Upcoming WARM Protegee Art Exhibit

Hello again!

For 20 months now, the protegees of the 2009-2010 WARM Mentor Program have been thinking about art around the clock. We think about it when we wake up: what will we work on today? What do we have time for? What’s due? We think about it in the evening: what do we have to get done before bed? What do we have the materials for? What can we put off…? We think about it when we don’t feel capable of creating anything: what could we possibly do next? Will we have anything to show our mentor next month? Why are we in this program???

So many questions, so little time! At least that’s how it feels right now. It’s August and we’ve got art due this month for the end of the program exhibit and many of us are just not ready…including me.

"Green Morpho," by Joan Kloiber

Several people are ready though and I know them personally. Right now my plan is to live vicariously through them. All of the artists in today’s post are women who’ve been producing for years and have used the program to expand their oeuvre and to take risks to push themselves even further.

Joan Kloiber is a fiber artist who has exhibited in professional galleries before joining the program. She’s a member of a fiber art group that meets every week (every week!) for three hours at a time. I wish you could see the French knots in this piece. I believe she’s using silk floss. Whatever it is, the colors shine against the reverse-dyed background. If you go to the exhibit at the Bloomington Art Center, Sept 3-Oct 8, get your nose right up to it. It’s worth a closer look.

"Ego, Container for Soul," by Rita Schaefer-Seaton

Again, I wish you could see this piece by Rita Schaefer-Seaton in more detail. Near the top, center, is a red swirl. Below it, to the left, is a yellow one. If you look at them, you might be able to see that they’re three-dimensional. This work pops out of the frame in many places; the texture and form are every bit as important to the end result as the color, which is intense. Ooh. I love the white bit that runs from top to bottom. If you get a chance to see it in person, you’ll understand why I’m nuts about it.

"Red Vision III," by Rita Kirsch Dungey

This is a good example of what can happen to art when it’s reproduced in another format. The original is red. I’m not sure how much of the pink tones were created when I downloaded it into Photoshop. Also, you’re not able to see any of the textures in this image. Rita Kirsch Dungey’s work is bold, like her use of color, but she also evokes cultural and historical themes through her brush strokes. My first wish is for you to see this in person. My second wish is that you could see some of her other canvases, to get a sense of her reach.

"Tending," by Deborah Splain

I’ve highlighted Deborah Splain’s work in an earlier blog (Art in the Twin Cities 2, May 19) because she’s one of those women who somehow manage to do it all. I’ve seen her in Art-A-Whirl events over the past year and I’ve also been to St Cloud University’s Atwood Gallery to see her solo show. There’s also an indepth article from the University Chronicle: “Artist Reveals Meanings” which addresses the layering involved in her work. I love the hint of neurons and other evocative shapes in the organic forms above and her rich color palette in most of her works.

Yikes. This is much longer than I intended. Hope you took a cookie break at some point and rested a bit. Thanks for bearing with me. Now I’ve got some artwork to finish… —Chris

Art in The Twin Cities 3

Welcome back!

Sadly, you may have noticed a dearth of pictures in the last couple of posts. I love having images to show off. It makes reading more fun and it’s an enjoyable challenge to me, to find pertinent ways to show what I’m trying to describe.

But I’ve found it’s a whole different ballgame when my subject matter is art. Artists’ bread and butter are the products created from their unique take on the world. To copy and paste an image, no matter how innocently, is a breach of trust and a threat to their livelihood.

The Napster controversy vividly illustrates how complicated the issue is and how difficult it is to protect music. The same is true for the visual arts.

So, I’ve had to forgo images that would have made these posts more appealing. I hope you’ve noticed the live links and have clicked on a few to see what’s behind them. There’s a wealth of color awaiting you!

During Art-A-Whirl on May 15th, I went to the Northrup King Building in response to two e-mail invitations from artists whose work I admire. I started at Jeff Lohaus’ metal-working studio. I’ve always liked his sculptures, but it wasn’t until just recently that I discovered he’s also a vibrant painter and an outstanding photographer. If you get a chance, check out his upcoming Pierogi Project, a 17 ft statue of a favorite Polish food, sponsored by NE Mpls Comm Dev Corp (NECDC). (If you’re in a buying mood, view the 7 and 15 inch bronze maquettes of the statue and consider becoming a sponsor of this unique project.)

Because my grandfather ran and maintained a linotype machine for a small-town newspaper, I am unduly thrilled with presses of all types. For example, during Will Smith’s 2009 movie “Seven Pounds,” I was surprised to see several of these mechanical behemoths and the delicately beautiful engravings they produce. It’s no wonder that I went to Angel Bomb Design + Letterpress studio to see a Heidelberg press in action and to take away a sample (and a memory or two).

On the third floor, I visited Andree Tracey’s studio. I have a favorite t-shirt of hers (Compost Queen) that I cherish from years ago. Now she’s working on less-humorous subject matter, including a surreal series entitled “Numbered Days,” featuring endangered animals.

Also on the third floor is Loretta Bebeau’s studio. Loretta has four pieces in the upcoming Revealing Culture exhibition at the Smithsonian’s International Gallery as part of the VSA Festival in Washington, DC. A comprehensive article about the exhibit, VSA’s goals and a list of artists can be found at this Yahoo site. Of Loretta’s works, my favorite is the installation TicTacToe #5, which incorporates woven transcripts from Holocaust interviews.

Sharra Frank is another professional artist I enjoying following. She works in mosaic and teaches popular classes showing how to incorporate found objects as well as the more typical glass and stone. Her art is playful and gorgeously intricate, with strong design elements.

Before my legs gave out, I also visited the shared gallery space of Mike Wohnoutka and Susan Feigenbaum, both of whom should be much better known. Mike’s sketchbook alone is worth a visit to his website, but his giraffe and alligator paintings are icing on the cake. What big eyes they have! Susan’s colorful, textural ceramics, including Petite Guardian, Probe and Two Out of Three, have a distinct other-worldliness to them.

My hope is that these three Twin Cities posts will encourage you to check out some of these artists by visiting their websites and, if you live here, to take advantage of the open studios around town during Minneapolis’ First Thursdays or St Paul’s Lowertown First Fridays. Meet the artists! Spread the word!

Thanks for visiting! –Chris

Art in The Twin Cities 2

Welcome back!

Last Saturday, May 15th, I attended Art-A-Whirl. Hopefully most of you know what that is, but some may not. For those of you who do, feel free to scoot further down the page.

Art-A-Whirl is presented by the NE Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA) and is billed on their website as “the largest open studio and gallery tour in the United States.” Like the St Paul Art Crawl, they too have a fall event, only the name is different: The Fall Fine Arts Show.

The AAW event is located in 11 landmark studio buildings, 10 art galleries, 14 smaller stand alone buildings and 28 associated venues. Most of the buildings have multiple studios; the Northrup King Bldg has over 190 artists. Even the relatively small Q.arma Building has 18 arts-related studios and the Keg House has 10.

As usual, I had to make some tough choices right away; I knew I wouldn’t see everything. That’s the hardest part of these events, but it’s made easier by knowing that I’ll choose different buildings next time. Alternating keeps everything fresh!

I started off in the small Keg House because I wanted to see my mentor’s art. Layl McDill, of ClaySquared, has transformed her gallery space into a workshop studio. When I visited she had an impromptu class of clay makers, mostly children, hard at work. The other half of ClaySquared, run by husband Josh Blanc, had a full gallery of tiles on display as well as samples in process which I could examine.

In the same bldg I also visited the Brain Injury Association of MN’s gallery of art. There was a live demo’ by an artist who was working despite a debilitating stroke and, on the wall, a number of fine arts pieces that I wanted to take home, including Brian Foster’s “art to stand on.”

Although there was more to see, I walked to the Grain Belt Building to view the Polymer Clay Guild’s exhibit. I need to join this organization! They have monthly meetings I’m interested in; definitely on my to-do list.

From there I met Kat Corrigan, a former WARM protegee, and fun artist. She paints soulful dogs (blue!), the most delicious trees and intense skies (more blue!) and she’s a member of L7, a group that was kind enough to strongly urge us, the newest protegees, to form small groups to support and inspire each other throughout (and after) the mentorship program. I hold a special spot in my heart for these seven artists because I daily benefit from the group that resulted.

I left Kat to see Deb Splain’s work across the atrium. I’m not sure if she knows of the envy she generated with her piece “Mending Souls” at our first protegee meeting last fall. She has texture that defies description (I won’t try) and a seemingly endless ability to put deep symbolism into her paintings. And she’s just getting started!

To me that touches on one of several gifts I’ve gotten from the Women’s Art Registry of MN’s mentor program: 1) I’ve met and got to interact with successful, working artists that treated me like an equal, 2) I’ve met 20 artists at the beginning of their careers, got to watch them develop and then leap far away from my expectations and 3) I received access to visual arts that I only dreamed about before joining. There’s always been an active arts’ scene here in the metro’ area; I just needed to have it pointed out.

Next time: The third and final installment of Art in The Twin Cities. Thanks for visiting! –Chris