State of the Arts Category Archive: Sculpture
New light, and a new angle, for MIA sculpture
Posted at 12:41 PM on February 9, 2012
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Museums, Sculpture
New research on a sculpture in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has resulted in a shift of about 100 years and 45 degrees.
Saint Paul the Hermit, before restoration
St. Paul The Hermit was acquired by the MIA in 1973; at the time it was believed to be a work of Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi (1580-1654). But experts recognized the hermit differed from Mochi's other pieces.
And even those with an untrained eye had to ask - why does the hermit look like he's about to dive into a lake?
MIA curator Eike Schmidt began investigating the history of the sculpture in 2010, and it didn't take long to figure out that the hermit was NOT by Mochi, but by the lesser known Andrea Bergondi in 1775, more than a hundred years later than previously thought.
According to an article by Schmidt for an upcoming edition of the MIA's member magazine, a handwritten note in the MIA's old index-card catalogue bearing John Pope-Hennessy's attribution of the sculpture to Bergondi provided the clue for the correct identification.
It represents the first hermit saint of the Christian church, Saint Paul (not to be confused with the Apostle Paul), who in the third century retreated to the Egyptian desert near Luxor to live a solitary life dedicated to the worship of God.
That's right, he's worshipping - NOT swimming.
Over the past year and a half, with the help of the Midwest Art Conversation Center, the MIA has painstakingly restored the sculpture, removing blocks of stone that add been added by a previous owner in the 1960s to create a solid base. MIA staff then repositioned Saint Paul so that he stands more upright. Suddenly those hands aren't preparing for a dive - they're praying.
Saint Paul the Hermit, after restoration
Much better, don't you think?
Starting Saturday you can pay a visit to Saint Paul, and learn more about his restoration, and the church he came from. He'll be on display in the Cargill Gallery.
Artist Dougie Padilla creates loud pieces through meditation
Posted at 2:13 PM on January 17, 2012
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Minnesota Mix, Painting, Sculpture
Editor's Note: This piece by Nikki Tundel is part of a series called Minnesota Mix. Minnesota Mix is a project Minnesota Public Radio News that examines the way youth and ethnic diversity are influencing Minnesota arts. Enjoy...
Iowa native Dougie Padilla scrutinizes an angel figurine and ponders whether he should attach it to a sculpture he's making on January 12, 2012, in his Minneapolis, Minn., art studio. MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
St. Paul, Minn. -- Artist Dougie Padilla is known for his loud and raucous paintings. He's exhibited his work at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and in museums from Fargo, North Dakota, to Paris, France.
But Padilla himself is attracted to the calm and quiet.
The Minneapolis painter is as passionate about meditation as he is about art. A visit to his studio shows what happens when these two disciplines collide.
Artist Dougie Padilla's studio showcases a number of alters. The one is titled "Ofrenda for the Neglected Goddess." MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
Beef bones hang from the ceiling like beaded curtains and plastic dolls' heads peek out from a potted plant. There's a faded picture of Jesus on the table and a mound of seashells on the floor. In the middle of it all is artist Dougie Padilla. He's meditating, but in his own special way. When Padilla quiets his mind, it can get pretty noisy. Today he's pounding nails into a four-foot-long section of a downed pine tree.
"Every time I pound a nail, I say a mantra," he explains. "I'll do it for like 40 minutes, however long my arm can handle, and try to get into a place where there is nothing happening except for the pounding of the nails and prayer."
Eventually, all that meditating will produce a sculpture called a Prayer Tree. Thousands of nails will sprout from its trunk like metal fungi.
"I've been meditating for 45 years and these sculptures are my attempt to overtly combine my spiritual discipline and my art practice," he said.
Dougie Padilla works on a painting entitled "63 Self-portrait at 63.75: Luminosity Anfractuosity Squad." The Minneapolis artist has a Christian cross tattoo on one hand and an Om tattoo on the other. MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
To Padilla, meditation is the experience you have after your conscious thoughts stop and before they begin again. It's not a time to think; it's a time to be. And it's not much different from the way he approaches painting.
"Thinking is vastly overrated," he said. "Most art does not come from thinking. I do things that I have no idea why I do them. I'm working from a place of intuition. What I'm interested in is, 'Does that color orange feel correct?' When I was younger, I was trying to arrange things so I could get good art, now I just do art."
The studio, or Dougieland as it's better known, echoes with music sung in Spanish. The room explodes with color - bright yellows, metallic purples and blues that can't possibly exist anywhere but here.
While Padilla's process may be shaped by Buddhist teachings, his style screams "south of the border." This self-taught artist is part Norwegian, part Mexican. But it's clearly his Latino side that comes out on the canvas.
"When I go to Mexico and come back to Minneapolis, I paint with pinks and turquoises and lime greens for like six, eight months because the colors in Mexico make me go nuts," he said.
Artist Dougie Padilla's take on this well-known religious painting hangs in his studio in Minneapolis, Minn. MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
That mixing of Minnesotan and Mexico can produce some startling pieces. He points to a piece on the studio wall.
"Everybody loves that painting" he said." It's the classic Lutheran church basement reproduction of the old man with the white hair praying over his food and I've got this sort of Day of the Dead, bright colored fish with huge teeth coming out of the painting about to eat him."
Padilla begins working on a new piece. Across from a collection of clay skulls and next to some rice cakes he's covered with day-glow paint, Padilla's creating a sculpture from wooden saltshakers and angel figurines. He doesn't have a plan for the piece. He'll just go where the art takes him.
"It's more like sailing and trying to catch a certain wind, to get some good wind in your sails and head off over there," he said with a grin.
And in Dougieland, an artistic journey can lead just about anywhere.
Another impact of the poor economy: public art theft for scrap
Posted at 4:26 PM on December 23, 2011
by Euan Kerr
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Filed under: Funding, Public Art, Sculpture
News that police believe thieves who stole a Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture from a London Park just want to melt it down to sell for scrap is sending ripples through the artworld.
"Two forms (Divided Circle)" stood in Dulwich Park in South London for 40 years.
Two Forms (Divided Circle) (Image courtesy of www.barbarahepworth.org.uk)
Then Tuesday night, someone broke a padlock on a nearby gate, drove up the the piece, and used an industrial saw to separate it from its pedestal.
The chair of the local park supporters group, Trevor Moore, told the Guardian newspaper "It has always been there as long as I've been in Dulwich. It's just one of those things which is always there as you wander past and you feel like you've had a finger chopped off, in all honesty."
The sad fact is with the price of certain metals such and bronze and copper skyrocketing, thieves see money in the scrap value of the materials, not in what they could get for art.
A Henry Moore sculpture stolen in 2005 valued at 3 million pounds ($4,700,000) is believed to have been melted down and sold for scrap, netting the equivalent of about $2350.
"Everything is in danger now," Forecast Public Art Executive Director Jack Becker said today. "Public art is an easy target."
He pointed to a piece in USA Today which lists thefts in the US, including several bronze plaques built and installed in 1996 for the Atlanta Olympics which are being replaced with stainless steel replicas as thieves steal the originals. Apparently there's much less interest in stainless steel from scrap merchants.
Becker says while there haven't been cases on the scale of the Hepworth and Moore thefts, public art in Minnesota has also suffered. He points to how letters in the signage at the 35W memorial disappeared just hours after officials and survivors dedicated the monument. He says he doesn't know they were sold for scrap, but finds it unlikely thieves wanted the letters to make words of their own.
He also said it's common practice in the public art business to prepare for the worst. "You have to overbuild," he said, adding extra bolts, bricks and other attachments to make sure art placed in public spaces stay there.
Twin Cities snow sculpting team to compete in China
Posted at 9:22 AM on December 14, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Sculpture
There are some competitive sports for which Minnesotans have a particular advantage.
Beach volleyball would not be one of them. But snow sculpting? You betcha!
Minnesota Big Snow, a champion snow sculpting team from the Twin Cities, is traveling to China to compete in the International Snow Sculpting Competition.
Image courtesy Minnesota Big Snow
The festival, which takes place January 10-13, 2012, is one of the four largest in the world, and attended by over nine million spectators. It takes place in the city of Harbin, which happens to be the international sister city of Minneapolis.
Minnesota Big Snow, which got its start in the 1996 Saint Paul Winter Carnival, is the only U.S. team invited to this competition; fifteen teams in all were invited from around the world.
As with most sports, snow sculpting comes with its own particular equipment; Minnesota Big Snow uses a two-man lumberjack saw, chisels, handsaws, curry combs and a handful of dental picks, among other things. No power tools are allowed.
Image courtesy Minnesota Big Snow
Sound Point: Blossoms of Hope
Posted at 2:26 PM on November 18, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Public Art, Sculpture, Sound Point
Blossoms of Hope by Marjorie Pitz
As I mentioned last week, MPR and the City of Minneapolis have partnered to create "Soundpoint," a new interactive audio tour that allows visitors to use their mobile phones to access stories about works of public art in Minneapolis.
One of those works is the bus shelter at the corner of Broadway and Penn in North Minneapolis. And it has a rather remarkable story.
Landscape architect and public artist Marjorie Pitz wanted to create a bus shelter/sculpture that would serve as a gateway to North Minneapolis. Not easy, considering it was going to be located at the intersection of five street corners where many other things compete for a viewer's attention. So she created a very large bouquet of five large and colorful metal flowers.
This past May, when the sculpture was 95% completed, the Minneapolis tornado hit, ripping right through Broadway and Penn. Pitz was travelling at the time:
I came back late at night, turned on the 10 o'clock news and discovered that a tornado had hit North Minneapolis and so I was really afraid that the flowers had maybe flown off and hurt people. I was worried that I had created something that would cause more damage and more injury to people.
Fortunately the man who helped create the flowers for Pitz designed them so that they were flexible enough to bend and sway in the wind. Only one flower showed any damage from the high winds, and was replaced.
In the days following the tornado, the building next to the bus stop was turned into an emergency center, providing food, water and clothing. Pitz, who was happy to have the colorful flowers standing as a symbol of hope amongst the wreckage, agreed that the sculpture should be renamed "Blossoms of Hope."
You can explore other works of public art in Minneapolis, and hear artists discuss their work, by going to http://bit.ly/MPRpublicart
City of Minneapolis and MPR launch new public art audio project
Posted at 3:21 PM on November 10, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Public Art, Sculpture, Storytelling, Technology
MPR and the City of Minneapolis are working together to raise the profile of public art in the city. "Sound Point" is a new interactive audio tour that allows visitors to use their mobile devices to access stories about works of public art in Minneapolis.
Signs like this one next to select works of public art in Minneapolis direct passers-by to learn more about the work and listen to interviews with the artists.
My colleague Jeff Jones conceived of the project, and partnered with Mary Altman at the City of Minneapolis to realize it.
"I wanted to take what we know about audio and storytelling to the streets," said Jones. "Minneapolis has great public art and this project allows people to hear from the artists who created it."
Say you're at the "Blossoms of Hope" bus stop in North Minneapolis, and you're admiring the huge colorful blooms over the shelter. A few feet away a sign invites you to call or text a number, or visit a website using your smart phone, and hear artist Marjorie Pitz talk about the project.
At the end of her talk, you have the option of leaving a message, telling the city and MPR what you think of the shelter. Raves and rants are equally welcome.
"Whether we look closely or not, great art in public spaces improves our quality of life in Minneapolis every day," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. "I'm pleased that MPR has created the 'Sound Point' tour of our beautiful public artwork. It's a terrific tool for people to pause, look and learn more about our city, our art and our many great artists."
Currently there are 13 "sound points" in Minneapolis, with plans to expand to 25 in the near future.
The City has published a map of these locations to assist viewers in conducting their own self-guided tour of these artworks.
Note: There are lots of QR scanning apps to choose from for both iPhone and Android, and all behave a little differently. For Sound Point, MPR recommends a simple one called "Scan" for iPhone.
In the coming weeks, check State of the Arts for profiles of the individual sound points, starting Monday with a closer look at the "Blossoms of Hope" bus shelter.
Video Break: Foundry Dance
Posted at 9:42 AM on November 4, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Sculpture, Video
Created by Matt and Heidi Hoy, this lovely video captures the creation of a bronze sculpture they made at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. Music by Cloud Cult.
Plains Art Museum recognizes "Mothers of Invention"
Posted at 4:24 PM on November 9, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Arts around the state, Museums, Sculpture
Plains Art Museum in Fargo is paying tribute to women artists it considers "Mothers of Invention;" the series of shows begins with a look at the work of Rochester sculptor Judy Onofrio.
"Delicate Balance" by Judy Onofrio
The show is called "See Acts of Audacious Daring! The Circus World of Judy Onofrio" and features four of Onofrio's life-sized floor sculptures from the last decade, ten recent wall sculptures, and two smaller floor sculptures alongside examples of historic circus banners, posters, and carvings that have influenced her work.
Plains Art Museum Director Colleen Sheehy says Onofrio is a perfect candidate for the "Mothers of Invention" series because she's bold, innovative and inconclastic:
She's bold because she has never let obstacles get in the way of pursuing her art career. She comes from an unconventional background, not having gone to art school but learning from her Aunt Trude, from other artists, from the culture around her that she found captivating, and from her own experimentation.Her work has shown an impressive level of ambition--whether in the large, outdoor "fire" pieces that would be burned at the end in a big spectacle, to the large scale environments she's created in 'Judyland' exhibitions and her own home to the large circus sculptures that are in our exhibition.
"Three of a Kind" by Judy Onofrio
Sheehy admires Onofrio's inventive use of materials in her sculptures, from bottle caps to Mrs. Butterworth bottles of syrup to, more recently, bones.
Her work has such a pleasure in viewing it, as your mind and eyes switch from the overall piece to the minute details and back and forth. And you end up being so awed by the passion, the obsession, and the joy of it all. It's a rare work of art that engages you so fully.
Onofrio's exhibition runs through January 8; the next in the series will be Marjorie
Schlossman, an abstract artist based in Fargo. Sheehy says what joins these women together is they're part of a generation of artists who came of age in the '60s and '70s and who worked to dismantle barriers for women in the visual arts.
They made art, formed collectives, started galleries, taught at art schools, and gave each other critical and moral support to dismantle the barriers that had existed against women in the visual arts. They changed the art world profoundly, altering ideas about the canon of art history and the meaning of terms such as "masterpiece," "artist," "gaze," and "body," as well as expanding what could be considered acceptable art materials, subjects, imagery, and boundaries between art forms. Their impact has spread throughout art and culture and is not confined to their own or other women's work.
Sheehy says the tendency to overlook, ignore, or forget the artistic contributions of women has been particularly prominent in the Midwest; she sees this exhibition series as an opportunity to rectify that.
Artist tackles adoption, racism in new show
Posted at 4:21 PM on September 29, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Drawing, Galleries, Sculpture
Dana Weiser has put up with a lot. Take for example, this experience:
I was in the elevator by myself with this man, and he said "I just have to ask - where are you from? Are you Chinese? Japanese?" He listed off all these Asian countries, and I said 'no' to each of them until finally he said "what's left?" I told him "I'm Korean." He leaned in and smelled me and said "where's the kimchi?"
"Prejudiced?" by Dana Weiser
Weiser didn't want to be rude, so she just got out of the elevator and away from the man as fast as she could. But afterward she thought about all the things she would have liked to say to him.
It's moments like these that inspired Weiser's solo show "Who are you?!?" at Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis.
The drawings started from that - because I get so stunned and shocked by what people say and I don't want to come off as being rude. So I started coming up with these words - things that I would like to say - but I didn't want them to be in your face. So I started picking these patterns and tracing them and they became really meditative and therapeutic as well.
Just as Weiser's thoughts are hidden behind her desire to be polite, so the words are obscured by the lovely antique designs she's recreated in painstaking detail. But look closely and you'll see such phrases as "you're rude" or "not funny" or "xenophobic?"
Where are you from? by Dana Weiser
Weiser is used to working in three dimensions - primarily ceramic sculpture - so even her drawings evoke layers of depth. So do her mirrors, which she etches with patterns and words, so the viewer sees him or herself behind each phrase or question.
I really liked the idea of putting these questions that I've been asked so many times on the viewer. And the work changes all the time because of what's reflected in it.
Weiser says she doesn't want to be accusatory, but simply create a space in which viewers are encouraged to look at their own behavior and words.
Orphan Babies, silver and gold, by Dana Weiser
Weiser, a Korean-American adoptee with Jewish-American parents, is also interested in issues surrounding adoption.
I live in LA now and I think celebrity babies are becoming this new trend. Whereas before it was those teacup puppies that people put in their purse, I feel now adopted babies have become an accessory.
Weiser created orphan babies tricked out in Swarovski crystals and gold and silver paint to drive home her point. The babies are distressed, with their arms outstretched, based on memories of a visit she paid to the Korean orphanage from which she was adopted.
Weiser says as a child she turned to art as a means to cope with racism she experienced. Now it's allowing her to raise her voice, and fight back.
You can see Dana Weiser's solo show "Who are you?!?" at Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis through October 16.
Is sculpture too simple for today's art lover?
Posted at 12:02 PM on September 12, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Criticism, Sculpture
Critic Michael Kimmelman thinks sculpture - by which he means those premodern alabaster and bronze figures - has fallen out of grace with contemporary audiences.
A tiny clay sculpture of John the Baptist at the Bode Museum in Berlin is attributed to the 15th-century Luccan artist Matteo Civitali.
Image: Gordon Welters for The New York Times
In a recent "postcard" for the New York Times, Kimmelman described having certain galleries of the Bode Museum in Berlin all to himself... I've excerpted the meatier bits here for your consideration:
...Is it me, or do we seem to have a problem with sculpture today? I don't mean contemporary sculpture, whose fashionable stars (see Koons, Murakami et alia) pander to our appetite for spectacle and whatever's new. I don't mean ancient or even non-Western sculpture, either. I mean traditional European sculpture -- celebrities like Bernini and Rodin aside -- and American sculpture, too: the enormous universe of stuff we come across in churches and parks, at memorials and in museums like the Bode. The stuff Barnett Newman, the Abstract Expressionist painter, notoriously derided as objects we bump into when backing up to look at a painting....I grew up with the smells of plaster dust and clay in my mother's sculpture studio on Third Avenue. Making a figure out of stone or metal retains its childlike wonder for me. But sculpture skeptics from Leonardo through Hegel and Diderot have cultivated our prejudice against the medium. "Carib art," is how Baudelaire described sculpture, meaning that even the suavest, most sophisticated works of unearthly virtuosity by Enlightenment paragons like Canova and Thorvaldsen were tainted by the medium's primitive, cultish origins.
Racism notwithstanding, Baudelaire had a point. Sculpture does still bear something of the burden of its commemorative and didactic origins. It's too literal, too direct, too steeped in religious ceremony and too complex for a historically amnesiac culture. We prefer the multicolored distractions of illusionism on flat surfaces, flickering in a movie theater or digitized on our laptops and smartphones, or painted on canvas. The marketplace ratifies our myopia, making headlines for megamillion-dollar sales of old master and Impressionist pictures but rarely for premodern sculptures.
...In an age of special effects, we may also simply no longer know how to feel awe at the sight of sculptured faces by the German genius Tilman Riemenschneider or before a bronze statue by Donatello. We can't see past the raw materiality and subject matter.
What do you think? Is Kimmelman right? In a world of multimedia performances, has sculpture simply become too... basic?
As always, your thoughts are welcomed in the comments section.
Birds parade at the Walker Art Center
Posted at 8:25 AM on September 9, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Animation, Museums, Music, Sculpture
Sculptor Natalie Djurberg has produced a gigantic and uncomfortably human flock of birds.
Photo courtesy Walker Art Center
I imagine if Alfred Hitchcock were still alive, he and Natalie Djurberg would get along quite well.
Djurberg has just installed "The Parade" at the Walker Art Center, which consists of an uncomfortably human looking flock of 83 birds. I'll let MPR's Euan Kerr describe it for you:
Atmospheric music fills the room, interspersed with what might be nature sounds. The birds are so brightly colored, it's overwhelming at first. Each is intricately textured, and ripe for interpretation."When I was starting doing the sculptures, the more I looked at birds, and the more I looked at their behavior, some of their behavior so resembled human behavior and emotions," she says.
Some of the birds strut with pride, others bicker and fight. There are so many of them that Walker curator Eric Crosby finds them kind of intimidating.
"I mean the idea of the flock as a social group is that it has its own kind of consciousness, right?" he says. "One that is not about the individuals own ideas but about a collective that may bully and pester individuals, that may do violence to others. I think that's a theme that's running through the whole exhibition."
But remember these are sculptures, built from scraps of cloth and wire, and splashed with the paint still engrained in Natalie Djurberg's fingernails.
The installation includes not just sculpture, but some rather gorey animated films as well, with music composed by Hans Berg. You can find out more about the exhibition by clicking on the audio link below:
Art Hounds: Mark Manders, The Goondas, and finding art in a construction zone
Posted at 7:00 AM on September 1, 2011
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Music, Sculpture
Construction at the corner of University and Raymond in St. Paul (MPR Photo/Chris Roberts)
This week's hounds are reveling in "post-conceptual" sculpture, celebrating raw, seductive rock from some nice Minnesota boys and fine-tuning their powers of observation along the Central Corridor.
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Allen Brewer can't help it. The Twin Cities artist and instructor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design sees unintentional art everywhere he looks; in mundane, everyday surroundings, and even light rail construction. Allen's St. Paul studio is near the Central Corridor on University Ave, where wild colors, piles of rubble and the detritus of a torn-up street make for eye-catching sculpture.
Award-winning set designer and Off-Leash Area co-founder Paul Herwig found solace and stimulation at the Walker Art Center's exhibition "Mark Manders: Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments." Paul says the acclaimed Dutch sculptor Manders is a thoughtful, clever artist who plays with the viewer's assumptions and perspective. The show is up through September 11.
Local poet and writer Laura Brandenburg has not one but two reasons to visit downtown St. Paul this Friday night. The first is a chance to preview the Amsterdam Bar and Hall, which will have a grand opening later this month, and the second is that the Goondas will help christen the new club. Laura says The Goondas, with their swampy, bluesy, all-out musical attack, have restored her faith in local rock and roll.
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.
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Art Hounds: Hamlet, Latino artists, and a neighborhood art crawl
Posted at 7:00 AM on August 25, 2011
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Craft, Drawing, Events, Galleries, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Theater
"Sustainable Farming" by Nancy Robinson
This week's hounds can't resist a Latino art show inspired by miracles, an art crawl the Longfellow neighborhood way--from home to home, and an attempt to scale the theatrical heights of Hamlet for the first time.
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The Twin Cities Latino artist collective Grupo Soap del Corazon has a fan in former Minneapolis Institutue of Arts assistant curator Molly Huber. Molly, who now works at the Minnesota Historical Society, highly recommends the group's latest exhibition, "El Milagro," at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis. It's a collection of paintings, photography, sculpture and mixed media pieces from the area's most dynamic Latino artists, all inspired by the presence of miracles in their lives.
No Bird Sing emcee and McNally Smith College of Music faculty member Joe Horton will be on foot, going from home to home in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis this weekend, on the hunt for art. The League of Longfellow Artists, or LoLa, will be hosting the third annual LoLa Art Crawl, in which artists open up their doors and showcase their art. Joe says the art is fantastic, and so is the community building that results.
Veteran Art Hound and Minnesota Monthly writer Gregory Scott is always game for a production of his favorite play, Hamlet. This time, the Jungle Theater is taking a stab at Shakespeare's masterpiece for the first time in its 21-year history, with 2008 Guthrie BFA grad Hugh Kennedy in the title role. It's a level of boldness that Gregory admires and thinks should be rewarded. On stage from Aug. 26 - Oct. 9th.
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.
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Northern Clay Center names Sarah Millfelt as new director
Posted at 9:54 AM on August 5, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Craft, Sculpture
After a national search for a new director, the Northern Clay Center has decided to promote someone from within.
Northern Clay Center
Sarah Millfelt, Deputy Director of Programs, will replace longtime director Emily Galusha.
Millfelt, 35, was hired in 1999, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a BFA in ceramics. She was initially hired as an assistant to the then-Education Director, to manage NCC's nascent outreach program, but was promoted to director of the program about a year later.
Emily Galusha announced her retirement last year. She has been with NCC since 1991, and was hired as director in 1994. NCC was founded by Peter Leach.
7 reasons why this is the biggest weekend of the year
Posted at 3:06 PM on August 3, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Events, Museums, Sculpture, Theater
This is it folks - in the Twin Cities arts scene, this weekend is the highpoint of summer. Whether you're into theater, art, playing with fire, or role-playing, this weekend is for you.
5. Franconia Sculpture Park Hot Metal Pour
6. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts' annual Art Swap
7. Live Action Role Playing at the Walker Art Center
So what will you be doing this weekend?
Art Hounds: Comic Cookbook, Mankato sculpture, and a suburban art oasis
Posted at 7:00 AM on August 4, 2011
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Galleries, Public Art, Sculpture
This week the hounds are all about salon style comic book art, a walking sculpture tour in the 'Key City,' and an art park nestled in the hills of Eagan.
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Going to the Caponi Art Park in Eagan has been on bass player Rolf Erdahl's 'to do' list for a long time. The co-founder of the Vecchinone/Erdahl bass and oboe duo finally took his family over the July 4th weekend. Rolf was captivated by the harmonious relationship between the visual art sprinkled throughout retired art professor Anthony Caponi's 60-acre park, and the earth. The park is open Tuesday through Sunday.
Mankato painter Amanda Gullixson thinks her city needs more public art, which is why she's excited about the "CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour." People can visit 25 sculptures scattered around downtown Mankato from artists around the world, and then vote for their favorite. The city will then purchase that piece and award the winning artist a $2500 prize. Voting is open through October 28.
Performance and visual artist William Hessian is a big proponent of Altered Esthetics "Comic Cookbook: Just Add Ink" exhibition, which opens on Friday, August 5th. It features comic artists from around the state in a salon style show that will saturate the gallery with art. The show runs through Aug. 25.
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.
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Bakken sculpture garden: art fueled by the elements
Posted at 1:41 PM on August 2, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Museums, Sculpture, Technology
How do you make energy - something we generally can't even see - compelling to kids?
In the case of the most recent exhibition at the Bakken Museum, you invite artists to help tell the story.
The Bakken Museum's rooftop terrace
All images courtesy the Bakken Museum
The Bakken Museum, located just a block from Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, is currently presenting a Green Energy Art Garden on the museum's rooftop terrace.
Kelly Finnerty, Deputy Director for Programs at the Bakken, says the museum wanted to talk about green energy, but not give that "same old presentation that's been done a hundred times."
We're a museum about electricity and we wanted to talk about the energy challenges facing our world. The Minnesota Legislature has mandated that 25% of our energy come from renewable resources by 2020; we want to raise awareness about the potential for renewable energy uses in our daily lives.
Solar Spitters
The museum partnered with Forecast Public Art to create a sort of cross-pollination between artists and engineers. They asked a group of artists to use energy the way they use paint - not just for functional use but with aesthetics in mind. Because, says Finnerty, "renewable energy can be funtional and beautiful."
The artists then met with a team of experts to help them figure out just how they could bring their "energy sculptures" to life.
The results of this collaboration are four different works of art powered by the sun and wind, that invite the public to experiment and play. Marjorie Pitz' "Solar Spitters" are three fountains powered by solar panels. As I toured the garden, young boys came running up to the fountain, and by placing their hands over the panels, could control the flow of water shooting out of the mouths of Pitz' "pond goblins."
Infinite Flower Garden
In Mayumi Amada's "Infinite Flower Garden" a panel of pinwheels made from plastic bottles powers LED lights inside view boxes, forming a kaleidoscope of images and patterns.
Finnerty says the public response to the exhibition has been just what she was hoping for.
They find it creative, cool and fun. I hear people say "I bet I could do that in my garden" or "what a clever use of plast ic bottles!" We take the sun's energy for granted, and this makes it visible.
Finnerty says the exhibition is just one component in the museum's ongoing effort to raise public awareness of green energy, including an outreach program in St. Paul Public Schools.
The Green Energy Art Garden will remain on the museum's rooftop terrace through September 3; families who visit the museum on "Super Science Saturdays" will have the opportunity to participate in conversations on renewable energy.
Art Hounds: Iron Pour, 1001 Chairs, and a retro sci-fi flick
Posted at 7:00 AM on July 7, 2011
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Film, Museums, Public Art, Sculpture
This week the hounds track down a weekend iron pour in Lanesboro, an installation piece at the Walker that defends artistic freedom, and a throwback sci-fi film made in the Twin Cities about moon zombies....ATTACKING!
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Twin Cities artist Mike Tincher wants you to grab a chair from home and bring it to the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden on Tuesday, July 12, to take part in the installation piece, "1,001 Chairs." The chairs represent artists around the world whose voices have been silenced. It's an homage to a work by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who in April was detained by the government and recently was released.
Adrienne Sweeney, artist administrator at the Commonweal Theatre, says it gets really hot this time of year in Lanesboro...molten hot. That's because a bunch of metalsmiths from around the country (led by Art Hound Karl Unnasch) will be conducting an iron pour in Sylvan Park. Unnasch will be giving an artist talk on Thursday, June 7 and the iron pour itself is on Saturday, June 9. There will also be public workshops on how to craft ironworks. The event is sponsored by the Lanesboro Art Center.
If you're charmed by the over-the-top melodrama, cornball comedy, and cheesy special effects of the '50s-era sci-fi movie ouevre, big band drummer Kerry Johnson predicts you will love "Attack of the Moon Zombies." It's another in a series of locally produced horror/sci-fi movies from Twin Cities writer/director Christopher Mihm. "Attack of the Moon Zombies" will be screened July 14 at the New Hope Cinema Grill in New Hope, but Kerry wanted to give you advance notice because when the film premiered in May, it sold out.
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Art Hounds: Patio Nights, felt weapons, and Minnesota Prohibition songs
Posted at 7:00 AM on June 16, 2011
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Museums, Music, Sculpture
This week's hounds endorse the resurrection of a summer art and music tradition, a hanging installation of felt guns and knives, and an early music choral group embracing Prohibition.
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Happy days are here again for local musician Mischa Suemnig. Mischa's celebrating the return of "Patio Nights," the Minnesota Museum of American Art's summer-long outdoor music and art gathering. The MMAA has been without a home for a couple years but it's using City House, a former municipal grain elevator on the Mississippi River to revive "Patio Nights" on Friday, June 17. One of Mischa's favorite local bands, Communist Daughter, will be the featured musical entertainment this Friday.
Asia Ward loves installation artist Liz Miller's hand cut felt art works. Asia, a kinetic sculptor herself, says Miller has a provocative new show at the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program Gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It's entitled "Ornamental Invasion" and contains numerous felt pieces, cut in the shape of items in the MIA's weapons collection, and hung from the ceiling. Tonight, there will be a panel discussion on the current MAEP exhibitions -- Miller's and Paula McCartney's "A Field Guide to Snow and Ice" -- at 7:00 p.m.
Jackie Smith, a singer with the Mila vocal ensemble, is anxious to see the Rose Ensemble shed its medieval attire and grab their tommy guns in their upcoming "Songs of Temperance and Temptation." The show highlights the music of the Prohibition in Minnesota. The Rose Ensemble, which normally specializes in early music, will bring "Songs" to Weber Music Hall at University of Minnesota Duluth tonight at 7:30pm, and the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, June 17-18 at 8:00 p.m.
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Intimate Immensities: the art of Donald Anderson
Posted at 2:39 PM on October 4, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture
Nine years ago, Donald Anderson took his life, leaving behind both a family and a treasure of beautiful creations.
Anderson, an oil-rig engineer by trade, was also a jeweler, and would transform his experiences at sea into miniature works - pins and charms - that spoke of infinite vistas.
But Anderson suffered from crippling depression, and eventially it claimed him. His wife, Rebecca, was left with three children and a gaping hole where her husband used to be.
Losing him and that aspect of our life together was the most shattering and disorienting experience I have ever encountered. In the last years of his life, he became more isolated, inaccessible and conflicted. There was an elemental withdrawal that was impossible for me to penetrate.
Rather than dwell on the pain of those last years, Rebecca chose to honor her husband's memory, and complete a project they had dreamed of doing together: publishing a book of his work.
Most of these pieces were made for me, or the kids, or his family. I have told my children we have had the opportunity to live with and know their father's ability to create things of great complexity and beauty. It is a part of who they/we are and we will continue to treasure it forever. Now the book is taking on a new life for others to see and wonder and enjoy.
This charm, "Shelter," is only 1.5 inches in diameter, and made of copper, silver and titanium.
Photograph by Tom Sadowski
Titled "Intimate Immensities," the book - published in a limited release - features an array of Anderson's creations, from letter openers to jewelry to miniature sculptures. Small charms open up to reveal a view of a moon over the ocean; a metal fish doubles as a submarine that would fit nicely in a Jules Verne novel.
Rebecca Anderson enlisted the help of editor John Roth to create the book. Roth says he was instantly captivated by Donald's vision.
Don's work appeals and speaks to me from many levels. The craftsmanship of the work is extraordinary. Too often today, mastery of craft is secondary to content, but not with Don. The work evokes immense stories and worlds, fantasies of multiple dimensions. They tickle the brain while delighting the eye - a very rare achievement in art today. I also am amazed by the complexity of the work, the intricacy of the sculptures and drawings, and the elaborate engineering. And then, of course, I have to say that I love the humor. Don's imagination was huge and filled with whimsy and fun.
"South Pacific" by Donald Anderson
Photograph by Tom Sadowski
For Rebecca Anderson, the completion of the book marks a significant milestone in her family's recovery from her husband's death, and in the honoring of his life.
I never lost sight of what I knew to be true about Don's talent and ability to create such meaningful beauty. I am very proud of this book and that Don's work stands on its own. I have always known the level of quality of the work he was able to do; Don blew the doors off my perception of what art could be.
Anderson hopes the book will eventually lead to an exhibition of her husband's work, allowing even more people to enjoy his magical creations.
Pay a visit to the House of Balls
Posted at 9:04 AM on May 27, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture, Television
On this week's MN Original, Allen Christian shows viewers around his studio "The House of Balls" - which also serves as a gallery of transformed objects. Christian used to specialize in creating sculptures out of bowling balls, but of late he's working more with frying pans and silverware.
It's always been about trying to find the essence of humanity through found objects, through inanimate objects that are cast offs to try and give these inanimate objects a new lease on life, to imbue them with emotion. It's obviously a difficult thing when you're dealing with an old fire hydrant but I think it can still be done and I'm certainly up to the challenge.
For Christian it's all about playing and having fun, and his pieces are both witty and irreverent.
For instance, there's the "Drink My Blood Jesus" drinking fountain, which he plans to hook up to a pump that would serve up sangria for a party.
Here's the segment on Christian; to watch the entire program, go here.
What could you build with Lego blocks?
Posted at 9:10 AM on May 10, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Sculpture
Image from www.brickartist.com
Are there days when you wish you could make a living by just playing?
Nathan Sawaya is living proof that it can be done.
The New York-based artist is currently touring an exhibition of large-scale sculptures made entirely out of standard Lego bricks. It's called "The Art of the Brick." Unfortunately the tour doesn't include Minnesota.
However, if you're inspired, you can take a shot at building your own Lego sculptures at the Lego Kids Fest, which will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center May 20-22. There will be a gallery of sculptures, activity rooms, and master builders on hand to talk about their techniques.
Oh, and your kids might want to go, too.
Image from www.brickartist.com
Gov. Dayton gives Caponi Art Park its day
Posted at 10:33 AM on April 22, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Education, People, Public Art, Sculpture
Anthony Caponi
Photo by Leif Hagen of Eagan Daily Photo.
On May 7, Anthony Caponi, the founder and artistic director of Caponi Art Park, turns 90. In honor of that event, Governor Mark Dayton has declared May 7 "Caponi Art Park and Learning Center Day."
The art park, if you're not familiar with it, is a 60 acre wooded area that includes located a 20 acre sculpture garden, an outdoor amphitheater and miles of walking paths. The park regularly hosts free concerts and performances, and hosts "Family Fun" days where families can try out a variety of art forms and learn about different cultures. The park is open free to the public Tuesday through Sunday from May through October. For more information, check out this story by MPR's Chris Roberts.
Here's the language of the proclamation (I always get a kick out of these):
WHEREAS: Caponi Art Park and Learning Center, located in Eagan, Minnesota, is a nonprofit center for the arts and a place where visual and performing arts are presented and fostered in a natural setting; and
WHEREAS: Caponi Art Park and Learning Center was founded by former Macalester College Art Department head Mr. Anthony Caponi, an Italian sculptor, educator, poet, author, philosopher, innovator and engineer who has lived in Minnesota for over 55 years and made significant contributions to Minnesota's vibrant art community; andWHEREAS: On May 7, 2011, the day of founder Mr. Caponi's 90th birthday, Caponi Art Park and Learning Center will celebrate the achievements of the Art Park, its founder, and create public awareness of the arts.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, MARK DAYTON, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim May 7, 2011 as:
CAPONI ART PARK AND LEARNING CENTER DAY
in the State of Minnesota.
The public is invited to celebrate this honor and the 90th birthday of park founder, Anthony Caponi, at the park's annual Open House from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 7. The park is located at 1220 Diffley Road.
The baggage we carry
Posted at 3:40 PM on April 14, 2011
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Culture, Galleries, Sculpture, Video
Still from the film "Detachment," part of Catherine Kennedy's installation "The Baggage We Carry" at Pillsbury House in Minneapolis.
Imagine having to flee your country because of war, move to a completely foreign land where you don't speak the language, and try to survive. How would you keep your sanity?
For artist Catherine Kennedy's grandmother, who fled Liberia's civil war and ended up in Minnesota, the answer came in the form of a regular gathering with other similar women. Each month they came together for what was almost a spiritual ritual, cooking food, singing and sharing stories all night, all dressed in white and thanking God for their salvation.
They appear very poignant about their source of strength, God first and each other. They are each asked to shower prior to joining their peers in the designated space of a gathering. Their use of white clothing per their words goes hand in hand with their belief that God is holy and in order to stand before Him to thank him, one must be cleansed. Further, the color of the fabric signifies purity for them, new beginnings.
Kennedy was fascinated by her grandmother's gatherings with her friends, and the stories of the suffering they endured in Liberia. Many were raped, witnessed the killing of their husbands; their children were kidnapped and forced to become soldiers in the war. What she learned about their lives formed the basis for her body of work "The Baggage We Carry" which is now on display at Obsidian Arts, located in the lobby of Pillsbury House in Minneapolis.
"The Baggage We Carry" at Obsidian Arts
Kennedy says creating this installation was a way for her to grieve the death of her grandmother, while also trying to better understand her.
She was not one to give up easy on anything. Although she was not a literate woman, my memories of her was a courageous and virtuous woman who would do whatever it took to see her children succeed in life. She went from selling crops prior to the war to running transportation and becoming an indigenous governor to her region in her lifetime. The war wiped her to zero forcing her to move not once but several times in other countries seeking refuge before even settling in the USA. In Minneapolis, her confinement to the weather and language barrier and personal struggles with brain injury, depression amongst other health issues did not stop her from co-creating the group.
Some of the images Kennedy creates are distorted stills from videos of these monthly gatherings. Much in the same way a foreigner can't truly understand the rituals of another culture, the viewer can't see clearly what is going on, and only gets hints or glimpses of the event.
In one video installation, called "Detachment," Kennedy removes a number of bandages from her face. She winces in pain as she takes them off her eyes and from her cheeks. It's a striking visual metaphor for how the healing process can in itself be painful, leaving us fragile and tender.
Obisidian Arts director Roderica Southall says Kennedy is one of the most talented emerging artists he knows, carefully presenting her ideas from a number of different angles.
She tenderly tells a really horrific story. It's a delicate way of treating a really serious subject. And one of the results is that it really put into focus the comfort in which the rest of us reside.
Throughout the lobby of Pillsbury House, Kennedy has placed bowls she made for people to pick up and examine. The color of gristle and bone, the bowls are a gruesome reminder of the hunger and suffering of refugees, as well as the spiritual emptiness that is left in the wake of tragedy. Kennedy says if these Liberian women taught her anything, it's that there are no limitations to a person's ability to cope.
Their faces are filled with sweat, their eyes closed, and smiles across their faces create such a strong energy as you stand in their presence. A vibe of sincerity, conviction and sense of purpose simmers in the air as they stand for what they believe. These women evoked for me a sence of sustaining personal worth belonging to a group of tribal women with a common thread... they share language barriers, illiteracy, culture shock, post traumatic stress... and they are able to be joyful about it.
Kennedy says the experience of studying these women has allowed her to look at her own deeper sense of worth and tap into questions surrounding life, death, religion and culture. She says if she wants viewers of her work to take away anything, it's the knowledge that even lives that have been marked with immense pain and trauma can find new hope, beauty and love in the right community.
Catherine Kennedy will give an artist talk tonight at Pillsbury House, and will be joined by art historian Suzanne Roberts and professor Patricia Briggs. "The Baggage We Carry" runs through April 23.
Kansas City Museum to honor former Walker director
Posted at 4:39 PM on March 30, 2011
by Euan Kerr
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Arts management, Sculpture
Say the name Martin Friedman to most people in the Minnesota Arts scene and they'll immediately recognize the name of the mann who directed the Walker Art Center for almost 30 years. Friedman, who retired from the Walker in late 1990, is credited with transforming a regional art museum into a world class cultural institution.
He's not just been sitting around since leaving the Walker, and one of his enterprises has been as a consultant for 20 years to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo. When he announced his impending retirement from that job, the Hall Family Foundation which had funded his work asked Friedman to commission a work in honor of his time with the museum.
Friedman, who also oversaw the creation and launch of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, knows a thing or too about sculpture. He immediately turned to Roxy Paine, a New York based artist and commissioned "Ferment." Friedman and Paine are shown below discussing a site for the piece.
It's a huge stainless steel tree which will be installed this week at Nelson-Atkins. Paine worked as an artist in residence at the museum and the commission is seen as a testament to the institution's success in encouraging developing artists .
Paine has been concentrating on a form he calls Dendroids since the late 1990s, and there are now 24 of these tree shapes in the US and around the world. Fans describe Paine's work as exploring how nature and technology co-exist.
That co-existance has been on view as the piece, which began as an Indian ink drawing (right) has grown into a metallic reality as can be seen on a video produced by the Museum, which includes Friedman.
Just as was done at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's "Steel Roots" show, opening in April, the Nelson-Atkins museum also used digital technology and a photo of a model to see how the piece, which will be 56 feet tall, will look in place (below.)
The museum poured a special concrete pad last year for the piece which was constructed at Paines's studio in Treadwell NY. It's also installed a webcam so people around the world can watch the installation. While work won't start for a while, the image is already up and running.
Video break: "Three Fragments of a Lost Tale"
Posted at 2:07 PM on March 18, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Animation, Museums, Sculpture, Video
Three Fragments of a Lost Tale from John Frame on Vimeo.
In March, the Huntington Library in Pasadena opened an exhibition of the sculpture and animation of John Frame. His work is haunting, beautiful, and dreamlike, which makes perfect sense since this latest project came from a dream. I've included three videos in the post - first, the animated film "Three Fragments of a Lost Tale", second, a video of the making of the sculptures and animation (filmed by Johnny Coffeen), and third a story by Southern California Public Radio which includes images from the exhibition. Enjoy!
Happy Medium from Johnny Coffeen on Vimeo.
John Frame: Three Fragments of a Lost Tale from Lauren M. Whaley on Vimeo.
The book as art form
Posted at 2:06 PM on March 9, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Craft, Galleries, Sculpture
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen's "Book of Sustenance"
When is a book not a book? And when is something that doesn't appear to look at all like a book, actually a work of "book art?"
These are the questions I keep returning to when I see a show at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, because - like all good art - the works on display regularly challenge my assumptions about what is, and what could be.
Currently on display in the Center's gallery space is a group show called "Parts of a Whole"; it consists of work by MCBA staff, faculty, co-op members and past artists-in-residence.
MCBA Managing Director Jeff Rathermel says while on the surface many of the works look nothing like books, they share themes of repetition, storytelling, and time.
It's the true power of a book that you have a time element within it, rather than just one snapshot view. Unlike a photograph or a painting, you have more time with the viewer/reader... you repeat ideas to emphasize them, you build upon them. But that's also a real responsibility and a challenge. To do this successfully you need to be a "page-turner" to engage people in the entire process - an artist book has a lot more in common with a film or a musical score than it does with traditional print-making.
Julie Sirek's "A Family Matter"
After perusing the exhibition, I was interested by strong themes that emerged around domesticity and women's work.
One of the most powerful works in the exhibition is Julie Sirek's "A Family Matter." It consists of 30 miniature dresses, made from gampi paper, thread, glass and wire. Sirek made each of these dresses to represent the 30 women from Minnesota who died as a result of domestic violence in 2009. Rathermel says in this work, each dress is in essence a page in a haunting narrative.
The delicateness of those small dresses really works well as a metaphor of vulnerability. And the other thing that I think is really interesting, is that it demands intimacy. Each of those dresses appears relatively similar, but as you start to engage with it you see that each one is unique. By demanding that intimacy you're pulled into a very uncomfortable situation - it's a quiet and powerful conversation.
From a distance, the dresses appear innocent and pretty. But once you move up close you notice subtle differences; one has a tear in the skirt, another a cigarette burn in the chest, a third has wire thorns in the collar. Each of them has been disfigured in some way.
Chandler O'Leary's "Mnemonic Sampler"
On the opposite wall is a piece with a completely different, far more playful, tone. Chandler O'Leary's "Mnemonic Sampler" consists of embroidered letters of the alphabet, alongside images of ordinary objects whose names start with the given letter (N is for needle, O is for oven mitt, etc). Rathermel says Leary is known for exploring what we have traditionally called "women's work."
At one level it's playful and whimsical, with great detail and humor, but I think there's also this addressing of the "art vs craft" hierarchy, and addressing what we've typically thought of as "women's work" in the community. Certainly it's much better now, but we still have these biases... I think Chandler is interested in reclaiming some of these craft traditions, to say that it's more than just women's work, and that anything done at this particular level could be considered art.
Detail of Erica Spitzer Rasmussen's "Book of Sustenance"
Erika Spitzer Rasmussen seeks to raise the life of the working-mother to that of high glamour. Her "Book of Sustenance" is a wearable work - similar to a ruffled collar that Queen Elizabeth might have worn. But this collar consists of a grocery list printed on grocery bags stained in cherry Kool-Aid. The result, Jeff Rathermel says, is both stunning... and unsettling.
She's worked with corsets in the past - this notion of being both decorative and restrictive;To have something this big around your neck...and in this case, blood red. She's talking about sustenance and food, and yet collar appears to restrict your throat.
In her artist statement, Rasmussen referred to the repeated pages on the collar as a sort of "mantra for domestic divadom."
"Parts of a Whole" runs through April 24 at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
The Arboretum's palace one year on
Posted at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2011
by Euan Kerr
(2 Comments)
Filed under: People, Public Art, Sculpture
It's been almost a year since Patrick Dougherty (right) visited the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to build a huge site-specific sculpture out of sticks and twigs he collected nearby.
The Arboretum's Manager of Interpretation & Public Programs Sandy Tanck admits staff were worried that what Dougherty named the "Uff Da Palace" might not do well in with the season's heavy snowfall.
"We weren't sure, but it managed to weather all of our snow this winter beautifully," she said when I visited last week.
It has changed however. Now, 10 months after work finished this is how it looks.
Tanck says every day she sees people stop to stare, and even to clamber inside to check out the intricately woven interior, and the views out of the various windows and doors.
"It seems to be limitless in its ability to inspire wonder and just serve as a magnet to draw people right into it," she said. This is even though the recent thaw freeze cycle has coated the floor with a bed of ice, which leaves some people clutching at their companions as they slip and slide through.
Dougherty tells the places where he builds to expect one excellent year from one of his works, and then one good year. He generally suggests taking them down after that as the elements take their toll.
Tanck says the Palace has become a fixture, and this summer's sculptural exhibit of Steve Tobin's Steel Roots series was designed with the interplay between the new show and Dougherty's work in mind.
"That one is a remarkable piece in that it's got this playful aspect that kind of suggests forts and I have overheard children say "Dad we've got to build one of these in our back yard. All the adults walking by are just mesmerized by it too."
"It's been a very interesting experience for the Arboretum to explore using art to connect people with plants," Tanck continued, "because there are these artists working in this arena who are creating amazing works."
The Steel Roots exhibit doesn't open until April, but many of the pieces are already in place because riggers wanted to take advantage of the frozen ground to get the heavier pieces in place. Things didn't entirely go to plan, but more of that later.
Art vs tradition in Japanese mask-making
Posted at 2:44 PM on February 17, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Sculpture, Theater
Mona Lisa and Ko-Omote, both masks by Bidou Yamaguchi
Bidou Yamaguchi is a mask-maker hoping to revolutionize a six-centuries old tradition.
Yamaguchi, whose work is on display at Carleton College's art gallery as part of larger exhibition on Japanese theater, is a master in his field. He creates masks for the Hōshō school of Noh theater in Tokyom, one of five such schools in the nation, each with it's own very distinctive styles and traditions.
The history of Japanese Noh theater goes back six centuries, and yet in that time, very little has changed. The rules of performance are strict, with archetypal characters; attending a Noh performance is considered a past-time for the upper class, similar to opera in the United States.
Noh performances traditionally incorporate masks into costumes of the different characters, with exaggerated faces depicting old men, young beauties, and evil demons. They're made from cypress wood, seashell, lacquer and sometimes hemp and horse hair.
As the theater has remained virtually unchanged, so has its masks. Yamaguchi, speaking through a translater (a Carleton art history major, Ziliang Liu) says while he's considered a great artist in his country, he feels like he and his contemporaries have been forced into being little more than technicians.
The Noh mask makers, what we do today, we're copying originals from other periods. Every one would say the best mask is the original, and each maker will say they can never achieve the brilliance of the original artist.
As a member of the Hōshō schoolm Yamaguchi has exclusive access to the school's original masks.
O-Beshimi, by Bidou Yamaguchi
While Yamaguchi's mastery of his art form is evident in his work, he felt called to challenge himself, to work with less traditional subject matter. And so he began making masks as sculptural pieces, drawing inspiration from iconic works of western art that date back to around the time Noh theater was taking form. He made masks of women pictured in paintings by Edvard Munch, Amadeo Modigliani, and Johannes Vermeer.
Yet while he's been making these masks for several years now, Yamaguchi has yet to show his work in Japan. That will happen this May, and he admits to being nervous about public reaction.
I'm speculating as to what the response will be. Tradition is very important in Japan, so I expect some people will reject the work, or be upset by it.
Jeanne, by Bidou Yamaguchi, after a painting by Amadeo Modigliani
While Yamaguchi doesn't have much freedom to pursue his own work, he believes that a recent shift in power at the Hōshō school may present an opportunity for change.
Tradition should not be just a matter of copying the past, but to add something before passing it on to the next generation. It's up to the next generation to decide whether they want to keep it or not.
Yamaguchi says he feels in some sense as though he's the only artist in the field of Noh mask-making. He wishes he and other mask-makers felt free to incorporate their own style and ideas into their work:
Okina, by Bidou Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi's masks are part of the Carleton College's The Art of Sight, Sound and Heart, which runs through March 9. Yamaguchi will be in Minneapolis on Monday, February 21 to give a talk at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Music and lights to mourn by
Posted at 2:25 PM on February 8, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Museums, Music, Sculpture
A detail of the installation of The Mourners, on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Image by Charles Walbridge
Upon beholding the 38 alabaster sculptures of "The Mourners" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, it's hard not to feel yourself transported to an ancient cathedral, to hear the chants of the mourners themselves as they process.
Oh wait - that's not my imagination - there's music playing in the gallery!
In fact, considering that they're funerary sculptures, it's suprising what a celebration these somber characters have inspired.
In conjunction with the seven city, U.S. national tour of the tomb sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, The Rose Ensemble has put together an original music program featuring works from the Courts of the Burgundian Dukes on themes of death and mourning in French, Latin and English. The ensemble will perform on February 18, 19 and 20 at the Basilica of Saint Mary.
In addition to the music program, the diminuitive figures have also inspired their own light show. A projection of the mourner statues is illuminated at night on the façade of The Basilica of Saint Mary through February 19th, and for the Rose Ensemble's candlelight concerts artist Ali Momeni will orchestrate an elaborate visual display of the mourner statues using six different projectors.
A detail of the installation of The Mourners, on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Image by Charles Walbridge
Taking clay to extremes
Posted at 4:17 PM on January 19, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Craft, Sculpture
Hoof Heels by Roxanne Jackson
Ceramic artists are very familiar with the "craft vs art" debate. Many will tell you that if you work with clay, you can expect to be summarily lumped in with the rest of the craft world. No matter what your work looks like, you will be associated with teapots and mugs.
However some ceramic sculptors are defying stereotype, making their way into art museums and contemporary galleries.
Northern Clay Center is currently showing two group exhibitions in its galleries, and three of the artists stand out for their work in sculpture.
First and foremost is Roxanne Jackson, who came to clay relatively late in life.
When I was in grad school making my work I was adding all these elements like beef jerky and dried fish parts. And I was told by my colleagues that I couldn't do that, because this was "ceramics." But I was a botany major undergrad, so I didn't have that background of what you can and can't do.
Jackson's pieces explore the blurry line between our animal and human nature. Her "Hoof Heels" were inspired by the work of a German fashion designer who creates incredibly expensive shoes using actual animal hooves. "It's a fascinating modern day references to pan mythology - my version hopefully plays with these tensions of the whimsical and the horrifying," says Jackson.
Ouroboros by Roxanne Jackson
Jackson's also interested in challenging traditional ideas of beauty. Her sculpture "Ouroboros" was inspired by the mythical snake that eats its own tail. Using the forms of a zebra head, a woman's face and a dog's snout, she depicts birth and death together in an form that is both grotesque and sublime.
I think there's a really thin line between what's horrifying and what's beautiful. A great example is birth - birth is grotesque and kind of disgusting. The visuals, the liquid, the colors, but of course it's a miracle, it's life!
Jackson also points to our fascination with horror movies; is it our more base animal nature that makes us want to look?
Comfort Creature by Elizabeth Coleman
While not as grotesque visually, Elizabeth Coleman's pieces combine elements that are both innocent and raw in a way that leave the viewer unsettled. Exhibition Curator Jamie Lang says she's working with unfired brick clay and her own memories to create a haunting sense of nostalgia:
They're memorials, honoring elements of childhood, innocence lost. Using the teddy bear that everybody has - it's a pneumonic device that brings people back to their childhood. Brick implies permanence, something everlasting.
Coleman says she's transforming her childhood friends into "immortal watchers" and "guardians" similar to the Japanese "Haniwa" - terra cotta figures that were buried with the dead.
The second gallery at Northern Clay Center is dominated by a sculptural piece by David Swenson. Hanging from the ceiling by a single cord, his "Handelier" is approximately six feet tall and seven feet wide, and is made almost entirely of... handles.
Handelier by David Swenson
Swenson, who works at NCC, is playing with one of the most utilitarian elements in pottery, and through repetition turning it into a thing of ornate beauty. He's even created small platforms onto which he's placed miniature "handelabras." By leaving the work unglazed, he's drawing the viewers' attention to the process and the materials.
Each of these artists is working with clay, and they obviously have attained a mastery of their "craft." But their work would be equally at home in a fine art gallery or museum. Exhibition curator Jamie Lang says he hopes the show will help to break down some stereotypes about ceramics.
I think there are more people like [these artists] out there, but people haven't had the opportunity to see the work, or they don't know to look for it. Having artists like Roxanne Jackson in the show I hope will bring in new people through our doors - people who might not normally consider the Clay Center a destination.
The two exhibitions - "Three Jerome Artists" and "Fogelberg and Red Wing Fellowship Artists" - are on display through February 27.
Catholic DVDs to be returned
Posted at 4:48 PM on December 9, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Culture, Media, Sculpture
Last month Lucinda Naylor was let go from her position as artist-in-residence at the Basilica of St. Mary when she announced she was collecting DVDs distributed by the Catholic Church of Minnesota calling for the "preservation of marriage."
In the days and weeks following, Naylor collected as many DVDs as she could, and transformed them into an art project which she displayed in an empty storefront.
After taking down the DVD sculpture (called "The Wave") Naylor reports she then transformed it into many smaller scultures, some of which she donated to the GLBT on-line high school for fundraising purposes.
In addition Naylor will be joining, Return The DVD at the Chancery at 10 am tomorrow morning to return more than three thousand DVDs they've collected. They will also be delivering a letter to the Archbishop, with whom they were unable to schedule a meeting.
Here's an excerpt from the letter:
In an outpouring of inclusion and love, and honestly much anger, more than three thousand Catholic households returned their DVDs to us. These Catholics feel the Church hierarchy's priorities are misguided and that the DVD mailing was an extreme measure targeting a group of people who deserve the same love, compassion, and acceptance that Christ shows each of us. Many asked us to pass along their DVDs to the artist Lucinda Naylor, to be included in her DVD to ART project. Thousands of other Catholics had already destroyed or thrown away their DVD before they knew of our efforts. The rest, we are returning to you.
Further, our Return the DVD group, and hundreds of other concerned individuals, donated over $10,000 to fight poverty and homelessness. This reflects our commitment to being a Church that attends to the needs of the less fortunate and doesn't waste resources seeking to deny anyone's civil rights.
A "remembrance garden" for I-35 memorial
Posted at 3:53 PM on September 9, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Architecture, Public Art, Sculpture
A rendering of the proposed I-35 memorial
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today unveiled a new plan for a memorial to the August 1, 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.
A donation of $1.5 million by the lawyers who argued the settlement for victims of the crash has helped speed up what was for months a stalled project.
The memorial was originally intended for Gold Medal Park, where many people gathered to gaze upon the wreckage of the bridge collapse, and to mourn their loved ones. However,"leasing issues" compelled the mayor's office to move the memorial across the river.
Mayor Rybak said he was committed to building the Remembrance Garden within budget, including an endowment for ongoing maintenance, and to completing it in time for a formal dedication on August 1, 2011, the four-year anniversary of the bridge collapse.
Here are some architectural details of the planned memorial, and their symbolic meanings:
The garden presents 13 I-beams which are illuminated during the evening. The names of the each of the people who lost their lives are engraved on opaque glass faces that cover the inside face of the I-beams.
Also included in the garden is a water wall element that frames the walkway space as one of the memorial's focal points.
The I-beams line an 81'-long linear plaza space with the water wall incorporated to one side. The water wall is very quiet and incorporates a sheet flow of water over its polished surface, offering a visual and auditory meditative focal point to the space. Names of all individuals who were on the bridge that day will be engraved into the surface of the wall, along with an inspirational quote and a dedication.
Benches bookend the linear plaza space, offering places to rest and contemplate the garden.
A path leads from the fountain to the bluff edge, where an observation deck allows views of the river and the bridge through the trees.
The linear dimension of the space (81') references the date of the bridge collapse -- 8/1.
The width of the space (13') references the 13 people who lost their lives.
The distance of the path to the overlook (65') references the time of the collapse -- 6:05 p.m.
The memorial will likely be the most expensive memorial ever erected in the state, including the $1 million World War II memorial installed on the State Capitol grounds in 2008. For reference, 6,255 American servicemen from Minnesota gave their lives for their country in World War II.
Mapping joy and pain
Posted at 1:44 PM on August 19, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Events, Sculpture
A crowd gathers around Rebecca Krinke's table at Mears Park in St. Paul.
If you've lived any place for a long time, there are bound to be ghosts that haunt you, and memories you linger over longingly: the house where you once lived, the scene of your first date, the place where a loved one died.
Artist Rebecca Krinke thinks these emotional attachments we have to specific places, both joyful and painful, are worth noting, and she's creating a map to do just that. The project is called "Unseen/Seen: The Mapping of Joy and Pain," and has been travelling around the Twin Cities so that people can add their stories.
Do you have happy memories of your childhood? Then pick up a gold pencil, and decorate the area where you grew up in gold. Not so happy memories? Then choose a dark gray pencil, and make your mark.
Certain buildings have received dark marks from people who find them to be a source of pain. Those include several U of MN campus buildings, the governor's mansion, and the state capitol.
Yesterday Krinke set up her "table" (in truth it's a sculpture of sorts) in Mears Park over the lunch hour, assisted by two U of MN undergrad students. While many folks rushed by on their limited time off, others were easily drawn in by Krinke's call to participate.
One woman walking with a cane picked up a dark pencil, found a spot on the map, and made a small dot. "There! I'm done," she said. When Krinke asked her how it felt, the woman responded "Good, they needed that" and walked off.
A man marked the area where he grew up in West St. Paul with both gold and gray. "They tore down our house, but I still have happy memories from there," he said. After a pause, he added "I feel better now" before walking off.
Krinke says all of her work, in broad terms, has dealt with themes of pain and joy, or recovery. This is the third time she's used the format of a table for her work.
At Franconia Sculpture Park, I created a table called The Table of Remembering and Forgetting which alluded to repression (of pain/perhaps any emotion), but to me it was like a moment of repression was stilled and made beautiful or became beautiful since it was acknowledged.
In the interior courtyard of Rapson Hall on the U of MN campus, you can find Krinke's "Table for Contemplation and Action: A Place to Share Beauty and Fear."
It's a table where a center copper element contains a single unusual changing element of nature. You are invited to write of fears or hopes on slips of paper and place them into a large glass vessel embedded within the table. When the vessel is full, the writings are burned without reading them.
Krinke sees her "Joy and Pain" project as a way to take the cathartic experience even further, allowing people to stand side by side and share their joy and pain visually, without having to explain themselves.
It can perhaps be inspiring and / or healing to remember joy and perhaps leave some pain on the table. Emotions are bound up in the places we have them - but emotional mapping is rare. I wanted to make a place of mystery in a way - to remind us all of the mystery of actually being alive and having these joy and/or pain experiences.
Inside the table
While passers-by leave their marks on the surface of Krinke's table, they might not notice what's going on beneath the surface. The interior of the table is filled with strange gray and gold sculptures, which Krinke says reflect the shedding, emerging and growing that's taking place just above.
Krinke says she's been surprised by how many people have really thought about their marks, and have seemed to get something meaningful out of it.
They often talk and talk about very personal things sometimes , have emotional reactions, showing us bruises and scars...I am surprised that the project seems to be reaching a deep chord, and I don't know what it is yet. Perhaps we are never asked about our emotional life in any deep way. Perhaps we don't share much. One person said to me that if she talked about too much joy at work- people got jealous. It seems that perhaps joy is more taboo to talk about than pain. People map more gold- but talk about pain much more often. Or maybe this needing to talk is a fundamental part of pain and joy needs no words? I have a lot to mull over as I create my next works.
If you're interested in adding your experiences to the map, Krinke will be out with her table in Minneapolis at Juxtaposition Arts on August 26 from 1-3pm and at the Minnesota State Fair on August 27 from 5-9pm and August 28 from 9am-1pm at the Crossroads Building.
Once completed, the table will be included in an exhibition at Virginia Tech called "Mapping Spectral Traces."
Franconia's Hot Metal Pour
Posted at 3:15 PM on August 9, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: How To, Sculpture
This weekend I had the pleasure of heading out to Franconia Sculpture Park for its annual "hot metal pour." There participants get to carve out their own molds and then watch as those molds are filled with molten iron, and then cooled and cleaned. The result? Hundreds upon hundreds of cast sculptures for people to take home.
Do me a favor, and when watching the below slide show, hit the "expand button" (the one with four arrows) so that you can see the pictures at full size, and read the accompanying captions. Enjoy!
Art Hounds: From University Ave. to Wadena
Posted at 7:00 AM on July 29, 2010
by Chris Roberts
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Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Public Art, Sculpture
The hounds chase down teen art in Minneapolis that's making an impression, a sculptural oasis in North Central Minnesota, and a Central Corridor cabaret.
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Andrea Satter says photographer Wing Young Huie has made waves with his colossal series' "The Lake Street Project" and now "The University Avenue Project," which documents a six mile stretch of the Central Corridor. Andrea is anxious to attend Huie's monthly cabaret, held in conjunction with the project, scheduled for this Saturday at 1433 University Ave. It features talent from the University Avenue area.
If you think North Central Minnesota is devoid of grand scale outdoor art, you're wrong. Jamie Robertson says sculpture lovers will enjoy a sojourn to Wadena this Saturday, July 31, for the grand opening of Green Island. It's a 60-acre former farmstead that's been molded into a sculpture park. It'll be open seven days a week from sun-up to sundown for the rest of the summer. Admission is free.
Teen art exhibits rarely turn heads the way "SooFUZE" does. That's the opinion of Christopher James, Communications and Events Director at the Weisman Art Museum. Christopher says the multi-media show at Soo Visual Arts Center reflects the work of Twin Cities teen artists that's unusually sophisticated and thought-provoking. You have until September 5th to check it out.
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.
McKnight shows, part 1: Northern Clay Center
Posted at 1:00 PM on July 14, 2010
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Funding, Galleries, Media, Sculpture
Ursula Hargens, Wallflower, 2010, earthenware, gold luster, 62" x 26" x 1". Photo by Peter Lee.
If you've been paying attention to local arts calendars in the past few weeks, you may have noticed a certain name popping up time and time again: "McKnight."
As most artists will tell you, the McKnight Foundation is one of the pillars in Minnesota for funding the arts, and each year it offers over a million dollars to Minnesota artists in fellowships that cover a wide range of disciplines: theater, dance, choreography, photography, visual arts, ceramics.
Right now, McKnight's partner institutions are displaying the results of the past years fellowships. A few weeks back I looked at the work of McKnight's photography fellows, on display at Frankling Art Works, and last weekend McKnight dancers performed new solo works they commissioned at the Southern Theater.
Today I'm looking at two different McKnight funded exhibitions , starting with ceramic artists at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis(check back later for a profile of visual artists on display at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design).
Maren Kloppmann, Stacked Pillows III/09 (8 Elements), 2009
Northern Clay Center's fellowship program differs a bit from other McKnight programs. In addition to providing fellowships to two Minnesota ceramicists, the center also brings in four artists from outside Minnesota for three month residencies. The idea is to provide artists around the country with time and professional studio space in which to develop their work, while also giving local artists the opportunity to learn new techniques in workshops with these visiting fellows.
Exhibitions Director and Curator Jamie Lang says what always surprises him is how, although their styles are techniques are quite different, these artists' create bodies of work which actually pair together quite well.
What always surprises me is that there is a cohesiveness to the exhibition even though when they're here you don't think they'll work together, or you even worry that they'll compete with one another.
This year's Minnesota fellows are Ursula Hargens and Maren Kloppman (first and second images, respectively). While Hargen's is richly decorated and colored, Kloppman's is sparse and minimalist. Yet both show an expertise with architectural lines and spiritual overtones.
Yoko Sekino-Bové, Noblesse Oblige, 2005
Photo by Jamie Lang
While Kloppman and Hargens created more contemplative bodies of work, the pots and tiles of Yoko Sekino-Bove and Ilena Finocchi reach out and grab you with their biting commentary. Sekino-Bove riffs on the typically precious vases of China and Japan -depicting pandas munching on bamboo and flying cranes - and inserts modern, disillusioned dialogue that burns away at the zen-like veneer.
For her part, Ilena Finocchi casts her eye on modern politics, and finds it lacking. She created tiles that resemble posters for freak shows depicting such familiar faces as Sarah Palin and George Bush. She also sculpted a couple of three dimensional pieces which reveal, quite plainly, her disenchantment with the U.S. government as a whole
Ilena Finocchi, National Frivolity, 2009
Photo by artist.
Finally ceramic artists Elizabeth Smith and Cary Esser are dealing more purely with pattern. Esser creates two dimensional piece with geometric shapes which feel as they could have been removed from a garden wall. Smith used her fellowship to create one very large installation piece called "The Garden;" its four panels reflect the season, affixing ceramic structures to a wall that's been painted with repeating patterns of stencils.
Elizabeth Smith, The Garden (detail), 2009-2010
Photo by Jamie Lang
Lang says the show reflects some of the latest trends in ceramic art.
Decorated surface is a hot trend now. You can see even more of it in our sales gallery. There's more decoration or imagery on the ceramic pieces, such as Yoko's animals and text, more of an exploration within decorations and graphics. I don't think that's unique to ceramics - I'm seeing it on the street with stenciled graffiti, and in graphic novels, too.
Lang says this particular group of fellows stands out for two reasons; they're all women (a first in the fellowship's 13 year history), and almost all of them created work designed to be hung on walls, not just set on tables. Lang notes how both Kloppman and Smith incorporated the walls into their artwork, using paint and shellac to extend the artwork beyond the clay and porcelain objects.
"Northern Clay Center: Six McKnight Artists" runs through August 23 in Minneapolis.
Inspiring students with architecture
Posted at 10:51 AM on July 13, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Architecture, Sculpture
Bas-relief sculptures of the cardinal points at the Christopher Columbus Family Academy in New Haven help teach directions, and give students a deeper sense of place.
What if schools didn't just house educational activities, but actually inspired them?
Architect Barry Svigals designs both grade schools and college buildings, and unlike most architects, he incorporates sculpture and figurative work into his structures. Svigals says the combination of architecture and sculpture transforms buildings from simple vessels into reflections on who we are and why we're here.
"Figurative sculpture, in particular, has the power to engage people in an intimate relationship to their surroundings. It can bring to life the purpose and meaning of a building, enhancing its service to functional needs. We are on a quest for meaning - we seek a reflection of ourselves in everything. Now imagine if we found that meaning in our buildings" says Svigals.
Svigals is in town for the Society of College and University Planning's annual international conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center, but much of his work can be found in educational buildings in his home state of Connecticut.
A 950 pound bronze sculpture of St. Albert the Great serves as a pillar in the Albertus Magnus College while simultaneously celebrating the history and mission of the college.
Svigals says the history of figurative sculpture in architecture goes back to ancient times, and the two were disconnected only relatively recently - in the 1930s - when modernists moved away from art and ornamentation in their designs. And Svigals worries that, as a result, human beings are becoming more and more disconnected from their environment.
Today's architecture encourages egocentrism, rather than community. Each building shouts to be the most important. Really the questions each institution should ask as they begin designing a building are "How can we participate?" and "What can we contribute?" Our meaning is determined by our relationship to the community and the world at large.
Svigals says the modern movement has left a legacy of buildings that are simply self-referential, with no civic or personal meaning. Svigals says such buildings are missed opportunities for "deep branding," in other words, opportunities to speak to all who gaze upon them, telling them who you are and what you stand for.
Sculptures of apostles adorn the pilasters of The Carroll School of Management at Boston College, reflecting the college's Jesuit heritage.
Svigals says at a time when we are increasingly reminded of our deep connection to the world around us - through oils spills, earthquakes and hurricanes - it's time that we re-engage with our communities and our heritage.
Paraphrasing Gil Scott-Heron, Svigals says "the revolution will not be seen on our TV, but it should be felt in our buildings."
From Zimbabwe to Bloomington
Posted at 5:32 PM on July 13, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture
The showroom floor of Mhiripiri Gallery in Bloomington
Sitting in the heart of Bloomington is a large piece of Zimbabwe. Literally thousands of pounds of quarried stone have made their way around the world and onto the showroom floor of Mhiripiri Gallery.
Years previous, gallery owner Rex Mhiripiri made a similar journey, from what was then Rhodesia. Mhiripiri considers himself a most fortunate man, making a living sharing the cultural treasures of his homeland.
"This art form is named after the Shona people of Zimbabwe. I happen to be Shona. Here, Zimbabwe art works speak to Americans without me saying a thing. Black Shona speaking folks talk [through their artwork] to predominantly White English speaking locals. These strangers meet in our gallery.The cold stone works are their common language, warm, friendly, even loving and embracing, saying, 'Shake hands!'"
Zimbabwe stone carving dates back 900 - 1200 years. According to Mhiripiri, Zimbabwe is the only African country that has a tradition in stone carving.
Sculpture by Shona artist Colleen Madamombe
Mhiripiri says Shona sculpture often depicts emotionally strong, and at times, overpowering images from Shona Tribe fables, folk tales, myths and real life stories. Depictions of everyday events in the lives of the people - their spiritual beliefs, fears, hopes, and taboos - are a common trait.
The environment is ever present. The flora and fauna. The animal world. The interaction between these and the people is sometimes so intimate, so entwined that works showing animals turning into humans and vice versa are common. This metamorphosis theme has resulted in some of the most powerful, and most famous sculptures by Zimbabwe's foremost names, such as the late Bernard Matemera.
Sculpture by Bernard Matemera
Over the next several months, Mhiripiri will be highlighting the work of three Shona sculptors: Bernard Matemera, Colleen Madamombe and Godfrey Kurari. Between them they represent more than three generations of sculpting in the Shona tradition.
Mhiripiri says, while Shona sculpture is now well known in many parts of the world, it took a long time to gain credibility with the art world.
The Kingdom of Zimbabwe had already died and disintegrated by the time the British arrived and planted their flag to make Zimbabwe the British Colony of Rhodesia. Effective colonizers do not trumpet the glories of the peoples they subjugate. If anything, colonists expend huge amounts of energy convincing themselves, the world (including the colonized people themselves) that "locals" or "natives" are incapable of contributing anything of worth, anything uplifting, positive and deserving knowledgement and recognition.
Mhiripiri says those stone carvers are now getting some of the recognition they deserve. He says the trade is now drawing many new stone carvers, but that's in large part due to Zimbabwe's high unemployment rate and the relative success of the small industry.
Mhiripiri Gallery is located on Penn Avenue in Bloomington.
McKnight Foundation names 2010 Artist of the Year
Posted at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(2 Comments)
Filed under: People, Sculpture
Emerson's Parlor, 2005 by Siah Armajani
Image courtesy of maxprotetch.com
The McKnight Foundation has named Minnesota-based sculptor Siah Armajani as the 2010 McKnight Distinguished Artist.
The award, which includes $50,000, recognizes individual Minnesota artists who have made significant contributions to the quality of the state's cultural life.
Locally, Armajani is best known for the bridge he designed joining the Walker Art Center's sculpture garden to Loring Park.
The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, built by Siah Armajani in 1988
Image courtesy of the Walker Art Center
Inspired by architecture and democratic ideals, Armajani has created footbridges, benches, reading rooms and gazebos which serve the public worldwide. Many of them are imprinted with text.
Born in Tehran in 1939, Armajani moved to the United States in 1969, and graduated from Macalester College in 1963. He lives and works in Minneapolis. Armajani is notoriously shy, refraining from interviews with the media, and public appearances
"Siah Armajani is one of Minnesota's great assets, an ambassador to the world," says Kate Wolford, president of The McKnight Foundation, "One fundamental role of great art is to help us interpret and understand our world. Never shying away from reality as he sees it, Siah shines a spotlight on life's challenges and inequities. He unites humankind's hardest truths with the optimism that we can do better, if we acknowledge and understand the bridges that brought us here."
While we agree that Siah Armajani is a high profile international artist based in Minnesota, the arts and culture unit at Minnesota Public Radio is scratching its collective head over the McKnight Award. Has Armajani made a "significant contribution to the quality of the state's cultural life?"
What do you think?
Art Hounds: Art/Science, Sonnets, Stardust Cowboy
Posted at 8:25 AM on May 20, 2010
by Chris Roberts
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Music, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Theater
Image from "The Life Story of Petroleum" by Susan Armington.
The hounds hunt down artists provoked by the mysteries of science, theater performers who transform Shakespeare's sonnets, and the rowdy, eccentric cowboy who inspired David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.
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How do art and science relate to each other? Charlene Ellingson has spent many years as a science teacher in Minneapolis public schools pondering that question, and she's hoping a new exhibition at the Phipps Center For the Arts in Hudson will supply some answers. It's called "Shedding Light: Art Explores Science," and features paintings, drawings and mixed media installations that illuminate things normally left to scientists. Through June 6.
For many, Shakespeare's sonnets represent literary perfection, but they certainly weren't meant for the stage. Until now. Actor, director and playwright David Mann fills us in on the Classical Actors Ensemble's "Complete Sonnets Festival," at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis May 21-23.
Sometimes-painter and musician Amanda Gullixson of Eagle Lake complains about the dearth of interesting music in nearby Mankato. But Amanda will have her hands full with a double bill at the Red Sky Lounge that features the Legendary Stardust Cowboy alongside the Fleshtones. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy led David Bowie to invent his Ziggy Stardust character. The show is a free 'listener appreciation party' for supporters of local community radio station KMSU.
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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.
Pieta reproduction to stay at St. Paul Cathedral
Posted at 1:14 PM on May 10, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture
The original "Pietà" by Michelangelo, at home in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Thanks to a donation by someone who wishes to remain anonymous, St. Paul Cathedral gets to keep the reproduction of Michelangelo's famous Pietà, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus Christ after his death.
The marble casting of the original sculpture (housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome) has been on public view since February 17 (Ash Wednesday) in the Sacred Heart Chapel.
According to the Cathedral staff, a permanent place will be prepared for the sculpture, with a probable dedication in September.
The replica was created by two sister companies, Vescovo Buonarroti Art
and Vescovo Renaissance Art, overseen by American entrepreneur Steven Bishop. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Vatican Observatory Foundation, the scientific branch of the Vatican which supports astronomy and scientific research.
Here's a promotional video, put out by Bishop's company, about the sculpture at Saint Paul's Cathedral:
Public art for our high-tech times
Posted at 4:43 PM on January 8, 2010
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Public Art, Sculpture
"Aurora Organ," an interactive light sculpture by Camille Utterback, in the "Shops at West End" complex in St. Louis Park.
When someone utters the words "public art," I admit the first image that comes to my mind is generally a bronze sculpture. And often times those sculptures, commissioned and approved by a group of government employees, seem pretty bland.
But public art is getting some new life, and some new energy, thanks to our love-affair with technology.
This coming Monday, St. Louis Park will be dedicating a work of public art at the new "Shops at West End" complex. Located in the atrium, "Aurora Organ" consists of six 17' long columns of light hanging from the ceiling. There are six places on the hand railing that correspond to the six light columns; each one responds to the touch of a hand. A quick tap will result in a short band of light; hold your hand down for several seconds, and the color bar gets longer and longer.
Camille Utterback is the artist behind the piece. Based in San Francisco, she received a MacArthur "Genius" grant shortly after she was commissioned by St. Louis Park, and she's seen as an "up-and-comer" in her field. Utterback says she's always created interactive pieces.
I really enjoy giving people their own space to have their own discovery. I was always interested in science as kid and in college and that process of figuring of something out - I think that's why I'm an artist also - a lot of what artists do is pose questions to themselves and then try to figure out how to solve them. And so by creating these situations in my artwork, other people get to have that same experience.
Utterback says this latest piece, "Aurora Organ" marks a new direction for her. Up until now she's worked on light projections that respond to human movement. But this is her first large-scale light sculpture. She says it's a rhythmic piece, designed to take the small gesture of a tapping hand and turn them into something big and beautiful.
I think a lot of times art - especially contemporary art - people feel alienated by it or don't have a personal connection to it. But this work really lets people create that connection because it's responding to them.
The piece has no instructions, so Utterback attempts to draw people to the work with its beauty, and then, once they realize it reacts to their touch, allow them to explore how it works on their own. There are even some hidden surprises that people may discover if they experiment with it long enough.
The project was facilitated by Forecast Public Art. Executive Director Jack Becker says he's excited to see a city commission something as bold and creative as Utterback's work.
It is important to note that high-tech permanent projects are a rarity, especially in this region. It is a risky venture to spend $100,000 on a piece that depends on computers and technology these days, as it evolves and changes so fast. Will the components become obsolete? Who on site knows how to fix or maintain this kind of art? But the City and the developers wanted to raise the bar and create a "first" for St. Louis Park, and I think they have.
While Utterback acknowledges her piece will not last as long as a bronze sculpture would, she thinks there are trade-offs that cities are beginning to recognize.
I think that some cities understand that the purpose of public art is to engage the public. You know, we're so used to dealing with technology in our lives that a bronze sculpture has a certain kind of appeal, but it's very different from something that's interactive or made out of lights. I think in the end if you can commission a work that people love and something that people talk about in your city than that's a really huge success. In a number of years it may need to be replaced or updated, but it's still a worthwhile investment.
Camille Utterback's "Aurora Organ" will be dedicated in a public ceremony on Monday, January 11th at 4pm.
A few lights can work magic
Posted at 12:07 PM on December 29, 2009
by Euan Kerr
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Filed under: People, Sculpture
Back in the fall local sculptor Brian Sobaski sent some great pictures of animals he creates from wood and straw around the metro area.
Today he sent me this rather bedraggled picture of the camel he made for his daughter in their Falcon Heights yard a few months back. As you can see it looks quite bedraggled.
If you click on the image you'll get a better view of the full wind and snow blown effect.
However being an enterprising guy, and handy with the holiday decorations, a few well placed lights transform the piece as you can see below.
Again, click on the image for a larger view.
"Strange Victory" challenges expectations
Posted at 2:54 PM on October 2, 2009
by Marianne Combs
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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.
Art, straw, and a daughter for inspiration
Posted at 2:36 PM on September 25, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(12 Comments)
Filed under: People, Sculpture
There is a 12 foot straw camel in Brian Sobaski's yard. The neighbors must be getting used to it. There was a huge horse a couple years back, and an elephant last year.
Sobaski says there's now a regular stream of SUV's and other vehicles past the house as people seek out his Falcon Heights home.
The camel is the result of his artistic training and interest - and the Halloween desires of his young daughter. She wanted to be a Chinese princess a couple years ago, and when they visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and saw the terra cotta figures in the Chinese collection.
Sobaski says he thought, "I could do that."
He's got an interest in Bricolage, making art from materials at hand, and he's been making scenery for Hollywood for years. He also likes the idea of green, recyclable sculpture.
So a huge horse soon appeared in his yard made from a wooden armature and straw.
The next year his daughter wanted to be an Indian princess, so an elephant was in order. He admits that the camel this year was his pick. He wanted to make something where he could work to give the animal more of a sense of movement. Another step forward was his discovery that landscaping cloth makes a fine-looking stomach.
Another innovation this year was to send out fliers to orchards, corn mazes and other autumnal businesses offering his services, and suddenly Brian Sobaski is very busy. He's been doing three to four pieces a week: bears, pirates, scarecrows, a woolly mammoth, and even a Buddha. Each takes a day, or a day and a half, to finish.
He's got several more to do in coming weeks and he's having a lot of fun.
"On top of that I get an awesome photograph with my daughter on top," he says. You can see more pictures of his creations at his website
This big rabbit won't eat your garden veggies
Posted at 8:06 AM on August 31, 2009
by Marianne Combs
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Public Art, Sculpture
Photo courtesy of Christine Podas Larson
This weekend families visiting Western Sculpture Park in St. Paul got to enjoy wildlife of a different sort. Artist Mary Johnson created a 14' rabbit out of rebar, lath and cement. Working with children from the neighborhood, Johnson created mosaic medallions from found objects that were embedded into the rabbits "hide." She used the hub caps from a '58 Ford for the bunny's eyes. His name? Max Rabbitat.
The dedication of the new addition to the sculpture park featured carrot cupcakes and a bunny hop.
Examining our animal nature
Posted at 12:39 PM on August 28, 2009
by Marianne Combs
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Filed under: Museums, Sculpture
Hoodie, 2009
Minnesota artist Roxanne Jackson is interested in the blurry line between human and animal behavior. Her latest show "We Believe in Some Thing" opens today at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
In it Jackson documents the many ways in which cultures express our hybrid nature. Whether it's Native American folklore, or cult films about vampires and werewolves, Jackson takes our fascination with our animal cousins and pushes the exploration even further.
In popular entertainment, animalistic traits are often used to portray a character as either an outcast, or possessed of an untamed aggressive nature. But Jackson's images almost beg the question "aren't we the real animals?"
Devouring Mother, 2009
Jackson also looks at how combining human and animal form carries with it a spriitual power in many cultures, both for good and evil. Whether it's a sphynx (a lion with a human head), a harpie (half woman, half bird), or a centaur (half man, half horse) we either fear or revere these creatures that are "more than human."
Looking at Jackson's sculptures makes me wonder if we're not just a little bit jealous of our animal counterparts. The freedom from the constraints of modern civilization, the physical power, the heightened senses... is it no wonder we love watching movies about a man named "Wolverine?"
Roxanne Jackson's "We Believe in Some Thing" runs through November 1 at the MIA.
Slant/Light/Volume
Posted at 6:13 PM on August 14, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Design, Museums, Sculpture
(MPR photo by Euan Kerr. Click on image to enlarge.)
If you are passing through the Walker Art Center anytime soon, set aside a few minutes to see "Slant/Light/Volume." There's just one piece in the show, an untitled work by Robert Irwin.
It's quite simple: a huge piece of fabric stretched across an entire gallery at an angle, lit from behind. Seen in person, it is stunning, a glowing plane hanging among the faint echoes bouncing through the Walker's chambered galleries.
The piece was designed for the opening of what was then the Walker's new building in 1971. It hasn't been displayed for 20 years, and it's definately worth experiencing now.
How do you clean a sunburst?
Posted at 1:14 PM on July 30, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Museums, Sculpture
Many years ago I watched a crew from the Dale Chihuly studio hang the hundreds of blown glass spirals which make up the sunburst which hangs high above the entrance hall at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
As a result I have always had a soft spot for the piece, even though given its weight and fragility I have always found it a little scary too.
So it was a delight to see the MIA posted pictures of the annual sunburst cleaning. You can find it here, but here is a sample:
A State of the Arts Mystery: can anyone explain?
Posted at 3:50 PM on July 24, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(20 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture
Some one must know what this means, and so it's time to turn to State of the Arts readers for suggestions.
First here's the set-up.
The other morning I walked down Lyndale Avenue from where I had parked my car to do an interview a few blocks away at the Jungle Theater.
Just after crossing the bridge over the Greenway, I passed a young man who seemed engrossed in the wonders of a chain link fence surrounding a recently cleared site on the west side of the street.
I noticed he was carefully counting the links on the fence with one hand, while carefully holding a length of yellow yarn in the other.
He didn't pay any attention to me. I walked past him in a matter of seconds, regarding him as one of the many people you see in the great gentle circus we call south Minneapolis.
Fast forward an hour and as I was returning to my car, I saw the young man was gone. He had however left a certain amount of yarn.
It was clear there was a pattern to the work, but because of the way the yarn blended in with the fence against the sky and the rough terrain behind, it was really hard to see what it was.
For a few moments I moved back and forth trying to find the right place from which to look.
It was a little tough because there was no sidewalk, and to get some distance from the fence it was necessary to step back into the street, which is always an adventure in the Mill City, even on side roads.
The artist clearly had some objective in mind, but he didn't make it easy. Sometimes you have to struggle a little for art.
Finally, after much wandering to and fro, and a certain amount of crouching, I found the perfect viewing spot.
So the question is: what is it? Clearly there is a message here, but what does it mean?
And this is where you come in. If you have any thoughts about what this signifies, or, even better, some deep inside knowledge of the young man and his yarn, (in both senses of the word,) please feel free to share them below.
Art Hounds: Mixing it up
Posted at 9:17 AM on July 23, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Culture, Events, Film, Museums, Music, Sculpture, Theater
One of the delights of the late summer is that it's time when local arts folks mix it up a little.
Take tonight at IFP Minnesota's Fresh Fete at the Varsity Theater. As the local organization devoted to independent film it will of course be showing films, but blending some chat and a lot of music too. The film comes from local writer director Emily Haddad who won IFP Mn's Fresh Film grant last year and used it to make "Egg Timer" which will premier at 6.30. There will be a conversation between Mystery Science Theater 3000's Bill Corbett and local playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher. The evening will be rounded out by local icon Willie Murphy and the Angel Headed Hipsters and pianist John Sims.
If you haven't seen the Walker Art Center's examination of conceptual art "The Quick and the Dead" - or even if you have - it's worth a visit. There are some 90 pieces by 53 artists, some of which are designed to change over time, hence the value in returning. Take for example Claes von Oldenburg's "The Garden" which involved burying 100 objects and then exhuming and displaying one item per day. He didn't specify what the object should be, but the Walker staff chose lemons, and you can see the results in jars in the Center's lower lobby.
After sell out shows last week the Trylon Microcinema returns with another Buster Keaton film "The Navigator." Live accompaniment is supplied by the Dreamland Faces, complete with singing saws.
If you are considering a little road trip this weekend, there is the final weekend of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, and the always whacky Free Range Film Festival in Webster, about half an our south of Duluth. Movie shorts in a barn, how can you miss?
And for the truly dedicated sports fan the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis is presenting live coverage on the big screen of the Tour de France. You can watch the cyclists sweat while sitting in the finest art deco movie house the Twin Cities has to offer. Admission is free, although they are collecting non-perishable goods for local food shelves, or a $2 donation.
And of course there is all the great stuff ferreted out by the Art Hounds Want to be one of them? Sign up!
Listening to the sounds we can't hear
Posted at 10:32 AM on July 22, 2009
by Euan Kerr
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture, Technology
If you have ever wondered about the sounds of an insect eating a leaf, or even the mist condensing on a window, you are not alone.
These are the kind of sounds which sonic artist Diane Willow hopes to collect with a new microphone she will use for her work "Listening to the Silent Landscape of the Everyday."
Willow, who teaches at the University of Minnesota will gather sounds with a highly sensitive contact microphone which allows her to listen in the tiny sounds all around us which are beyond the sensitivity of normal human hearing.
Willow, who came to the U from MIT, has used other recordings in sculptures and other works. She will develop interactive pieces from the new recordings.
You can see at video of "Serenade," a piece she did in Beijing here
We Art Minnesota: Franconia Sculpture Park
Posted at 7:06 AM on June 30, 2009
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture, We Art Minnesota
Susannah Schouweiler knows her art; she's an editor for mnartists.org. She writes about Franconia Sculpture Park:
I've been a fan of Franconia Sculpture Park for a while now, but I really fell in love with the place last September at Franconia's Art & Artists Festival and Celebration when we took our son, George, with us. Seeing our three-year-old explore the park, watching him scramble over, around, and on top of the sculptures to get at all their textures and small hiding places was instructive: Franconia, unlike traditional gallery spaces or museums, invites you to engage the work directly, to touch the pieces, to step right up and play with the art like a kid.
When you stop by, you're treated a bit like visiting family; the artists who live and work at Franconia (many of whom are there on two-year Jerome Foundation artist-in-residence fellowships) are likely milling around the park with you, happy to take a break in what they're doing to chat for a minute.Most of the 75 or so pieces on view at the park rotate through after a couple of years of exhibition time, so there's usually something new to see. At the same time, pieces are around for a relatively long time; so, if you visit a couple of times a year, you'll see bunches of old favorites each time, too. It's such a pleasure to see the sculptures weather over time as they make their peace with the elements and earn a bit of patina.
I suppose my very favorite aspect of Franconia, though, is the ubiquitous evidence of human handiwork behind the grandeur and whimsy of the finished pieces - heavy equipment to haul and fabricate stuff, artists with tools and brushes touching up their pieces, people milling around the communal house. My son calls it an "art farm;" I think that captures the gist of Franconia's appeal beautifully.
You can find out more about Franconia Sculpture Park, its fall arts celebration and its sculpture-building workshops for kids here.
Have a favorite piece of art that belongs to Minnesota (i.e. public art, a cool building, or a piece of art that belongs to a Minnesota museum)? Let us know.
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