SATURDAY EXPEDITIONS

You are cordially invited to indulge in the rich arts culture of the St. Paul & Minneapolis area (aka the conjoined-Twin Cities) during the NAMAC 2012 Conference. Venture out of the hotel to meet the plethora of creative folks in the region. Actually, the entire state is filled with talented residents.

There are a number of museums and galleries to visit as well as individual artists or collective activities. Constellation Minneapolis is a neighborhood-generated multi-site arts experience occurring on both Saturday (11am – Midnight) and Sunday (11am – 7:38pm). View their itinerary at www.constellationmpls.wordpress.com for details. Most sites are accessible by bus but its best to take a taxi after nightfall.

After the Soap Factory soiree travel a short distance to the Northrup King Building (NKB) for the Artfall10 opening at Studio 391, 1500 Jackson Street NE, 55413 www.facbook.com/NKStudio391 for information (7pm-11). The NKB is located in the heart of the Northeast Minneapolis arts district. The springtime Art-A-Whirl opens hundreds of studios for a three-day extravaganza of creativity (www.nemaa.org). St. Paul’s Art Crawl is presented in both the spring and the fall of each year (www. stpaulartcrawl.org).

Many more arts events are listed at www.mnartists.org/eventList.do and you can do a web search. If you don’t have time during this visit, please return to our vicinity to explore. The summer is jam-packed with free outdoor concerts and events, and the cold season offers the St. Paul Winter Carnival and intellectual pursuits. My personal theory is that winter increases both the intensity of creation as well as the appreciation of the arts in our community. After you shovel, there isn’t a heck of a lot to do when the temperatures are mind-numbingly cold (below 0 Fahrenheit). You can either sit home and mope or get out to enjoy dance, music, theater, or visual arts.

Featured is a painting by the talented Alison Price. Contact her at 612-805-1886 or view her website at www.alisonpricestudios.com.

Yah, sure you betcha, please return to Minnesota soon, ya know…
© 2012 Ima B. Musing

CYCLONE OF CREATIVITY, PART II

This bit highlights a few of the myriad talented artists that I viewed. I urge you to attend next year’s AAW or an art-crawl in your area. Many of the buildings and independent studios have events throughout the year. Prepare to be awed. Part I of this review was posted on June 11th. www.nemaa.org

Porcelain glazed plates, vases, and forms are coupled with the friendliest artist on the art crawl, Jeff Longtin at the California Building. He was gracious and informative regarding the process. Mr. Longtin can be reached at 612-824-5939. Artistic Indulgence wins high marks for their hospitality. They had an impressive array of treats to consume while viewing the music inspired artwork of Mike Menasco. Bright jazzy paintings and a fine art custom framing shop beautifully arranged despite just moving into the Thorp Building. www.theartisticindulgence.com

Giving a boost to others is helpful for the whole community. The Thorp Building hosted the Bethel University Senior Thesis Exhibition. Some of the emerging artists were quite impressive and I look forward to their future work. www.bethel.edu/galleries Altered Esthetics in the Qarma Building is a nonprofit gallery featuring revolving exhibits. I was pleasantly surprised by the artwork displayed. www.alteredesthetics.org

Happy to have visited with a couple of last year’s winners, Alison Price and Nicole Fierce. They both are doing well in their new studio spaces and creating exciting pieces. I have written about them in this blog and you should visit their websites for information. Contact Alison Price at www.alisonpricestudios.com or 612-805-1886. Nicole Fierce can be contacted at www.fiercedesignstudio.com or 651-271-2502. Please patronize all the artists listed.

BEST OF SHOW:
Song Thao fabulously blends traditional Hmong story cloth (pan dau) images with abstraction. Large sweeping work. He is clearly talented and his hefty canvases reflect a variety of moods. Contact Mr. Thao at www.songyerthao.com or 651-210-9715.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
* Rabi Sanfo creates sculptures and wall hangings with strength. Multiple layers of design, metal and meaning. www.yarbidesign.com
* Larry Retzlaff mixes good humor with his media. Daring garish cartoon buildings and silly Styrofoam crayon heads are in his repertoire. llretzlaff@gmail.com
* Farida Hughes is dotty, polka-dots with a twist, that is. Her multihued dots dance on the canvas. frhughes@comcast.net
* Frank Wetzel creates stunning portraits and lovely landscapes. Beauty is beheld. fbwetzel@yahoo.com
* Neal Perbix mixes wire, paint, and cut out sculpture for creative wall hangings. www.nealperbix.com
* Marcia McEachron is a sculptor, painter, and wire twister extraordinaire. Her war horse painting looks like its about to charge into the room. www.marciamceachron.com
* Candice Simpson eases the eye with ephemeral nature paintings. Soft, sweet, and breezy. www.candicesimpson.com
* Martin Arend is a modern icon maker. His audacious, complicated images are the stuff of deep dreams or nightmares. mea421@gmail.com
* Geri Retzlaff weaves fiber into artistic scarves and fabrics. Geri.Retzlaff@gmail.com
* Reynaldo Diaz has a sharp eye for design. Bright scenes move through his work. Reynaldo_diaz@comcast.net
* Nanci Yermakoff watercolors are meditative. Sit down, relax, and view the rising or setting sun over the lake. www.mnartists.org/nanci_yermakoff
* David Sollie blends ad-type with irreverent puns. Snappy absurdity brings a smile. www.shackway.com
* Leslie A. Pilgrim doesn’t hesitate with her stunning pieces. Bold vision to brighten up any space and place. www.winterberryinc.com

Buy Art!
© 2012 Ima B. Musing

BLACK AND HUE

Dynamic pieces by Alison Price and Richard Simonsen are displayed in their newly renovated space, Carbon/Chroma Gallery. A multitude of people gathered on a lovely spring evening to celebrate the Grand Opening. Wood torches blazed outside providing the former loading dock locale with the incense of a cozy campfire.

Industrial built work is Richard’s mode, top right is an example. He incorporates a lot of metal and wood with painting in dark and metallic tones. Some of the wood has been burned for extra texture. Alison’s artwork is evolving beyond her classic brightly hued paintings (see below) to include pumice and tiny glass bead overlays. They had been in a shared room with several other artists before deciding to venture into a two-person space. It will be interesting to see how these old friends influence each other.

The soiree’s nosh offered a wide array of Chow Girl Catering treats and desserts as well as a nicely stocked refreshment stand. Comfortable furniture was available for seating while viewing the terrific artwork. The well-attended opening was filled with happy people and background music. www.chowgirls.net

A few days after their opening, Alison and Richard graciously hosted the Abide By It show featuring current Minnesota College of Art and Design students. MCAD’s Alexandra Worre, Sean Roth, Olivia Rodriguez, Arthur Nelson, Chelsea LaPorta, Chalres Knight, and Schuyler Huber filled the gallery with interesting furniture pieces. It is always exciting to watch an emerging artist develop his or her own unique style. The First Thursday at the Northrup King Building is a relaxed method of viewing artwork without the pell-mell of Art-A-Whirl. The artists are more inclined to chat since they are not being inundated with patrons. www.northrupking.com/firstthursdays www.nemaa.org

Carbon/Chroma Gallery is open by appointment, first Thursday evening of every month, and during the Art-A-Whirl Art Crawl. Located at Dock 7 (Gallery 192) of the Northrup King Building situated at 1500 Jackson Street NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Richard Simonsen can be reached at 952-933-6911 or www.simonsenart.com Contact Alison Price at 612-805-1886 or www.alisonpricestudios.com. Alison has been highlighted in blog postings on January 9th & 11th, and February 16th.

Be creative every day.
© 2012 Ima B. Musing

DANCEABLE ART

My niece Liza and I attended An Evening of Art and Dance collaboration presented by Ballet Royale Minnesota on Friday, February 10th. This is the third year that the ballet company choreographed pieces based upon two-dimensional artwork. www.balletroyalemn.org

The evening began with an introduction by Ballet Royale Co-Directors Denise Vogt and Rick Vogt. The visual artist spoke about their personal journey of painting and the choreographer discussed their process. The youthful dancers performed which was followed by a brief reflection before the next artwork chat. A screen projected a photo of the artwork to the left of the stage while the original hung in the lobby. Unfortunately, the stage at the Lakeville Area Arts Center is deep with a narrow proscenium extension, which does not provide much room for movement.

Skeletal tree branches extending into the winter air echoed with the sound of small deer hooves (toe shoes). Marcia Cushmore’s painting, “Bones: Reaching” is simultaneously haunting and soothing. Rick Vogt choreographed Vaughn Williams’ “Fantasia on Greensleeves” with mostly classical ballet positions. The troupe performed on a cramped stage and mimicked the tree branches with their flexible motions. The piece began crowded with dancers, the second section had better structure, and finished with a beautiful meditative motion. The troupe floated like leaves and ended as branches. The simple ballet costumes were a lovely reflection of the pastel hues in the painting.

Hard angles, texture and roughness describe Alison Price’s “Hindsight Bohemian Flats” inspired by the wreckage of the 35W Bridge Collapse. The rusting metal was stored in the park downstream from the site for several years after the structure was disassembled. Ms. Price sent photos of the artwork during development and met with the ensemble so that they could choreograph the piece simultaneously. Dance designer Bailey Anderson collaborated with the dozen performers, aged 13- 17, and utilized a variety of tools to create a modern dance. Barefooted youth wore simple black leotards with rolled up jeans and danced to excerpts from the movie Chocolat`. The dance included perky, calm, and bouncy elements in a rather discombobulated fashion. It was wonderful to hear from the dancers after the performance though a bit unnerving to view their gnarled feet. Alison Price was profiled on this blog on January 9th. Contact her at 612-805-1886 or www.alisonpricestudios.com for details.

Strength emanates from Manidoo-giizhikens’ female and male essence on the shores of Gichigami. Hazel Belvo’s magnificent “Spirit Tree Dusk I and Spirit Tree Dusk II” two part painting captures Lake Superior’s Little Cedar Spirit Tree located at Grand Portage, MN. The artwork shows the power of the sweeping trunk as its roots cling to rock with the vermilion clouds crashing like waves in the background. Movement composer Denise Vogt appropriately chose Phillip Glass’ “Prelude and Dance” from Akhnaten I and II for the performance. The dancers chose costumes resembling the cloud-waves in the painting. Mixture of contemporary and classical ballet swept over the stage. Disappointed that the piece ended because it could be extended to a full performance. Visit the inspirational conifer at www.grandportage.com/witchtree.php

Unique format provided some interesting insights, but advisable to repeat questions from the audience into a microphone during Q & A session. It would be wonderful to hear more from the teenaged performers. The Ballet Royale website needs an extensive explanation of the event with a link to the center to procure tickets. The City of Lakeville should add written directions to their website because the Lakeville Area Arts Center map is not adequate. Liza, my honorary niece who is the daughter of my best friend Allie, already wants to attend next year’s show.

Keep On Dancing!
© 2012 Ima B. Musing

HAND ME YOUR KEYS

Balmy spring weather was appropriate for a tropical soiree. Actually, it was Bravo TV’s Tabatha Takes Over the Jungle Red Salon Spa Gallery premiere. The event was held at Seven Sushi and Steak Ultralounge in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday evening, January 10th. Parking was horrid due to the Timberwolves game. The second floor of Seven was filled with fashionistas, local celebrities, fans, clients, family, and friends of the Jungle Red crew.

Alison Price, guest Gallery artist, graciously invited me to attend. She set up a table to show off her stunning paintings. Despite the subdued mood lighting her creations brightened the lounge. My friend and I sipped delicious Fruitini Martinis and watched the crowd. It was better than the State Fair for people viewing. Plenty of fashion victims, they will do anything to look good, were in attendance.

DJ Alex Jarvis established upbeat mood music and kept the volume low enough for conversation to occur. Runway Show featuring Pink Champagne (no, not a drag queen) fashions and models from M3 Productions warmed up the crowd. Shannan Paul did a good job at projecting her voice but they should have given her a script for each outfit. Jungle Red invented a special Sex Kitten hair cut but it was not clear who was modeling it. Some of the models looked very uncomfortable and haughty in their shoes and clothes. They really need to eat more protein. Anorexia is ugly.

Tabatha Coffey used Skype to address the crowd before the premiere. It was nice of her to take the time. You could feel the anticipation of the audience building. The horde scurried to seats to watch the show when it began. No view was obstructed due to plenty of television screens. There was a momentary issue with the sound and occasionally dialogue was lost attributable to the heavy base in the background music.

So-called “reality” television is designed for drama. It highlighted deficits in the salon on purpose. The character assassination of Laura was unfair. Yes, she was wrong to drink on the job (illegal for licensed cosmetologists in Minnesota) and was stupid to do it in front of a camera crew. However, she cannot be blamed for all the “negative energy” at the Salon. Her attitude is a reflection of the people around her. The leadership establishes the tone of a business and Suzanne must take responsibility. Publicly humiliating Laura was inappropriate and unprofessional. I hope that Suzanne has taken courses in business and human resource management since the episode was filmed.

Disappointed that Alison’s interview was not included in the final version of the show. It would have been good to at least have her beautiful pieces acknowledged. They looked fabulous in the background. www.alisonpricestudios.com She was profiled on January 9th entry of this blog. The show didn’t have a lot of content because it was overwhelmed with commercials. I thought the point of cable television was to reduce commercials. Alas, I can’t afford cable since the cats refuse to work. Surprised that the producers did not donate the materials removed from the salon. There are plenty of charities that would have gladly picked up the couches.

The crowd quickly dissipated after applauding the end of the show. We Minnesotans are early risers so I’m sure some folks had 7am meeting to attend Wednesday morning. It was a very interesting experience. A couple years ago I volunteered and was invited to attend a premiere for Extreme Home Makeover. I learned that the television shows stretch reality for drama. The content should not be considered to be literal. It’s all about ratings, product placement, and revenue at the expense of naive people who seek the elusive fifteen minutes of fame.

Reality TV Salt Lick.
© 2012 Ima B. Musing