Monday, January 30, 2012

What do Muralists do in the Winter?



Rogue Citizen mural at Shuga Records, Mpls, MN

Local Artist Interviews asks Rogue Citizen, Ethan Heidlebaugh, and Erin Sayer, "What do muralists do in the winter?"

The collective, Rogue Citizen, said, "Muralists in the north can't just be doing murals. For those five months or so we can't get much paint on walls, we work as studio artists, screen printers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, promoters, etc. And while we hibernate with whiskey, death metal and Star Trek like everybody else (right?), some of us figure out what's going on walls when it gets warm again."

Rogue Citizen at 99% Rally in Washington D.C.
(Video)

Rogue Citizen Mural at Republic, Mpls, MN
(now painted over)

Ethan Heidlebaugh adds, "I could say “Murals” because I actually did one mural during the winter. It was above freezing still out most of those days but still difficult to be out there for very long. The paint would inevitably get on my gloved fingers and make them harder to move. It was real hard to care about the muraled image like I do in those long summer days I sort of rushed on that project. The days were much shorter anyway. Summer days were 6 to 8 hours for a week or two while winter days were 2 or 3 hours for 3 days.

628 Central Ave NE , Mpls, MN 55414 -  Ethan Heidlebaugh

When it is too cold to paint outside I paint inside. I also paint inside after painting outside because it also gets dark. I have been creating a series of fifteen drawings with Pen, Ink and Watercolor on 30x22 inch paper to get ready for my show at the Gallery 13, 811 LaSalle Ave, Minneapolis MN. This has been a challenge for me because it is a larger format of drawing than I am used to and fifteen is a lot of them to do.

Ruff Love Dogs mural - Ethan Heidlebaugh
1528 Marshall St NE, Mpls, MN 55414




 Erin Sayer, Herkimer Mural, Mpls, MN

Erin Sayer, muralist, and owner of the Cult Status Gallery in Minneapolis, MN says, "Well, every year I paint sets in November, December, March and April for various theatres, and I also descend into a SAD induced tunnel of doom, and I gain 20lbs. This year, after painting 5 murals all summer, I decided to try my hand in a different climate. San Francisco offers lots of sunny warm days that are very conducive to painting in January. So hopefully someone will allow me to grace their walls with something spectacular. Though I am competing for wall space with the likes of HUSH ...so it's a bit daunting and humbling. 

Another activity we tend to do is find indoor places to paint. This summer, a bunch of us collaborated on the Tractor Building stairwell (Mural slide show). Winter is also a good time for incubating ideas and creating new smaller pieces on (metal for me) canvas. I also go through a bunch of sites that list grant opportunities, and research residencies, work on my ever evolving CV, do my taxes, update my websites and blogs, and of course grow the gallery. I try to schedule shows in the winter as much as possible just to have some definitive deadlines, and to make me work in the studio so I don't kill myself (which the winter makes me want to do!)

Erin Sayer, Mural at Sophie Joe's, Mpls, MN

Stay up-to-date on Sayer's off-season activities through her blog, 60 Days in San Francisco, and through the Cult Status Gallery website.  Read her interview with Local Artist Interviews.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Maria Korol - Painter

Maria Korol


Altered Esthetics Featured Artist
for
February 3, 2012 through the ends of the month
Opening Reception
Friday, February 3, 2012, 7pm-10pm
Artists' Discussion
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 1pm-3pm

Name: María Korol
City/State: Saint Paul, Minnesota
Email: mariakorol@gmail.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/Maria_Korol

Bio~
María Korol is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she worked as a modern dancer until 2004, when she moved to the United States. She gave up her dancing career as she realized the right artistic discipline for her was in the visual arts. In 2009, she graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in Studio Art, focusing on drawing and painting. She has been working from her studio in Long Beach, California, and now in Saint Paul, Minnesota on a series of figurative paintings of women writers and intellectuals as well as a new project about trauma, fragmentation, and childhood memories. She has exhibited her work throughout Southern California and most recently at Altered Esthetics gallery in Minneapolis.


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

My latest work, Fragmented Self, is a series of self-portraits based on my childhood. I grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina in a leftist family during the right-wing dictatorship and experienced the restoration to democracy. I am interested in working with the themes of familial miscommunication, estrangement, confusion, and trauma. The source for these paintings is photo-collages I create out of my childhood snapshots. I try many different compositions until I find a combination of images that seems both visually attractive and with narrative implications that fit my story. I often write a poem or short prose piece related to the final image. The conceit in Fragmented Self is the broken-up surface space where the setting is recognizable yet nonsensical, and the figures clash and collapse, acting their parts, suggesting a general mood of angst.

Previously, I was fully focused on straight portraiture. I think my new work is a logical evolution from that to a more complicated and layered representation of ‘self,’ and the ways to capture it visually.

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?

I think art is anything a person makes or does intended to provoke thought or feelings (or both at its best) that are not mainstream, commonplace, or ordinary. What I mean by this is that art should induce people to think and feel in a way they usually don’t when they are at work, watching TV, or shopping. It should be arresting. It should expand one’s perceptions making life more complex and interesting than before. I think there is no limit as to how the artist may seize the viewer’s imagination.



What was the best advice given to you as an artist?

Two pieces of advice keep coming back to me when I’m working. One is that I should not be afraid of trying on paper or canvas any idea that comes into my mind. Even if something tells me the idea is stupid, the best way to know if it works or not is to try and follow it. If you trust the process, it will take you to new ideas even if the original one was not sound.

The other piece of advice comes from a modern dance teacher I had years ago back in Argentina when I was a dancer. I think it applies to visual arts beautifully. She told me that I should make my movements as big as I could even if they seemed clumsy in the beginning. She said it is always easier to carve into form something that is too big than enlarge something that is too small.




Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I work in a pretty big room in my home. It has four windows, two of which face south so I get a lot of sunlight in the afternoon. The other two face west so I can see the sunset. It’s the warmest room in the house. I use this room for art-making, reading, sewing, exercising—pretty much everything I do takes place in this room.

I brood a lot when I start working with a certain concept. I am not exactly impulsive in the way I approach my work, but I do follow my instincts. When I’m engaged with a topic, I brood in the shower, working out, eating. I guess it’s like daydreaming. I try my ideas on paper by writing them, and making small drawings and paintings but of course there is much frustration and failing before I start to feel satisfied, if ever, with the way the ideas end up looking visually. I tend to work on a series once I find an effective way of treating the topic I’ve been brooding about.


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?


Samantha Frenchhttp://mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=65751

Ken Johnsonhttp://mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=203768

Hui Zhanghttp://mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=38421


If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?

I love the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I’m looking forward to the Rembrandt in America exhibition that’s coming to the MIA in June. I also love the Walker Museum, and the galleries in North East Minneapolis.

http://www.artsmia.org/

http://www.walkerart.org/


Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

http://mnartists.org/
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/



Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?

I am the featured artist for the Crossing Borders exhibition at Altered Esthetics gallery in Minneapolis. The opening for this exhibition is on Friday February 3, 2012. (Event Info)

I will also participate in the exhibition Belles Lettres in March at the same gallery.
http://www.alteredesthetics.com/

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mark Ostapchuk - Painter

Markers
Mark Ostapchuk


Name: Mark Ostapchuk
City/State: Minneapolis/MN
Email: ostap001@umn.edu
Website: www.markostapchuk.com
MNartist.org profile: Mark Ostapchuk
Facebook page: Mark Ostapchuk


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

I make paintings and drawings. A variety of artists, along with visual and other personal precedents affect the choices and decisions that drive my pictures. Stepping around visual influences, I like how jazz singers play with and interpret very specific lyrics.

Typically, I go through lots of changes and revisions in trying to figure out how to make sense of and resolve pictures.

Currently, I am working on a painting series for a Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Getting work together for this show is different from my previous work in that I am working on a bunch of very new pieces and a deadline. I don’t have time to fret and procrastinate.

Cherubim

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?

I hope that my pictures say enough that people will pause, look and think about them. In a world where we are bombarded by all kinds of visual things, I try to argue that paintings can still speak to us.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?


Seek out all sorts of advice and criticism about your work. However, it is OK to pay particular attention to inputs that affirm what you want to do.

Also, cultivate intense friendships with other artists.

September Dormitions


Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I have a small studio in the old General Mills research facility at 2010 East Hennepin building complex. (It’s the home of Cheerios, Wheaties and Betty Crocker Kitchens.) I come into the studio every day, even if only to sit down and look. I try to have a variety of differing pieces in more than one media going at the same time. I work on very old, newer and newly primed surfaces simultaneously.


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

I enjoy lots and lots of Minnesota artists. I also have friends that do amazing work.
Getting more specific, a few locals that stand out for me include:
1. Tom Cowette Tom is an incredible artist.
2. Mary Abbott  Mary Abbott lived here part-time for a few years the late 70’s. I know my considering her a Minnesota artist is a stretch, but her white painting up at the Weisman is one of my favorites.
3. Malcolm Myers Malcolm’s prints and paintings are exquisitely resolved and know how to charm your socks off.
4. Todd Norsten
I especially like Todd Norsten’s installation/mural at the Bachelor Farmer’s upstairs bar.

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see? 

Museums I visit include the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Weisman Museum and Minnesota Museum of Art’s current traveling shows.

For the shear variety of work, I like Gallery 13.

Implant

Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

I generally google an artist or show, then surf the web chaotically.

Some web sites I visit fairly regularly include:
1. Anaba Social Sculpture: http://anaba.blogspot.com/
I like this site for new art and young artists. On occasion Anaba provides intelligent rants and gripes.
2. Two Coats of Paint: http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/
Two Coats is good for general art news/info.
3. Joanne Mattera’s Marketing Mondays: http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/
Joanne Mattera provides smart common sense business advice for artists.
4. Edward Winkleman’s blog: http://www.edwardwinkleman.com/
I visit Edward Winkleman’s blog site for a gallery owner’s take on art, artists and the N.Y. art world.
5. Bad at Sports http://badatsports.com/ This is a Chicago based site I like for general art info.


Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
I have a show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art’sM.A.E.P Gallery opening January 19 and runs through 4/21/2012.

Tyler Pentecost

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Jacqueline Athmann - Painter


Spirit Pond (IMG_5418) 16x20 Acrylic on canvas
Jacqueline Athmann

Name:  Jacqueline Athmann
City/State: Plymouth, MN
Email: Jacqueline.athmann@gmail.com
Website: http://www.jacquelineathmann.com/
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=72305

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
 After not being able to finish art school I focused my energy on my corporate career and nearly forgot that I was an artist.  Doodling in meetings and succumbing to stress of the workplace and a not so great personal life,  I became ill and decided to use art as part of my therapy.  I have been painting ever since.   Painting after work, on the weekend or whenever I can, life has never been better!

It took a while after not painting for nearly 20 years to get back into the swing of things but after a year of struggling to find myself, I did it. I'm inspired by bold colors, street art and graffiti and once I worked to incorporate this inspiration into my most recent series of paintings.  My work went from, "I'm not sure who I am as an artist.... What's my style" to  "THIS is it!! HERE I AM!"

Circles   (IMG_7508) 24x24 Acrylic on canvas

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?
 I want my art to make viewers “oohhh and ahhhh” with joy!  I want people to feel refreshed and happy after viewing my work.  So many people are afraid to put color in their life and it’s possible that is what I was put on this earth to do; introduce people to brilliant color.  I love watching people smile while they look at my work and they don't even realize it's happening.

Birch #9 (IMG_8737) 9x12 Acrylic on canvas board

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 
My high school art teacher Ms. Quello consistently demanded that I sit down, stop talking and finish my work.  Well, after 20+ years of focusing my attention on a career in Corporate America, I decided to take Ms. Quello’s advice and started finishing work I started in high school.  I have been focusing on my artwork ever since and it has been paying off.



Tell me about your work space and your creative process.
 When working in my studio, I use the floor, easel, tables and anything else I can use to prop up my pieces while they drip and dry.  I  use a lot of plastic to protect the walls, ceilings and floors and have made a small investment in the stock of plastic so I never run out. 

I’m able to create work in small scale without much need of a studio, however my larger pieces demand texture and I’m more than happy to oblige.  I throw the paint liberally and lose myself in the process.  Once I’m done, I step back for a break and allow the piece to dry for the next layer of paint. 

I typically have close to 5-6 paintings in progress at any given time.  I layer the paint over and over to create a texture worthy of touch…  It’s not until I have that gut feeling that I stop and look within the paint to see the portrait it has within it. Once I see it, I use only my fingers to paint the final portrait.

Push Me Daddy - 24x48 Mixed Media on canvas

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? (Provide links) 

http://www.alisonpricestudios.com       Alison Price
http://judywestergard.com                      Judy Westergard
http://patrickpryor.com/home.html      Patrick Kemal Pryor
http://www.habibiart.com/index.html    Christina Habibi


If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?


The links above are to a few places I must visit on a regular basis.  I also like to visit or participate in all of the local art fairs throughout the year.



Sitting A Spell - 24x48 Mixed Media on canvas


Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

Fine Art America http://fineartamerica.com

What can we expect to see from you in the future? 
I will be participating and more art fairs around the state and I’m hoping to start a series of smaller pieces so they are more affordable at the local fairs.  What good is art if no one can afford to purchase it?


Jacqueline Athmann

Saturday, January 7, 2012

John Schuerman - Drawing / Painting / Collage

Transmission, epoxy and oils, 21x18
John Schuerman

Name: John Schuerman
City/State: Minneapolis MN
Email: john@schuermanconsults.com
Website: www.schuermanfineart.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/John_Schuerman 

M(1/13)


Bio~ 
John Schuerman is a self-taught artist and independent curator. His deep interests in nature and human nature are visible in both his artwork and his curatorial work, which has involved group exhibitions focused on sociological themes. His aesthetic style and social consciousness formed as he grew up on a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin, coming of age during the cultural revolution of the late 60s and early 70s. www.schuermanfineart.com

The Shouter, epoxy and oils, 13x16

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

I am actively producing thematic group art exhibitions and my own artwork.  My curatorial work is aimed at socially relevant topics where contemporary artists can further the dialogue and understanding. In January 2012, Lace and Gunpowder, the Male/Female show will be hosted by the Bloomington Center for the Arts. This exhibition then moves to St. Catherine’s university for another showing, but with all new artwork. The show gives people a chance to explore the differences in male and female perspectives via art –to whatever degree they exist or are masked.  In June I’m curator for The Money Show at the Banfill Locke Center for the Arts.  Anyone that ever thinks about money should go see it!  I have more curatorial work on the horizon as well.

My current artwork continues to be about nature –natural forces, patterns etc.  but from my human, conceptual perspective.   Human ideas and constructs meet up with the universal power of nature in my drawings, paintings and collages.

Marilyn’s last vision, epoxy and oils, 17x19

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?

I suppose I am trying to ‘say’ something, but it feels more like reckoning. What does it mean to be human in this vast universe? Where do our ideas fit in the natural world?

There is a prevailing belief that human expressions preside over the natural order. While much of contemporary art exalts that which is uniquely human, I have no interest to separate myself, nor my art, from nature. My current subjects are the powers of nature and human consciousness. Sometimes I feel safer with the forces of nature (as raw and destructive as they can be) than I do with those of human endeavor, but it is the tension between the two that I find compelling and which I try to explore in my art work.  


What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 
I can’t think of anything big.  The best ‘advice’ for me has come in the form of support –a simple love or enjoyment of the work.  If you want to help an artist, love their work.  


Soul’s Divide, epoxy and oils, 32x40

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

My work space is very rough and chaotic –an old horse barn in south Minneapolis converted to a workshop maybe 75 years ago.  It became an artist studio in 1998 when we bought the property and restored it, with heat for year-round working.

My creative process is pretty disciplined. I work almost every day of the year. I get up between 5:00 and 6:00 am most every day and head out there for 2 – 3 hours before getting into other work. If I can, I steal a bit more time later in the day.  I also walk around and study nature whenever I can and look for clues or patterns that I might work with. I also think about things that are distinctly human –then I mix the two together, and that is where my art ideas come from.


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?
 Wow, there are so many.

Mike Kareken www.michaelkareken.com
Karen Searle www.karensearle.com
Tina Blondell www.tinablondell.com
Dan Kaneiss www.madebyhuman.com
Lynn Speaker www.lynnspeaker.com

And many, many more.

Two, epoxy and oils, 10x32

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?


And lots of artist studios.


Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

I use  www.mnartists.org to some degree, but typically I hear about things from other artists and then simply google that.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

John with son in studio

Upcoming Shows: (2012)
Bloomington Art Center,  Lace and Gunpowder, Jan 13 to Feb 17
Reception: Friday 1/13 from 6-8pm

The Plains Art Museum, Art on the Plains, January 28 to May 20
801 Lofts Show, Feb 18 through May
The Money Show, Banfill Locke Center for the Arts, June 22 to Aug 4
Nature In Mind, The Phipps Center for the Arts, 9/14 to Oct 14
St. Catherine’s University, Lace and Gunpowder, Nov/Dec 2012


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Daniel Buettner - Painter


 Red Drum
Daniel Buettner

Name: Daniel Buettner
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: dbuet2@hotmail.com
Website:  www.danielbuettnerart.com
MNartist.org profile:  http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=13615


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

The works I’m doing right now are photorealism (virtual) collages. I’m playing with the idea that a work of art can, and might not be a collage at the same time, depending on the viewer’s perception of the work, and how it fits into his/her understanding of what separates a painting from a collage. This idea is a progression from the kind of work I’ve been making over the past 5 years-paintings that look like collages, but are not.

Green Can

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?

What motivated me to make paintings like these is my love for the thing. A basic quality of being human is to feel desire for things-objects. My paintings are testaments to that part of being human we all feel. The paintings have objects in them; regular everyday things, but I try to make them appear in a situation that heightens their importance and beauty. I want views of my work to not only enjoy the way I painted the objects, but also the context I painted them in.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?

I’d like to say the best advice given to me was to study marketing instead of art, but that particular piece of advice was never given to me. What has been most important to me was a conversation I had many years ago with a friend of mine, who is a writer. We were talking about the creative similarities between painting and writing. He made the point that no matter what creative ventures you undertake, the most important thing is to finish your work. Good or bad. Most people try and fail because they never finish anything. Just finish work, and you will be leagues above most other people doing similar endeavors.

White Milk

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I work in a dimly lit room in the basement of my house. I’ve tried to add adequate lighting, but it’s still pretty dark down there. I’ve just gotten used to it. I’ve always worked out of my home, and I always will, by choice. Right now I have two young boys, ages 3 and 6. I can’t see myself ever leaving them to go somewhere else to paint. I have a table and supplies set up for them in the same room I’m in. We work together. I want my kids to know and understand the creative process, and have memories of working along with me. Sometimes they do, other times they play in the basement while I’m working. Either way, with young kids I can’t really work for long periods of time. Most of the time spent in my studio involves searching magazines for images, cutting out images, painting large backgrounds/small details, and making sure my kids don’t destroy paintings I’ve already made.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

Too many to name here! Everyone involved in Rosalux Gallery http://rosaluxgallery.com I admire and respect. We have some very talented and prolific artists, and I’m honored to have been in the collective for almost nine years.
Someone Was Trying To Reach You

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see? 

Definitely the new Rosalux space in the Van Buren building http://vanburenbuilding.com and the local big art establishments, like the MIA, Walker, and Weisman.

Little Chick

Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

This is going to sound bad, but I don’t seek to view art online very often. I prefer seeing it in books and in person as much as possible. I find most gallery and museum sites stifling to navigate. I don’t enjoy viewing art that way.

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?

I have an exhibition at Rosalux Gallery that runs January 2nd-29th, 2012 titled Fruit Phonics.
Reception: January 7, 2012   7-11pm

Daniel Buettner