Seen/Unseen: Laura Pereira & Emily Gray Koehler

March 12 – April 20, 2012

Opening Reception

Friday, March 16, 6-9pm

Free and open to the public

The Minnesota Women’s Building Partnership and WARM are pleased to invite you to an exhibition of works by WARM members Emily Gray Koehler and Laura Pereira.

From Emily Gray Koehler

After earning a B.F.A. in printmaking from Grand Valley State University, my work has largely focused on humanity’s place in the environment. Seeking to develop a dialogue between the viewer and the natural world, I investigate the places I call home: North Woods and Great Plains, Farm and City, Michigan and Minnesota.

To see more of Emily’s work, visit her website and Facebook artist page.

From Laura Pereira

I grew up amidst the hustle and bustle of Chicago and spent summers in the quiet of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Drawing from these disparate environments, my work explores conceptions of what is natural.  Philosophical questions propel much of my art, particularly Thoreau’s ideas about the role of imagination in experience.

To see more of Laura’s work, visit her website and mnartists.org page.

To make an appointment to view the show outside of the reception hours, please call 612-567-9276 or email info@thewarm.org.

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Image: (l) Backswimmer, Laura Pereira, Encaustic and oil on paper, 2011; and (r) Zeal, Emily Gray Koehler, Color-reduction woodcut on paper, 2011.

Tags: Emily Gray Koehler, Laura Pereira, Minnesota Women's Building, Seen/Unseen, WARM exhibition

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Marcia Soderman exhibit at Coloplast

The Coloplast Corporation, a medical-technology company based in Denmark, has partnered with WARM to provide our artists with a unique opportunity to exhibit in their award-winning North American headquarters built in 2009. While the exhibits are private, they are seen by hundreds of Coloplast employees and visiting doctors and scientists every day. Coloplast has designated a beautiful architectural space for these exhibits, informally called the “WARM Wedge.” In selecting WARM to exhibit in their contemporary setting, Coloplast is providing WARM more visibility in the art world, while recognizing the high quality of work by WARM artists.

Marcia Soderman, WARM mentor and artist, is currently exhibiting a series of 13 paintings at Coloplast, curated by Bonnie Sather. The paintings are installed to create a progression from intensely-emotional works, through joyous images about experiencing Iguacú Falls, Argentina, to lighter toned paintings, evoking peace and serenity.

Exhibit dates: Feb. 1 – March 23, 2012.

Marcia describes how The Iguaçu Falls series came about:

“The Iguaçu Falls series is a response to a most beautiful place, the widest series of waterfalls in the world, with the thunderous roar of the falls, and prismatic rainbows in the mist everywhere you look. The paintings are, at once, about my sheer joy in being there; the sound of the constant roar; and also about the waterfall’s being reduced by two-thirds due to severe drought in Brazil in 2008. Fortunately, environmentalists could then go down into river basin to collect the trash tourists had thrown in the river, (thus the red ‘detritus’). Ironically, recent flooding has restored the water level. The water in the river basin is a bright red-orange due to iron, but it seems like ‘fire-water’ to me. And finally, it all culminates in a white mist.”

On right: images of Marcia Soderman’s exhibit at Coloplast.

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Marcia Soderman serves as a WARM board member and has been a WARM Mentor since 2008. Her work has been published in several art books, including International Contemporary Artists, Vol. 2, and Studio Visit, Vol. 9, and, by invitation, the cover and featured artist, of Exploring TOSCA, a Twin Cities arts magazine, Summer issue, 2011. You can see more of Marcia’s artwork by visiting her website.

Tags: Argentina, artwork, Coloplast Corporation, drought, Iguaçu Falls, Marcia Soderman, nature inspired, WARM board, WARM mentor, waterfalls

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Digesting Inspiration

WARM member Robyn Hendrix recently attended Giant Steps, a one-day, interactive conference of inspiring folks forging their own paths and designing their own vision of work and life. Robyn shares how the day filled her with food for thought and left her digesting inspiration.

Giant Steps: So much food for thought, my brain has a tummyache.  In a good way.

What is Giant Steps?  Giant Steps is a remarkable one day conference for creative entrepreneurs of all types, founded by Susan Campion of Camponovo Consulting and M.anifest.  It brings together creative professionals, artists, foodies, business owners, consultants, freelancers, nonprofit and/or arts administrators, musicians, dancers, photographers, filmmakers, and anyone else who wants to be at the table.

Better put: it is a fountain of insight from people you normally might not think to or have the opportunity to interact with in a professional way.  The variety of background and experience of people on the panels and as participants ran the gamut, from hip hop artists, to a eco-and health- conscious sex shop owner.  From Robyne Robinson (Fox news anchor, jewelry artist, recent political candidate, former gallery owner…), to a guy who started painting athletic shoes for fun as a teenager and turned it into a business.  You see a professional dancer on the same panel as the owner of a company two people big that makes bitters in Milwaukie.  Local spoken word artist Desdamona moderated a panel that included photographer Wing Young Huie who has documented the everyday faces of Lake Street, Frogtown, University ave, etc, along with Sameh Wadi owner of Saffron, a middle eastern restaurant in Minneapolis which has now branched out into the food truck biz.  Another plenary included stories from David “TC” Ellis about growing up with Prince, being on the streets, and eventually getting sober and founding “Hip Hop High.”   On the same panel we heard from May Lee-Yang, a Hmong writer and theater performer who made the excellent point that when people say Hmong actors aren’t as good as Guthrie actors, she responds “Yeah, no shit!” because the Hmong community doesn’t even have a long history of written language, much less have a history and background of theater to build from.  You start where you’re at.

What you take away from listening to these incredible people fills the spectrum:  Perseverance. Humility.  That it is possible to accept failure and move forward from it.  You can push through, and be a better person for the obstacles you’ve gone through.  Finding balance.  Staying true to your needs and vision.  Figuring out when to say yes, when to say no, and when you need a contract in writing.  How to do your friggin’ taxes.  How to think about currency, assets, and value in a new way.  How to get famous using the internet (apparently; I didn’t actually go to that breakout session, ha).  How to share your message.  How to explain why your message and project matters – who cares?  Why here, and why now?  Building relevancy.  Finding a collaborator who will push you to get to the next level, rather than just giving you praise & validation.  Making something together that’s better than what you could have made individually on your own.  Maintaining vision.  Remembering infinite growth is probably not really your goal.  Think more about slow growth.  Local growth.  Growth doesn’t have to mean expansion; it can mean digging in deeper to what you’re already doing, like Danny Schwartzman’s decision to literally dig in and build a garden behind Common Roots café and start a catering service out of their Lyndale Ave. location instead of expanding to a whole new restaurant in St. Paul.

Springboard for the Arts presenters Betsy Altheimer and Noah Keesecker challenged Giant Steps participants in the “New Funding Models for Creative Projects” breakout session to think about currency and exchange in a new way.  We were asked to create our own “dollars” that represented one item or skill we could share, and then find someone in the room who would either buy that thing/skill with a real dollar bill, or trade their own invented “dollar” (see photo at top right). I traded “one funky drawing that doesn’t make sense” for “supporting verbage: a good reason or rationalization for doing something.”  We were then asked to shout out our perception of how much value we held in our hands after everyone traded; answers got up well into the hundreds or perhaps above a thousand.

Other highlights & quotes:

“Take the leap because sometimes that freefall is what you need.”  -I’ve actually lost track of who said this; I think it was either Robyne Robinson or David “TC” Ellis

Hearing TC Ellis talk about trying to get Prince to give him a hand getting into the music biz by rapping in his face every time he ran into him at the club.

“Every time I thought I was bored I was actually really afraid of something [that I needed to do].” – Dawn Mikkelson.  This one hit me so hard!  So true.  She went on to say “I’m scared of it, that means I need to do it.”  I was having a lot of insight like this in the spring.  It’s so easy to become complacent again, or to move forward but then get caught up in things and lose focus or direction.

Many quotes from Robyne Robinson:  “I got 240 rejection letters before I got my first job.”  “If nobody wants this I’ll take it and make it into something incredible.”  “Fear is the mind-killer.”  “I did everything I could possibly do to get my foot in the door.”

“One of the challenges is I have too many passions.” – I Self Divine

“You’re blessed if you know what you want to do early in life.  And you’re also cursed because then you have to do it.” –Wing Young Huie

“Inspiration is for amateurs.” – Chuck Close, quoted by Wing Young Huie

“When you’re saying ‘I need money’ maybe what you really need to say is ‘I need barley.’” – My awesome friend Noah Keesecker from Springboard presenting with Betsy Altheimer, warping our brains about how to think about assets, value, and currency exchange.

“I don’t get out of bed without a contract.” – Nick Kosevich (the guy who makes bitters)

(Paraphrased) “You have to figure out how to get taken seriously even though you’re talking about buttplugs, and at the same time remember not to take buttplugs too seriously.” – Jennifer Pritchett, owner of Smitten Kitten

Also, running in to friends & colleagues I knew would be there, but also artists I’d never met in real life before (like Kate), as well as someone I’d met 9 months ago at a Springboard community art projects workshop who I also ran into again at Seward coop two days after the conference, and lots of new people who I hope to reconnect with in person and online in the future.

I think my brain is still digesting.  Which is okay; I don’t want it to fade away too quickly.  I’m content with ruminating on all of this for a long while.

Watch the Giant Steps video.

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Robyn Hendrix is a Minneapolis emerging artist who creates delicate, textured watercolor paintings of whimsical imagery inspired by landscape and nature. She serves as an exhibition committee co-chair for WARM. Robyn is also a social media maven and helps WARM on Twitter and Facebook. To see Robyn’s artwork, visit her website and follow her on Twitter at @robynhendrix.

Tags: artist collaboration, creative entrepreneurs, Giant Steps, inspiration, new currency, Robyn Hendrix, Springboard for the Arts, vision of work and life

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Craft Emergency Relief Fund for Artists

WARM member Chris Madsen recently attended an emergency preparedness workshop for artists presented by Springboard for the Arts. Here is what she learned about how artists can save themselves time and money by being prepared.

What happens to your art business if water seeps into your basement? What if it floods? What if an electrical fire destroys your studio next to your home? What happens if your kiln catches fire? What if your computer is stolen, with all your images? Your finances? Your mailing list? What happens if a tree falls on your home studio, after straight-line winds rip it up? What if a student is injured in your house while attending a workshop? What would you do first? Where would you turn?

Disaster Preparedness training: a topic both “boring and terrifying” according to CERF Director of Programs, Craig Nutt. While it’s human nature to want to avoid the issue, it’s in our best interest to address it before something happens. Actually artists today are much luckier than those in the past. First: thanks to the media, we’ve seen what really happens after disasters, whether hurricane, fire, flood or tornado. Forewarned is forearmed. Second: we have access to more resources than at any time in the past. It costs less now to protect ourselves in both time and money.

On October 6th, WARM, along with several other local arts organizations, was invited to attend a training session by the non-profit agency CERF, Craft Emergency Relief Fund. CERF was founded 26 years ago after an artist and an administrator participated in yet another pass-the-hat following a disaster. They decided to be proactive and pull together resources, grants and information ahead of time, to prevent what could be avoided and to offer immediate relief for that which was unavoidable.

The presentation on Thursday included before and after pictures of studios lost to disaster as well as video testimonies from artists, some of which are on the website, under “Artists’ Stories.” To make the subject even clearer, John Herbert, of Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, IA, came in person to talk about life after the 500-Year Flood of 2008. His organization escaped by being on an upper floor, so it was poised to help other artists cope, locate gallery venues and funnel donations totalling $18,000 in small grants to artists in need.

In 2007 CERF made a survey of 3,000 artists which revealed that 69% of working artists were not properly insured while 22% of them mistakenly assumed that their homeowner’s policy covered their home-based business.

For this training, CERF brought in an insurance agent to talk about property and liability coverage. The good news? A policy that cost $3,500 in 1994, costs $350 in 2011, for the same coverage. You can add a rider onto your homeowner’s policy to cover clients that come to your house, sometimes for as little as $12 a year. One day special event coverage can cost as little as $150. Insurance information is on the CERF website under the Studio Protector Online Guide; more information can be found on Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit organization that operates nationally to serve artists.

CERF’s Studio Protector Online Guide is loaded with essential information to both prevent disasters and to deal with them when they occur. You’ll find practical information, like how to salvage a wet cell phone or how to hold off mold from documents utilizing freezers until you have time to dry them. You’ll also find links to organizations that provide specific resources on finances, loans, insurance, outreach, advocacy, etc. They’ve attempted to keep this website lean and meaty, so it’s pertinent and useful, yet not overwhelming. It’s completely free to use.

For those who like hard copies, CERF also produced a resource called The Studio Protector available for $16, or at wholesale for orders of 10 or more. It’s an incredible piece, heavily designed to make maximum use of space. It broaches many of the essentials from the website in easy to understand graphics and text, covering a wealth of topics including evacuation, art, asset and archive protection, clean-up tips as well as physical salvage and e-salvage. It’s a joy just to open, spin and pull out the separate sections. There’s even a removable booklet to put 911 numbers, emergency contact and art contact information that you can fill out before trouble strikes.

This presentation was offered through Springboard for the Arts, an organization whose mission “is to cultivate a vibrant arts community by connecting artists with the skills, contacts, information and services they need to make a living and a life.” If you haven’t already become familiar with their work, now is a good time. Click on the link to check them out. Then, before you think about it too much, do two things: 1) click on CERF to start the process of protecting your art business. In Minnesota, we’ve seen what tornadoes and flooding can do. 2) Tell another artist or arts organization about these resources. Let’s make art disaster preparedness go viral!

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Chris Madsen is an artist who does Photoshop collage using antique photographs surrounded by needlework, symbolic and floral images; and makes tiny polymer clay houses with doors that open. Chris also has an art blog, Everyday Friends Art, and an Everyday Friends Art Etsy site.

Tags: CERF, Chris Madsen, Craft Emergency Relief Fund, disaster preparedness, Everyday Art Friends, Fractured Atlas, property & liability coverage, protect your art, Studio Protector Online Guide

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Call for art: 2012 Exhibitions of WARM members work

Venue: the Minnesota Women’s Building, 550 Rice St., St. Paul, 55103 (map)

Deadline for submissions: November 4, 2011 (see below for email, mail & delivery options)

Notification: Artists will be notified of acceptance and show dates the week of November 22nd, at the latest.

WARM is accepting submissions for a series of exhibits of two-dimensional art at the Minnesota Women’s Building in St. Paul. Exhibitions will be of six weeks duration, with two or three artists participating in each show. Artists will be selected by the WARM Exhibitions Committee. Every effort is made to pair up artists whose work complements each other and to select outstanding artwork from members who demonstrate a well-developed, cohesive body of work. This is a large building with lots of interior spaces in halls, offices and conference rooms. Applicants should have 10-20 artworks minimum that will be ready to show (framed, glazed or stretched canvas, wired with hangers). New or renewing membership can be purchased on the Membership page at the WARM website in order to be eligible for this exhibition opportunity.

Artist Responsibilities: Submitting artists must be WARM members and agree to a 30% commission from any sales going to WARM. The artists in each show are responsible for the cost of reception refreshments and the printing and mailing of postcards to the WARM mailing list, as well as their own mailing list. Artworks are on display at the artist’s own risk.

WARM support: The Exhibition Committee assists with installation and the reception. Assistance with postcard design and social media/web marketing is also available.

2012 Show Dates: You must include a list of which of these dates work for you in your application. The more dates you list open, the more likely we will be able to include you in this round of exhibits.

January 23 – March 2

March 12 – April 20

April 30 – June 8

June 18 – July 27

August 6 – September 14

September 24 – November 2

November 12 – January 4

To submit, please send:

• A cover letter with contact information and a list of which of the above-listed show dates you are available to exhibit. Check your calendars carefully and check all available dates.
• 10 digital images on a disc (no slides). Save your images as TIF or JPG files. File size should be no larger than 1920 pixels in either direction at 72 dpi. Images will be viewed by the committee on a computer screen. If you have questions about this contact warmexhibits@gmail.com.
• Image list with title, size, date, medium, any special hanging/installation requirements.
• Artist’s Statement (one page maximum).
• Résumé or Bio (two pages maximum).

Submission options: Physical submission materials will not be returned to the artist.

• Digital submissions can be emailed to warmexhibits@gmail.com with files included as attachments.
• Mail entry CD with all files and accompanying printed documents to: WARM, 550 Rice St., St. Paul, MN 55103 for receipt no later than November 4, 2011.
• Deliver in person to the Women’s Building during the opening reception for the final 2011 WARM show at the Women’s Building on the evening of November 4th between 5 and 8pm.

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April WARM Coffee @ American Craft Council

Ten WARM members gathered on Saturday, April 2nd to tour the library of the American Craft Council headquartered in Minneapolis. In August 2010, the Council moved their offices from Manhattan to 8,000 square feet of space in the Grain Belt Brewery building in northeast Minneapolis. What a rich fortune of resources for craft artists who live or work in the Twin Cities! The Council librarian Jessica Shaykett gave us a tour and told us about library resources. The library’s collection is non-circulating and reproduction services are available at a nominal fee.

What areas fall under the definition of craft? It includes book arts, business of craft, clay, craft organizations, education, exhibitions and shows, fiber, funding, galleries, glass, leather, mixed media, and wood.

The library maintains a comprehensive collection of print and visual materials on American craft with an emphasis on the period since 1940. The collection contains over 6,400 books, 7,000 exhibition catalogs, 700 bound volumes of leading periodicals, a substantial collection of artist files, videos and other visual materials. The library is also the repository  of the American Craft Council archives (1941-present), including those of the American Craft Museum (1956-1990) and archives from the library collection of the World Craft Council (1964-1980).

The library maintains a database and active files on craft artists who are ACC Gold Medal recipients, members of its College of Fellows, artists featured in Craft Horizons and/or American Craft magazine and selected others. Artists’ files include, résumé and biographical information; slides and photographs; exhibition flyers and catalogs; and clippings and other ephemera.

Jessica is the full-time librarian and is available to assist both members and the general public with reference queries, either in person or by mail, e-mail, telephone, or fax. You can also search the library catalog online at the Council’s website www.craftcouncil.org. The facilities include a public computer/scanner/printer/copier workstation, free wi-fi, slide and video viewing tools, and a spacious, comfortable research space. Jessica said the Council is currently working on getting most of their collection into a digital format, which will make online research all the more convenient.

Part of the enjoyment of this WARM Coffee event was having members find their own work in books in the library. Mimi Holmes found some entries in books, including this photo of one of her quilts., while Susan Huhn-Bowles found a sample of her work in a craft book. Jessica said that the Council is also beginning a summer salon series at the end of May and they are currently looking for local craft artists who would like to present. If you are interested in participating, you can contact Jessica Shaykett at 612.206.3118 or via email at jshaykett at craftcouncil dot com.

Jessica said she would like to see people use the resources available at the library as inspiration for ideas for their own projects.  Jessica also gave us complimentary copies of American Craft magazine; a top-notch publication with rich photographs of craft art,  informative articles and, as it states on the American Craft webpage,  “[t]he magazine celebrates the age-old human impulse to make things by hand, in order to communicate, learn, heal, and connect.” I think that’s a concept WARM members could get on board with! Take a moment to check out the magazine at thislink.

Public research hours at the library are Monday through Friday, 10a.m. to 5 p.m. They also offer library tours for classes and groups, just call 612.206.3100 in order to schedule a time. The offices are located in the Grain Belt Brewery building at 1224 Marshall Street N.E., Suite 200 with free parking across the street on the corner of 13th Street and Marshall St. N.E.

Tags: American Craft Council, Craft artists, WARM Coffee

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March WARM Coffee

25 WARM members gathered this past Saturday for a lovely time talking art with Patricia Olson and Carol Lee Chase at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at the University of St. Catherine.  Patricia Olson’s The Catherine Portrait and Carol Lee Chase’s The World Behind the World are both up until April 3rd if you weren’t able to join us.  Stop by the gallery and see these wonderful shows for yourself.

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Dow Building WARM Coffee

Yesterday 25 WARM members gathered at the Dow Building in Saint Paul to visit with WARM artists and see where their art is created. It was a cozy and inspiring morning of sharing knowledge- everything from dumpster diving for materials, the excitement many artists in attendance shared for animal skulls, trial and error with artist materials, how to apply to the State Fair fine art exhibition, safety- and community.

We started the ‘tour’ of the studios by visiting Debra Ripp’s studio where attendees saw her recent collage works and a series of drawings she is working on.

The next stop on the visit was to the shared studio space of Susan Farnham and Karen Searle. In Susan’s half of the space, the group enjoyed looking at her current work, oil paintings that have skeletons as the subject manner. Discussion revolved around Susan’s unique color palette, her interest in the skeleton as a subject matter, her work style and her exploration with new mediums.

In Karen’s studio the group was enthralled with her ambitious work involving the female figure in sculptural knitted forms. We even got to hold her knitted copper figures: one in process and one completed. These amazing figures take 3 weeks of work to complete and stand about 10″ tall. I am going to check out Karen’s book Knitting Art: 150 Innovative Works from 18 Contemporary Artists to see other artists working with knitting needles to create amazing art. I hear this book is available at the Textile Center if you wish to pick it up locally.

Our next stop was at the studio of Bettye Olson, where the group was enveloped in decades of Bettye’s work that was displayed on practically every surface of her space. She provided a brief and wonderful, albeit frustrating in realizing the struggle of women artists through the years, overview of the art world and her work within it. Bettye is a wealth of history of the Twin Cities art scene and is an inspiration to all as she creates beautiful paintings and monoprints.

Ann Popadiuk Larson’s studio is clean, organized, and a great place to view her oil paintings on reclaimed wood, which all have political undertones. Lively discussion ensued regarding her symbolism and the statements she makes. It was a great place to end our morning of exploration and discovery.

Thanks to all the artists who shared snacks, coffee, and their time with WARM members.

Join us next month when WARM Coffee brings us to the Rosalux Gallery to see the exhibition Visitation. February 5th at 10 am.

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Welcome to the WARM Blog!

Here at the WARM blog, read about upcoming and past events, learn artists’ stories, and discover how you can become involved with WARM.

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