Art: Cynde x Cynde

When the going gets tough, artists stand by one another. This weekend, more than 100 top Minnesota artists and performers are throwing a benefit to help Cynde Randall defray the cost of her treatment for breast cancer. Randall has been at the heart of the Twin Cities arts community for more than 25 years as a writer, curator, activist and artist. She helped stage more than 100 shows by state artists as a longtime staff person with the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program, an artist-run curatorial department at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. As the founder of Bird x Bird, she organized artistic benefits for bird rescue and protection, and most recently she's been running Swan Song Contemporary Arts, an eco-arts gallery in Maiden Rock, Wis. Artists donating work for her cause include Alec Soth, Jennifer Davis, Lynn Geesaman, Mary Esch, Doug Padilla, David Lefkowitz, Frank Gaard, Gary Hallman and Randall, whose "Third Eye of Eloise" is shown here. Local blue chip art will be sold for blue collar prices ($25 to $200) and all proceeds go to Randall. Performers include Dave Ahl, formerly of the punk band Suicide Commandos.