Michael McGraw - Photographer

Name:  Michael McGraw

City/State: Mpls, MN

Email: mcgrawphoto at gmail.com

Website:  michaelmcgraw.info, mcgrawphoto.smugmug.com

Bio~ 

I have been a photographer since the early nineties when I started out as a wedding photographer.  That worked out pretty well for me for about 12 years, but it was exhausting work and when wedding work no longer made me happy, I stopped completely and rented a studio in the Northrup King Building in the NE Mpls Arts District. I've been there since about 2005 and currently share a studio with painter Megan Bell Honigman.

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

Right now I am working on something completely different from past years. Until recently, I had been working on abstract nature images --  close-cropped shots of tree branches or weeds, using a shallow focus to draw the viewer into the details of the subject so that the images become more about patterns and shapes than the source subject. Crabapple trees were my favorite subject.

Now, I am working on a project where the subjects are mannequins in storefront windows. Portraits, mainly headshots. Most of the mannequins in store windows do not have heads, or, if they do, they have heads that are head-shaped, but not meant to fool you into thinking that they are life-like. Mannequins with wigs and human-ish features are rare, at least in the twin cities.  There are about five or six places in the metro area that have the life-like mannequins I am looking for. Thank you Via's Vintage, Ragstock, and Lickity Split for putting some effort into your window displays!

I recently took a trip to London where they seriously put a lot of effort into lifelike mannequins and window displays. What was most interesting to me about the differences between London displays and Minneapolis displays was the difference in how hi-end the stores were.  Here, the stores that use lifelike mannequins are Ragstock and American Apparel, in London it was Chanel and Versace.

With my local subjects, since I go back to the same few places every week, weirdly, each mannequin becomes like a friend.  From how they are styled they seem to have unique personalities and I've come to imagine whole lives and back stories for them.  Sad stories. From their blank expressions, I imagine that they have "settled" for work in the window displays, that they have run out of other options. I imagine that since they never acknowledge me they are trying to keep their distance from everyone. So I try to respect that and always show them in the most flattering way possible. 

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

That's hard to say. I'm mainly self taught, so I haven't had a lot of those feedback opportunties I would have had in school, but if I was giving advice to someone else it would be to create work that resonates most truly with yourself, regardless of trends or what other people tell you. Now this might not translate into sales or exhibit opportunities, but at least your art will represent the real you. Then, I would recommend that you learn the business and marketing side of art.  This is something I haven't really figured out, but there are certainly a lot of people making a living making art so you might want to ask them. 

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

I sell my work mainly through my studio (Northrup King #274) where people can see framed work on the walls and meet with me and ask questions.  Most of my sales are commissions where people want a certain image but in custom size. Art-Attack and Art-a-Whirl and the Fall and Spring open audio events in NE Mpls where thousands of people come out to see and buy local art.

I use my website, Facebook (Me), and my blog to get my new work seen. You can email me for custom prints. 

www.facebook.com/michaelmcgrawphotography

www.mcgrawphoto.smugmug.com

www.michaelmcgraw.info

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? 

I run the Local Artist Interviews website (yes, this website), which has been an amazing opportunity to connect with artists I love and artists I might never have known about. This is just a short list, but I really like the work of…

Gina Louise 

James Dankert

Shuji Usui

Lindsy Halleckson

Joe Aschebrock

Pamela Valfer

Robyn Hendrix

Maren Kloppmann

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

SooVac Gallery, Walker Art Center and the MAEP Gallery at the MIA.  These are my usual first stops.  Having to answer this question reminds my that I need to get out more.  There are so many galleries in town.  Maybe today I'll get to Circa Gallery and Gallery 360. I haven't been to Instinct Gallery yet, so we'd go there, too.

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? 

I mainly follow links through Facebook and Tumblr

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

I am showing in January 2014 at Altered Esthetics in NE Mpls for "Remasterpiece". I have  photograph of the Mona Lisa that I found in the window of a Robbinsdale second hand shop. The window reflects car headlights which make a brand new set of nostrils for her.  I can't wait to see what else is going to be in this show.  The opening is Friday, 1/3 and the show runs through 1/30/14.

Mona Lisa of Robbinsdale

Altered Esthetics Gallery Profile

Website

Alison Hiltner - Mixed Media

The Colony (detail), 2009. Mixed Media: Hot glue, Rubber bands, LED lights, PVC Pipe, Artificial Terrain, Balloons and Garden Hose. 72" h x 144" w x 164" l full installation.

Alison Hiltner
Website: http://www.mnartists.org/alison_hiltner

Bio~
Alison Hiltner lives and works in Minneapolis. Her credits include solo exhibitions at Spike Gallery in New York, the International Museum of Surgical Sciences, Heineman Myers Contemporary Art and Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis. Alison was an artist in residence at Sculpture Space and received a Minnesota State Arts Board artist initiative grant in 2007; she has also been a finalist for the Jerome and McKnight Foundation Fellowships.


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

Frequently I feel that my work is a series of what ifs…such as what if I take these random mundane materials like hot glue, garden hose, wire twine and transform them into something that appears organic, elements of rudimentary life. This also gives me the opportunity to magnify unique structures rarely scene, the strange architectural that is beneath our skin is a frequently revisited source of inspiration. I utilize a knowing naiveté, if that makes any sense, trying to maintain a sense of wonder in what I see and how I convey my ideas, with a sense of humor or a touch of the absurd always hovering around the surface.

In the spirit of my own personal mad science I have recently been attempting to combine my older work, mostly consisting of questionable medical objects, with the idea of creating artificial life. I can honestly say that nature creates sculptures far more breathtaking than I could ever hope to replicate but it hasn’t stop me from trying. I included a detail from a new piece I am working on titled, Extraction. This is the first piece that I have reintroduced an element of the machine into; however it is an experiment on many levels. I see it as a continuation of the piece Neuromorphic Behaviors that was installed in the Soap Factory’s Basement for HBX. Extraction, plays off of the idea that a sample was taken from the created environment in Neuromorphic Behaviors, then contained and cultivated for study. Using a past piece as an origin story in an alternate natural history and allowing the work to build on its concept with each incarnation is a fascinating idea to me that I will continue to pursue.

Neuromorphic Behaviors (Left View), 2010. Twine Wire, Wax Tape, UV Reactive Paint, Black Lights. 108" h x 153" w x 164" l.

Extraction (work in progress), 2011. Stainless Steel, Straws, Mesh, Sound Reactive El Wire and Enamel nail polish.

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

Taking a chance and having it end in disaster is always better than playing it safe…which is fairly easy advice to follow especially since not taking chances with your work can also end in disaster.

The Colony (detail), 2009. Mixed Media: Hot glue, Rubber bands, LED lights, PVC Pipe, Artificial Terrain, Balloons and Garden Hose. 72" h x 144" w x 164" l full installation.

Tell me about your working space and your creative process?

I recently moved to a new studio space, one that is a bit unusual. It is a basement space that could easily be used as a stand in to film some scenes in a 1950s era mental hospital. The personality of the space is growing on me though and I am using one of the bedrooms as an installation room.

My process includes a lot of searching for the right ingredients; it starts with a concept or form that I want to investigate then I start poking and prodding it to see what reveals itself. I find the most inspiration in things that closely resemble science fiction but are firmly based in the real world. One of my favorite quotations is from Kurt Vonnegut: “Science is magic that works.” In many ways that is a guide to what I am drawn to exploring with my work, capturing elements of reality that could easily be considered fantasy.

Mimicry, 2009. Mixed Media: Artificial Flowers, Wax, Clay, Wire, Hamster Runabouts and a variety of other things found and made. 120" h x 64" w x 70" l.

Which Minnesota artists do you enjoy?

I could probably fill up two pages of links to artists I enjoy who work in Minnesota, several of whom have already been interviewed on this site or mentioned, Joe Sinness and all the artists he mentioned are fantastic, along with Lindsy Halleckson, Liz Miller and Amy Rice. I do need to give a special shout out to my partner Will Lager, who is an artist and collaborator I very much enjoy!

Upcoming Shows I am Looking forward to (as of 1/2011):

The next two exhibitions / 2-person shows at MAEP: (Peter Happel Christian and Margaret Wall-Romana / Paula McCartney and Liz Miller).

Suspension of This Belief at Soo Visual Arts Center by Karl Unnasch .

The Art of the Self-Portrait and Hennes Art Gallery (a piece by a Suzy Greenberg is my main interest in this).

Andy Ducett at the Soap Factory in 2012.

These are two amazing local artists that haven’t been mentioned on the site yet that I frequently look to for art making advice:

Pamela Valfer: http://pamelavalfer.com/home.html
Aaron Dysart: http://www.aarondysart.com/

And lastly this is a piece I wish I thought of first:
Ruben Nusz: http://www.rubennusz.com/Art/images/Pages/roaches.html#0

There really is way too much talent locally to include all the deserving artists!

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

I think my perfect “art day” would have to include finally going to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. I can’t quite believe that I have never seen the Bonsai Gallery there, so that would be my top priority.

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 always find something interesting on BoingBoing.

Recently I was introduced to some sites that post artwork I am really into;
http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/
http://www.booooooom.com/
http://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/
http://spacecollective.org/
http://butdoesitfloat.com/

Do you have any exhibits or any interesting things going on in your life or coming up in the near future? (2011)

I am working on a new piece for a group exhibition, Physiotasmagorical, at Evanston Art Center , which will open on February 20, 2011.

If you were to receive a $2,000 art grant to do anything you want, what would you do?

Buy a prefab greenhouse…I have some schemes revolving around this idea of a portable laboratory.

Mimicry (Detail), 2009. Mixed Media: Artificial Flowers, Wax, Clay, Wire, Hamster Runabouts and a variety of other things found and made. Each form varies appro. 5.75" h x 5.75" w x 12"l.

Walker Art Center

Membership Winner

Michael McGraw - Photographer

Michael McGraw

Michael McGraw

www.michaelmcgraw.info

Twitter: @localartistint

FB: My Page
email: mcgrawphoto@gmail.com

Bio~
Michael McGraw is a Minneapolis-based photographer, mainly self-taught, though he has studied under some awesome wedding photographers. Having retired from the wedding photography business, people rarely make an appearance in his photographs.


"My subjects are local, personal, and natural. I look for subjects with a balance of pattern and chaos, beauty and flaws. To me, this reflects internal struggle, growth, and transformation."

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

I am working on a couple projects right now. I have a series of cloud photographs that I think are really fun. They are fairly closely-cropped shots of sections of clouds exploring color, density, and shape. I have a hard time deciding if I prefer color or black and white for these images.

I am also processing hundreds of pics from a recent trip to Iceland. Seeing the floating ice in the glacial lake, Jokulsarlon, was one of the most amazing experiences I have had.

Past projects include a study of ice formations on the Mississippi river from the Lowry bridge, which is on hold for now since the bridge was torn down, and a study of urban trees--Crab Apples, Russian Olive, and Buck Thorn. I am still woking on this project, but am taking a break after 2 years of thinking about trees all the time.


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

After meeting a couple times with an advisor with Springboard for the Arts in lowertown St. Paul, they told me to print large, and if I didn't have good enough equipment, then to get better equipment.


At the time I was shooting aerial-like photographs of ice on the Mississippi river and printing them at around 16x20 inches, maybe a little bigger. They just did not have the impact I was going for until I began printing 20x30 inches and larger. Of course, not all photographs have to be large; I still have a weakness for a nice, small, intimate portrait.

Tell me about your working space and your creative process?

As a nature-based photographer, I work outside, usually around North Minneapolis. I prefer my work to be as locally focused as possible and do not think I need to head to the Boundary Waters to get a good shot of a tree. Dowling Avenue is perfect for me because of all the varieties of crab apple trees lining the Crystal Lake Cemetary.

I have a home office where I do all of my computer work, converting RAW photos to JPG. I share this space with my wife, Sally, so we get to spend a lot of time together working on our own projects.


I have a studio space in the Northrup King Building in NE Mpls that I share with Megan Bell Honigman who is an amazing painter. It's really nice to have a permanent space to hang my work since there is just too much to hang in my house. I definitely recommend renting a studio space for anyone with a lot of work to show.

In regards to my creative process...I like to drive around until I see an interesting tree, stop, and see what happens. I play around with selective focus by standing really close to the trees and using a long lens to create a shallow depth of field. It's a pretty meditative process, very peaceful. I never really know what is going to look good until I look at the images on my computer. I usually crop my tree photos square so I get to fine-tune my composition once I get home.

Which Minnesota artists do you enjoy?

The list would definitely be too long if I named everybody. Just paging through the NEMAA (arts association) directory or through MNartists.org would remind me of dozens of artists that I enjoy. But to name a few I would include--

Lindsy Halleckson (painter),
Maren Kloppman (ceramics),
Caitlin Karolczak (painter),
Theresa Handy (painter),
Alyssa Wendorf (watercolor),

and then photographers--
Meg Ojala,
Terry Evans,
Joann Verburg

I am learning about so many more Minnesota artists through this site that this question is really getting difficult. I click on all of the links in the other interviews and it has really expanded my view of art in Minnesota, but those listed above has been long-time favorites of mine.

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

We would start at Midway Contemporary Art, head to SooVac, the Walker Art Center, the Weinstien Gallery in south Mpls, and then to the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program (MAEP) Gallery in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.


If we had two art days, I would make sure to get to the artist buildings in NE Mpls. My studio is in the Northrup King Building (#274), so we would start there. There is so much art to see at NKB and the surrounding buildings too, like Altered Esthetics in the Q'Arma Bldg. It would also be fun to head to the Fraconia Sculpture Park north of the Twin Cities.

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?

These days, I find out about new artists through Facebook. People's Facebook pages link to blogs and websites, and then people's blogrolls direct me to other artists and art resources.

SpotArt Gallery shows a lot of new and local art each month, and throws an awesome reception, too, so I always check out their website to see which artists are exhibiting next.



Because I have been so locally focussed for the LAI website, I haven't really looked at websites that feature artists from anywhere else in the world. MNartists.org is a great place to start to find out about Minnesota artists. And http:/www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com and its Facebook page are also good sources.

Do you have any exhibits or any interesting things going on in your life or coming up in the near future (2011)?

I have an exhibit at the Coloplast Headquarters in North Minneapolis. They are hugely dedicated to art in their space and purchased many, many pieces from Minneapolis artists when they built this building. Their conference rooms all have hanging systems built in and lots of natural light. It's not open to the public, so good luck seeing the work, but if you work there, check my out on the second floor by the engineers.

And each year I exhibit in my studio (#274) in the Northrup King Building for Art-A-Whirl which is the 3rd weekend in May each year, and at Art-Attack which is the 2nd full weekend in November.

Michael McGraw
http://www.michaelmcgraw.info/
On Facebook
Local Artist Interviews on Facebook

Lindsy Halleckson

Lindsy Halleckson

lindsy@dangerpro.com http://www.dangerpro.com/

Bio~
As an emerging artist, I have consigned paintings at various galleries in the Twin Cities, Seattle, and Philadelphia, and have shown my work in exhibitions in Minnesota, Iowa, New York, and Washington State. Also, as an advocate for the arts, I have worked in fundraising and membership for the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Ordway Center.
Although my painting has been largely abstract, I am moving towards creating work that poses a more direct statement. My recent work is based on camouflage as a symbol of our struggle for survival in a time of personal economic uncertainty, cultural shift, and political transformation. Camouflage not only equates to function, adaptation, and evolution but depicts survival in my art, life, and culture as well.
The progression of my work draws on my increasing desire to live an environmentally sustainable life and become intimately and consciously involved in nature. I now strive to create works that explicitly convey environmental commentary.

What interests me most is creating objects that are visually beautiful but have a slight hint of something crude or disturbing. I aim to create this discomfort as an invitation to action.


Your paintings are typically created as part of a series. I am familiar with your Clash Series, and, more recently, your Camouflage Series. Tell me about the origins of these projects.

• My series always have some form of meditation on science. In my Clash Series, I wanted to represent tones of music with color. More specifically, I wanted to represent the dissonance in clashing notes with vibrating edges of clashing colors. When two colors that are slightly off-complimentary are paired together, their edges seem to vibrate. After I painted with this idea for a while, the paintings seemed to turn into color studies. I am completely obsessed with color, so I painted hundreds of small 6” paintings with this Clash theme and other themes started to emerge.

• The Camouflage Series came when I got somewhat color saturated with the Clash Series and wanted something new. My mom had given me these chunks of cedar paneling that had been taken out of someone’s closet. I decided to try out epoxy resin and see if I could layer paint and create some sort of shiny effect that incorporated the wood grain. After a couple trials, the painting started to look like military camouflage, so I researched the history of how artists developed military camouflage, made contacts with some professors and researchers who study natural camouflage and evolution, looked at different styles of camouflage around the world, and began to think of camouflage as a symbol for survival.

Do you find working in a series to be liberating or confining?

• Sometimes I feel like I don’t stick to a series enough, but for me, working in these series has helped me develop specific skills and a critical eye. It’s funny- now I feel like I’m really good at dragging a knife across a surface, making an interesting mark, and pairing evocative colors. Working in a series enables you to truly explore an idea and live in it for a while.

• At the same time, I really want to try everything. I have a ton of ideas that I’d love to work on simultaneously, but I know that I should focus on just a few ideas at a time. I’m terrible at finishing projects and great at starting them, so I really need to focus on seeing things through. I try to keep a notebook of ideas and sketches of things I want to work on when I have more time.

I hear that you have started working with sculpture and installation. Why?

• Over the past year or two I’ve been seriously focusing on getting back to being creative and having fun. During the economic meltdown, I was so focused on making work that people would want to buy that I forgot to really focus on and enjoy the work. I felt I had turned into a factory and need to get back in touch with what I want to say as an artist. I’ve been working with epoxy resin, and I realized one day that stuff can be molded into 3-D! It’s obvious, right? But I hadn’t thought that I should make things in 3-D. So, I went on a 3-day artist retreat and planned nothing else but to create a sculptural or installation piece with the resin. There is something more disarming and engaging about installation that cannot be expressed in painting.

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

• Being creative takes a lot of discipline and hard work, but the hard work should also include some fun.


You have a studio/gallery in the Northrup King Building in the NE Mpls Arts district. How has working in an artist community affected your life as an artist?

• Being a part of the NKB has pushed me to keep making art; there’s always an upcoming deadline. And, being the procrastinator that I am, I need those regular deadlines to get work done.

How does being Minnesota-based influence your art?

• There are infinite reasons to love Minnesota and getting to be an artist in Minnesota, but I love our ability to be connected to a city with extremely talented people but also have remote wilderness within a couple-hour drive. I love to be in the woods, and nature has become extremely important to my life and art. For me, the balance here is ideal. I believe that as I spend more time in nature (I haven’t always), my art becomes more environmentally focused. This is undoubtedly a theme that will be part of my work for the foreseeable future of my career.

Which Minnesota artists do you enjoy?
David Good

Suzy Greenberg

Alison Hiltner

Angela Sprunger

Kris Musto

Elizabeth Erickson

Carl Swanson

Jeff Warner

Steven Lang

Joel Starkey

Stephen Capiz

Allen Brewer

Heidi Hafermann

Amy Rice


Do you have any exhibits or any interesting things going on in your life or coming up in the near future?

• October 1st Thursdays (10/7/10 6-9pm) and Art Attack www.NorthrupKingBuilding.com
• I’m excited to be embarking on my first artist residency at New York Mills Cultural Center this November. www.kulcher.org
• Check out the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota – http://www.blogger.com/www.thewarm.org

Links to Artists and Resources:

Lindsy Halleckson (Web) (FB)

David Good (Web) (FB)

Suzy Greenberg (Web) (FB)

Alison Hiltner (Web) (FB)

Angela Sprunger (Web) (FB)

Kris Musto (Web) (FB)

Elizabeth Erickson (Web) (FB)

Carl Swanson (Web) (FB)

Jeff Warner (Web) (FB)

Steven Lang (Web) (FB)

Joel Starkey (Web) (FB)

Stephen Capiz (Web) (FB)

Allen Brewer (Web) (FB)

Heidi Hafermann (Web) (FB)

Amy Rice (Web) (FB)

12/2012/L10