Hark!

I've slowly been creeping back into my pottery habits...stay posted for further information and photos (and, dare I say it, dates for a possible open house!)

My Apologies

Sorry for the extended hiatus in any blogging for the past few months. I decided it was necessary to go back to Wisconsin at the beginning of April to support my family while my father was fighting through the final stages of pancreatic cancer. He lost his battle on April 30th and since then I have been bouncing back-and-forth between Minocqua and the cities as often as possible. Next week I will be leaving Minneapolis and returning to the Northwoods on a semi-permanent basis; hopefully some pottery will be in the equation in the following months, but we'll have to see how things pan out. Thank you all (if anyone actually follows this) for your patience...hopefully the future holds better and brighter blogs.

Foot in the Door 4 @ MIA

The evening of the 18th was the opening reception at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the "Foot in the Door 4" exhibit, held in conjunction with MIA's regular "Third Thursday" event (I didn't post then because I forgot to take pictures of a few areas of the exhibit and wasn't able to get back until this past weekend). For all the times I've been to MIA (though I must admit I usually go on weekdays during light hours, not at night for gala events) I've NEVER seen so many people there! It was exciting, fun, and claustrophobic all at the same time...fortunately, my sister and a friend came with me so I didn't have to face the crowds alone.

The exhibit is set up on the 2nd floor of the Target (west) Wing of MIA and runs through three exhibit rooms and out into the central atrium. Because of the sheer volume of people present to view the exhibit a line extended from the first room back into the regular section of the museum...fortunately for us, we arrived fairly early in the evening and the wait to get in was minimal....by the time we came out of the gallery space, the line was extended all the way from the Target Wing to the center of the museum (I would assume about a 45 minute wait to get through).

I had no idea what to expect given the number of pieces on display (over 5,000 Minnesota artists are involved...their highest count ever) but my first impression - other than not being able to move my arms more than six inches away from my body on account of the mass of humanity jammed around me - was of a sophisticated rummage sale set-up; sculptural pieces appeared to be laid out haphazardly across vast platforms while the walls were a veritable jigsaw of paintings, photographs, and other 2-D works.

Rather than being able to walk freely around the space, the crowd moved in a more-or-less compacted mass (as you can see from the picture) around each table before surging through a doorway into the next room (I was terrified some of the pieces were going to be knocked over by people crowding the tables...one actually did (a ceramic piece I liked) by a woman carrying her coat over her arm, but fortunately nothing was broken). I found my piece on display in the first room, which was very exciting; I didn't see anything else quite like my work, either, which was nice (uniqueness is always good).

Despite the cramped viewing experience and jumbled displays, the exhibit was still incredibly impressive and I had a great time picking out pieces I admired and explaining different (possible) creation techniques to my party. (Going back this last weekend was even better because I was able to go through the rooms at my own pace and pause to admire individual items without fear of being trampled...) The museum has now also finished photographing each individual piece and uploading the images (along with artists' names, of course) into their computer database, so you can search (and vote!) for work throughout the exhibit (everything is numbered, so work is suprisingly easy to find).

The exhibit runs through June 13th and is completely free, so if anyone happens to be in the area, I strongly suggest stopping by to check it out.

The link to the exhibit site is: http://www.artsmia.org/foot-in-the-door-4/

Art in the Cities

A new post! Finally! You know when you move to a new location and in the hassle tend to be a bit forgetful about things? Well, I moved to my new house in Minneapolis back in November and between work, cleaning up the house, traveling between here and Wisconsin, and getting used to driving around (city driving is scary to a small-towner...just saying) more-or-less completely forgot about my blog...fortunately, there hasn't been much going on since the move art-wise, so I haven't missed much.

HOWEVER, a new year brings new opportunities and, as a friend of mine back home would say, my art karma seems to be on the rise. I'm still associated with the Edina Art Center (which, if you've never checked it out, you need to) and actually just received my confirmation e-mail today for my spring/summer classes...I'll be continuing to teach hand-building as well as a NEW smoke firing class! (Open flames...always exciting...) My muse has also returned from a two-month-or-so hiatus and I've been filling sketchbook pages with new design concepts just itching to be brought to life (hurry up, warm weather! I can't smoke-fire in the snow!) I'm also putting the finishing touches on my application for Ceramic Monthly's "2010 Emerging Artists" issue as well as one for a studio fellowship at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, but more on those later if they're accepted (keep your fingers crossed).

Most exciting, however (and most recent seeing as I just got back to house from dropping off my work), is my participation in the Minneapolis Art Institute's "Foot in the Door 4," an exhibit offering any artist living in Minnesota the chance to display a single piece of work (no more than 1 foot in any direction) at a major art museum. MIA only offers this opportunity every ten years, so I'm psyched that it happens to coincide with the year I moved here (I didn't even mind the hour-and-a-half of standing in line to register my work as I got the chance to meet/speak with some lovely local artists who offered some great advice to the "Minneapolis newbie").

The show "officially" opens on the 19th, but there is a premier the evening before which I'll be going to/posting about (if I remember my camera, there may even be pictures). Here's the official link for the event:
http://www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=284

From what I saw at registration there is going to be a glorious conglomeration of work from across the state, so if you like art definitely try and make it here sometime between now and June when the show comes down.