Self-Styled Lives

One is passionate about arts advocacy and making pottery. The other's restless spirit has led her through several careers, the latest as the volunteer planner behind the Mill City Farmers Market. Although they've taken different paths, Joan Mondale and Alexandra Hoag both have been trailblazers in their quests to better the community. Tonight they'll be honored at the Nicollet Island Pavilion by the Minneapolis-St. Paul chapter of Fashion Group International. The retail association's annual "Night of the Stars" benefit raises money to promote fashion-industry careers.

Joan Mondale

Mondale has downsized her furnishings considerably since moving from a Kenwood home to a river-district loft. But she still surrounds herself with plenty of art -- mementos from a public life spent promoting the importance of the arts and private moments spent creating it, in the form of ceramics.

Mondale, who is being given the Fashion Group's Humanitarian of the Year award tonight, was long ago christened "Joan of Art" for her tireless advocacy before Congress as well as a variety of funding sources. Among recent beneficiaries of her efforts is the Textile Center of Minnesota, for which she chaired a capital campaign in 2004.

She acknowledges that the base of support for arts in Minnesota is changing. What used to be the bailiwick of several wealthy families and their foundations "is spreading out more broadly, to individuals and business. I hope more corporations will follow the example of, say, Target and pick up the slack where it's needed," she said.

Mondale continues to serve on two national committees. One accepts artwork for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington and the other chooses who will be on postage stamps -- a subject on which her lips are firmly buttoned.

"I can't reveal who's under consideration; it's very secretive," she said. As to the likelihood of her husband, Walter, a former vice president, senator and ambassador to Japan, gracing a stamp anytime soon: "Oh, he's too young. They tend to prefer the old ones."

While living in Washington, D.C., during the Carter administration, she began working in clay at the suggestion of a friend. "I've found three kinds of satisfaction from working with my hands," she said. "You put on your ratty old clothes and step out of the world you usually occupy. That's satisfying. Then you have this object you created. That's satisfying. Sometimes, you decide to give it away, and that's very satisfying."

Mondale, 77, has served on several prominent arts and education boards, including those of Macalester College, the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. But it's time, she says, "to make room for a new generation."

Her advice to the next crop of arts advocates? "Don't stop. You can't rest. You have to keep proposing, keep raising money."

Alexandra Hoag

Over one hearty breakfast and gabfest with Hoag -- a woman who is high-energy and likes her hash browns -- you might be convinced she's led more than one life, or at least packed a lot into the one she has. She was born in a concentration camp in Hamburg, Germany, to a Ukrainian farm couple.

"There was bombing going on at the time," she said. "Everyone was supposed to run for cover, and my mother was so weak, it's a good thing my brother ran back to pick me up."

Hoag and her family were sponsored to come to the United States, where they worked on farms in New Mexico, Nebraska and Minnesota.

Farm girl became city girl. She held several jobs in the Twin Cities, from her early years waiting tables and in retail sales at Powers, Donaldsons and Dayton's department stores to market consulting, promotion and event planning, including a position at the Star Tribune (her husband, Charlie, is a retired advertising executive for the newspaper who still consults on a regular basis). She traveled to the Soviet Union on agricultural joint ventures. After the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, she and a partner collected donated medicine from American doctors and delivered it to the victims.

Hoag's most recent obsession -- the one for which she's receiving the Fashion Group's Culinary Arts award tonight -- is the Mill City Farmers Market, which began its third season Saturday on the Mississippi riverfront. As part of a small group in 2005 that was interested in developing a neighborhood spot for organic produce aimed at the growing number of downtown residents, she took charge as a volunteer organizer and says it became her calling.

"I worked at it the same as a full-time job, because I was so enamored about doing what I could to contribute to a return to the small, shop-by-shop, stall-by-stall style of pedestrian city shopping, the kind they still have in Europe," she said.

Hoag's interest in organically grown food and sustainable agriculture was sparked nearly 30 years ago, after she had a stomach tumor removed at age 38, and then, after adopting a strict diet and running regimen, having a mild heart attack at 41.

"This was a while before the big push toward organic, but I really came to believe that what I was putting into my body had a lot to do with my health problems," she said.

Hoag, 64, said that after all her different jobs, "I've finally figured out what my strength is -- I'm good at starting new things. I guess I'm not so afraid of failing because I figure I've just learned something else."

Kristin Tillotson • 612-673-7046