Erik Ruin – Ballads and Crankies: Music and Scrolling Pictures for this Ups

Thu Nov 13 2025 at 08:00 pm to 11:30 pm

SPACE | Portland

SPACE
Publisher/HostSPACE
Erik Ruin \u2013 Ballads and Crankies: Music and Scrolling Pictures for this Ups
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Folk musician Elizabeth LaPrelle and visual artist Erik Ruin combine forces for an evening of ballads and crankies
About this Event

Folk musician Elizabeth LaPrelle and visual artist Erik Ruin combine forces for an evening of ballads and crankies. From the mountains of Appalachia to the isolation wing of a German Pr*son, the duo will explore haunting songs of love and loss, playful lullabies, passionate protests of the world as it is — and dreams of how it could be.


Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the international Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, and co-author of the book Paths Toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism (w/ Cindy Milstein, PM Press, 2012). Current projects include the Ominous Cloud Ensemble, an ever-evolving, collectively-improvising large ensemble for projections and music.

Elizabeth LaPrelle is a scholar and singer of Appalachian Ballads from Rural Retreat, Virginia. She built her style and repertoire from research into archival recordings, and family and friends. She started making recordings with her family as a teen, and received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in Southern Appalachian Traditional Performance. In the experimental folk duo Anna & Elizabeth, she toured internationally and helped re-popularize the “crankie” performance art form. She’s also a banjo-player, and a visual and interdisciplinary artist. She lives with her husband Brian Dolphin and their young son.




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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

SPACE, 538 Congress St, Portland, United States

Tickets

USD 17.62 to USD 23.63

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