Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Erin Sayer

erin@erinsayer.com
Instagram: @esayer
Twitter: @MPLScultstatus

ERIN SAYER is an all-around creative. From running galleries to traveling the country painting murals, she is constantly engaged in artistic endeavors. Her latest projects include operating Cult Status Gallery, completing several local and national mural projects, painting theatre backdrops, and working on paintings based on Tom Robbins novels. Later this year, she is beginning a series of oil paintings based on the book ‘American Gods’ by author Neil Gaiman. She is a freelance curator, having curated over 100 art shows and events over the years. Sayer has owned three galleries since 1998, painted over 50 murals locally and around the US, and her paintings inhabit dozens of private and corporate collections. This spring she is a featured artist at Sasquatch! Music Festival, and will be painting murals in Seattle and at Les Schwab Amphitheatre in Bend, OR.  She is available on commission and is always up for a new travel adventure.


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

Lately I’ve been working seasonally on outdoor murals when it’s warm, and oil paintings when it’s cold.  The past 4 years, I leave to paint murals in other parts of the country for 1-2 months.  It’s imperative to get out of town!  I had a solo show in Seattle last summer.  I’ve been working on a series of paintings based on Tom Robbins novels for around a decade (not continuously, of course).  They take a million hours each.  I like having the balance of working on giant spray paint murals that take a week, and little oil paintings that take months.  

My new work is different in many ways than pre 2010.  After spending a winter in San Francisco in 2012, I became enamoured with Chinese Brush Painting and am more focused on nailing brush strokes, color, and odd composition.  I have moved on from blatant pop art and iconography, and have discontinued using a projector/stencils.  Now everything is freehand with the occasional stencil for murals.  


How did you decide to become an artist?

I have basically always considered myself an artist.  But to really become an artist, one must work tirelessly for years and years, which is what I did.  I’m proud to say, excluding waitressing for 7 years while in school, all of my jobs have been in art in some way, be it working at Dick Blick, painting for the theatre/production companies, running galleries, teaching HS art.  It was all related and enabled me to gain vast amounts of knowledge over the years.  I’ve been a full-time artist/gallery person for 10 years now.

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

Never give up.  There are so many times when I think, after I don’t sell anything at a show, or don’t have solid jobs lined up months in advance, that I should just get a ‘real’ job.  But inevitably, something comes up to keep me going.  The times when I’m scraping by are great motivation for expanding work, or actively seeking commissions and opportunities.  If I had quit at any point, I’d be justly unhappy, though maybe more secure.




Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?

Yes that is a tough one.  I rely on large commissions, less on selling paintings.  But I have found that the more of myself I put into my paintings, the better they sell.  They have to be from the heart, people can see through art making as a commodity very easily, even if they don’t know much about art.  I see a lot of artists going for quantity, and selling for too cheap.  There has to be time, care, good presentation, and high quality for people to value your work as much as you do.  This involves pretty much every waking hour, backbreaking work, obsessive work, in order to achieve not only sales, but higher price point sales.  

The only marketing I do is throw up images on Instagram and Facebook, have a yearly/bi-yearly solo show if possible, and I make strong networking connections with other artists from around the country.  I believe artists should work together for a common cause: more art appreciation!



Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

I hate this question because I have so many.  It is really hard to choose.  But lately, I’ve been really into artists who work their ever-loving a$$es off, who are constantly at it, doing new and interesting things.  Here are a few I really love seeing new work from on an almost daily basis:

Adam Swanson (from Duluth)
And everything Joan Vorderbruggen does.


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

I’d take you on a mural tour, first and foremost.  I love all the new public art that’s been happening the last few years.  We’d stop on by at Gamut Gallery to say hi to all the awesome people there, to Public Functionary (because I haven’t been there yet...I know, so lame, but I’m a hermit).  Yuya’s place (there are always about 5 creative types hanging out there, including all of his work), and then I’d take you to paint a dumpster in an alley in Uptown.


In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, 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?

Pretty much Instagram and Facebook

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
Yes!
in Minneapolis MN.  (1006 Marquette Ave A, Mpls, Mn 55403 from 4/4/15 - 5/7/15.  



Monday, March 2, 2015

Kit Leffler - Printmaking - Drawing



Name: Kit Leffler
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: kitleffler.photo at gmail.com
Website: www.kitleffler.com

Bio~ 

Kit Leffler is a Minneapolis based artist. Leffler’s work often considers authenticity, binary thought, the absorption of truth, and the nuance of self. Taking inspiration from her occupation in a ​science laboratory at the University of Minnesota, Leffler’s work often implements the scientific method, anatomical imagery, and biological narratives. Leffler received her MFA in Printmaking from Edinburgh College of Art (2011) and a BFA in Expanded Media Arts from the University of Kansas (2007).


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

I am currently working a series of drawings that consider “self” through playful illustrations of personal iconography. I have recently read Stiff by Mary Roach, and was terribly inspired by the myriad ways in which our ‘selves’ [bodies] are implemented after death. By considering death & the human figure in this way, it was natural to then consider self in a living creature through a similar more analytical process.

In addition to this inspiration, I have recently undergone foot surgery and have been brought to consider my physical self in a new way: albeit temporarily. To summarize, the body and the nuance of human nature are on my mind; the result is a much more personal body of work than I have previously endeavoured.
In the past, I have worked primarily within the media of printmaking. Duration and process - integral elements of the printmaking - allow for alteration, growth, and evolution of imagery as the work is completed. These new drawings feel much more vulnerable: the imagery comes straight out… there’s me, and there’s a great expanse of white paper, and there’s no fixing errors… you have to live with what you get.

How did you decide to become an artist?
I have been enamoured with visuals for as long as I can remember. I grew up taking photos on my mom’s Minolta camera, and I have pretty spectacular vision – 15/20 -which I tend to brag about on occasion. My teenage self was drawn to biology and journalism: drawing anatomy, photographing sports, dissecting various mammals in anatomy class, capturing people in motion…I wasn’t really sure where to put all of these interests, occupationally. When I was just 17, I began working as a freelance photojournalist for the Kansas City Star. I had the idea that I could be a National Geographic Photographer. This seemed like a good fit for a while, but I ultimately wanted more freedom in the visuals I created and was inspired by. Subsequently I switched my major to Expanded Media in undergrad… this was the least genre-specifc of the visual arts majors. At that point the idea of being an “artist” stuck, though I don’t know if I really self-identified as an artist until later in my career.



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

My sister once told me to live so that you don’t have regrets. There have been countless times in which an opportunity I didn’t think I was even at all qualified for has opened up because I threw my hat in the ring. It’s something like this – if you don’t do such and such thing, will you regret it? I implement this way of thought in all aspects of my life, but it has most informed my continuous interest and tenacity in being an artist.


Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?

In the past I have freelanced, sold artwork on Etsy, exhibited in unconventional venues, and marketed my work on my website. At this point in my career, I am most interested in expressing myself, and creating work that I want to make. It is more important to me to have a conversation at an opening, or via email, etc. about my work than to sell the work. Of course, it is nice when someone wants to buy something! However, my gratification in the work comes not by sales but by cerebral interactions. I’ve been lucky to find a job which I enjoy and which I don’t take home with me emotionally.



Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?




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

I would probably take a visitor to a variety of art galleries and also to LegUp studio in the Casket arts building to see art in the Twin Cities. I’d also take someone to a performance at the Bedlam, Hearth of the Beast, or Open Eye Figure Theater… I’ve worked within the world of puppetry in Minneapolis and I think this is a very important element of our city’s culture.

House of Balls http://houseofballs.com/
Public Functionary http://publicfunctionary.org/
David Petersen Gallery http://davidpetersengallery.com/
Open Eye Figure Theater http://www.openeyetheatre.org/



In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, 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? 

Springboard for the arts http://springboardforthearts.org/


Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
Yes, I’m showing my newest group of work at the Southern Gallery & Lobby from March 14- May 1st, 2015.
ˈēɡō - ​New Work by Kit Leffler
Altered Esthetics is pleased to present a group of new drawings from Minneapolis-based artist Kit Leffler. Taking inspiration from her occupation in a science laboratory at the University of Minnesota, Leffler asks the viewer to consider “self” through playful illustrations of personal iconography.​ Themes in the work are inspired by the writings of Mary Roach, the illustrations of Andreas Vesalius, and Leffler’s own experience with anxiety disorder. Through this visual analysis Leffler creates a world in which the nuance and indefinable essence of self can be analyzed candidly and with oblique humor.
The exhibition opening is from 5:30 -7 PM on Saturday March 14. 
1420 S Washington Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55454

Kit Leffler

Image List:
1. The Tongue of the Soul, 18x24”, Feb. 2015

2. Procession with Worldly Belongings, 22x30”, Jan. 2015

3. Agro Agoraphobia: I Don’t Do Crowds, 22x30”, Feb. 2015


4. Image of Artist – Kit Leffler