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

St Paul Art Crawl Spring 2011

St Paul Art Crawl

Poster Contest Winner...Kevan Willington / Northern Warehouse

(Interview)

I've been going to the St Paul Art Crawl (Details, maps, parking info, press release) in Lowertown since the later 1980's. My friend, Greg Page, lived there after college. In his huge living space he created individual "forts" to view his art in. There was always lots of beer. It was around this time that I first saw paintings by Theresa Handy. I should have bought her work back then because her prices have only gone up. It was such a great place to see great work, and because the exhibition space was also living space, a great place to see how artists lived.

Today, there is still amazing art to see, but it seems like there is less beer (I may just have been more interested in beer, then. I don't know). Five buildings make up the Lowertown event-- the Tilsner, Jax, Lowertown Lofts, Northwestern Building, and the Northern Warehouse (Where the Black Dog is (used to be Copernicus).

The St. Paul Art Crawl takes place this weekend 4/29-5/1. I always see this event as the start of the art season. The NE Mpls equivalent art crawl, Art-a-Whirl is the 3rd weekend in May. Then we have the summer art fairs to look forward to. Edina Art Fair, Powderhorn Uptown, Loring Park. Lots of art to see this summer, and the St. Paul Art Crawl kicks it off.

Local Artist Interviews has featured a few artists who are exhibiting at the the St Paul Art Crawl this weekend. Kara Hendershot, Kevan Willington, and Stephanie Guidera. This week we also add Rhea Pappas, an amazing artist in the Northern Warehouse and ceramic and glass artist, Lisa Mathieson, in the Tilsner building. See you there -- LAI

Rhea Pappas - Northern Warehouse

Photographer

(Interview)

Stephanie Guidera / Tilsner Bldg

Painter

(Interview)

Kara Hendershot / Northern Warehouse

Painter

(Interview)

Lisa Mathieson / Tilsner Building

Ceramic and Glass

(Interview)

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