly award-worthy. The internationally known group will be playing Beethoven and Nordic folk tunes in Los Alamos on Saturday as part of its current U.S. tour.
Violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard started playing together as kids at a summer music camp. Years later, Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin joined up. The group’s Grammy nom for chamber music/ small ensemble performance came for its latest recording, “Prism I,” featuring compositions by Beethoven, Bach and 20th-century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Aside from folk tunes selections, its Los Alamos program includes Beethoven’s “Quartet No. 4 in C minor” and his “Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major.” The Danish String Quartet’s show is 7 p.m. Saturday at Duane Smith Auditorium, 1300 Diamond Drive. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased through losalamosconcert.org.
WET FELTING: In what is being described as an autobiography told through sculpture work, fiber artist Lisa Klakulak’s solo show at form & concept picks up on what she’s done since moving away from New Mexico almost 20 years ago. “Since Taos: Contraction of Mass, Concision of Thought” opens later this week, featuring 13 works by Klakulak. Almost all the pieces use a wet felting technique in which she compresses fibers in water to create sculpturelike structures.
The artist moved to Taos after graduating from Colorado State in 1997 with a degree in fiber arts to be a dyer at a fiber supply company. She left in 2001 to pursue other opportunities in the Southeast. She was based in Asheville, N.C., before leaving in late 2018 to pursue a master’s degree at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design.
“I was so into fiber, because of its comforting and protective qualities, but at the same time it is a medium associated with struggle and women’s work,” Klakulak says in form & concept’s release on the exhibition. “Then I got into the whole concept of felt, because it’s incredibly strong, but it presents in this soft, vulnerable way.”
“Since Taos: Contraction of Mass, Concision of Thought” opens Friday at form & concept, 435 S. Guadalupe. A preview artist talk begins at 4 p.m. and the opening reception is from 5-7 p.m. The show will stay up until April 20.
Klakulak will also be hosting a two-day wet felting technique workshop Feb. 23-24. As of last week, there was only one spot left. Check at formandconcept.center. Registration costs $315.
NEW WAVE UPDATE: A local trio of sisters is bringing new wave into today’s age. Dorothy, Natasha, and Carla Cuylear, of Albuquerque, formed Lindy Vision in 2014. They’ve been busy, issuing four albums, with a new one on the way. On Saturday, Lindy Vision will hold a party at Meow Wolf to celebrate the release of the first part of its upcoming two-part album, “Adult Children.”
In the past few months, the group has dropped two new singles, “Pressure” and “Tight Rope,” that showcase its synthy, 1980s electronic vibe. The group is also featured in the new Elvis Presley documentary, “The King,” which has aired on PBS, and at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. Lindy Vision’s release party is Saturday from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. at “The House of Eternal Return,” 1352 Rufina Circle. Tickets are $12, or $15 the day of the show. The show is ages 21 and up. Buy tickets at meowwolf.com.