Artist Interviews: Best of 2012 (Part II)

The author w/ Rosvall Eyeglasses

It appears that these year-end compilations of artist interviews are becoming an annual event. I have certainly spoken with a lot of interesting people. I've also learned much and it has been my privilege to share their insights and experiences with a wider audience. Here's part two of my 2012 artist interviews, a small collection of examples as to why the Twin Ports arts scene is so vibrant right now.

Fruit from a Long Dialogue with Artist Ann Klefstad

Ann Klefstad (Part 2)

Ann Klefstad (Part 3)

Eight Minutes with Richard Hansen and the DuSu Film Festival

Eight Minutes with Northland Painter Aaron Kloss

Ten Minutes with Artist Wanda Pearcy

Eight Minutes with Artist Morgan Pease

Heino Magic

Eight Minutes with Artist/ Water Advocate Tonya Borgeson

Eight Minutes with Artist Wynn Davis

Spotlight on Photographer John Heino

John Heino (Part 2)

Five Minutes with Minnesota Artist Patricia Canelake

Jen Dietrich’s American Iconography

Ryan Tischer Discusses Washington Gallery and Artist Collective

David Moreira Talks About the Art of SkatRadioh

Andrew Floberg piece, one of many great events @ Washington Galleries

Read my upcoming article in this week's Reader for a look back at the 2012 Twin Ports arts scene. Visit tomorrow for more artist interviews from our local scene and abroad.

Eight Minutes with Artist Wynn Davis

As even the most tin-eared local knows, we have a lot of great music here in the Northland. One of my personal aims is to draw attention to the richness and variety we have here in the visual arts. Sometimes the two are woven together as in the re-issue of Charlie Parr’s wonderful album “1922.” The cover art for Parr’s offering was created by Wynn Davis whose work will be on display at the Ochre Ghost beginning July 20. The opening tonight should be a good one. The show is titled A Field Menagerie to Birds of North America.

Ennyman: Where are you from originally and where do you live now?

Wynn Davis: I have always lived along the St. Croix River Valley. I grew up in River Falls, Wisconsin along the St. Croix River across from Afton State Park, and currently reside up the river a little further north in Stillwater, Minnesota. I definitely plan on permanently residing in Duluth in the near future though. Much of my family has native ties to the Twin Ports area. I love the outdoors, running, and the community and culture of Duluth as a whole.

E: How did you first become interested in art?

WD: I’ve always enjoyed collecting and creating things growing up. A traditional photography class I took in high school really curbed my interest in art and the process of making art. After changing majors my freshman year of undergraduate studies in I pursued a degree in Art Education with an emphasis in photography. My parents are both retired educators, so I had a keen sense of awareness in regard to the education profession. Post-education I have had the time to steer and develop my ideas and draftsmanship via the medium of graphite drawing. I reached a point with photography where the print could no longer be a means to an end, especially with how I wanted to communicate my ideas visually. Photography obviously still plays a major influence as both a tool and a vehicle for inspiration.

E: Your drawings are quite fascinating. How did you end up having an opportunity to illustrate Charlie Parr's latest CD?

WD: I met Charlie at his RealPhonic performance at the James Hill Library in St. Paul earlier in the year, as I have been a great admirer of his lyricism and musicianship. His work is authentic and full-bodied, and that is something to be said in a world often fixated on compromising quality, instant gratification, and felonious profiteering. Anyway, we began collaborating for his next album release after I sent him some of my work. The confluences of styles seem to work well with one another. He had an idea in mind and I felt I had a good idea of how to articulate it.

E: When did you begin doing pictures with birds? 

WD: I am basically self-taught in the medium of drawing. I took one or two drawing classes very early in my undergraduate tenure, but it was not until about a year and half ago that I really became more serious about it. The theme of birds has stemmed directly from my participation in the outdoors. I run over 5,400 miles a year in various wilderness areas and urban terrain, my favorite being the Superior Hiking Trail! I’ve always found a curiosity and ever present likeness to the individual characteristics, habits, and resourcefulness of birds. Whether it’s waking up in the morning to their song, or witnessing a crow fly off with a happy meal bag in its mouth from the side of a road… they never fail to fascinate me. This of course melded with my earlier emphasis in traditional black and white photography, which now serves more or less as a reference tool. Old documentary courthouse and historic society gravure plates of the late 19th Century also captivate me. As a result my ideas are usually a raw amalgamation of ideas that I form into a collage, which in turn becomes for what I hope to be a successful drawing that is completely seamless.

E: You seem attracted to precision draftsmanship. How did you first become interested in Bosch, Brueghel, van Eyck and Caravaggio?

WD: I am infatuated with art history, particularly early figurative work by the Dutch Masters. Their diligence in observation, careful consideration in precision draftsmanship, and unbridled passion for the process of art is not only admirable, but also contagious. Their work can make you feel what a seedy atmosphere inside an old tavern was like through chiaroscuro. Make you feel the pain and anguish in facial expressions such as in Caravaggio’s masterpiece of “The Crucifixion of St. Peter.” These are qualities I often struggle finding in the constant thrust of modern contemporary art. Currently I believe the work of Laurie Lipton’s graphite drawings are at a very high level and her work ethic and visual scope has been a great influence to me.

E: Why is art an important part of life?

WD: Well, I am no philosopher, but I think it is important to live a simple and healthy life. Art along with other passions brings forth meaning and joy in the things that are simple and true. If you wake up anticipating the things you enjoy doing, than you are more than likely enjoying life. I also think art plays a vital role in challenging conventional methods of thinking.

TO SEE MORE works by Wynn Davis, drop by the Ochre Ghost Gallery in downtown Duluth tonight at 7:00 or visit WynnDavis.com

Lyle Lovett, Wynn Davis and Tomorrow Night's Gallery Action

I was first introduced to Lyle Lovett's music in 1987. I'd never heard of him, but the deadpan wit and spot on melancholy in his delivery riveted me. I often say I am not into country music, but Lyle is so distinctly Lyle he doesn't fit that category for me. The layered sensitivity in a simple song like "If I Had a Boat" won me immediately. The somewhat ribald playfulness in a song like "Hot To Go" only set the hook deeper. His "sound" incorporates the best of American jazz, country, blues, rock and folk traditions in that unique style that can be only described as Lyle. If you haven't got your tickets yet, he will be playing here in Duluth July 20 at the DECC.

If you choose to miss the show, there's plenty more to do that weekend. Artist Wynn Davis will be showing his drawings at an opening hosted by the Ochre Ghost Gallery on Second Avenue East. Davis is an exceptional draftsman who recently illustrated Charlie Parr's latest CD. "Post-education I have had the time to steer and develop my ideas and draftsmanship via the medium of graphite drawing," Davis said. "I reached a point with photography where the print could no longer be a means to an end, especially with how I wanted to communicate my ideas visually. Photography obviously still plays a major influence as both a tool and a vehicle for inspiration." Originally from Wisconsin, the artist said he plans to move to the Twin Ports in the near future, yet one more asset joining the scene here. This Ochre Ghost show will open July 20 and remain up through August 4. Look for a more complete interview with Wynn Davis next week either in The Reader or here at Ennyman's Territory.

THIS WEEK'S GALLERY ACTION starts tonight at the Duluth Art Institute beginning at 5:00 with a show suitably titled Summer Gallery Celebration. The show features the art of cartoonist Chris Monroe and illustrator Tasha Tudor. According to The Wave, "The Summer Gallery Celebration marks the opening of Monroe’s show and will include sidewalk chalk, cotton candy and maybe a surprise visit from Chico Bon Bon."  Not sure who Chico Bon Bon is, but it might be Duluth's version of Superior's Phantom of the Galleries. Guess we'll find out tonight.

Tomorrow night the PRØVE Collective's ninth show is titled Slow Motion. Curated by Nicolas Monson I will be giving a full preview tomorrow morning here at Ennyman's Territory. For a sneak preview of what to expect, visit the Wikipedia page dedicated to Alexander Calder.

From 6-9 two blocks up the hill you'll want to see Andrew Floberg's Rectifying the Door Through a Separate Moment at Washington Gallery. Floberg works with watercolor pencil, graphite and mixed media. “My paintings are representing by way of portraiture, the phantasmagorical personalities from fictitious characters of an enchantingly hexed and antithetic venue, enraptured and entangled betwixt time.” After tomorrow's opening Rectifying will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5 pm, or by appointment, through July 29. The Washington Gallery is is part of the Washington Studios Artist Cooperative, a community housing facility for artists. The co-op is owned by Artspace Projects, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, and managed by Bowman Properties of Duluth.

AND FINALLY, there will be a free screening of Chris Marker's A Grin Without A Cat at Ochre Ghost, beginning at 7:00. Described by Marker as "scenes of the Third World War," this epic film-essay covers the worldwide political wars of the 60's and 70's: Vietnam, Bolivia, May '68, Prague, Chile, and the fate of the New Left. The Ochre Ghost team is showing this film to celebrate the unofficial opening of their Small Print Social Club - Zine Library and Book Store! The film will be shown in two parts starting at 7:00 PM sharp with one intermission.

Just another amazing weekend here in the North Country. And I haven't even touched on all the theater happening this weekend, including Hair. It's here! In the meantime, I do hope to see you out and about. Enjoy the shows.