David Hamlow - Installation

You Complete Me: Installation View, 

HFA Gallery, UMM Morris. 2012

David Hamlow

Name: David Hamlow
City/State: Good Thunder Minnesota
Email: hamlow.david@gmail.com
Website: davidhamlow.com
MNartist.org profile
Facebook page
Twitter: @davidhamlow

Bio~ 

David Hamlow holds a BA in studio art from Gustavus Adolphus College and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Minnesota. He has received two Minnesota State Arts Board Grants and shows work regionally, nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include Cashing Out at the Kala Institute, Berkley CA, Hedge Magic at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis, and You Complete Me with Liz Miller at the HFA Gallery, University of Minnesota, Morris. 

Unconscious Reliquary 3. 

Conserved cardboard, plastic and detritus. 2012.

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

I just finished installing a two-person show at the University of Minnesota Morris with my wife, installation artist Liz Miller. We share a studio, and for this show we exchanged scraps from each other’s works and used them as a point of departure for new pieces. I often work with conserved packaging from my own purchases,transforming it into modular geometric sculptures. 

These new pieces were influenced by Liz’s shapes--which are based in pattern and symmetry--so they ended up being much more ornate than my past work. They were also heavily influenced by Christian reliquaries I encountered on our recent trip to Italy so although these pieces are very three dimensional and sculptural, they are wall based—almost like shadow boxes.

How did you decide to become an artist?

I couldn’t do anything else! When I was young I considered being a lawyer and an actor, but at some point I realized I was more interested in tweed jackets and horn-rimmed glasses than I was in research and argument, in other words I wanted to be an actor playing a lawyer. I was in theater at Gustavus Adolphus with Peter Krause (of 6 Feet Under) and Steve Zahn (of Treme) so I am grateful to their work for providing me the perspective that I wasn’t really committed to acting.  Visual Art is something I always remembered doing and being interested in. It is the only thing I received affirmation for that, even when I was not affirmed, I was still driven to do.

Unconscious Reliquary 4. 

Conserved cardboard, plastic and detritus. 2012.

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

Apply for everything. This is really a field where you need to create your own opportunities by making yourself available for anything that might get offered: shows, funding, jobs, collaborations. I try to have at least five things out in the mail at any given time, so that when one rejection comes in I just focus my attention of the next thing. Some might argue that this is not really about the work (some might even call it selling out) but the other advice I find key is: stay interested in your own work! If you are not personally engaged in and intensely curious about what you are making you won’t keep going. The rest is there to make sure you have the resources to pursue your work.

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

My work is conceptually driven by an anti-market idea. I give away the separate modules from each piece in exchange for an act of collaboration from the people who take the pieces. For example, I have a work called ‘Archival Structure 5’ that is comprised of hundreds of brick-shaped boxes. Each box is a small display case, with windows that show an item I put in the box and another added by the person who ‘adopted’ the box. I think of these people who participate as both conservators of and collaborators in my work. The boxes were designed so as to be completely reversible, making it possible to send them back and forth in the mail for just a couple of dollars.  I am interested in ways of owning and distributing work that fall outside of the usual models of galleries and museum collection, and the patrons who fund and ultimately what work is shown.

For this reason I rely heavily on teaching, grants and funded exhibitions to keep my work going. Exhibitions, of course, often place the work into that formal art world, but it also gives me the opportunity to insert my ideas about art and commerce into that world and expose the audience to a different way of thinking about the value of art and artworks.  Anyone who wants to collaborate on a project can check for opportunities under the ‘collaborate’ tab on my site.

‘Hedge Magic Installation’, 

the Soap Factory, 2012.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

Liz Miller

http://www.lizmiller.com

Richard Barlow

http://www.rbarlow.net

John Fleischer

www.johnjfleischer.com

Amy Toscani

http://rosaluxgallery.com/my_portfolio/amy-toscani

Alison Hiltner

http://cargocollective.com/alisonhiltner

Karl Unnasch

http://www.karlunnasch.com/master.html

Archival Structure 5: Detail. 

Conserved cardboard, plastic and detritus. 2012.

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

Soap Factory

http://www.soapfactory.org

Franklin Art Works

http://www.franklinartworks.org

Air Sweet Air

http://airsweetair.org/home.html/

Tuck Under

http://www.tuckunder.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? 

http://blogs.walkerart.org/

http://rolu.terapad.com/

http://www.vita.mn/arts/

Archival Structure 5: Mailer Version

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

Currently on view: ‘You Complete Me’ with Liz Miller at the HFA Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Morris, October 18-Nov. 21

http://www.morris.umn.edu/newsevents/view.php?itemID=12320

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

I am still making a ton of bricks for ‘Archival Structure 5’, and will be showing them as part of As I See Myself: The Creative Self Portrait at the Waseca Art Center, January 4^th through February 9^th, 2013.

David Hamlow

Pamela Valfer - Drawing

Landscape Simulation: Gordale Scar, North Yorkshire England/Checkpoint   

     Charlie, Berlin, Germany, 2011, Graphite on Paper, 10.5" x 14"

Pamela Valfer

Name: Pamela Valfer  

City/State: St. Paul, MN

Email: Pamela@pamelavalfer.com

Website: pamelavalfer.com

MNartist.org profile

http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=18568

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1413752985

Bio~ 

Pamela Valfer has exhibited at many national and international venues. Selected exhibitions include: Burren College of Art (Ireland), Space Shower Gallery (Japan), Dante's Upstairs (Australia), CUBE Center for the Urban Built Environment (England), GrayDuck Gallery (Austin, TX) and Art of This! (Minneapolis, MN). She has received both a Minnesota State Arts Board - Artist Initiative Grant and Bush Education Grant, and is included in the Drawing Center's (NY) curated Artist Registry.  Pamela received her BFA from Minneapolis College Art and Design and her MFA from the University of Minnesota. She is currently teaching at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and College of Visual Arts.

 Landscape Simulation: Wisconsin Dells (The Sugar Bowl)/Brownshill Dolmen, County Carlow, Ireland, 2012, 

Graphite on Paper, 19" x 28"

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

I am currently working on the idea of a “contemporary landscape”. I am also interested in questioning what is “an original” experience in visual imagery, [or exploring what is a “copy”]. These interests have articulated themselves in a few bodies of work that I am developing.

One series I am working on is my “Landscape Simulation” series. These are detailed drawings of hybridized landscapes created from a pastiche of movie, television and “actual” landscape spaces.

I am also playing with photography in some newer work that I call my “Drosscape” series. In these works I am generating collages created from found photos, magazines, collected Xeroxes, etc.– a general flotsam and jetsam of visual source materials. I am then re-photographing the finished collages to create a new visual vernacular. The photography tends to gel the images as well as raise the question of originality.

I have also been playing around in the studio with a few new ideas. I have been exploring the idea of the “ruin” through drawings of models of classical ruins (i.e the Pergamon) or implied historical architecture (i.e Hearst castle).

There has also been some large scale drawing-esque installations that I have been interested in – so much stuff – so little time…..

Landscape Simulation: Planet of the Apes/ Tatooine/ County Clare, Ireland

     2011, Graphite on Paper, 19" x 28"

How did you decide to become an artist?

I have always vacillated between art and music and have spent many years focusing on my musical endeavors over my visual art. Well, now the pendulum has swung and I’ve been mainly focusing on my visual art.

As far as, has there been a “light bulb moment” where I knew I would be an artist??  - I can’t say I had one. It seemed to be the only path that fit. It was never really a choice.

 Drosscape #1, 2012 Inkjet photograph

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

Show up. I think that is the singular best advice I have received, as well as the advice I give my students. The biggest hurdle is to just show up to the studio. It is not easy but you have to remain committed to being in that space, even if you are just reading a book or starting at a blank wall. You need to work that time in your life as important – which is difficult when other pressures in your life demand your attention.

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

I sell work in different ways. I have sold work through my website, through galleries, and directly out of my studio. As far as marketing, I think social media is a huge component of marketing yourself these days, having a website, tumblr page – all these things are the new “postcard”. You have to be savvy to all the technological and non-technological outlets.

http://pamelavalfer.com/home.html

http://pamelavalfer.tumblr.com/

Drosscape #2, 2012 Inkjet photograph

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

Allen Brewer       http://allenbrewer.com/home.html

Ruben Nusz        http://www.rubennusz.com/Art/rubennusz.html

Bruce Tapola      http://mnartists.org/article.do?rid=256345

Rich Barlow         http://www.rbarlow.net/

Scott Stulen        http://www.scottstulen.com/

Nicole Killian       http://www.nylondip.com/

Scott Nedrelow    http://www.scottnedrelow.com/movie.html

John Fleischer    http://www.johnjfleischer.com/

Brittany Nelson   http://www.brittanynelson.com/

Andy Ducett        http://www.andyducett.com/

Chris Zerendow           http://chriszerendow.blogspot.com/

Paula McCartney          http://www.paulamccartney.com/

Alison Hiltner                http://cargocollective.com/alisonhiltner

Aaron Dysart               http://www.aarondysart.com/

Pricilla Briggs               http://priscillabriggs.com/home.html

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

Midway Contemporary Gallery       http://www.midwayart.org/

Dressing Room                     http://dressingroom-aot.blogspot.com/

Art of This!                            http://artofthis.net/

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

MAEP Program at MIA       http://www.artsmia.org/index.php?section_id=14

Soap Factory                        http://www.soapfactory.org/

Soovac                                 http://www.soovac.org/

Landscape Simulation: Little House on the Prairie/Good Times (Cabrini

      Green), 2011, Graphite on Paper, 16.5" x 17.5"

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? 

Hyperallergic                http://hyperallergic.com/

Art Info                           http://www.artinfo.com/

The Brooklyn Rail        http://www.brooklynrail.org/

Jerry Saltz – critic         https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=716179266               

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future? (2012)

April 19^th – May 20^th    The Critics Show – Hopkins Center for the Arts 

                                         (Reception Thursday 4/26/12 6-8pm)

May 31 – June 30^th     “Common Place”, Occupy Space, Limerick Ireland

Sept 2012                      Burnett Art Gallery at Le Meridien Chambers Hotel, Minneapolis

Andy DuCett - Artist

AOT has been here forever, except when it wasn’t, 2009

Andy Ducett

Name: Andy DuCett
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: andyducett@gmail.com
Website: http://andyducett.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=108955
Twitter: @cettdu

Bio~ Andy DuCett is from Winona, MN and received his MFA from the University of Illinois.  He currently teaches at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Wisconsin-Stout.  His work has been shown in galleries in Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Milwaukee and Honolulu, as well as many Twin Cities locations.  He has been published in New American Paintings, Vita.mn, Paper Darts, The Portland Mercury, Illiterate Magazine, DailyServing.com, as well as publications in Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo, and London.  He recently was commissioned to make a drawing for the First Free Saturday series at the Walker Art Center and was recently admitted to the Viewing Program at The Drawing Center in New York City.  


Working towards something (trust me), 2010


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
My work ranges from drawing to installation to collage, with the subject matter orbiting around ideas of memory, finding importance in the mundane and how we all organize and navigate the world around us.  My current project is something I’ve been working on for a little over 2 years now, and will culminate in a solo exhibition called “Why we do this” at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis in September.  It’s different in the size and scope, and most definitely in the planning aspect. I have two sketchbooks completely filled with sketches and ideas, a scale model that I’ve been planning out the space, and an Adobe Illustrator document with exact measurements layouts and floor plans.  

I usually build something in my studio and transport it to the space, but in this case, I don’t have the space to do that, so this will be just plans until a few months before the show opens.  The Soap has cleared out a lot of space for me and my interns on the second floor to start construction, but everything we build has to be able to be carried down the narrow staircase and fit through a doorway.  Lots of challenges!  

The other big difference between this and my past work is that all 12,000 sq. feet will be one installation, using video, sound, performances and inviting viewer interaction at times…all things that I’ve never done before.


Thumbs up, we must be living right, 2008-2012


"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 my audience uses my work as an opportunity to re-examine the world around them.  I want people to find importance, notions of beauty and interest in the mundane and simple things around us at all times… from things like end tables, desk lamps and scraps of things that we think as just utilitarian or peripheral.  All of these things are the support structures that prop up our everyday actions and encounters.  Our surroundings are of the utmost interest to me, and I’m strangely thankful that people keep throwing away all of this interesting stuff for me to find in alleys and second hand stores…. I like reclaiming things and suggesting that people have a second look.


What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 
To pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.


Tell me about your work space and your creative process.
My studio is in a 2 stall garage and is packed with about 10 years of things that I’ve collected from places like thrift stores, dumpsters, estate sales and thing that people have given me because they think I’d give it a good home.  It’s pretty intense, visually speaking, but I’ve always worked best when I have a lot of visual stimuli around me.  



My creative process usually starts with me moving things around.  Not just art objects, but re-organizing or re-arranging my space.  It might be moving the stapler to the other side of the table, or cleaning off my table and moving everything to another surface, but something about it helps familiarize me with my environment.  The busywork and putzing around is really helpful, while it may seem counterproductive at times.  Having a record player in my studio is important too, flipping sides every 15 minutes helps keep me moving around.  

Image of workspace


Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?
There really are way too many to mention, we as Minnesotans are really fortunate to have such a diverse artistic environment… that said, here’s a short and very incomplete list:

Allen Brewer: http://allenbrewer.com/home.html
Scott Stulen: http://scottstulen.com/
Ruben Nusz: http://www.rubennusz.com/Art/rubennusz.html
Pam Valfer: http://pamelavalfer.com/home.html
John Fleischer: http://johnjfleischer.com/
David Rathman: http://www.larissagoldston.com/artists/davidrathman/index.aspx
Jennifer Danos: http://jenniferdanos.com/
Ryuta Nakajima: http://ryutanakajima.com/
Jennifer Davis: http://www.jenniferdavisart.com/
Natasha Pestich: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=204696
Joshua Norton: http://joshuanorton.net/
Andy Sturdevant: http://andysturdevant.com/
Charles Matson-Lume: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?action=info&rid=57006
Bruce Tapola: http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=173002


Lastly: I was a member of Rosalux for about two and a half years and they continue to have a great space and great group of artists on their roster: http://rosaluxgallery.com



Thumbs up, we must be living right, 2008-2012 (detail)

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

Walker Art Center: http://walkerart.org/
Soap Factory: http://soapfactory.org/
Rochester Art Center: http://rochesterartcenter.org/
Dressing Room: http://dressingroom-aot.blogspot.com/
Midway Contemporary Art: http://www.midwayart.org/index.php
Minnesota Institute of Arts; MAEP Galleries: http://www.artsmia.org/
MCAD Gallery: http://mcad.edu/events-fellowships/gallery-exhibitions
Weisman Museum: http://www.weisman.umn.edu/
Franklin Art Works: http://franklinartworks.org/


Exploring while able, or, looking a little closer, 2011

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?
Daily serving: http://dailyserving.com/
Fecal Face: http://www.fecalface.com/SF/
MnArtists.org: http://www.mnartists.org/
But does it Float: http://butdoesitfloat.com/


Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
I’ll be posting updates about my process for “Why we do this” on The Soap Factory blog, as well as the Walker Art Center’s blog section (http://blogs.walkerart.org/).  

The show opens on September 8th and runs through November 11, 2012.

Image of artist

Also read, Paper Darts interview with Andy.