Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
by Protégée Kate Renee
Jill Waterhouse and her four protégées Kate Renee, Barbara Bridges, Anne Kleinhenz and Jennifer Palmquist went on a fieldtrip on February 19th 2013 to the Minnesota Historical Society’s Library. There, they planned to view the Minnesota 2000 Journal Project.
The five of us sat in the library and poured over 46 volumes of personal artist journals filled with writing, pictures, illustrations, mixed media, collages and memorabilia. The artists and creatives participating in this project were to reflect on “the obstacles and opportunities, celebrations and concerns, and paths explored, on their journey through the year 2000.” This artist journal project was organized in 1999 by Linda S. Koutsky, Mark Odegard, Roslyn Stendhal and Eloise Klein. We also were able to look through a comprehensive portfolio that gave use some history and background to the project and to the artists.
Some of the artists’ journals had elaborate covers, wrappings and beadwork. Each one was a small green hand bound book with three signatures. Nancy Coger’s book had taped in dead wood ticks, a different artist’s book had plastic pages made of recycled packing materials, and another was completely sewn out of fabric. There were clipped pieces of human hair, dedications to great great grandchildren and indexes to just name a few memorable components found in these books.
This project was an honest place for artists to explore, write, record and express what they were going through during that period of time. It was great to see one artist express his hesitation within his journaling, John Coy wrote, “I had the feeling I should try to make it splashier, more colorful and I wasn’t sure what to do so I left it alone.” I am sure many of us artists have felt this way when trying to journal on our own. It was also very exciting to see the enormous variety between these books and learn that there really is no certain way that artists journals must be created.
As part of the WARM program, protégés are expected to journal or document their two year process. During our time in the library, we barely had the chance to view all the journals before our time was up! We were able to skim and page through the journals. We took pictures and notes and got a few new ideas too but were unable to sit and read all the journal entries. We all left extremely excited and had a lot of new ideas to begin working on our own journals.
Interested in seeking out these archives on your own? Check out the information from the Historical Society at this LINK. The Society’s library is open late on Tuesday evenings from 5pm until 8pm.
Interested in getting together with other artists to journal? Roz Stendhal and Suzanne Hughes host a free journaling evening gathering at Minnesota Center for Book Arts called the Visual Journal Collective. Head on over to the MCBA website and look under workshops for more information. Or check out the information Roz provides which lists the monthly topics discussed at each journal collective meeting.
Tags: Art Journals, Katie Renee, mentor program, MHS, Minnesota artists, protegee
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Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
WARM member Shari Zimmermann exhibits 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.
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Artist Statement
I find beauty in weathered surfaces that show a history of human touch and the evidence of time passed. Using acrylic paint, ink jet printouts, and sometimes stencils and stamps, I look for surprising results while experimenting with technique and color combinations. Little pieces of thought find their way into the picture through symbols and typography. Most of my paintings are about memories, long ago and recent, and they all tell a story.
I often rethink my painting in the middle of the process and recreate entire sections. Sometimes I start completely over an old painting of mine that I never liked, allowing textures from the hidden layers to become part of the composition. When I’m happy with the finished piece it feels like the company of a friend who has seen me through troubled times.
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For more information about Shari and her artwork, visit her online gallery.
Tags: Coloplast Corporation, Minnesota artists, Shari Zimmermann
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Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
WARM member Therese Krupp exhibits 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.
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Artist Statement
When buying her house in 2002 Therese also inherited a treasure trove of images from her previous residents- the Kristensen’s. Helen and Jens immigrated from Denmark in the 1950′s and monthly -a rolled up version of Danish Heaven came to them in the mail. Luckily, ” the day I came to help them pack -I was able to save them all from the trash heap!”
The print “As You Wish” was a newsprint coupon ad for a back yard swing set . The title is from the movie Princess Bride…the man serving the ice tea could be saying it… With the ” The 1967 Duplex” I was shocked when I found the image. That these monstrosities existed in 1967 surprised me. And that it was called the Duplex was perfect. ” The Pollination Schedule” is a playful commentary on the life of a honey bee when all the flowers are in bloom.. With the print ”I Must of Counted at Least …58 So Far!” its with a remembrance of the crow flocks (also called a Murder) that one could see last Fall in South Minneapolis.
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For more information about Therese and her artwork, visit her mnartists.org page and Highpoint Center for Printmaking page.
Tags: Coloplast Corporation, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota artists, Therese Krupp
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Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
WARM member Deborah Vander Eyk exhibits 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.
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Artist Statement
The styles I seem to be drawn to are Abstract Expressionism, Impressionistic Painting and Traditional Photography.
I have a tendency to create art forms using color, different textures and soft lines to convey feelings and thoughts. These images seem to speak to an audience at an unconscious level inducing more of an individual reaction. As an artist I continue to develop within these styles.
My academic education began during the early 1970’s in Central Minnesota and Wisconsin. I was able to study under a variety of scholarly abstract artists and photographers. This provided an opportunity to experiment with watercolors, acrylics, photography and mixed media.
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For more information about Deborah and her artwork, visit her mnartists.org page.
Tags: Coloplast Corporation, Deborah Vander Eyk, Minnesota artists, Rachel Carson
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Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
WARM member Rochelle Woldorsky exhibits 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.
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Work Statement
These assembled photos are of the Hudson River in New York State. They are shot from a moving train, often through smudgy windows. This is a train trip that I have made many times… always photographing out the window and sketching in my notebook to record favorite views, changing weather and light conditions. It’s landscape on the run as I am unable to stand in one spot and carefully position myself for a photo composition. In printing I leave all the imperfections such as flash spots, fuzziness, in and out focus to allow a more impressionistic image to emerge. The landscape itself is so compelling that it comes through the rough edges. From a moving train with constantly changing views it is possible to be captivated by the stillness of a scene, to isolate it but also feel the drama of the larger panorama. This is what I am attempting to present with these works.
I put two images together; the Mississippi River viewed from the windows of Coloplast on the opposite wall where my photos of the Hudson River were hung was an interesting juxtaposition (see image at top right).
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For more information about Rochelle and her artwork, visit her mnartists.org page.
Tags: Coloplast Corporation, Hudson River, Minnesota artists, Mississippi River, Rochelle Woldorsky
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Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
WARM member Bettye Olson exhibits 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.
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Still in love with painting after more than 60 years, Minneapolis artist Bettye Olson, 83, is a living monument to hard work and steady vision. A pioneering feminist, Olson founded the West Lake Gallery in 1964, and the artist-run Minneapolis cooperative persisted for 20 years. Her new painting show spans nearly six decades, from her college days at the University of Minnesota (1941-1945) to her most recent watercolors of swirling ocean whirlpools. Throughout, Olson honed her own style of colorful, upbeat imagery under the inspiration of nature and the experimental techniques of 20th-century abstractionists. (Source: Star Tribune, Mary Abbe, Nov. 2006).
Bettye is a native of Minnesota and a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. She received a Masters Degree in art education at the University of Minnesota in 1949. She taught art at the University of Minnesota, Concordia College (St. Paul), Augusburg College (Minneapolis) and founded the West Lake Gallery (artist-run cooperative) in 1964 where she studied art under Jo Lutz Rollins. Bettye has shown in national watercolor exhibitions and has exhibited in Sweden, Finland and Italy along with her regular regional exhibits. She served as the artist in residence at Holden Village in Chelan, Washington and her work is in the collections of the Minnesota Art Museum in Swede, Kuopio Art Museum in Finland and Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. She maintains a studio in the Dow Building in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Source: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church website, library art collection).
Bettye describes her Red and Greens watercolor (at right): “After creating flower paintings in watercolor every way I could conceive; this was a change in medium, size and abstracting the forms.”
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For more information about Bettye and her artwork, visit her mnartists.org page. To see a 1965 photo of artists from the West Lake Gallery (including Bettye, she’s in the top row, middle), click this link to the Minnesota Historical Society’s Visual Resources Database.
Tags: Bettye Olson, Coloplast Corporation, Dow Building, feminist art, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Jo Lutz Rollins, Minnesota artists, West Lake Gallery
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