What's Up

Art in Bloom

While it’ll still be a few weeks before Winnipeg’s gardens are bursting with buds and blossoms, the Winnipeg Art Gallery will be in full bloom this weekend.

Art in Bloom, the WAG’s biennial exhibit of floral design and celebration of the season, features professional and amateur florists’ interpretations of 15th- to 21st-century artworks from the gallery’s collection, including a massive living wall inspired by Norval Morrisseau’s painting Androgyny. Each arrangement is displayed alongside its corresponding artwork so viewers can see how colour, line, shape and texture can be mirrored on canvas and in nature.

The concept is modelled on similar long-running events at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

A series of talks on everything from flower-sourcing to still lifes will be held during the exhibit’s four-day run. For those who prefer to get their hands dirty, workshops on flower-arranging, wreath-making, garden marker-fashioning and more will also be on offer; participants can register in advance at wag.ca. Entry to the exhibit is included in the gallery admission price.

Art in Bloom is on view until Sunday, April 14.

— Jen Zoratti

JD McPherson at the WECC

American singer-songwriter and guitarist JD McPherson is on the road again and will make a stop in Winnipeg at the West End Cultural Centre on Saturday, April 13.

McPherson’s most recent release is a holiday album, Socks, a collection of 10 Christmas songs infused with his retro-rock style, but he’s now on tour supporting his previous release, 2017’s Undivided Heart and Soul.

The record chronicles a series of "upheavals, frustrations, roadblocks and kismet," including a move cross-country from Oklahoma to East Nashville with his family.

After momentum was halted by attempting to force the creative process along, McPherson travelled to Los Angeles to work with friend Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, who provided a change of perspective both on the songs and the process. He was then able to return to Nashville and knock out the album with his band and producer Dan Molad.

"This record was difficult for me to make, difficult to write, difficult to record. It took a lot for me to say that I can’t force these songs to be the way people are expecting," McPherson said in a release about the album.

Winnipeg glam-rock band the Sorels are slated to open the night. Tickets are $20.50, available at Ticketmaster.ca; the music starts at 8 p.m.

— Erin Lebar

Rain — The Best of Abbey Road

Fifty years ago this fall, the Beatles released what would be their 11th studio album, the final one on which all four members appeared — and played — together.

Released in late September 1969, Abbey Road was recorded over the course of nearly seven months, and features some of the Fab Four’s most memorable songs — as well as the iconic album cover of the band crossing the street of the same name.

On Tuesday, April 16, the longest-running Beatles tribute act rolls into town to recreate the album’s most memorable moments, as well as some of the band’s earlier hits. Rain — The Best of Abbey Road takes listeners on a journey down the not-too-long and winding Abbey Road, also offering the chance to see and hear other songs never performed live by John, Paul, George and Ringo while they were still making music together. (The Beatles officially broke up in early 1970.)

Abbey Road includes well-known songs such as Come Together, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and I Want You (She’s So Heavy), as well as two beauties penned by Beatles guitarist George Harrison — Something and Here Comes the Sun.

Various incarnations of Rain have been going since the mid-1970s, criss-crossing North America as they recreate the magic of the Beatles. The quartet (who also created a Broadway production that did 300 shows between 2010 and 2011) manage to pull off a pretty remarkable Fab Four, with an impressive visual backdrop that features members of the tribute act recreating well-known moments in the Beatles’ career.

Tickets for Rain — A Tribute to the Beatles start at $35.50 plus taxes and fees, and are available via the Ticketmaster website.

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

Glimpses of Humanity

In a new exhibition at Cre8ery Gallery, a mother and daughter join forces to explore some big questions: What does it mean to be human? How do we affect the Earth? And will our impact turn out to be positive or negative?

In Glimpses of Humanity, running until Tuesday, April 23, at 2-125 Adelaide St., mixed-media artist Lorena (Lori) Ferguson and her daughter Jorja Loewen, a photographer, explore these questions via paint and pictures.

The Winnipeg artists have very different practices — Ferguson, a speaker, writer and musician, has studied commercial art and drawing, while Loewen, a professional wedding and fine art photographer, graduated from Prairieview School of Photography — but they’re both dedicated to exploring the human element and the importance of respecting the Earth in their work.

An opening reception takes place Thursday, April 11, at 7-10 p.m. and will include a live electronic-mallet percussion performance by Anaday Loft (the performance name of musician Dayna Ferguson, who is also Lori’s daughter). The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m.

— Jill Wilson

The Unplugged Punk, Vol. 3

The Unplugged Punk — a concert series created to showcase the frontmen and frontwomen of Winnipeg’s punk rock scene in an acoustic setting — is back for its third edition at the West End Cultural Centre on Friday, April 12.

The evening is hosted by Johannes Lodewyks of the Noble Thiefs and will feature solo acoustic sets from Jenna Priestner of Mobina Galore; Jacques Richer of Screaming at Traffic; and Mandy Sousa, who provides vocals and guitar for numerous local acts, including Death Cassette, Man Candy and Guilt-Trip.

Tickets are $10, available online at Eventbrite.com, or $15 at the door. All proceeds go to Girls Rock Winnipeg, a non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of female, trans, two-spirit and gender non-conforming youth through rock music camps.

Registration is open for Girls Rock Camp’s summer program. More information is available at facebook.com/girlsrockwinnipeg.

— Erin Lebar