Friday, November 30, 2018

Twin Ports Art Scene--December Happenings

Painting by Shawna Gilmore who, like Esther P. and I,
has work at Art on the Planet.
I woke thinking about how the days will continue to get shorter for three more weeks, and then the axis of the earth will reach its peak to begin moving back the other direction. Isn't it amazing how the universe is designed, with all these subtle transitions? What it the earth didn't turn and only one side faced the sun at all times? What if there were not moon and thus no tides generated by the gravitational pull of our nearest celestial body?

One reason many of us live in the Twin Ports is because of the proximity to nature here. No matter where you live you are walking distance to a park. Isn't that amazing? When we look up we can see the stars and the sky, unlike many people in larger cities.

* * * *
It's holiday arts and crafts season here. Here's a partial list of things that are happening tonight and through December.

Tonight, November 30, 2-9 p.m.
Saturday, December 1, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Lake Superior College Throw-a-thon, Lake Superior College Fine Arts Building, Ceramics Studio, 2101 Trinity Road, Clay is fun! Throw bowls for a good cause.

Tonight, November 30, 5-8 p.m.
Jazz @ Duluth Fine Pianos with Ryan Frane & Friends, Duluth Fine Pianos, 331 W. Superior Street (next to Starbucks!)
Saturday afternoon Jazz @ the Toga may be finished after a 30 year run, but jazz is not leaving the Northland. Duluth Fine Pianos is one plaze to get your jazz fix, and Oldenburg House in Carlton is another.
Stop by and say hi! Light refreshments will be offered.

Tonight, Nov 30 is the Downtown Duluth Art Walk. Between 20 and 30 gallery spaces and venues will be open to welcome you, including...

Tonight, November 30, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Through Our Eyes: Youth Photo Exhibition at the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center, AICHO, 202 W. 2nd Street
"The 2019 AICHO calendar is released alongside an exhibit honoring the Gimaajii youth whose photography is featured in it. Calendars will be available to purchase. $10 suggested donation. For more information, contact Moira Villiard at moira.aicho@gmail.com."

Yes, they are crayons.
Saturday, December 1st there will be numerous arts & crafts fairs in various places. At the Peace Church sale at 1111 11th Aenue East. Susie will have her Lego Crayons for sale with 100% of proceeds going to Damiano Center Kids Kitchen.

Tomorrow there will also be the Christkindlmarket 2018 in the Broadway Community Gardens kitty-korner from Red Mug in Superior, WI
and the Nice Girls of the North Holiday Marketplace in Lakeside.

ALSO on Saturday, Washington Galleries will have an O P E N  S T U D I O from 11 a.m. till 5: p.m.
Located on Lake Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street. C U there?

Monday, December 3, 5-7 p.m. will be the Opening Celebration for Matt Kania's DOing a Labor of Love, Paintings of artists and artisans doing what they love, Zeitgeist Arts Atrium, 222 E. Superior Street
This solo exhibition of paintings by artist Matt Kania will be on view from Dec. 3-Jan. 11.

December 5-January 2, Art on View
Esther Piszczek: Patterns, Superior Public Library, 1530 Tower Avenue
Esther will be drawing on the display window there where I first showed some of my Dylan paintings about ten years ago.

All this is just the beginning of the month!

To see a full schedule of activities for December, 
visit the Twin Ports Arts Blog 
twinportsart.blogspot.com/2018/11/art-in-december.html

Big Shout Out to Esther Piszczek 
for putting all this info together.
"May you live knowing all things are possible!" -- Esther Piszczek

FWIW Esther will be one of four artists at the
Down Home Creators Holiday Sale 
at my place on December 15.



Meantime art goes on all around you. Get into it.

Six Short Stories I've Migrated To Medium and How to Avoid Being Abducted by Aliens

"Remigio" -- Dr. Marten's Dyes on illustration board.
My apologies if the headline here sounds like clickbait. Here's the source. Matt Oman, a local artist whose shows I've written about before, had a piece titled, "I've Been Abducted By Aliens. How Do I Tell My Parents?"

I love the whimsicality of that title. It fires up the synapses in my brain and ignites so many tangential lines of thought that I keep wondering how to share them all. If this were a writing prompt, what would be your first paragraph? 

Writing stories from prompts can be a fun way to engage the imagination. Several of my stories began with an incident or episode in a dream as the prompt. "Terrorists Preying" (below) vividly began that way. The story "Liz Mills" began with a single sentence, a remark by the main character. My YA novel The Red Scorpion began with a dream that wasn't fleshed out for another 15 years.

Medium is a social media platform populated by writers and readers. It's an interesting community. I've been involved since June and if you are a writer you may want to become familiar with it yourself. Here is a link to my profile page which has links to my articles, stories and poems. I don't really know where all this Medium activity will lead, but that's part of what makes it an adventure, the not knowing. When my first article was published 42 years ago I had no idea I'd eventually make a career of it.

Here are a few favorite short stories from my own catalogue. Feedback is always welcome.

The Gladiator
3 minute read
He was already numb, even before they called his name.
READ MORE

The Nose
6 minute read
The story begins with this quote from Rilke: “The fear that I may start screaming… the fear that I might betray myself and tell everything I dread, and the fear that I might not be able to say anything, because everything is unsayable…”

The crammed little bar sizzled with so much energy that it began to unsettle him. He wondered why he ever said he would meet his friends here.
READ MORE

Liz Mills
3 minute read
“We cannot afford to forget any experience, not even the most painful.” ~ Dag Hammaskjold
READ MORE

Terrorists Preying
25 minute read
“The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.” ~ Bruce Nauman

Although I’d been an art major in college — mostly painting and drawing — I became discouraged with it shortly after graduation and gave it up. I was living with my family on Long Island at the time and for some while afterwards I still visited the New York art galleries, making regular tours of the Whitney, the Guggenheim and the Modern.
READ MORE

The Empty Space 
10 minute read

What if reality is different from what we’ve been led to believe, from what we’ve always taken for granted? Sometimes I hear ideas so strange that I don’t even know how to process them.
READ MORE

An Unremembered History of the World
22 minute read

When we speak of history, we must always remind ourselves that we are speaking only of “history as we know it.” The task of historians to document, revise and debate the events and meanings of events in human history is a daunting one, even when simplified to contain only that which is known. (By known, I mean known by the human race in our specific line of experience from Adam to the present.)
READ MORE

Meantime life goes on all around you. Engage it.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Robert Llilegard and the Duluth Grill Cook Books: A of Pair Delicious Projects

One of my favorite Yogi Berra-isms is, "No one eats there any more because it's too crowded." Truth be told, we still love to eat there. We just pick a time when we believe it won't be as crowded as usual. (By "there" I mean the Duluth Grill, of course.)

In the old days, before it was even an Embers, it was a place where people met friends to smoke cigarettes, drank coffee and complain about the weather. Eventually it became part of the Embers franchise, but didn't change all that much, until Tom and Jaima Hanson took hold of it and gave it a shake. It's hard to believe what an influence "vision" can impart. Today the Duluth Grill is a model of community service and influence.

At its heart is a commitment to locally grown, and Green values. They have gardens on the grounds and on the roof. They are serious about their values. The artwork on the walls is local as well, supporting the local arts scene in a variety of ways. A few years ago one of my paintings at Pineapple Arts was sold, but they did not say who the buyer was. A few months later I saw my Man with a Hooked Nose on the wall at Duluth Grill.

This spring I noticed it was moved. Then I learned it was sold so someone from Japan. Fun!

Tom Hanson has since opened two new restaurants in the Lincoln Park district, each distinctive and each quickly embedded in the life of the community.

Another member of this community who is connected to the Duluth Grill story is Robert Lillegard, a writer and entrepreneur, co-owner of Duluth's Best Bread and founder of Be Our Guest PR. Lillegard paired up with photographer Rolf Hagberg to produce a Duluth Grill Cook Book which sold well enough to encourage Tom Hanson to produce a sequel. I wanted to learn more about this aspect of Lillegard's creative endeavors, having first met him through the Twin Ports Social Media Breakfast where he has been a speaker.

EN: How long had you been writing about food before you wrote the first Duluth Grill Cook Book?

Robert Lillegard: When I was 8, I wrote in a journal about trying my first "omlit" on the airplane. My career sort of took off from there.

EN: What’s the backstory on the Duluth Grill Cook Book? How did you come to hook up with Tom Hanson (owner of Duluth Grill) to take on this project?

RL: I had written about the Grill for several magazines and Tom asked if I would be interested in doing a cookbook. The wheels began to turn...

EN: There are a number of talented photographers in the Northland? Did Tom put you and Rolf together or had you worked with Rolf previously?

RL: Rolf worked for Duluth~Superior Magazine and I always liked his work, so I figured he'd be the guy to partner with. Turns out I was right.

EN: The book is delightfully visual. How much were you involved in page design and layout?

RL: I designed everything myself. Wait, is designer Rick Kollath going to see this? If so, let's put that he designed it. My main role was arguing that the photos should be bigger. Call me a rube, but I like big food photos.

EN: You also did a second cook book for Duluth Grill. Have you done other cook books?

RL: The Copper Hen Cookbook

EN: You once described the process doing fast turnaround books. These obviously require many more decisions. How long did the first take from start to finish?

RL: Just over a year.

EN: If a restaurant wanted to reach to perhaps do a project like this, what would be your process for making it happen?

RL: First we talk about who you are as a restaurant and what you stand for. We also take an honest look at your platform, because if you're tiny, you won't have enough people buying your book to make it worth it. Then we gather recipes, interview you and write some background information, and bring in a photographer to take pictures. We design it and print it and then it's time to market and sell it!

I'm at robert@beourguestpr.com and www.beourguestpr.com

Related Links
Duluth Grill: Getting Noticed 
Minnesota's Top Breakfast Restaurant. Go team!

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Join Us @ the Down Home Creators' Holiday Sale

There will be lots of places and spaces where you can find original gifts and goodies to purchase and share with loved ones this holiday season. Consider this your invitation to stop by the Newmans' Studio Spaces in Solway for the

Down Home Creators Holiday Sale.
Saturday, December 15 
11 AM – 4 PM  

Arts and Crafts by Susie Newman, Esther Piszczek, Theresa Hornstein and Christina Iverson. Plus a warm fire and good cheer. Featured items here will include, but not be limited to:

Esther’s Zentangle®-inspired and decorated pottery, note cards, ornaments and more. She will also be signing copies of her Patterned Peace coloring books.

Theresa will have a variety of ornaments, felted, eggs, and vintage. ecoprint silk scarves. felted pins. and yarn.

Susie’s specialty crayons, goose feather quill pens, Susie’s Cards and Artvelopes, art collage gift bags and tags, hand printed wrapping paper, and a few produce items that may be available such as dill, purple potatoes, rum-infused raspberries. (Yummm!)

Plus items from Christina’s Picture Book Boutique.

I myself will have special holiday-priced copies of my book Unremembered Histories: Six Stories with a Supernatural Twist.

* * * *

100% of the proceeds from the sale of Susie's Specialty Crayons will go to the Damiano Center's Kids Kitchen. READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

* * * *

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO OUR FACEBOOK EVENTS PAGE


DIRECTIONS
4042 Sandberg Road, Solway MN 55810

Coming from Proctor on Hwy 2: Sandberg Road is 1.8 miles past the light at Midway Road. Turn right at yellow house where the highway doglegs left. Newman house is 4th (and last) house on the right.
Coming from Miller Hill Mall: Go West on Maple Grove Road. Sandberg Road is 1.5 miles past the roundabout at Midway Road. Turn left on Sandberg and our house is the first house on the left. There will be balloons or something festive on the mailbox.

BOOK SIGNINGS
Esther will also be signing copies of her coloring book, Patterned Peace
I will be signing copies of my discounted Unremembered Histories.

Here's more of what you will find:
Quill Pens with real goose feathers.
Theresa's Designs. (Hand not included.)
Theresa's kitties are kute and kollectible.
Art that is both decorative and functional. (Theresa's scarves)
If nothing else, just come to see the Lego® crayons.
Specialty Cards and Artvelopes
Esther is branching out in new directions every year. Come see the latest.

One more reason to visit... 
Because we would like to see you, too.

* * * *
EdNote: Can't make it to our Down Home Creators sale, Susie will have a booth at the Get It Local Art & Gift Fair at Peace Church this coming Saturday, from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. Peace Church is located at 1111 No. 11th Avenue East. 

For everything else that's happening in the arts bookmark Esther's Twin Ports Arts blog. 

Monday, November 26, 2018

The Flight: Dan Hampton Chronicles Charles Lindbergh's Sensational Transatlantic Crossing

This past week I finished Dan Hampton's The Flight, a re-telling of Charles Lindbergh's historic trans-Atlantic crossing in The Spirit of St. Louis. The author was himself a pilot who has earned numerous medals for his distinguished service as a pilot, which clearly contributed to his understanding of what Lindbergh must have experienced on his solo adventure.

There were several features of the book that helped maintain reader interest. Foremost of these was Hampton's intersplicing of historical context at various points along the journey. If the author had just told the flight portion without context, it could have left readers fighting sleep the way Lindbergh was fighting to stay awake during his flight.

There were many pieces of information that were new for me or had been forgotten. That Lindbergh did not catch up on sleep before leaving was interesting. By the time he landed in Paris he had been awake for 55 hours, no small achievement in itself. Instead of resting before the flight he decided to take in a Broadway play. The lack of sleep nearly cost him his life.

I was also unaware that Time magazine was inaugurated in 1927 and that Lindbergh became Time's first Man of the Year.

His nicknames were Lucky Lindy, the Lone Eagle and Slim, and the author chose to continually call him Slim as if they he and Charles were best buds.

It was also useful to learn about Lindbergh's childhood, what his parents were like and how they influenced the man he later became. I'd known that his parents were from rural Minnesota, but I did not know that his father had become a congressman who was opposed to the U.S. entering World War I.

Like a number of other famous people (Bill Gates and Steve Jobs come to mind) Slim also dropped out of college to pursue his passion, which in his case was flying.

Lindbergh bought his first plane for $500, which seems like a steal until you factor inflation into the cost. Today's price tag on that barnstorming machine would be just over $6200... still a pretty good deal.

The trans-Atlantic flight was a huge deal, though. Whoever made that first successful flight from New York to Paris or vice versa would be awarded a $25,000 reward called the Orteig Prize, nearly $360,000 today. Several pilots had already crashed and burned during the previous year, one French team only weeks earlier.

Lindbergh himself was unaware of how many people were following this journey once he was on his way. When he arrived in Paris more than 100,000 people met him at the airport. Souvenir hunters tore off pieces of his plane and stole his log book in the pandemonium that followed his landing.

It was also probably a wise decision to focus on the flight itself, the author giving only a cursory summation of the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh's son  (which newspapers called the crime of the century) and other post-flight events. The book focuses on the historic achievement and why Lindbergh was such a heroic figure in his time, though the fame it brought him led directly to that heartbreak.

If you can find it in you library it's called The Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing. If not, you can find it here on Amazon.

For What It's Worth Dept: There are several scathing reviews of the book on Amazon. Half are related to some technical information that only pilots would know. The author himself flew F-16s so maybe he missed a few details. I would not have known. One of the other negative reviews recommended acquiring Lindbergh's own book about the flight. Alas. I enjoyed the ride here. Not a Pulitzer for Literature but a great moment in history captured and shared.

What are your dreams urging you to accomplish?
Spread your wings and fly!

Sunday, November 25, 2018

My Take On Dylan's Disturbing Ballad of a Thin Man

If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.
―Nassim Nicholas Taleb


Photo credit:  Thom Cronin, courtesy Bill Pagel Archives
Symphony Hall, Newark NJ, October 1965
"Ballad of a Thin Man" is possibly one of Dylan's scariest songs. It's about as far from Pop 40 rock as you can get, the Beatles' "Help" being top of the charts around the first time he played this in August 1965. What's amazing is that he's still performing it more than a half century later. (See his recent set list of November 2)/ It's haunting, it's surreal, it's cruel, it's challenging, it's lascivious and it's a rebel yell against all conventions of the time... and maybe all time.

By age 24 Dylan had created a persona that was hip, taciturn and sharp, a tempered-steel blade thrust into the ribcage of contemporary culture. With a keen eye toward what was really happening, he presents us with imagery here that is altogether unsettling.

Only two years earlier he was a folk singer rubbing shoulders with the most influential of the breed. His songs of protest--against the military-industrial complex, on behalf of civil rights, against war--became the official language of the counter-culture. (See the last chapter of Ken Kesey's coast-to-coast tripping and traipsing in Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.)

When you listen to this song as first performed on his world tour with The Band, one is struck by a number of impressions. First, listen to that Attitude. How he gained this degree of inner power at such an early age is somewhat remarkable. Then again, that's what Highway 61 Revisited was all about. Attitude. From the opening rimshot on "Like a Rolling Stone" to the summation in "Desolation Row," we have something revolutionary here.

John Hinchey, in his Like A Complete Unknown, states that Highway 61 Revisited is Dylan's "first album as himself." Dylan the poet, musician and performer doing what he does, being who he is. I personally would place the trio of albums beginning with Bringing It All Back Home as the transition, though when you look back over a half century of permutations how can this man really be defined by any one period?

* * * *
It's been my desire to write about this song for ages it seems, but I've been reluctant to be candid as regards how I've seen it, in part because we generally don't talk openly about acid.

It's commonly assumed that Mr. Jones in this song represents the press, the "clueless gaggle of idiot questioners" (Hinchey) who shadowed Dylan wherever he went. But I don't see it that way. The clues are several and can be found in the bridge, stanzas four and five. He's someone who has money, who lets people know how much he gives to "tax deductible charity organizations." He's also educated. Reads the correct books, strives to put on airs. His affiliations include lawyers, professors. He no doubt has a high regard for himself, imagines himself a Somebody, with a captial S.

The story, though is found in stanzas 1-3 and 6-8. The narrator of this story, which features a fairly whacked out set of encounters within a singular moment of time, is directing the whole of it to Mr. Jones. "You walk into the room...."  And from the start it is chaotic, bizarre and what? What is this?

You see somebody naked and say, "Who is that man?"

Where are we here? A house? An apartment somewhere in the city? I envision a house or apartment with multiple rooms and a lot of people. And Mr. Jones is trying to keep it together, but his mind is thoroughly unhinged.  Someone else writes that it's a circus. Well, yes, but that's not where these scenes are taking place, even though circus metaphors abound.

Mark Gober, in his book An End to Upside Down Thinking, shares what recent research has been reporting about the effects of LSD on the brain. He notes how the brain works as a filter to restrict all the external inputs that continually bombard our five senses, thereby enabling us to make sense of the world. As Aldous Huxley wrote in The Doors of Perception, psychedelics "open the doors" or as Gober states, removes the filter.

Mr. Jones is having all these experiences thrust at him, and it makes no sense what is happening. Hence, the narrator keeps stabbing him with, "Something is happening but you don't know what it is..."

Hinchey, however, states that the narrator doesn't know what is happening either, but he's comfortable with that, with this swirl of unanticipated and uncontrollable events.

Verse two is the most telling as regards the frame of mind Mr. Jones is in. Each statement in response to the previous is nonsense. No one is communicating in any rationale way so that Mr. Jones finally flips out. "Oh my God, am I here all alone?"

Here are the lyrics, followed by a live performance from 1966 with The Band. As with all the songs recorded during this period, it's not just what Dylan says but how he says it, how he conveys it, that really floors you.

Ballad of a Thin Man

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’ll say
When you get home

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your head
And you ask, “Is this where it is?”
And somebody points to you and says
“It’s his”
And you say, “What’s mine?”
And somebody else says, “Where what is?”
And you say, “Oh my God
Am I here all alone?”

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, “How does it feel
To be such a freak?”
And you say, “Impossible”
As he hands you a bone

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations

You’ve been with the professors
And they’ve all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You’ve been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books
You’re very well read
It’s well known

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, “Here is your throat back
Thanks for the loan”

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word “NOW”
And you say, “For what reason?”
And he says, “How?”
And you say, “What does this mean?”
And he screams back, “You’re a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home”

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin’ around
You should be made
To wear earphones

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.;
renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music

Here's a 1966 performance. Note the organist's fingers dancing in response to each declaration by the singer. It's like the call-and-response style of Pentecostal preachers, pausing before delivering the next statement, giving the audience a chance to react. This is a much more disturbing sermon though. Something really was happening. But what?


If for some reason the video gets removed, visit:

Meantime life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Joseph Nease Gallery Opens "Color and Pattern" Show and Holiday Pop-Up Super Shop Today

Dramatic photo by Raissa Venables
Yesterday I stopped in at Joseph Nease Gallery to catch a glimpse of the new work that is on display. This weekend JNG is celebrating a new opening with work by three artists along with a special pop-up gallery featuring smaller scale affordable works by local artists. The opening for this New Exhibition and Holiday Pop-Up Super Shop is this afternoon with an artist reception on December 21. Next Friday will be the official Anniversary Celebration during the Downtown Art Crawl.

Photograph by Raissa Venables
The primary exhibition in the Main Gallery Space is titled Color and Pattern, featuring three mid-career artists from around the U.S.: photographer, Raissa Venables (Vermont), and painters, Marcus Cain (Kansas City, MO), and Eric Sall (Tulsa, OK). Each is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, and they know each other, though they work separately in different areas of the country, pursuing different subject matter and employing different processes to create their work. All three explore color and pattern in unique and stimulating ways; yet there are surprising visual intersections among the work they produce, which become apparent when these works are displayed together.

Raissa Venables' photography is distinctive and strong. Thematically her lens seems drawn to ornate, vivid textures with a central focal point that implies infinity and light. The images are always intriguing and captivating. Michael Cain and Eric Salls' paintings are equally engaging.

The “Holiday Pop-Up Super Shop” can be found in the Northwest corner of the gallery where you'll see a variety of pieces to fit most any gift-giving budget. These one of a kind, art pieces will be curated by the gallery with a rotating display of new works from week to week. There is more there than initially meets the eye. Be sure to rummage through the drawers of the cabinet.

To see what’s coming up each week, Follow @josephneasegallery on Facebook. Talk with one of the  gallery curators to find those meaningful and perfect gifts for the special people in your life!

Finally, November 30, be sure to join us at the gallery during the Downtown Duluth Arts Walk for a slice of birthday cake as we celebrate our One Year Anniversary of being open to the public!


Dates to remember:
“Color and Pattern” opens this afternoon with a special Artist’s Reception event with artist Marcus Cain on December 21, 5 to 8 PM during the Downtown Arts Walk.

“JNG Super Shop” also opens this afternoon with a selection of affordable, curated, one of a kind art, perfect for gift-giving and refreshed on a weekly basis.

One Year Anniversary Celebration, November 30, 5 to 8 PM in conjunction with this month’s Downtown Duluth Arts Walk.

About the artists in “Color and Pattern”:

Raissa Venables’ photographs are experiential visions of our environments, whether they are interior or exterior, mundane or opulent. At first glance they may seem to be realistic images or even entrances into existing places. Upon further investigation, a surreal and magical narrative unfolds with unpredictable nuances, distortions, twists and turns, all without a human presence.

Whether talking metaphorically within a painting's acknowledgment of the seemingly endless scale of the prairie or vast beauty of the empty desert, or literally referencing patterns and designs found in more urban environments, both street culture and the natural environment with all its grand vistas play a huge part of Eric Sall's upbringing and inspiration.

Marcus Cain paints with ceramic tools that he has specially modified in order to create patterns of distinct, opaque marks with a continuous hard edge. In his paintings, he creates layer, upon layer of these patterns, giving each 2D work a sense of greater depth as the viewer gazes into the spaces between each layer.


Kirsten Aune Designs
Artists participating in JNG Super Shop: Marie Rose Adams (gouache paintings), Alison Aune (acrylic mixed media paintings), Kirsten Aune (limited edition handbags and scarves), Tara Austin (Rosmaling works), James Brinsfield (oil paintings), Marcus Cain (acrylic paintings), Cary Esser (ceramic sculpture), Peter Granados (Marker drawings), Rachel Hayes (Instagram collages), Matthew Kluber (gouache paintings), Don Kottman (ink and colored pencil drawings), Adam McCauley (acrylic and Latex paintings), Kathy McTavish (print journals), Karen Owsley Nease (oil paintings), Heidi Pollard (gouache paintings), Warren Rosser (oil paintings and prints), Tim White (photographs), James Woodfill (mixed media drawings and collages).


Joseph Nease Gallery is located on the corner of First Avenue East and First Street.

Gallery Manager Amanda Hunter in the Pop-Up Su.per Shop 
There's more to see than initially meets the eye.

Meantime art goes on all around you. Get into it.

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