State of the Arts Category Archive: Printmaking
Art Hounds: Dear Data, St. Cloud aesthetic, and Rebel Pleasure
Posted at 7:00 AM on November 23, 2011
by Molly Bloom
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Music, Painting, Printmaking
This week, three Scotts and a Carol show us what it means to be a St. Cloud artist, introduce to us a new band with a warm sound perfect for winter, and a performance series that pushes all sorts of boundaries.
Scott Stulen may be the Project Director for mnartists.org as well as a visual artist, but his true love is DJing, which he does under the name Black Lacquer. He's always on the hunt for new music and he can't get enough of the newly-formed Dear Data. The Minneapolis band, made up of members of I, Colussus and Al Church and State, pairs a warm electro-pop sound with soulful vocals. If you want to catch this band before they hit it big, you can see them Monday, Nov. 28 at Red Stag Supperclub and Wednesday, Nov. 30 at Cause Spirits and Soundbar.
Carol Weiler is a photographer and designer in St. Cloud. She wants you to head to the 912 Art Gallery to see the work of a man who helped shape the aesthetic of the St. Cloud art scene. Bill Ellingson's watercolors and prints particularly struck a chord in the '70s and '80s, especially his work featuring images of protests from the era of the Vietnam War. The show will be up through Nov. 30 and there will also be a discussion at the gallery on Monday, Nov. 28 about the collective memory of the St. Cloud arts culture.
Scotty Reynolds and Scotty Hall share a name, artistic endeavors (Picnic Operetta and Interact Center) and a love for the queer performance series Pleasure Rebel. Wednesday, Nov. 30 at the Bryant Lake Bowl you can see artists pushing themselves and the boundaries of what queer performance can be. They're particularly excited to the see the intimate performance of Melissa Birch and the visceral work of Tim Carroll, who goes beyond normal human limits.
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Edo-Pop: the enduring appeal of Japanese prints
Posted at 11:31 AM on November 23, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Museums, Printmaking
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is currently showing an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints that date back to the Edo period (1615-1868).
The prints are known as ukiyo-e, or "images of the floating world," and they flourished at a time when a burgeoning middle class was taking an interest in the arts.
Kitagawa Utamaro, Love for a Farmer's Wife, 1795-96
The show is the culmination of ten years work by curator Matthew Welch, and showcases 160 of the finest prints in the museum's extensive collection.
Welch says the ukiyo-e artists were often the same people who painted signboards and banners for Kabuki theater performances. While it's hard to believe when looking at these prints, they were originally sold as popular street art - the modern day equivalent of posters.
They were popular because they reflected the transitory and up-to-the-minute interests and tastes of the chonin (townsmen). The more fastidious among them would carefully save their prints in small woven lacquer or wooden boxes. Others might paste them up to the paper of shoji doors. There is even a theory that people tacked images of their favorite Kabuki actors to the backs of their kimono before attending a play! Because they were mass-produced, momentarily fashionable, and cheap, they were appreciated but not particularly valued. Hence, it is thought that only a fraction of the total output has come down to us today.
The exhibition is divided into several themes, including Beautiful women, Kabuki, Pleasures and Pastimes, and Sightseeing and Travel. Like Pop artists of the 1960s and 1970s in Britain and the United States, ukiyo-e artists were interested in fashion and other trends. Thus the name of the show: Edo-Pop.
Katsushika Hokusai, Poppies, ca. 1832
During a tour of the exhibition, Welch recounted how a visiting Japanese dignitary couldn't believe some of the prints were originals, because they were in such outstanding condition. So how did the MIA end up with such an extensive and high quality collection of Japanese prints?
While many collectors have donated prints to the museum over the years, Welch says the majority of the MIA's approximately 3000 prints come from two collectors: Richard P. Gale and Louis W. Hill, Jr., grandson of James J. Hill.
Both men had a mania for Japanese art. Richard Gale was an extremely demanding collector and connoisseur who constantly sought to refine his collection by selling or trading up. Consequently, his collection of woodblock prints was relatively small, numbering about 240 works of spectacular quality. While Mr. Gale collected prints from early 18th through the mid 19th century, his holdings were particularly strong in 18th century material picturing the reigning beauties of the pleasure quarters and famous Kabuki actors.
Louis W. Hill, Jr., on the other hand, loved Japan and collected prints that reflected the Japanese landscape, especially those by Utagawa Hiroshige. Of the nearly 2,000 prints that Mr. Hill donated, over half are by Hiroshige and 75% of those represent landscape views.
Hakone--View of the Lake, by Utagawa Hiroshige
From the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road, ca. 1833
The final gallery of the exhibition focuses on the lasting appeal and influence of these prints on contemporary artists, including filmmakers and sculptors. I'll write more about that aspect of the exhibition next week.
Edo-Pop runs through January 8 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Welch says he hopes visitors are smitten by the sheer beauty and technical finesse of the prints, and amazed by their sophistication and richness.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, ca 1834
Did Albrecht Durer leave secret messages in his art?
Posted at 1:35 PM on October 14, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Drawing, Galleries, Museums, Printmaking
Art collector Elizabeth Garner believes she's found hidden messages in Renaissance master Albrecht Durer's engravings and woodcuts. Messages that have been overlooked by centuries of art historians.
"Melencolia" is riddled with clues. Elizabeth Garner says Durer believed in hiding things in plain sight. The magic square in the top-right corner is not something to be solved as much as it is a clue that the entire picture is a puzzle. Image courtesy MAGJECKL Collection, Elizabeth Maxwell-Garner
43 of Durer's prints, belonging to Garner, are now on display at the Hillstrom Museum on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.
MPR's Euan Kerr spoke to Garner, who says she became fascinated with Durer after studying and copying one of his works in an art class.
One day, looking at a print called "The Young Couple Threatened by Death (The Promenade)" something struck her.I said 'The woman is wearing an illegal dress,' because they had very strict laws in Nuremberg about what anybody could wear. I said, 'It's an illegal dress and everybody is going to know it's an illegal dress. I don't understand why he wasn't arrested for making this particular type of print.'
She decided Durer wanted people to really look at the dress and that's when she noticed a word hidden in the neckline.
"I couldn't understand how nobody else had found it," she said. "But it turned out it was supposed to be me."
It was a coded reference to Durer's origins. Soon she was finding other clues hidden in other Durer's, she just had to work out what they meant.
"It's like the Da Vinci Code, just without Da Vinci," she said.
She bought print after print, cross-referencing what she found with contemporary accounts of life in Nuremberg. Finally she says she understood what Durer had hidden in his pictures, and why he could sell them.
"When I finally realized they were about scandals, it was like 'Yeah! OK! Well, this is basically like the National Enquirer.' "
Garner will lecture on her theories at Gustavus on Sunday afternoon. She'll then lead a gallery tour at the Hillstrom on Monday evening.
Listen to the entire story by clicking on the audio link below:
It's not just flattery, it's a crime
Posted at 2:25 PM on April 21, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Drawing, Printmaking
Adam Turman's artwork, created for a breast cancer campaign
There's an oft-quoted expression that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
Well, local graphic artist Adam Turman would love it if you'd just lay off the flattery, thank you very much.
Turman just found out that a person claiming to be a graphic artist, using the name "Ben Hur," has been selling one of Turman's images on baseball caps and t-shirts. This morning I was able to check out the plagiarist's site myself, and saw Turman's "Second Base" image all over the home page. Here's how Turman explains it:
My partner on the Second Base Breast Cancer campaign, Brian Erba, is well connected in the online poster collecting scene, and randomly patrols for the image I made for the campaign. He came across Ben Hur's stuff, and immediately alerted me to it. I posted about it on FB, sent Zazzle (where he was selling merch) an email, sent Ben Hur an email to his site, sent my lawyer an email, and have been letting everyone know what's going on.
Luckily for Turman, he saw swift results. Hur's site is now down, and all the images have been taken off of his Facebook page and Zazzle. Turman says the best defense is swift communication to as many people as possible, letting them know what's a fake and what's an original.
I've had this happen multiple times before, and it's been my fans, clients, customers, friends, that have really helped to put a stop to this sort of thing. Plagiarizers should know that if they do what they do often enough, it's going to get back to them.
Turman says the worst part of this latest incident is that Ben Hur was stealing art that was used for a not-for-profit campaign.
Stealing work can be flattering to a point, but when that person stealing work uses it for personal gain, it's a totally different ball game (pun intended).
Highpoint completes capital drive
Posted at 6:12 PM on February 22, 2011
by Euan Kerr
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Filed under: Funding, Printmaking
The Highpoint Center for Printmaking announced it has completed its $3.5 million capital campaign to pay for its new building on Lake Street in Minneapolis.
The HP2 campaign as it was know was launched in May 2008, with the new building renovated and opening celebrated by October 2009.
The actual fund-raising was completed in late December, but Highpoint directors Carla Magrath and Cole Rogers (shown left with an early model for the Center) released the news today.
The new facility, planned by James Dayton Design is triple the size of the Center's former home, and features much improved facilities including space for Highpoints artist cooperative, a studio for visiting artists to work with a Master Printer galleries, and a dedicated classroom for younger students.
Even though the new Center has only been doing classes since June 2009, it has already served over 10,000 people. Now with the campaign complete the Highpoint leaders promise continuation of its community focus, while having the ability and focus to "move in new directions."
A retro look in the MN State Fair's future
Posted at 7:25 PM on February 1, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Design, Printmaking
"Corn" by Steve Thomas - Image copyright Pioneer Press
The Minnesota State Fair has chosen Steve Thomas of Lino Lakes to design the 2011 poster and commemorative art.
"Mars" by Steve Thomas
Steve Thomas' work as an illustrator is striking to behold, combining retro graphic style with often hyper-futuristic imagery. Thomas' sense of humor is everpresent in his portfolio, designing travel posters for other planets in the solar system, and propaganda posters for computer games like Pac Man and Frogger.
Frogger by Steve Thomas
You can see how Thomas' art might lend itself to the state fair in some of his work for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press:
"Revolution" by Steve Thomas - Image copyright Pioneer Press
This year marks the first time the Minnesota State Fair has gone about choosing its artist through a public call for submissions. Thomas was one of five finalists selected from over 80 candidates.
Thomas' original art for the State Fair will be unveiled at the fairgrounds in June and displayed at the Fine Arts Center during the fair's 12-day run.
Art Hounds: Hip Harlem, Toys in the Attic and a night of dance
Posted at 7:00 AM on December 2, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Dance, Events, Music, Printmaking
The hounds follow their art-sensitive noses to a show by, for, and about toys, an exploration of the Harlem Renaissance led by a centenarian and a nonagenarian, and an unforgettable evening of dance.
Custom toys and toy-inspired posters will fill Gallery 122 in Minneapolis on Friday, December 3 and Chris Cloud couldn't be more excited. Chris, the executive creative director of MPLS.TV, says his childhood flashes before his eyes when he takes in the annual Toys in the Attic show. It features 50 print-based artists and celebrates both the joy and the darker side of toys and toy culture. It's also a benefit for Toys for Tots. Bring a toy and get in free or contribute five dollars.
Judith Brin Ingber is a dancer, teacher and writer in the Twin Cities who has very high regard for "Take Me Back to Hip Harlem," Dec. 4th and 5th At Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis. It features local dancer Ida Arbeit, who'll be turning 101 on Saturday the 4th, and 91-year-old tenor saxophonist Irv Williams, leading the Kairos Dance Company in an exploration of the movement and music of the Harlem Renaissance.
Performance artist and director Melissa Birch says members of the Twin Cities dance scene are holding an all-day party at the Southern Theater on Saturday Dec. 4th for a very important cause. It's a benefit to raise money for longtime dancer and mentor Krista Langberg and her husband Terry Chance. Both have been diagnosed with cancer in the last two years and have two daughters. The event will feature live music during the afternoon from Adam Levy and friends, and a concert that evening showcasing the finest in Minnesota modern dance, including members of Zenon Dance Company, Morgan Thorson, Hijack, Matthew Janzceski and Mad King Thomas.
For more Art Hounds' recommendations, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Photo of Chris Cloud taken by Robb Long.
Video break: C. Beck
Posted at 2:41 PM on November 16, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Arts around the state, Printmaking, Video
Last week I paid a visit to Fergus Falls, home to wood block artist Charles Beck. Then, while in Fargo-Moorhead, I stumbled across this lovely interview with Beck at the Rourke Art Gallery, created by Twin Cities documentary team Mike Hazard and Deborah Wallwork. Take a 7 minute break and get to know Beck's way of looking at the world just a little bit better.
Kaddatz Galleries and Charles Beck
Posted at 2:09 PM on November 11, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Galleries, Printmaking
A cat in an artist loft window peers down at the visitors to Kaddatz Galleries below
Walking down Lincoln Avenue in Fergus Falls, it's hard to miss Kaddatz Galleries, located just across the street from the Fergus Theater, in the old Kaddatz Hotel. The galleries may have only been open for a year and a half, but they have already become a home for regional artists looking to show their work.
Front and center in the showroom is the work of Fergus Falls native, Charles Beck. Beck, now in his 80s, helped found the Fergus Falls arts scene, and inspired future generations of artists while teaching at M State's Fergus Falls campus.
Beck's wood block prints depict Minnesota landscapes and wildlife in all seasons, using patterns that are often as geometric as they are natural. He's shown his work at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Walker Art Center.
While Charles Beck may be the best known artist based in Fergus Falls, other talent abounds. The Kaddatz Galleries currently have three exhibits up, including a show of assemblage pieces and pastel drawings by Kirk Williams. Then there's a group show of artwork all made from the same recyclable paper bag. Hanging on display are the costumes for Universit of Minnesota, Morris' recent production of "As you like it," which, in addition to being beautiful and period appropriate, are made entirely from re-used objects like pop bottle tops and tea bags.
Early Snow, Charles Beck
Created by A Center for the Arts, the Kaddatz Galleries have since spun off into their own non-profit. Gallery manager Gretchen Boyum says its mission is to foster arts education and appreciation, and to maintain a gallery space where the works of Charles Beck and other artists in the region are accessible to the local public:
Our main goal is to really give the audience a better understanding of the many artists that work in the area, the various mediums that they work in, and how art relates to their lives. With each new exhibition we try to give people some insight by including some interpretive text that talks about the artist, the medium, or the theme of the exhibition. We also host the Artist's Lecture Series where exhibiting artists come in to talk about their work.
With the help of ArtSpace Above the galleries, the upper floors of the old hotel have been converted into artist lofts that currently house two photographers, four painters, and two musicians.
Assemblages by Kirk Williams
In addition, Boyum has been taking the art out into the community, leading printmaking workshops for school children, and hosting "artful afternoons" at local senior care facilities.
We recently held a pottery workshop at a care facility for people with memory problems, and the staff was amazed at how the residents really were able to focus on the artist, and they each painted their own hand-thrown plate. I received an email from the staff that said the residents were still talking about it the next day.
One of the costumes for the production of "As You Like It" at the University of Minnesota, Morris
Boyum says the community response to the galleries has been great, with more than 100 people attended the most recent opening.
People are impressed with the quality of the exhibits and the art work, and sometimes they are even more impressed when they find out the artists live in Fergus Falls! It's nice to be an advocate for rural arts, and to let people know that we are not void of culture in small towns. I think we have become a source of community pride. Many of the artists I work with comment on how the idea of having a gallery here inspires them to work harder, and hopefully it will help keep the visual arts vital in our area by attracting and retaining other talented artists as well.
Kaddatz Galleries is located at 111 W Lincoln Avenue in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
Art Hounds: Master quilters, provocative prints and a room full of funny
Posted at 7:00 AM on October 28, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Printmaking, Theater
An internationally-known artist brings his juxtaposed prints to Highpoint, a play about Alabama slave descendants and their glorious quilts is at Park Square, and top-notch Twin Cities improv artists congregate at the BLB. We'll let the hounds tell you why they're excited.
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Miles Mendenhall has high praise for "Skeleton Images Tossed by Chance" an exhibition of prints by Mexican artist Carlos Amorales at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. Miles, a printmaker, installation artist, and finalist on Bravo TV's "Work of Art" reality show, says Amorales' work is simultaneously provocative and accessible, and immaculately presented at Highpoint. The show is on view through November 20.
Pamela Broz, Interim Director of Communications and Marketing at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, was thoroughly entertained by "Gee's Bend" at St. Paul's Park Square Theatre. It's a play about a group of master quilters in Gee's Bend, Alabama, who are descended from slaves and use their stunning quilts to connect with each other and the outside world. Maybe the fact that Pam is a quilter made her feel she was in familiar company. "Gee's Bend" runs through Nov. 7 at Park Square.
Have you been looking all your life for the funniest people in Minne...strike that...the funniest and most brilliant people in Minneapolis? Local improv artist and actor Tom Reed says they can be found on the Bryant Lake Bowl stage every Monday night at 8pm as part of "Show X!" Tom says it's an audience-fueled long-form improv show which can't be beat for hilarity, comic genius, and maybe even a little pathos.
For more Art Hounds' recommendations, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Bringing artists to the world of print
Posted at 2:07 PM on October 27, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Galleries, Printmaking
Hybrid Solid Composition 2
Intaglio & relief print, H 42 1/2 in x W 29 1/2 in
photo: copyright Rik Sferra, 2010
artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010
Mexican artist Carlos Amorales works primarily with paper silhouettes, cutting out images of birds, spiders, and people in blacks, reds, and grays and then combining them in ways that resonate and intrigue. He's also created animated videos using his silhouettes, much as noted American artist Kara Walker has done. But in Amorales' hands the images become an exploration of Mexican history, class and culture.
Highpoint Center for Printmaking's Cole Rogers saw in Amorales the makings of a great print artist.
The work had a very strong graphic quality that at the same time had an air of mystery or ambiguity which doesn't usually go with a graphic style. It's that tension between the known and unknown that was intriguing to me. Something that's recognizable but at the same time has parts that are unfamiliar... but not so unfamiliar that you can't relate.
Rogers paid a visit to Amorales' studio in Mexico and invited him to collaborate with Highpoint on a series of prints. Amorales would come up with the images, and it would be Highpoint's charge to translate those images to ink and paper.
Little did Rogers know what he was getting himself into.
Snake Glyph 3
Intaglio & relief print, H 60 in x W 40 1/2 in
photo: copyright Rik Sferra, 2010
artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010
The prints which now hang on the walls of Highpoint's gallery represent months of work; some individual prints took three days to make, running the same paper through the press over and over again. But Rogers says it's undeniably been worth it; he's incredibly pleased with the beauty of the show:
I think they're wonderful images, intriguing, very unlike anything we've done before - they are so hard edged and graphically oriented.
Amorales' style of working is very playful; sometimes he would simply shake up a box full of plastic silhouettes, open the lid and say "there, that's what I want to print." Other times he would take an image in Photoshop and copy it over and over again, with the click of a mouse. It was Rogers who then had to figure out how to create the same image with ink on paper.
Like the best collaborations it starts out with an unstructured game - playing with media, and ideas, and seeing where the story leads us. Sometimes it's a relationship based on trust and a willingness to accept failure en route to finding something new.
Azar composition 2
Intaglio & relief print, H 48 in x W 36 in
photo: copyright Rik Sferra, 2010
artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010
Part of that collaboration, Rogers says, involves helping each other to see with new eyes.
[Amorales] came with some tools for making some drawings, and he was interested in making prints with them. We found that the tools could function in a very different way -he looked at the edges and I looked at the surfaces. And through experimenting with that, he found a new way of making related images, but in a different way than he'd expected.
For his part, Rogers was coaxed from saying "No, we can't do that - that's impossible" in response to certain ideas to "okay, we'll give it a try."
The fact that [these images] are so pristine, and the lines and shapes are so precise - everything has to be right. There are no grays, or chances for a fingerprint to be hidden here or there. A small crease of the paper, any slip of the hand shows. And when you have three people working simultaneously on a piece that is 4X6 feet and has 180 printed components, there are lots of chances for error. But really going for it, making the best statement possible rather than trying to economize, is always worth it. You have to take those risks.
Skeleton Image 1
Intaglio & relief print, H 48 in x W 36 in
photo: copyright Rik Sferra, 2010
artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010
So why does Rogers go to all the trouble helping artists bring their ideas to life on the printed page? He says he enjoys the challenge.
Someone asked one time if I still make my own prints, and I could. There are people who grind their own inks, make their own papers, do their own printing. But in this I'm more a partner in a larger production. I like to think of it as the difference between making an exquisite home video, and being a professional photographer on a movie set. This way I'm part of something bigger. We've helped him accomplish something he couldn't do on his own; we get to contribute to a greater whole, and that's really satisfying.
In exchange, he says, the artist comes away with something he or she might never have otherwise done, which may lead them down new paths in the future.
Useless Wonder Map 1
Relief Print, H 39 1/2 in x W 52 1/2 in
photo: copyright Rik Sferra, 2010
artwork: copyright Carlos Amorales & Highpoint Editions, 2010
Amorales is currently extremely busy, with simultaneous shows in Mexico, Zurich, Amersterdam, Rome, New York and Minneapolis. He's set to come to town in mid-November to see his digital ideas brought to life, hanging on Highpoint's gallery walls. Rogers says he imagines it will be akin to an author getting to hold his beautifully bound book for the first time.
Skeleton Images Tossed by Chance runs through November 20 at Highpoint Center for Prinmaking in Minneapolis.
Art Hounds: Brute Heart, Refugee Nation, and a critical mass of printmakers
Posted at 7:00 AM on October 14, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Music, Printmaking, Theater
"Unfinished Invasion," Lloyd Menard, 1976. The exhibition "Outstanding Printmaker: Lloyd Menard 1970 to Present" is at the College of Visual Arts as part of the Mid America Print Council Conference.
This week's hounds are following a new play about the "secret war" in Laos, a Twin Cities celebration of printmaking and a female chamber pop trio that haunts and seduces.
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Local actor Heidi Berg was impressed by the panoply of emotions she felt and education she received watching "Refugee Nation." The production probes the causes and aftermath of one of the tragic by-products of the Vietnam war-- the Laotian Civil War, also known as the "secret war." "Refugee Nation" was designed by two Twin Cities' Laotian actors after conducting extensive interviews within the Lao community. It's co-presented by the Lao Assistance Center, Pangea World Theater, and Intermedia Arts, where it's on stage through Oct. 17.
Colleen Sheehy drove all the way from Fargo to immerse herself in the Mid America Print Council Conference. As director of Plains Art Museum, Colleen's kind of on a scouting mission. This week (Oct. 13 - 16) the Mid America Print Council Conference is gathering the best print makers in Minnesota and around the country to exhibit and discuss their art and to conduct workshops. The conference (it's less stuffy than it sounds) is based at the University of Minnesota's Regis Center for the Arts.
Soozin Hirschmugl has fallen under the spell of Brute Heart. Soozin says the female chamber pop trio combines viola, bass, drums and keys with enmeshed, mesmerizing vocals to craft haunting, ethereal songs. Brute Heart joins Chastity Brown and Mayda in a show at the Kitty Kat Club this Saturday, Oct. 16.
For more Art Hounds' recommendations, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Arts 101: What's in a Name?
Posted at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2010
by Luke Taylor
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Filed under: Arts 101, Printmaking
While the market for buying and selling art tends to be the domain of the cultural elite, many of us have picked up a favorite wall-hanging at a local gallery or art fair. For those of us on a budget, it's just as important to know the value of what we're getting, and that can vary drastically depending on whether we're buying an "original," a "limited-edition print" or a "giclée." To better understand the differences myself, I consulted some experts around town.
Megan Bell with her painting, "It Was All About Compromise." (photo courtesy the artist)
I started with painter Megan Bell in Minneapolis. Over the past 18 years, Bell has sold many of her original oil paintings. Although originals may retain or even increase in value over time, Bell says it's not always practical or affordable for people to purchase original art. That's why she and many other artists order reproductions of their work that they then sell for much less than the original. A popular technique for creating reproductions is called giclée.
That brought me to Terry Schopper, co-owner of Vongsouvan Fine Art Printers in northeast Minneapolis, a company that specializes in giclée printing. Schopper says that giclée actually just means inkjet. "You have a giclée printer on your desktop; it's the type of inks that we use that make a difference," he says.
Most conventional printing--including on desktop inkjet printers--creates colors using CMYK inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. "But an artist's palette doesn't have cyan, magenta, yellow and black," Schopper says. "It has crimson. It has cobalt blue. It has sunflower yellow. It has aqua. It has burnt umber. So we developed a printing method that has those colors in it."
Terry Schopper of Vongsouvan Fine Art Printers with the Roland da Vinci inkjet printer.
Schopper says a high-quality inkjet gives artists an affordable way to make long-lasting, saleable copies of their work. He showed me an example giclée print, a reproduction of a painting by artist Mark Keller, and how the print bears minute details such as the wispy trails of blended colors Keller made with his brush.
"We've kind of backed away from the word 'giclée'," Schopper admits. "We like to call ourselves 'master fine art reproduction printers' because 'giclée' is offensive to a few art people out there."
Cole Rogers is of those people. Rogers is the artistic director at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis, which champions traditional print methods such as etching and lithography. Rogers makes it clear Highpoint does not reproduce existing art, and he has reservations about the way some artists use the word giclée to sell copies of their work. "I feel like often times 'giclée' is used as a term to obfuscate that it's an inkjet and to try to convince people that it has some added value," he says.
Cole Rogers, artistic director at Highpoint Center for Printmaking.
Rogers thinks limited-edition giclées are particularly problematic. "That artist made a painting--probably a different size, a completely different medium--and the fact that [the giclée is] signed and numbered gives it no intrinsic value," he says. "So if the buyer turns around and tries to sell it, they'll probably find out that it's basically worthless. They're paying for a poster, and the signing and numbering doesn't bring any value, much like a limited-edition Beanie Baby. The only value really should be in how much [the buyer] loves it."
Rogers advises art collectors to know what they're buying. "If people know that [a giclée is] an inkjet and that what they're buying is probably a reproduction of something," Rogers says, "then that's great."
But in today's high-tech art world sometimes a giclée is an original. Tom Rassieur, head curator of prints and drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, points out that inkjet prints are originals for digital artists (i.e. people who create their work using computers). "That's the physical form that the ideas ultimately take," he says.
Minneapolis digital artist Richard Bonk, with some of his original giclées.
For "limited-edition giclées," Rassieur says he's obliged to trust a publisher stopped making them.
Essential to a true limited-edition print is the artist's hand in the work. Rassieur describes how painter Susan Rothenberg might produce an edition of 20 or 30 prints, but intentionally make each print unique by inking them differently. Cole Rogers, walking through a gallery of 18 prints made at Highpoint by artist Chloe Piene, explains how every print is an original because each one comes from a drawing Piene made on a plate.
Ultimately it's an art buyer's duty to educate him- or herself. There's no dishonesty in a giclée; they're printed using archival inks, often on canvas or fine art paper. It's the way some artists choose to market such prints -- neglecting to clearly state that they are actually reproductions of an original work -- that can mislead buyers to overestimate the value of the work.
Back in her studio, Megan Bell has copies of her paintings for sale, but she doesn't call them "giclée" or "limited edition". "I think reproductions serve their purpose and can be perfectly nice," Bell says. "However, I will always be somewhat partial to original works. There is something very humbling to me about the experience of standing in front of an original painting, be it a Van Gogh or a Pollock, knowing the artist once stood in front of a blank canvas and created that painting."
Is there something in the arts that you'd like to know more about? Share your thought below, and it could become a future Arts 101.
Art Hounds: A pop-up publishing house and eye-popping theater magic
Posted at 7:00 AM on August 5, 2010
by Chris Roberts
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Books, Events, Galleries, Music, Printmaking, Theater
Hot Off The at the Soap Factory
This week, the hounds track down a day full of blues and roots music, magical (and free) theater for all ages and zinesters running a temporary publishing house.
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Rolf Erdahl is a bass teacher and bassist in the Vecchione/Erdahl Duo. He liked Open Eye Figure Theatre's Milly and Tillie so much that he's planning on seeing it for a second time this weekend. Rolf loves how this slapstick, magical show reminds him of the feeling of possibility that he had as a child. The show is free and can be seen tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 7pm.
Tom Haakenson, chair of liberal arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and one of the editors of the online journal Quodlibetica, thinks you should try to get published this weekend. Hot Off The is a pop-up publishing house that is offering a behind-the-scenes look at publishing, from taking submissions to printing and binding books. They'll be at The Soap Factory every Thursday, Friday and Sunday through Aug. 22.
Danette Olsen is the executive director of Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, WI. She's really looking forward to this weekend's Red House Barnfest. Danette is impressed by the line-up of blues and roots musicians, but she's especially excited to see Danny Schmidt. This Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter is being compared to everyone from Bob Dylan to Greg Brown, but she thinks his unique voice should be heard live. The Barnfest starts at 1:30pm at the Hobgoblin Music Outdoor Amphitheater outside of Red Wing.
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And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Art Hounds: chamber music, aesthetic apparatus, Jose James
Posted at 7:00 AM on June 24, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Music, Printmaking
This week's hounds endorse a chamber music jamboree in the north woods, a display of internationally-acclaimed hand-printed posters, and a buzzed-about jazz crooner from Minneapolis.
(Have an idea for Art Hounds? Tell us here!)
If you're an amateur chamber musician, where can you go to find like-minded practitioners and some tips on how to play better? How about the North Shore? Duluth composer Robert Linnemann says the Woodland Chamber Music Workshop, taking place in Tofte through June 27, welcomes chamber musicians of all ages and skill levels, with coaching from the Gichigami Trio. The Trio will also perform a free concert open to the public tomorrow at 7pm at the Surfside Resort. The workshop is full for this year, but maybe next summer?
If you're looking for the future of jazz, Pillsbury House Theatre Co-Artistic Producing Director Faye Price says cast your gaze on Minneapolis native and South High alum José James. James, who now resides in Brooklyn, has made an exceedingly favorable impression on jazz critics around the globe, and Faye says he has a magnetic, almost hypnotic presence on stage. James has put out a new CD of standards called "For All We Know," and he'll be dipping heavily into that at his Dakota Bar and Grill gig tonight.
Artist and writer Andy Sturdevant was wowed by the latest MCAD show, "AAXI: A Decade of Aesthetic Apparatus, One Year Late." It features the internationally acclaimed hand-printed posters of the Minneapolis design duo Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski, who together make up Aesthetic Apparatus. Andy says the posters blend elements from the last 70 years of design, and the show also displays the tools Ibarra and Byzewski employ in their work. The exhibition is up until June 27 so you have one weekend left to see it.
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And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Art Hounds: Pa's Hat, Jerome Fellows, Soundset
Posted at 8:25 AM on May 27, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Music, Printmaking, Theater
Slug of Atmosphere performing at Soundset '09. Photo Credit: Jules Ameel
The hounds preview a Liberian odyssey on stage, emerging printmakers at Highpoint, and Minnesota's hip hop Lollapalooza.
(Have an idea for Art Hounds? Tell us here.)
Local actor Sid Solomon calls "Pa's Hat: Liberian Legacy," a compelling drama portrayed by one of the most talented casts on a Twin Cities stage this year. Written by Cori Thomas, the play is about Thomas' grandfather, who returns to his home in Liberia after losing everything during the coup of 1980. "Pa's Hat" is at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis through June 27th.
Bethany Whitehead tells us the Jerome Foundation's emerging printmakers program has produced another fine batch of artists, whose work will be on view at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis through June 26th. Bethany, who heads the Walker Art Center's membership department and is a member of the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota, is particularly interested in Jerome Fellow Miles Mendenhall's prints. Miles will be featured on Bravo's new show "Work of Art," which starts airing next week.
Looking for a "Coachella" style, hip hop infused concert in your own backyard? Ali Elabbady, CEO and producer for Background Noise Crew, emphatically recommends Soundset, which starts at noon on Sunday, May 30th at Canterbury Downs in Shakopee. Soundset is presented by Rhymesayers Entertainment and Rose, and features such big name local rappers as Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and P.O.S., alongside nationally known acts like Method Man and Redman. There will also be a car show, a DJ tent, and a B-Boy/B-Girl showcase.
For more Art Hounds' recommendations, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
And you can get an early sneak peek at the Art Hounds' picks every week by texting the word ART to 677-677.
Open Book turns 10
Posted at 4:25 PM on May 6, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Craft, Education, Printmaking, Storytelling, Writing
Open Book is the home of the Loft Literary Center, Milkweed Editions and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
This Saturday Open Book is celebrating its ten year anniversary as a center for the literary and book arts.
After watching the center grow and thrive over the past decade, the biggest surprise is that Open Book remains unique in the country for what it offers.
There are centers for the literary arts (that focus on reading and writing), and there are centers for the book arts (that teach printing and book-binding). And in the years since Open Book opened, its three tenants - Milkweed Editions, the Loft Literary Centery, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts - have fielded numerous inquiries from organizations seeking to bring the literary and book arts together under one roof in their own communities. Yet nothing has emerged from those initial conversations.
So what makes Open Book such a singular entity?
Milkweed Editions Editor Daniel Slager points to the then directors of the three non-profits who, more than a decade ago, realized together they could become something greater than the sum of their parts.
I think it's really a Minnesota story, in terms of the level of cooperation between the three organizations. I got a whiff of that when I first arrived [in 2005], but didn't really get it until a few years later. I feel such admiration for the visionaries who put this together in the first place.
Those three founders were Emilie Buchwald (Milkweed), Linda Myers (Loft) and Peggy Korsmo-Kennon (MCBA). While their vision was in part aspirational, it was also practical; they were facing increasing rents in their respective buildings, and wanted a permanent, sustainable home. Thus Open Book was born, located on a strip of Washington Avenue in Minneapolis that was known best for metrodome parking and the Liquor Depot.
Since the spring of 2000 a lot has changed both inside and outside the building.
Open Book is looked upon as a pioneer settler in what is now a cultural corridor, featuring the Guthrie Theater, the MacPhail Center for Music, the Mill City Museum, a farmers' market, several restaurants and upscale condominiums.
Open Book Board Chair Moira Turner says the vibrancy of the community is feeding right back into the health of Open Book:
The building is buzzing; ten thousand people a month come through the doors. I'm just amazed.
None of the three original founders remain, but the legacy of their work is evident. Loft Director Jocelyn Hale says what once seemed like an excessive amount of classroom space is now almost at capacity.
Working in this building is an absolute pleasure. And all the run-ins, the coincidences that happen because there's so much activity in this building - it's really enhanced our work.
Hale recently ran into Milkweed Editor Dan Slager in the hall, and started talking about the Loft's newsletter, which has been offering insights on the writing process for 35 years. Fast forward several months, and Milkweed is now working on publishing an anthology of "A View from the Loft."
Jeff Rathermel, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, says he's enjoyed having the freedom of letting his shows bleed out into communal spaces:
Something that I've been able to do over the past six years, is look at the building itself as an exhibition space - moving it out into the building in general - lobby, literary commons, there are many more opportunities for artists to present their work.
Rathermel says he's also thrilled to see other organizations adopt Open Book as their home base for meetings and events.
As for Milkweed's Dan Slager, he says by being based in Open Book, Mildweed Editions is able to have a direct relationship with the community and many of its readers - something few publishers have.
Yet for all its success, one key component has yet to fall into place for the center: a bookstore.
Over the years the space next to the coffee shop has been occupied by Rosalux Gallery and Ruminator Books, but nothing lasted. Daniel Slager says he's eager to see a place on the first floor where people can buy Milkweed's work. While past efforts have failed, Slager thinks now may be the time to try again:
My own take is that the book store was a little ahead of its time with the neighborhood. Our area has changed, we've changed. We have a new opportunity to engage with a growing community here, and to establish not just a traditional bookstore, but books in all sorts of formats. It would have to be something beautiful, in line with the aethetics of the three organizations, but also innovate and forward looking.
A bookstore was just one of the ideas discussed as part of a recently developed five year strategic plan to further "open" Open Book. Other plans debated - and approved - include removing a wall on the first floor so that the MCBA's gallery is visible as soon as a patron walks in the door, and installing more outlets to accomodate all the laptops people bring with them. And this fall the Loft Literary Center will offer its first online writing class, for people who can't afford to commute into the Twin Cities week after week.
Looking ahead to the next ten years, Slager thinks Open Book should work on raising its profile. While the individual non-profits have varying national reputations, the Open Book building does not. Considering its enduring singularity, and the community destination Open Book has created for book-lovers, it's time to spread the word.
"Strange Victory" challenges expectations
Posted at 2:54 PM on October 2, 2009
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture
Photograph by Matthew Bakkom
Artist Matthew Bakkom isn't one to lay it all out for his public.
"We're a really highly educated audience now," he said in conversation earlier this week at Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis, "and we don't suffer lightly being told what to think."
Chambers' Burnet Gallery is presenting an installation Bakkom designed specifically for the space. It mixes together pieces from previous his bodies of work, along with new material, to create a setting that's both elegant and unsettling. The installation is called "Strange Victory."
Photograph by Matthew Bakkom
The inspiration for the installation comes in part from a 1961 surreal French film called "Last Year at Marianbad," but you wouldn't necessarily pick that up from walking through the room. The biggest clue comes from a panel on which is written a summary of the film's plot.
Bakkom says he thinks there's a constant tension at play between an artist, the artist's audience, and each of their own expectations about what art should be. Bakkom says he's a follower of DuChamp in that he believes he only does half the work when he creates a piece of art - it's up to the viewer to do the rest.
The room is dotted with images of a baroque chair, a slide of an old painting, and hand gestures. They're each quite suggestive, but suggestive of what? Curator Jennifer Phelps says of Bakkom's work:
I am drawn to work that is composed of various levels... that does not reveal itself to the viewer at first glance. Work that twists and surprises me. I feel Matthew's show does all of this for me. I want to spend time in the gallery trying to absorb his stories and the stories that are generated within me by his artwork. I also find his images quite serene, though they involve a scanner and gestures and information that can not be clearly deciphered.
Photograph by Matthew Bakkom
Bakkom says he has many ideas, trains of thought, and sources of inspiration that go into his work, but ultimately that background information shouldn't be necessary for the viewer to enjoy the work. What is necessary is an open mind, and a willingness to explore some foreign terrain. The story you come up with will be all your own.
"Strange Victory" will be on display at the Burnet Gallery through November 8th - the opening reception is tonight from 6-9pm.
Celebrating Hmong artists
Posted at 8:41 AM on July 11, 2009
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Painting, Photography, Printmaking
Photographs by Pao Houa Her
Last night I attended the opening of a group show by Hmong artists at Homewood Gallery in North Minneapolis. The show has become an annual event, organized by the Hmong Arts Connection (HArc). It includes photographs, prints, paintings and drawings. Dyane Garvey is with HArc; she said HArc is trying to encourage artistic expression amongst Hmong people. In traditional Hmong culture art is incorporated into everday life, but is not necessarily respected as a career in its own right, she said.
Happy by Galea Vajxyooj
While at the opening I talked to John Kong, one of the artists. Kong is particularly skilled in animation, and used to dream of working for Disney. He said it took a long time to convince his parents that being an artist was worthwhile, but after he won several art competitions they changed their mind. Ultimately their support became extremely important in getting him through art school, Kong said.
Gao Zoua Pang by Kao Lee Thao
According to Dyane Garvey part of the goal of the HArc exhibition is to boost the work of Hmong artists within their own community. Last year she went door to door in the neighborhood, inviting families to attend the show. John Vang responded to the invite, and left a note saying how much the exhibition meant to him as an art student. This year, his work is on the walls.
White Trees in Autumn by Mai C. Vang
The exhibition also serves as a window into Hmong American culture and identity. In "White Trees in Autumn" by Mai C. Vang (seen above), Vang adds the following text to her painting:
Sometimes when snow covers everything in Minnesota I stare out my bedroom window and sigh. Childhood passes us so swiftly, fall becomes winter when we blink, oh I wish that I could always have white trees in autumn.
"New Directions in Hmong Art" will be on display at Homewood Gallery in North Minneapolis through July 31st.
Northland Poster Collective to close
Posted at 9:46 AM on June 15, 2009
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Printmaking
Founded in 1979 by activist artists, Northland Poster Collective has existed as part activist organization, part business and part arts group, creating posters and t-shirts that support the labor movement. About the decision to close, founding member artist Ricardo Levins Morales noted "After thirty years of undermining Wall Street, it finally fell on us." The collective did not seek out grants, and instead relied on sales of its various slogan products.
This month everything on its website is half-off, and many of the buttons and other products will be farmed out to other websites and stores for sale at the end of June. Morales plans to open his own studio to continue his personal artistic/activist career.
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