Monica Reede - Mixed Media

Vertical Trees, 2012, 30” X 60”

Monica Reede

Name: Monica Reede
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: monica.reede@gmail.com
Website: monicareede.com
MNartist.org profile:http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=22386
Facebook page: Monica Reede Art


Bio~ 
Monica Reede is a mixed-media artist living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Historically her works have juxtaposed a variety of images - human artifacts, the human figure (or fragments of the figure) with various natural elements and beings. In her most recent pieces, Reede overlays wood panels with stained or etched Plexiglas creating a mysterious, even ghostly, interplay of images that illuminate intersecting realities. These works have pointed to the essential sensuality of the human body consciousness, the ever shifting relationship of form and void, and the transitory nature of the material world.  She is interested in the spiritual practices of Eastern mysticism and the theories and discoveries of contemporary science.  

Monica Reede has worked as a professional artist for 20 years. Her work as an artist has been recognized through grants and awards including three fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board.  She exhibits regionally and nationally and is represented in numerous corporate and private collections.        
       

Reflection #2, 2012, 30” X 30” 

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?  
I have always been interested in perception, or rather, how we perceive and categorize things and experiences; how we create a hicherarchy of those things and experiences in a way that inevitably ends up placing ourselves at the center of the universe, at least metaphorically speaking. However, my newest work represents something of a shift from that way of thinking.  These pieces delve into the act of perception itself, or to put it another way, what happens when light hits the anatomy of our eye.  There is a moment, an instant really, before we begin to interpret and categorize, where all that exists is the phenomena of light itself bouncing off of an object.  The photographer Uta Barth has described this as “a moment when everything else drops away and the experience of seeing, of sensing, becomes so overwhelming, so all-encompassing, that the very idea of interpretation does not, can not, exist.”  In this moment all possibilities exist, yet none are necessary.

These works are created using layers of oil stained Plexiglas on wood panels.  Soft focus creates a blurring of the distinction between figure and ground, while the layered construction of translucent material over a reflective surface plays with the notions of flatness and depth.  Light bounces around and inside each piece and back to the viewer creating different effects based on the angle from which it is viewed.  In this way the quality of the light from the surrounding environment participates in the composition of each work by altering the colors that are reflected and the shadows that are formed.  Finally, it is the viewer who completes the work through his or her own unique perception.

Reflection #2 detail

How did you decide to become an artist? 
Making art has always been a part of my life.  It was not so much a choice as it was a joyful engagement in the activity of making things.  As a child I spent much of my time drawing and when asked, I always told people that I wanted to be an artist.

As I grew up, I was discouraged from following art as a career path due to the lack of financial security.  So, when I entered college, I was working toward a degree in science.  At some point during my junior year I decided that I did not want to go through life never having even tried to live my dream. I switched my major to fine art and graduated with a BFA.  Those who warned me were right, there is little financial security in the life of an artist, but I have not regretted my decision.
  

Reflection #1, 2012, 30” X 30”

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 
The best advice I ever heard was to make work for all the people out there who are like you.  It doesn’t matter how many of them there are.  If you feel strongly about the work you are doing, there are others who will too.  

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?
I have been fortunate to have been represented by galleries for most of my career.  This has been my primary source of income from my art.  My main gallery in Minneapolis has been Circa Gallery (www.circagallery.org).  

To market my work, I use my website, www.monicareede.com, my facebook page, Monica Reede Art, and a well crafted email list.


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? 
There are many Minnesota artists that I admire, too many to list, but here are a few of my favorites:  
Carolyn Swiszcz, www.carolynswiszcz.com
Mary Bergs, www.marybergs.com
Michon Weeks, www.michonweeks.com
Elaine Rutherford, www.rutherfordelaine@wordpress.com
Barbara Kreft, www.mnoriginal.org/episode/311-iris...carter/barbara-kreft/
Ken Steinbach, www.kennethsteinbach.com
Harriet Bart, www.harrietbart.com

Tiny Mountain, 2012, 6” X 6”

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
Walker Art Center, www.walkerart.org
Franklin Art Works, www.franklinartworks.org
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, www.artsmia.org
Burnet Art Gallery, www.burnetgallery.com
Weinstein Gallery, www.weinstein-gallery.com
Bockley Gallery, www.bockleygallery.com
Circa Gallery, www.circagallery.org

Tiny Mountain Detail

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? 

For local events I usually rely on facebook and word of mouth. 
MNoriginal is also a good place to find Minnesota artists, www.mnoriginal.org/

There are a number of galleries around the country that I follow online through their websites.

I also read The New York Times arts page, http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/design/index.html
Art Daily News, www.artdaily.com/
Art Forum, www.ArtForum.com
Art Slant, http://www.artslant.com/
Visual Art Source, http://www.visualartsource.com/

Something Tender detail, 2010

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
Yes, I have an exhibition at the Bloomington Art Center entitled CONVERGENCES that opens on January 10th and runs through March 3rd, 2013.

BTAC

Ellen Richman - Painter

Orange Crush 

Ellen Richman

Circa Gallery Featured Artist

Ellen Richman

3/9/12 - 4/14/12
Circa Gallery LAI Profile

Name: Ellen Richman
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: richmanellen@hotmail.com
Website: www.ellenrichman.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?action=list&rid=4275
Facebook Page

Bio~ 

Ellen Richman, B.F.A University of Minnesota.  Ellen’s paintings have been exhibited, published and collected locally, nationally and internationally.  She exhibits frequently and teaches at Minnetonka Center for the Arts.  She is represented at CIRCA Gallery in Minneapolis and Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago.  

Ease in Light

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

My paintings are oil on canvas.  I paint in many thin layers and focus on formal aspects such as color, contrast and composition.  I believe that much of what is exciting in the work is looking at what the paint does when I express myself.  A rhythm and tempo develope and the painting builds up on the layers before it.  It is an exploration in abstraction, very much like life itself.  The result is rich and organic.  It interests me how this effects mood, emotion and the subconscious.   I have been influenced by many abstract painters such as Richard Diebenkorn, Edward Dugmore, Luc LeBon, Robert Motherwell and Joan Mitchel, to name a few.   What I am excited about in this new body of work is that it is very expressive, and compositionally strong. 

In past work I have taken the same formalism and produced highly geometric images.  I enjoyed how the eye moved around the canvas, but the organic expressive layering and emotional resonance is what is exciting me now.

"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?

In flux

What I love about abstraction is that it is universal, in that it is a unique experience for each person.   Everybody has his own mind and vision, and takes that to the work.  The paintings do not dictate but provide the viewer with a mood and emotion or elicit feelings and associations of something more personal for them.  I would hope that my audience would find beauty and enjoyment in the looking.




What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
To value my own work.

Pink Lucinda

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.


I have a home studio.  I like it very much because I don’t waste time getting myself together and driving across town.  I can wake up and start working right away or have breakfast looking at my work from the day before.  I spend a lot of time looking at the work deciding and thinking about what to do next in terms of color or how to get the eye to move around the canvas.  When I have decided on a “plan” it usually changes while I am working.  The actual painting has an improvisational manner, but I would say that the entire process is a “full brained” experience.  The left brain does the looking and calculating and the right brain reacts and creates new harmonies in the working.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

One of my favorite Minnesota abstract painters is Barbara Kreft www.circagallery.org.  Her work is highly detailed abstraction in oil.  James Wrayge also makes beautiful abstract work.  www.jameswrayge.com

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

I most always go to the openings at Circa Gallery www.circagallery.org and the Burnet Art Gallery at Chambers www.lemeridienchambers.com/art.  Other galleries I recommend are Highpoint Center for Printmaking www.highpointprintmaking.org/ Franklin Art Works www.franklinartworks.org and Weinstein Gallery www.weinstein-gallery.com/ In addition the Minnetonka Center for the Arts www.minnetonkaarts.org, the MIA www.artsmia.org/ the Walker Art Center www.walkerart.org and the Weisman Art Museum www.weisman.umn.edu/  

So Many Secrets

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?

If I find an artist I like I tend to look at the galleries that represent them.  That will lead me to another artist that I am not familiar with and so on.  For example, I really like Melinda Stickney-Gibson’s paintings.  She shows at Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago where I also am represented.  www.melindastickneygibson.com . I saw that she was at Littlejohn Contemporary, so I looked at their website to see which other artists were represented there.  www.littlejohncontemporary.com

Other galleries that I have found that I enjoy looking at are: AMERINGER-McENERY-YOHE www.amy-nyc.com, STEPHEN HALLER GALLERY www.stephenhallergallery.com, Elizabeth Harris Gallery www.elizabethharrisgallery.com (which I found because I saw Thornton Willis’s work in Art in America. www.thorntonwillis.com and Howard Scott Gallery which I was told about through CIRCA.  www.howardscottgallery.com.  But there are so many galleries.  I think my best advise is if you see an artist who’s work you like in a magazine or on line see where they are represented and start there.  

Do you have any exhibits to promote?

In the very near future I have a exhibition at CIRCA GALLERY where I will be showing my new paintings along with ceramic artist Maren  Kloppmann.  There will be an opening party on Friday March 9, 2012 from 5-8pm.  It is open to the public.  The exhibition runs through April 14th.  www.circagallery.org

Ellen Richman

Justin Terlecki - Painter/Printmaker

"Balcony" acrylic on canvas  27" x 31"

Justin Terlecki

Name: Justin Terlecki
City/State: St. Paul, MN
Email: justinterlecki@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.grovelandgallery.com/artistdetail.php?aID=TerJ
MNartist.org profile: http: // MNartists.org/Terlecki

Facebook page: http: //facebook.com/justin.terlecki

Bio~ 

I studied painting and printmaking at Youngstown State University, located in Northeast Ohio, and completed my BFA in 1997.  Since 1998, I have been living in the Twin Cities. 

My home and studio space is in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul.  I also work at Wet Paint art supply store on Grand Avenue.

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

I work mainly from personal experiences and memory. Using these experiences as inspiration, I create detailed narratives. I am intrigued by how our thought process and time alters our memories. During the past five years, travel has also played an important role in my work. In 2010, I created a series of prints, inspired by recent travels to India and Spain. This work was funded by the Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Printmakers through Highpoint Center for Printmaking.  In my paintings and prints, I strive to portray the subtle nuances of communication, human relationships, and connection. Currently, I am focused on childhood memories and the concept of loss. 

"Lake Erie" acrylic on canvas 33"x42"

"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?

Art is an expression of existence. What it delivers to the viewer is an opportunity to view their own world in a new, unique way. Art, whether it be film, dance, or visual, provides an escape from daily life. In my own work, I really enjoy individual interpretations. Personally, I don't feel it necessary for the viewer to understand my intentions for creating a specific piece.  My only goal is to create work that engages and connects with the viewer. I love the process of painting and creating and to share my energy with the viewer is very satisfying. 

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

I think the best advice is that you need to work hard. An art professor of mine once told me that if you work long enough, eventually people will pay attention. 

"Cathedral of Seville, Corpus Christi"  lithography & screenprint  28" x 33" 

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I live in an artists' cooperative in St. Paul. The benefit of this is that the spaces are large enough to have a painting studio. My painting studio is actually in my bedroom. My easel is always set up, as well as my paints and drawing supplies. Before I begin a piece, I usually do preliminary sketches to lay out the composition. I always have the idea first before starting a work, and never approach the canvas blindly. The excitement is the process and the problem solving along the way.  The goal is to unify the piece and there are always surprises and difficulties.  I think the challenges of creating, and the intense focus during the process is what keeps me going. 

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

Eleanor McGough http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=96594

Carolyn Swiszcz   http://www.carolynswiszcz.com/

Rod Massey  http://www.rodmassey.com/index.html

James Boyd Brent  http://www.jamesboydbrent.com/?page_id=22

Barbara Kreft   http://www.circagallery.org/html/kreft_barbara_1.html

Gregory Graham   http://gregorygrahamart.com/gregorygrahamart.com/Home.html

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

Highpoint Center for Printmaking  http://www.highpointprintmaking.org/home/

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts   http://www.artsmia.org/

Walker Art Center   http://www.walkerart.org/

Groveland Gallery   http://www.grovelandgallery.com/

The Museum of Russian Art  http://tmora.org/

"101810 Lake Erie" watercolor  18" x 24"

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?

Mnartists.org    http://www.mnartists.org/home.do

Local Artists Interviews   http://www.local-artist-interviews.com/

Art Hounds  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/art-hounds/

Art 21   http://www.pbs.org/art21/

Res Artis    http://www.resartis.org/en/

"Biking in the Rain, S.C." acrylic on canvas  32" x 34"

What can we expect to see from you in the future?
Currently, I am in a group show entitled "New Year, New Artists" at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. This show, featuring four new paintings, runs until February 25th, 2012.

Groveland Gallery

I am also working on book illustrations for "The Book of Bartholomew" by Mark Granlund and in March, I  will also be hosting a demonstration on creating Pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter Egg dyeing. This event is open to the public and will be held  at Wet Paint art supply store.  

Circa Gallery - Gallery Profile

Circa Gallery

210 N 1st St

Mpls, MN 55401

612-332-2386

www.circagallery.org

Tell me about your gallery.

Circa is a contemporary art gallery located in the Minneapolis Warehouse
district on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 1st Street.

Our mission is to provide awareness, discernment and appreciation of a vast
array of contemporary styles, media and expressions. We strive to assist our
patrons in acquiring art reflective of their own creative dimension.

We are committed to showing work by a select group of the most talented and
well-respected artists on the contemporary scene.

We typically present seven diverse exhibitions per year, opening new shows
approximately every six weeks. In addition to our exhibition schedule we
house a selection of works by our various artists that can be viewed
throughout the year. On request, we are always happy to take visitors
through the gallery¹s racks for a hands-on introduction.

Who are three or four local artists who represent the quality and style of

work you exhibit at your gallery?

Theresa Handy (www.circagallery.org/html/handy_theresa_1.html)
Ken Steinbach (www.circagallery.org/html/steinback_ken_1.html)
Monica Reede (www.circagallery.org/html/reede_monica_3.html)
Barbara Kreft (www.circagallery.org/html/kreft_barbara_1.html)

For Artists:
How do you prefer artists contact you regarding exhibiting in your gallery?

Please email a selection of images along with your artist statement and
contact info to staff@circagallery.com

What general advice would you give to artists trying to show in local
galleries?

Always check out a galleries stable of artists to make sure you are good
fit. Then, send several images or website information and a resume in
whatever form the gallery requires. Don¹t just stop in with work to show.
You need to make an appointment first. It is a big turn off for galleries
for artists to just pop in and ask for the director or staffer to take a
look at their work.

Also, put together a cohesive body of work to show your style. Let the

gallery know what you have done and where you are headed with your work.

For Collectors:
What is the typical price range for works for sale in your gallery?

We have a wide range in pricing. We have smaller works and works on paper
for around $1000 and it goes up to about $12,000 for larger works.

Our biggest selection is in the area of $4000.00


Do you have any advice for collectors looking locally to buy art?

Look around at several galleries and get a feel for what local artists you
like. Make sure the artist has a solid track record of showing work and that
the work is well made. A gallery director or staffer should be able to guide
you to top local artists who have a good reputation and are collected.

If by chance all of the local art galleries were having opening receptions
on the same night, where else would you recommend people go to maximize
their art experience?

Groveland Gallery is an excellent gallery with knowledgeable staff.

Chambers Gallery is a good place to check out as well.

What is your current exhibit?

We are currently showing a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Theresa
Handy at our gallery. Fall 2011.

Theresa is a local artist who graduated from the University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee in 1995. She has been a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts
Board Fellowship, the Jerome Fellowship and a semi finalist on numerous
occasions for the McKnight Fellowship. HANDY has been featured in many
publications, her work resides in corporate and private collections, and she
has an extensive exhibition record.

Her paintings are abstractions, sufficiently referential so that it is
commonplace to see them as suffused with a special light, dense with
allusions to sky, water, sun, bleached architecture, sharp shadows and
angular illuminations, often haunted by human presences. The discrete images
collectively exist as a memorial reflecting Handy's recollection and
experience with the environment, and a testimonial to her experience on
Earth and her struggle to reconcile and find balance with the world around
her.

Theresa Handy Exhibit Details: 10/28/11 - 12/3/11 Reception 5-8, Friday 10/28

UPDATE:   September - October 2013 Kenneth Steinbach - Drawing and Sculpture - Interview