Local Art Seen: Friday's Goin' Postal 2017 Art Show

A Tara Stone contribution.

The food, the wine, the music, the art and the crowd -- all combined to produce an artmosphere that made people want to stay, except then they would miss the after-party at Cedar Lounge. As always I myself enjoy hearing artists talk about their work, seeing "what's new" from our regularly featured artists, and taking photos so I can share them here.

Several Adam Swanson paintings made their presence known in one section of the room, and a massive Frankenstein head with glowing eyes captured another portion of the room. Hosts Andrew and Becky Perfetti, as always, produce a fabulous spread when it comes to eats, garnering assistance from the many artists who bring it all together.

The mash-up of styles and the mix of subject matter also makes this an exciting show. There is literally something for nearly everyone.

If you've never been, it's likely you will be surprised by the energy generated when so many people gather for an art event.

One of several colorful Adam Swanson pieces.

Vivid imagery by Ash Marnich.

An engaging dialogue beneath wall of photography by Johnny Mudd.

Andrew Perfetti's striking Globe News shot evokes retro mood.

The original version of my Dogs of War was displayed.

Karen Sunderman of public television's The Playlist interacts
with Goin' Postal owner/artist/musician and show host Andrew Perfetti.

In the sunlight and stillness that preceded showtime.

The finishing touch, John Heino.

Special thanks to Becky & Andy for organizing the event and to everyone who contributed in so many various and essential ways. This blog post shows but a fraction of all there is to see. Be sure to stop in during the weeks ahead and take it in at your own pace. 816 Tower Avenue, Superior.

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I would be negligent if I failed to mention the After Party @ Cedar Lounge.
But then, that's another story. 

Atomic Sentence Structure and Tonight's Goin' Postal Spring Art Show

Yesterday I began listening to a Great Courses lecture series title Building Great Sentences by Professor Brook Landon. I've already been rewarded with some new insights and am only on the threshold of lecture two.

Prof. Brooks, in the opening lecture, notes that writing should be both elegant and effective.  It is not sentence length that is important but effectiveness in achieving its aim. Every sequence of words has an objective, a core reason for its existence. If brevity were the whole aim, then the hippies were write to walk around saying nothing more than, "Far out." 

During the night I woke and thought about how sentences can be compared to atoms. Atoms are composed of electrons, protons and neutrons. The neutron and protons are at the core, and the electrons circle about it like the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The thought I had was that it might be fun to make a periodic table of sentences. Hydrogen has one electron, so it would be a one-word sentence. "Wow!" Helium has two electrons, so it could be a two-word sentence. "Jesus wept." And so on. If you have trouble recalling all the elements that we learned about in chemistry class, you can find a chart here. What do you think?

(EdNote: For those who teach, check out my new book on How To Teach Writing. Good writing must engage the reader, not simply be grammatically accurate.)

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Tonight it the 2017 Goin' Postal Spring Art Show, from 6 - 9 at 816 Tower Avenue in Superior. I stopped by last night to see how things were going and once again I was impressed by the caliber of the work. Artists with work in tonight's show include, Glenn Blaszkiewicz, Becky Perfetti, Andrew Perfetti, Tal Lindblad, Marcie Crain, Christie Carter Eliason,  John Heino, John Dromeshauser aka Johnny Mudd, Ash Marnich, Richard Rosvall, Tara Stone, Kerry Gauthier, Cully Williams, Matt Stengl, Jeanna Aldridge, new work by Adam Swanson and a number of new pieces by Ed Newman. There is a strong showing of new photography by the photographers represented here. New techniques incorporating new technologies.... all very cool, very chic.

Will we see you there? Stop by and say hello, even if only briefly. This show does generate buzz. Be part of it.

And don't forget! Tomorrow is Art For Earth Day here in Duluth. Whet your appetite tonight and then get out on the art circuit from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. tomorrow.

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

EdNote: Tree photos on this page were created from an image by Andrew Perfetti, chief architect of the Goin' Postal Art Shows. Come see it in person.