Samantha French - Painter- Minnesota ExPat

Samantha French

Mn to Brooklyn, NY

Name:  Samantha French        
Location:  Brooklyn NY
Website:  www.samanthafrench.com
Facebook Page:  facebok.com/samanthafrenchart1
Etsy Page / Retail Page:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/SamanthaFrench

Why did you leave Minnesota?

I left the year after I graduated from MCAD. I had friends who lived there (NYC) and it just seemed to be the right decision for me at the time. I was looking for a change of pace and NY was it. 

Tell me about your new city of residence?  

How to describe NYC? It is a completely different way of life than the Mid-west (which has its pros and cons). It is a very driven city and has created an environment for me to whole heartedly focus on my art career. 

How has your art changed since moving from Minnesota?

Growing up in such a beautiful area had a big impact on my work. New York City is beautiful in its own way, but there is something so serene, floating in the tepid water of one of Minnesota’s many lakes, just you and nature. No sirens, no trash, just quiet and calm. My paintings have changed in that they are frequently based on pools now, and some reflect more of a Southern California/mid-century aesthetic, but my memories and the feelings I get thinking back about those childhood summers are still there. They’ve just been slightly adapted, more idealized maybe. Also, pool waters allow for better reflections, which now play an important role in my painting. I consider myself a figurative painter, but the reflections and refracted light add an abstract quality to the work. Having the figure as a reference point allows me to focus on those abstractions that the reflections in the water provide. Along with the contrasts they bring to the work, discovering how the two things react with one another, such as how the light bouncing off the skin mimics the ripples in the water, is very fascinating to me. 

If you come back to Minnesota for one weekend and you need to see your old favorite places, where would you go to see art? 

I love stopping back at MCAD, they always have something interesting up in the Main Gallery and if not you can usually find some inspiring student work up in the halls. I have work in inventory at Groveland Gallery and they have such an array of artists you can never go wrong seeing what they have in exhibition (or in their inventory). They have really cultivated a strong group of artists. I would also stop at Soo Visual Arts Center! Their shows are always engaging and since they jury the artists in you can see installations one month and realistic paintings the next. If I have the time I would definitely make a trip to the Walker and MIA. 

Who are some of your favorite artists still living in Minnesota?

Michael Kareken:http://www.michaelkareken.com 
Sarah Wieben: http://sarahwieben.com 
Melissa Loop: www.melissaloop.com  

I could go on but I’ll keep it at three. 

If you could transplant one aspect of the Minnesota arts community home with you, what would it be?

Minneapolis has such a wonderful sense of community throughout all the arts it is a very  supportive place to be an artist. 

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

I have a solo exhibition at Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis up until July 7th, 2012.  


After that, a show at the Todd James Gallery in Provincetown, MA July 15- Aug 11th along with a group show at Stark + Kent Gallery in Palm Springs, CA.  Lots of other exciting events in the works after that!

Ute Bertog - Painter / Mixed Media

Ute Bertog

Ute Bertog

Website: http://utebertog.com

MNArtist.org Profile

email: ute@utebertog.com

Bio~
I am originally from Germany and came to the US 12 years ago. I graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in 2005 with a degree in painting. Since then I have exhibited my work in local and regional venues. I have an upcoming show at the grayDUCK Gallery in Austin, TX.

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

I am fascinated by the relationship between abstraction and language, which I would describe as reluctant, even unreliable. I have been working on my current series, which I privately call ‘dailies’, for almost a year. It is based on reading the newspaper and working with an extremely revised and fragmented version of one of the articles until nothing much of it is left. Its source would definitely be hard to detect. Instead the story is allowed to become something else, a freer version of itself that can be interpreted in whatever direction the viewer (or reader) wants to understand it. By transporting this version into the visual realm it becomes more and more a stranger to itself.

Prior to this I worked a lot with tape: applying tape, painting, taking off the tape and on and on for many, many layers until a recognizable form appeared – something that I could attach a name to. It was working in a reverse concept from what I am doing now.

Why did you become an artist?
I became an artist because I loved the potential for escape. Just going to the museum was so different from the world I grew up in. Not that I didn’t like it growing up. It was fun as a kid. But at some point small towns do have their downsides.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Work, work, work and the work will tell you, what it’s about.

Tell me about your working space and your creative process?
My process is very much based on reading as I said before. I paint text fragments extracted from newspaper articles I find interesting. Through a repetitive process of covering, writing, tracing, scraping and cutting, I slowly revise the original text. My goal is to create opportunities to undermine and confuse the original content to get a different ‘read’ or understanding of it.

Which Minnesota artists do you enjoy?
Melissa Breitenfeldt (http://www.mb4graphics.com)
Megan McCready
Melissa Loop (http://melissaloop.com/home.html)
Ruben Nusz (http://www.rubennusz.com/Art/rubennusz.html)
Betsy Byers (http://betsyruthbyers.com/)
Sarah Wieben (http://www.sarahwieben.com/)
and those are just a few.

If I were to follow you around on an “art day” in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
A lot of the common art places like the Walker Art Center or Midway Contemporary Art. I especially enjoy browsing through their libraries, which are full of hidden treasures. The same is true for MCAD. Also on the list would be some antique stores, which are beyond inspiring. At night we would go to a concert or see a theater production. I always find it very stimulating to see other artistic endeavors esp. in the performing 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?
mnartists.org, NYFA, Chicago Artists Resource , Brooklyn Rail, e-flux, Two Coats of Paint, Visual Discrepancies.

Do you have any exhibits or any interesting things going on in your life or coming up in the near future?
I will be included in a show this January in Austin/Texas at the grayDUCK Gallery .

If you were to receive a $2,000 art grant to do anything you want, what would you do?
I would travel to far off places. There is no better way to get inspired than by exploring a new country, a new culture. It shakes up my customary ways of doing and seeing things. It refreshes my eye and mind to be somewhere foreign, where the things that you see, taste and hear are not immediately understood.

Bloomington Theatre and Art Center