Local Art Seen: Jean--The Inspiration Behind The Birkenstein Movement

Small wonder that Robin Washington ended up on the board of the Duluth Art Institute. His mother was an artist. And this fall, through December 3, Jean Birkenstein Washington's work is on display in the Morrison Gallery here at the Duluth Art Institute.

To fully appreciate this show, and by extension Robin Washington, a former editor of the Duluth News Tribune, it's helpful to understand the context of Jean's work.

Jean Birkenstein (1926-2003) was a Jewish artist who in the 1950s and 60s was active in the Civil Rights movement. Married to a black poet and the only non-white household on their block no doubt made for some interesting dynamics. Add to this that her house was a safe place where members of Chicago's leading gangs--the Vice Lords and the Cobras--would meet must have been unettling for the neighbors.

Jean was not only an officer for CORE and the NAACP, she led numerous protests and sit-ins for open housing and against de facto segregation in Chicago's public schools.

Of Jean Birkenstein, Jet Magazine described her as "an artist with a profound respect for human dignity.

"While a teacher at Marshall High School on the city's west side," Washington writes of his mother, "she became an 'ambassador' to the schools for two street gangs, the Cobras and the Vice Lords - the latter signing her on as card-carrying member. She turned her home into a community center for the gangs, an activity noted in a 1961 Jet magazine feature article about her that was illustrated with her paintings of African American and Native American slaves."

She also had a passion for animals, and when she passed was buried in a pet cemetery.

Part of the exhibit includes clippings of Jean's activities outside the studio.

Robin Washington as a youth. (I wasn't the first artist
to paint my children.)

In some ways the DAI show is more of a love tribute to a mom who was more than a mom, a remarkable woman to sought to make a difference in the broken world she saw around her. Washington remembers being five and six years old going to sit-ins with his mother.

Jean's paintings reflect her passions, Robin himself being one of them.

Much more can be said, but I will let some of the paintings do some talking. There is a LOT of work on display and the current show, in conjunction with the Minnesota Black Artists show on the landing, is worth your time to go see. And it's free.

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Related Links
My Mother’s Fight for Education Rights: The Story of Jean Birkenstein Washington
A brief bio As Remembered by Robin Washington
Renowned storyteller now leads Duluth Arts Institute

Local Art Seen: This Year's DAI Biennial Stretches Boundaries

Yuta Uchida, "Donburi

If you were unable to attend the annual Member Show Opening at the Duluth Art Institute in January, then you likely missed Vern Northrup's Akinomaage in the Morrison Gallery and the 2019 Biennial in the John Steffl Gallery on the 4th floor landing. Here are a few images from the 62nd Arrowhead Regional Biennial in the hopes that you will be enticed to check it out sometime soon. Of the 70+ submissions 26 artists were selected. Jehra Patrick was this year's juror and the winning submissions were original and noteworthy.

As the saying goes, "every picture tells a story" and many are quite pointed, speaking to contemporary issues with fresh imagery.

Juliane Shibata. "Daisies" . First Prize

"Daisies" (detail)

Richard Coburn "Christie" // Kip Praslowicz "Dunlap Island"

Karen Owsley Nease "L'Origine du monde - day"

Robb Quisling  "Ice Knot"

Thomas Rauschenfels . "#MeToo"

Larry Turbes . "Released"

The list of artists whose work is featured in this show include Andrew Amundsen, Shelley Breitzmann, Patricia Canelake, Soojin Choi, Richard Colburn, Wynn Davis, Matt Drissell, Lisa Gordillo, Richard Johnson, Stefanie Kiihn, Jennica Kruse, Araela Kumaraea, Dale Lucas, Eric Mueller, Karen Nease, Cathryn Peters, Kip Praslowicz, Robb Quisling, Thomas Rauschenfels, Wendy Rouse, Juliane Shibata, Larry Turbes, Yuta Uchida, John Ulrich, Kimberlee Whaley, and Joshua Wilichowski.

For what it's worth, you can still see the Member Show in the Great Hall through next Sunday. The Biennial will remain on display into March.

Meantime art goes on all around you. Get into.

Local Art Seen: Sandbeck and Villiard Explore Issues Surrounding Endangered Species and Endangered Lifestyles Portrayed

Ellen Sandbeck (left) with Moira Villiard

Friday evening the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) paired two disparate artists in what might appear to be disparate themes under the single heading, Endangered. Upon deeper inspection the two bodies of work share the same root, an exploration of our impact as people on the lifestyles of Native peoples and our impact on the more vulnerable creatures of the animal kingdom.

Both artists have been making an positive impact with their art, and I was intrigued when I learned they were doing a joint show. Moira Villiard's paintings captured my eye from the first time I encountered them at a PROVE Gallery show a few years back. She's an emerging artist worth watching with a lot of future ahead of her. I've been following Ellen Sandbeck's work since the 1980's and the paper-cutting technique she's developed produces work that is jaw-dropping in its ornateness and beauty.

"Niu Ox" -- Conservation status: Vulnerable

Few people realize that Ellen at one time produced books of stencil patterns for Dover Books when she was younger. Her skills and interests have been diverse as have been the directions in which she focuses her creative energies. An author of several books on topics as varied as Green Housekeeping, worm wrangling and horticulture, her special skill producing paper cutouts is most noteworthy. One can see that although making stencil patterns fell to the background, the skillsets involved never went away.

"Interconnected" -- Moira Villiard 

Like any polymath, her wide-ranging interests intersect and produce permutations such as the incorporation of animalia from the Chinese zodiac. A couple years ago her worm business (worms assist in composting and produce organic food for plants) brought her to Southeast Asia on a business trip. Similarly, her daughter currently lives in China, and these influences have been absorbed by the ever-developing artist. Her own natural ability to focus and her attention to detail make the work she is now producing quite striking. And she's shows no signs of slowing down.

It was fun overhearing a few people making comments indicating their awe at the detail in Sandbeck's pieces. But both artists have this as their primary aim: to make people think about what we as a culture have been doing, how we are endangering animal species and lifestyles.

Endangered opened Friday in the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center. One side of the room feature Ellen's paper cut depictions of endangered species. On the other side, Moira's illustrations depict the history of wild ricing and delve into what’s at stake in terms of a way of life in the face of sulfide mining. The exhibit will be on display through the end of August.

"Waterways" by Moira Villiard

"The Chaos of Ghost Fish" -- Moira Villiard

"Protect Water" by Ellen Sandbeck

Giclee reproductions also available for both artists' work.
Ellen Sandbeck pieces displayed here. 

Related Links
Getting Real: New Work by Moira Villiard
An Introduction to Painter Moira Villiard
Ellen Sandbeck's Buddha-A-Day Project (2013)
Ten Minutes with Ellen Sandbeck (2008)

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

Ten Minutes with Joe Nease on the New Gallery and Transition to Duluth

When Joe and Karen Nease moved to the Twin Ports from Kansas City they wasted no time throwing themselves into the dynamic art scene here. Unlike Alice in Wonderland, who was clueless as regards where she was going (see opening of Friday's post on Purpose), the Neases gave the impression they knew exactly what they were look for. Karen soon had work in the 60th Arrowhead Regional Biennial (2014) and her first solo show, Found Horizons, at the Duluth Art Institute in 2015. Meanwhile Joe was on task with his own project, to find a suitable space that could be renovated for a new top drawer Duluth art gallery.

This fall the doors officially opened for the Joseph Nease Gallery, the vision realized. Here's an introduction to Joseph Nease, a welcome addition to the Twin Ports arts scene.

Local media coverage, opening of Joseph Nease Gallery in October.

EN: What prompted you to start your first art gallery in Kansas City and when?

Frazada, Eric Sall

Joseph Nease: After Karen graduated from Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) in 1995, we started going to KCAI "end of semester" student shows. From there we met more KCAI professors who had exhibits in odd places about town such as empty buildings; the same thing that happens in Duluth and Superior occasionally. By 1997, I learned of some really good artists that did not have gallery representation but that I felt deserved a good place with good lighting to show. We took a trip to New York City in 1997 -- in part to see as many galleries as we could -- so I could make a decision as to whether I thought I could run a gallery. I decided I could. We bought a building in what is called the "Crossroads" district of Kansas City and we opened in September 1998.

EN: Once you made the decision what were your first challenges and how did you address them?
JN: There were a lot of practical things. During renovation of our building - someone suggested we put plywood behind the drywall so we could hang anything - that turned out to be a great suggestion. How do we promote ourselves was another issue, and back then, build a mailing list. Mailing lists could be purchased, but expensive, so we developed ours organically over time. In Kansas City there is a significant contemporary art infrastructure with collectors and collecting institutions - that certainly helped. Biggest challenge turned out to be being open during the time when 9/11 occurred, September 11, 2001. In the 2 1/2 years we were open after that, collectors and institutions became understandably conservative and the number of visitors and the ability to sell work dropped off.

Joe Nease (left) at the October opening.

EN: What did you see as your mission initially? How has that evolved?
JN: The initial idea in KC was somewhat simple - provide a quality place to show the work of local, deserving artists, and get our exhibitions reviewed by art critics (which we did, but difficult now with the split media landscape). Besides sales which helps the gallery and the artists, one thing I try to do today that I did not specifically do in the first gallery was try to advance the careers of our artists; some of which are the same as I showed in KC, but whom are now much more experienced and for whom career advancement (national press, getting noticed outside of the lower midwest, being in a museum collection, etc.) is important now.

No Place Like Utopia, Matthew Kluber

EN: Your KC gallery was featured in some prestigious magazines. How did that come about?
JN: Four of our shows in the period 1999 to 2004 were covered in Art-in-America (A-in-A) magazine. Although primarily centered on the New York art market then, A-in-A had regional reviewers in larger cities around the country including Kansas City. The art critic of the local newspaper, the Kansas City Star, was one of those reviewers. If my gallery or another venue had an exhibit of interest to both our local critic and the magazine, then there was an opportunity to be reviewed in A-in-A. The opportunities to appear in a national magazine still exist today but are more difficult to accomplish with the loss of art critics from local newspapers.

EN: Moving your gallery from Kansas City to Duluth has been a fairly major undertaking. What were your primary motivations?

"ticket" by Kathy McTavish

JN: Moving to Duluth was not motivated by having a gallery here, but rather by the natural beauty, the respect for the land, the politics, ease of making some good friends, etc. that we found here. We started visiting northern Minnesota even before our Kansas City gallery was open, but it took a long time to actually make the move. After moving here in 2013, I have been involved in the visual arts here by attending exhibits, supporting some of the artists with purchases of work, and for a time being on the Board of the Duluth Art Institute. For a year or so before opening the gallery here this October, I started thinking about having a gallery again for some of the same reasons as before, and because I wanted to share my artistic vision of presenting a different type of gallery in Duluth that I did not think existed here.

Re-formed curve, Warren Rosser

EN: What was your selection process for the artists you have chosen for your inaugural show?
JN: Obviously, Duluth is smaller than Kansas City and I was not thinking of having a completely local roster as some of the other galleries here already provide that function. I had worked with and been acquainted with quite a few artists from outside the region from my previous gallery. There were certain of these artists that I wanted to work with again, whose work I thought would be of interest here, and who would appreciate being seen by a different audience. Some of these I learned, had family in Minnesota, or even traveled to Duluth each year and so this was not a remote location to them. I also had in mind some local artists that I thought were a good fit with my overall program. Our inaugural show which is still up through January 6, is really two shows. Three States, which features two artists I knew before, and one local artist -- Kathy McTavish whose work I have followed and appreciated. The other show is Other Works, which is a sampling of work by the other artists I am planning to work with including another local artist, photographer Tim White.

EN: What do you have planned for 2018?
JN: Thank you for asking. Our first show of 2018 will open February 10 entitled "Sweep" and will be a show of quality painting with major paintings by our gallery artists that are painters, and by several local and regional invited painters. There will be nearly 20 artists in this exhibit about painting. Remainder of the schedule is not set in stone yet, but we will do something that relates to Earth Day and Homegrown, and this summer have a show by James Brinsfield. Since we have the main gallery space, and some smaller gallery areas, we may exhibit more than one show at a time as we develop our schedule in this first year.

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If you've not yet been, the Joseph Nease Gallery is located near the corner of First Street and First Avenue East in Downtown Duluth. You can read my 2015 interview with Karen Nease here.

Learn more: visit www.josephneasegallery.com/

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Lizzard's In Duluth

Did a little walk-through last week. Snapped a few photos. Next time you're passing by, stop in and say hello. There's plenty to see.

Looks like Terry Millikan is here.

A Wendy Rouse exhibition is slated for fall I believe.

Vibrant.

Bob Pokorney has some work on view here.

Brent Kusterman's world.

11 West Superior Street

Art in all mediums. Don't just peer in the window. Step inside and look around.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it!

Local Art Seen: AICHO Galleries Hosts Winter Good Life Art Market

Black Friday is over, finished and done. Turn the page. Today it's Small Business Saturday.

I didn't pay much attention to the ads in Thursday's massive newspaper, yet I did notice that SiiVii's in Canal Park and Art in the Alley were listed in one of the notices for Small Biz Saturday here in Duluth. Another happening today is the two day celebration at the AICHO Galleries at 202 West 2nd Street. The event is called Biiboon Bimaadizimin -- Winter Good Life Art Market!

If you are out and about, the former YWCA downtown is one of the places you'll want to stop into today. If you're buying gifts for friends or family, local artists and artisans are producing all manner of things that you won't find anywhere else. Buy local. I found a few things and will probably covet a few more.

They also had some refreshments yesterday, slightly underpriced, and overly delicious. I was unable to restrain myself and scarfed down some yummy chili and fry bread. Spoiled my appetite, but it felt good anyways.

Here are some images from my visit to the AICHO Galleries yesterday afternoon.

Joyce LaPorte's dolls, Kay Archer's jewelry and textiles, Leah Yellowbird's exquisite paintings (her work goes for thousands, but she has produced a number of bite-sized pieces that are affordable and suitable for any home), Katie Rider's Fiber Arts, Jonathan Thunder, Karen and Wendy Savage, and many others whose work has become familiar to me. Slats Fairbanks, from the Chippewa Tribe in RedLake, had a nice selection of drawings and pictures in the far end of the room. A wide variety of functional art can also be purchased.

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

Karen McTavish: Pushing the Boundaries of Quilting

In August and September I followed, and participated some, in the Duluth Quantum Computing Project at 3 West on Superior Street. The project was the brainchild of Kathy McTavish, whose work I have written about on numerous occasions, who continually surprises me with the new territories her art and expressions explore. For two months the site became a collaborative workspace that attracted others in our local arts community, with a number of them leaving something there on display. One of these was a large multi-colored quilt by what turned out to be Kathy McTavish's sister Karen.

While visiting one afternoon I listened to a conversation between Kathy and another woman regarding this quilt. They were discussing how influential and original Karen's work had become, so much so that a quilting technique has been named after her called McTavishing.

Naturally I felt obligated to learn more and last week visited her studio on 8th Street, in part because of this discussion and in pat because of an upcoming art opening I'd been invited to, an unusual group show involving her and a number of other quilters called st1tch... red.

EN: How did you get into quilting and what were you doing previous to that?

Karen McTavish: By the time I was 32 years old I realized working in accounting was something that would never make me very happy. I was not very good with math and the office cubicle seemed to be a death sentence for me. To make a long story short, I got into quilting because I could be self-employed and not have a boss. I liked the idea of being creative, but had no idea how to quilt, so the road block was mountainous.

EN: What brought you to Duluth?

KM: I came to Duluth to live at the Washington Art Studios in 1997 from a 2 year stay in Los Angeles where I met my end in accounting. The goal was to make a living for my daughter and I while living in the studio, doing something I had never tried: quilting. I didn't know any quilters. I had never sewn anything and was faking every second. I literally came to Duluth to quilt. My first quilting machine arrived 4 days after I arrived with my U-Haul. I met my first quilter, named Cheryl Dennison, who lived in the studio doing modern abstract quilting. Ironically, we are still working together in my retail space after almost 20 years.

EN: What is it that makes quilting so fascinating?

KM: There is something about quilting that taps into the part of your mind that feels productive, therapeutic and creative. Like writing music or performing on stage. When I first moved to Duluth, I went to the local library to learn everything I could about quilting. This was well before you could "google" anything so I had to learn the old way -- by reading books. I became a junkie of traditional designs. I found comfort in the traditional methods of quilting -- mostly hand-quilting. I was not a hand-quilter, I was quilting by machine. In 1997 in Duluth, machine quilting was a four-letter word. I was told when I arrived that no one likes machine quilting. I was basically told that if I didn't create work that looked like the Amish, it was garbage. I started to develop my style of quilting based on extremely traditional design elements that found my comfort zone. There is so much useless information in my head about music and quilting. I am fascinated by music and it moves me more than anything else I have ever encountered. When I started machine quilting as a business, music became a companion to the art. I can't quilt with silence, I always have music playing in the studio. I play music so loud sometimes that people will walk into the studio and I have no idea they are there watching me quilt.

EN: There is a technique named after you. What makes the McTavishing style or method unique?

KM: Being isolated from the rest of the quilting world helped me develop a style that is my own. I kept fresh by not comparing my work with others. I felt I had to push the genre into the world of hand-quilters and, most of the time, created from a part of my gut that said my work didn't suck. It's a style of quilting which looks very free flowing, similar to moving water. I didn't name it, the internet did. I originally called it "Cartoon Wonder Woman Hair" but the internet changed it to "McTavishing." As a Duluthian, it about killed me to accept that my last name was now a quilting style. I never thought my legacy would be a quilting stitch or quilting in general.

EN: What prompted you to write your book, Mastering the Art of McTavishing?

KM: This was my second book. My first book was called Whitework Quilting. My publisher, OnWord Bound Books, Duluth MN, wanted to do a soft cover DVD style book with lots of high resolution photos of stitches. The book was one of the top most purchased craft books on the market for some time. My love for books goes back to when I wanted to know "how" to quilt and needed visual examples of quilting. I wanted a book completely dedicated to "stitches." My publisher was open to publish any ideas that I came up with and we have 7 books that went to print.

EN: Tell us about your upcoming show at the Red Herring.

KM: My first love is music. I am a vocalist for projects here and there in Duluth. I have a signature deep voice which is rare in female vocalists. I have a powerful scream, which I find lovely. There is quite a juxtaposition from my quilting career to my musical tastes.

The show at the Red Herring is called "st1tch : : : red" and the website for the show is www.st1tch.io The show will hang for one month. It's a collaborative effort from the misfits of quilting, including myself, Cheryl Dennison, Frank Palmer, Alexander Kain, Scott Lunt and Kathy McTavish.

The reception is set for 11/12/16 from 5 to 8pm with all the artists at the Red Herring. Starting at 9 pm the multi media begins with Kathy McTavish, Reflectivore, Ire Wolves, and a one time event for the opening night, a sewing related performance piece with myself, Frank Palmer and Scott Lunt lead by Kathy McTavish. We will only perform this piece on stage once. I like to think the evening will revolve around tension, stitches and machine. The entire evening is about music, our machines we use to create and why the need is so profound. The music of the evening is a huge part of fiber art. The creation of music and stitches seem so natural. This is why we took months to create the work just for this exhibit. The individual pieces would never be accepted in a normal quilt show. Our tribe is the music scene of Duluth. As a whole, the pieces can be seen without judgement as they are far from traditional boundaries of fiber art. We trust our music community and they want the show to be fearless examples of our passion.

EN: To learn more about your work, do you have a website?

KM: Yes!!! www.mctavishquilting.com My gallery on my website is a detail of what I do and the public is welcome to walk into my retail space and see what we do at any time.

EdNote: The McTavish studio/retail space is located at 1831 East 8th Street adjacent to Benchmark Tattoo, kitty-corner from At Sara's Table. 


IF THIS TOPIC INTERESTS YOU, Karen McTavish's Mastering the Art of McTavishing is available here on Amazon.