Showing posts with label Jessie McNally. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jessie McNally. Show all posts

Saturday, November 1, 2014

AZ Gallery - Gallery Profile



Tell me about your gallery.
The AZ Gallery is located at 308 Prince Street on the first floor of the historic Northern Warehouse which was built in 1906.  It is next door to the Black Dog Wine Bar & Café and across the street from the St Paul Farmers Market.  It opened in 1997 as an artist cooperative and is owned and operated by 10 artist members. The gallery exhibitions change monthly and typically involve an exhibition organized by one of the members, in conjunction with one or more guest artists.  In April and October, the gallery is dedicated to exhibits for the St Paul Art Crawl and we have some regular shows from year to year including the 100 Best High School Artists Show sponsored by the St Paul Jaycees in March, the St Paul Almanac Book Release Show in September and the Lowertown Art Show in November. Our website, www.theazgallery.org contains information about applying for membership.  10 is our maximum number of artists who do 2D wall art but we might consider adding an artist who does 3D work.  Artists pay an annual fee, a 20% commission on work sold and agree to work 9-12 hours a month in the gallery.
 
The gallery also has a gift shop where members and guest artists sell locally made items such as notecards, calendars, pottery, jewelry, prints, umbrellas, soaps, purses, glass boxes & paperweights.  Artists are invited to apply to sell their items in the gift shop and at our December Holiday Bazaar.  There is a 40% commission for non-members.  We also have space outside the gallery that we rent for $20 a day or $30 a weekend (June-Sept) called the Summer Market where artists can sell their work in an art fair like setting with no commission to take advantage of the crowds at the nearby Farmers Market.  The gallery is also available for rental for weddings and private parties.
 
Our next show at AZ Gallery is called "50 Shades of Red 2" and is a follow-up to our popular "50 Shades of Red" show last February for Valentine's Day.  Members were allowed to invite 3 guest artists apiece and the idea is that all of the works of art on display would contain a shade of red as a predominant color in the piece. The show runs Feb 5 - Feb 22.  An opening night reception will be held Friday, February 6th from 5-9 pm as part of Lowertown First Fridays.
 
AZ Gallery is open Thursday and Friday nights from 5-8 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 3 pm.



Who are three or four local artists who represent the quality and style of work you exhibit at your gallery?
There are 10 member artists:
Jessie McNally - painter & mixed media assemblage - http://theazgallery.org/gallery-artists/jessie-mcnally/
Derek Davis - Plein aire painter - http://theazgallery.org/gallery-artists/derek%20davis/

Tell me about your gallery.
The AZ Gallery is located at 308 Prince Street on the first floor of the historic Northern Warehouse which was built in 1906.  It is next door to the Black Dog Wine Bar & Café and across the street from the St Paul Farmers Market.  It opened in 1997 as an artist cooperative and is owned and operated by 10 artist members. The gallery exhibitions change monthly and typically involve an exhibition organized by one of the members, in conjunction with one or more guest artists.  In April and October, the gallery is dedicated to exhibits for the St Paul Art Crawl and we have some regular shows from year to year including the 100 Best High School Artists Show sponsored by the St Paul Jaycees in March, the St Paul Almanac Book Release Show in September and the Lowertown Art Show in November. Our website, www.theazgallery.org contains information about applying for membership.  10 is our maximum number of artists who do 2D wall art but we might consider adding an artist who does 3D work.  Artists pay an annual fee, a 20% commission on work sold and agree to work 9-12 hours a month in the gallery.
 
The gallery also has a gift shop where members and guest artists sell locally made items such as notecards, calendars, pottery, jewelry, prints, umbrellas, soaps, purses, glass boxes & paperweights.  Artists are invited to apply to sell their items in the gift shop and at our December Holiday Bazaar.  There is a 40% commission for non-members.  We also have space outside the gallery that we rent for $20 a day or $30 a weekend (June-Sept) called the Summer Market where artists can sell their work in an art fair like setting with no commission to take advantage of the crowds at the nearby Farmers Market.  The gallery is also available for rental for weddings and private parties.
 
Our next show at AZ Gallery is called "50 Shades of Red 2" and is a follow-up to our popular "50 Shades of Red" show last February for Valentine's Day.  Members were allowed to invite 3 guest artists apiece and the idea is that all of the works of art on display would contain a shade of red as a predominant color in the piece. The show runs Feb 5 - Feb 22.  An opening night reception will be held Friday, February 6th from 5-9 pm as part of Lowertown First Fridays.
 
AZ Gallery is open Thursday and Friday nights from 5-8 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 3 pm.

Who are three or four local artists who represent the quality and style of work you exhibit at your gallery?

There are 10 member artists:

Jessie McNally - painter & mixed media assemblage - http://theazgallery.org/gallery-artists/jessie-mcnally/
Derek Davis - Plein aire painter - http://theazgallery.org/gallery-artists/derek%20davis/





For Artists:
How do you prefer artists contact you regarding exhibiting in your gallery?
We don't generally accept any outside requests for shows.  Artists can inquire about selling items in our gift shop or Holiday Bazaar, renting display space for the biannual Art Crawls or renting space at our outdoor Summer Market by emailing us at info@theazgallery.org


What general advice would you give to artists trying to show in local galleries?
Make friends with one of the established artists in the gallery and they can bring you in to an exhibit when guests are allowed.

For Collectors:
What is the typical price range for works for sale in your gallery?
Aside from the gift shop, prices for framed art range from $50 to $2000, with most in the range of $95 - $500.





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

You can get some wonderful pieces at very reasonable prices by buying and supporting local artists and since our gallery is run by the artists, you also get to meet them, get to know them and follow their careers.  It makes the experience much more personal.



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? 

To get the full Lowertown Art Experience when all the neighborhood galleries, studios and artist lofts are open, you would want to come during the St Paul Art Crawls, held twice a year the last weekend of April and the second weekend of October. www.artcrawl.org  

Another good time is the evening of the first Friday of every month when we are part of Lowertown First Fridays www.lowertownfirstfridays.org  

If you are in Lowertown at another time, we would recommend you visit Three Sisters Eclectic Arts, a gallery with over 90 artists just two blocks down 4th Street from AZ Gallery http://www.threesisterseclecticarts.com/




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Friday, April 13, 2012

Jessie McNally - Mixed Media


"Buddha Belly" Mixed Media
Jessie McNally

Name:Jessie McNally
City/State:St.Paul MN
Email: jessie_mcnally@hotmail.com
Website: www.jessiemcnally.com
MNartist.org profile:  http://www.mnartists.org/Jessie_McNally
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/jessiemcnallyisrad


Bio~ Jessie McNally is an Australian born Minnesota raised emerging artist who resides in Saint Paul. She works as a tattoo artist at Steady Tattoo in Minneapolis. Jessie is inspired by folk art, Mexican culture, Dias de los Muertes, religious icons and symbols, flora, fauna, alchemy and her work as a tattoo artist. Her artwork is a combination of painting, sculpting, assemblage and mixed media.

"Vivian" Mixed Media

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

At the moment, I use a lot of mixed media in my work. I shop at thrift stores weekly and pick up interesting things that I turn into "art" using glue, paint, hardware etc. Right now I am working on so many different pieces. Because I use random objects as starting points no two are alike. Right now I'm finishing a mannequin torso and it's arms. I'm constantly trying out new materials in my work. Using fabric as my under painting has proved a lot more challenging that I thought. It's made me slow down and I'm enjoying the process.

 For 18 months I lived in the Northern Warehouse Artist Co-op and that's when the sculptural aspect of my work really started. Previously, I had mostly painted before on canvas and old framed prints that I had found at thrift stores because of the restrictions on my work space. Having so much work space In the Northern Warehouse really allowed me to create on a larger scale. 

"Mater Dolorosa" Mixed Media

"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?

My hope is that my audience simply remembers my art. Whether or not people find it disturbing, beautiful, scary, fun etc I just hope it sticks in their head. I'm not sure if there is a statement other than "turning other peoples junk into awesomeness"! 

Really, it's just fun to me. When I make the things I do I get really excited, my heart skips a beat and I think YES! And sometimes even I think what I do is scary or disturbing but I still love it. And if I hit that cord with my audience then I'm happy. 

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

My mom gave me a card for my 18th that said "some people may say you are going the wrong way, when it is simply a way of your own."  This quote rings out in my head all the time. 

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I just moved into a house so my work space has changed quite a bit. I have a studio in my basement but now that it's warmer I'm in the process of taking over the garage. I like to have lots of room to work as I am a messy worker. When I go to thrift stores. I'm like a robot scanning the shelves, looking at the junk but not looking at it for what it is but what it could be. What could take on the shape of a wing, arm, head, eyeballs, or how cool would that Jesus statue look with a pretty skull face! Etc.Whenever I get new pieces that I'm excited about I clear a space on my workbench for them. And then I stare at them until something pops into my head.  I also have bins of junk that I surround myself with and I pick out pieces to see if they fit as if it were a puzzle. From there it is layers of paint and washes, bits and pieces, until an end result is achieved. 

Workspace (I wish it still looked this clean!)


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

To be honest, I don't know that many. I'm starting to pay attention more, really I am. But here's a few I've been watching as of late.

Curlytalefineart.com / Alex Kuno
"Oya" Mixed Media

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

I'm not very good at going to galleries and museums, I do love them when I go, I just don't do it often. But the places I have gone to in the last year or so to various shows have been, Cult Status Gallery, Rogue Buddha Gallery, MIA, Walker, The AZ Gallery, and Echo Arts. 


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?

www.google.com - for image searches when I have an idea but need references.
www.juxtapose.com  -  cuz it's inspiring.
www.artaustralia.com - to stay connected

"Medicine Man" Mixed Media



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

I will be at The AZ Gallery for St. Paul Art Crawl in 2 weeks (April 27-29, 2012) and I'm be showing at Northeast Tattoo for Art-A-Whirl in May (May 18-20). I'm also putting together a show with local tattoo artists for the first weekend in June. And then the second weekend of June I'm opening at Nevermind Gallery on W.7th with a couple friends and we are calling it 'A Crude Menagerie'. 

Jessie McNally

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Hannah Rogak - Installation-Sculpture


Hannah Rogak
Bio~

I am the Chicago-raised product of a quiet, yet emotionally strong, Chicago School of the Art Institute alumnus and a determined, entrepreneurial former firearms manufacturer. After years of feeling defeated by art-on-paper, I took three classes from now good friend Josh Almond (http://www.joshalmond.com/), who single-handedly revived my interest in creating art and enabled my 3-dimensional abilities to explode. About 60% of what I create is because of his guidance and pants-kicking those years ago (and inspiration from all his works since).

In 2009, I moved to Minneapolis by way of Orlando, FL (terrible place; don’t ask). I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in social psychology. In June, 2010, the Northern Warehouse Artists Cooperative, in their divine wisdom, accepted me into their venerable ranks. Last month I participated in the Saint Paul Art Crawl with my NWAC brethren. That about gets you caught up thus far.
~


I saw your exhibit, “Keepsakes: An Exhibition in Loneliness” at the 2010 Fall St. Paul Art Crawl. Art crawls can be an overwhelming experience with the dozens and dozens of artists showing in a small area. But when walking into your studio/living space, a wave of sadness came over me immediately upon entering your space. It was actually quite remarkable. Tell me about this project.

Physically, the show was an installation with soft music, low lighting, song quotes, prose, and poetry on the walls, and plaster partial body casts around the apartment. A pair of legs lounged in my hammock, hands washed dishes at my sink, a torso floated above the floor, changing a light bulb in the ceiling. All headless, colorless, and dissolving away into puddles of white. -

It began as a falling out with a very dear friend of mine in the spring. I had already been playing with a visual of anonymous body parts, perhaps turning my studio into a solid stream of the Underworld, with body parts reaching out from the floor. That started to strike me as too campy and less eerie, and I quickly imaged a normal apartment, not set up as a gallery, littered with bodies attempting to carry on even as they are dissolving.


As my head was full of sadness and regret at the loss of a friend, and the confusion of not knowing quite how or when it happened (how I let it happen), I couldn’t help but see those forms in my house as anything but shadows from my past. Reminding me of beautiful moments, tumultuous debates, desperate pleadings, and content early morning coexistences forever lost. ..

The lettering on the wall is actually a direct result of my particular process. Instead of sketching (I have never felt truly comfortable in 2 dimensions), I write my thought processes. Everything on the wall came out of my notebook, and most of it is more or less unedited from what came out as I tried to get a handle on the concept of my exhibit (I became more comfortable with the term exhibit instead of “show” or “gallery” because it seemed more fitting to a display of true-to-life forms and ideas than a presentation of art. It was more like a history museum than an art gallery, to me).


A visitor to the exhibit early on recommended I compile the writings into a booklet with pictures of the exhibit. That’s currently in the works and will be offered through my website, and most likely at the Spring 2011 Art Crawl.


How does this work differ from some of the other work you have done?

 Though it is one of my favorite media, I’ve not had the opportunity to do installation art in full before. That requires not only a lot of space to show your work, but a lot of access and control over the space well before the opening. Fortunately, the live-work spaces in my building allow for that. Working on such a large scale and having that level of control over presentation was immensely freeing and inspiring; I found much of the exhibit came together in the last month as I was planning the layout and not in the first several months of constructing the actual pieces.

The integration of anatomy, language, and psychology into this work is, however, a common thread through many of my previous pieces.



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

Josh is famous for saying “Keep working on it” whenever his students bring him new concepts for a project. He would never say yes to your initial idea, because he knew no matter how good it was, no matter how much of an inspiration of genius you thought you had, you could make it better- more thoughtful, more powerful, better crafted. Growing up, my mother did the same, tempered lifting praise with constructive pushing. There is nothing more necessary for a growing artist.

So best advice I’ve ever been given? Never settle on your first (or second or third…) idea.


Tell me about your working space and your creative process?

I am extremely fortunate to have a roughly 1500 sq ft cement-floored studio at the Northern Warehouse building. There I can use my power tools, make a mess with plaster, and move around large pieces of furniture and materials, all without damaging the floors!

As I mentioned before, I have to start any serious project by writing. I start with the concept and work from there. Whatever particular emotion or idea inspired me, the materials, scale, color, etc. that I choose stem from that original seed, and all of that is explored on paper, through the written word (I usually do not type in the early stages). I may sketch outlines, but more to get a sense of construction dimensions than to plan the actual look and texture of any piece. That will have been determined already.

Sometimes I will just start a piece in a material I like and see where it goes, without any plan, but that is more just to keep myself producing and thinking, and less a finished product. Some of the media I am particularly fond of exploring creatively are wood-carving, metal fabrication, found objects, fabric (I sew and crochet), and, of course, plaster Sometimes I will use these to decorate my house/body, to give to friends and family, or just to toss or reuse.

Actually, a lot of my artwork, serious or not, ends up in the trash. I know I probably shouldn’t say that. But it has nothing to do with how much I value my work. It’s a mix of a few factors, including not wanting to see the piece destroyed slowly and accidentally over time (intention is so much prettier in destruction), enjoying the emotional freedom of not being obsessed with my objects, all the way to just not having room for it all (a problem particularly thorny for 3D artists)."


Which Minnesota artists do you enjoy?

I’m actually really new to the visual art scene in Minnesota, since I’m a recent transplant here, so I will plead a bit of ignorance. However, I really have to give affection to fellow NWAC members Rhea Pappas, Matthew Rucker , Kara Hendershot, and Jessie McNally).

Musically, I would have to say local band Dark Dark Dark, and rap artists Atmosphere and P.O.S.. The Current saved my life when I moved here from Chicago.

If I were to follow you around on an “art day” in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?

It depends on what you’d want to see. If you want to see where I go to get inspiration, I would take you to the Walker, hiking in a state park, to Ground Zero’s Bondage-a-Go-Go, The Bad Waitress, or just walking through both downtowns. After that it would be Home Depot (the art store for sculptors) and Rockler.



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 have been a part of and have loved DeviantArt.com for almost a decade. They have international and local artists, everything from internationally-renowned to your 13-year-old cousin’s Manga tracings. They also have prints available for purchase of all calibers and contests, both of which directly benefit the artists on the site.

Aside from that, I rely on the Citypages.com and vita.mn, because they list smaller galleries and shows in unexpected venues, as well as neighborhood organizations like St Paul Art Crawl and NEMAA .

Hannah Rogak




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