Local Art Seen: Art in Bayfront Park

Earlier this summer we enjoyed the good fortune of nice weather for the Park Point Art Fair. This weekend Northlanders are relishing the most glorious conditions imaginable for outdoor events of all kinds, including a leisurely stroll through art-filled Bayfront Park. It's a two-day event so if you missed out, you still have today, which promises to give us similarly delightful weather.

Like the Park Point Fair this show offers a full gamut of artistic expressions including works in clay, wood, glass, photography, jewelry, fiber, painting and drawing, and sculpture in various media, as well as a category called "upcycled." One man's junk, mixed with imagination, can become another's treasures.

You can't bet the setting. Bayfront Park is accessible, and the view is unbeatable. The show's developers clearly have families in mind here with a kids corner, a kite flying contest, a wide variety of culinary offerings in the food court, and even a beer tent (Saturday only.)

Some of the artists here this weekend are local. Cheryl Husby won a Best in Show award for a stunning piece that has that "signature look" that we associate with the Husby studio. Two hops over you can see Ann Klefstad's wolves and deer gathered at the rim of the open bowl that is gloriously green this time of year. A natural setting for such natural subject matter. (If you ever need a place to store these, Ann, I have a really nice front yard where they will seem quite at home.)

The majority of artists here seemed to be from elsewhere for this show. A large number have come up from the Twin Cities for the weekend. I also spoke with a few artists from Iowa and a couple from Nashville as well as the Southwest.

The handout for visitors is colorful and detailed, though it would even be better with contact information. The map is helpful, but the best way to take it all in is to put on your walking shoes and take your time.

Peter Juhl was back again this year, the rock balancing magician/photographer who last winter shared his insider-information on the secrets of rock balancing in an eBook titled Center of Gravity. This year he is on hand with a printed version which is also now available at Amazon.com. Juhl comes across as easy-going and fun-loving, and will warmly engage everyone who shows interest in what he has become so adept at. Like all magicians, he genuinely enjoys the wonder he sees in others' eyes as they marvel. Unlike magicians, he is happy to share his secrets.

Whether it's fine art you collect or whimsical items to wear like Riki McManus's Sassy Hats, or something new to decorate your garden, this is a worthwhile way to go shopping. There's plenty to see, while you are at it you can actually get to know the artists themselves.

One thing I didn't like was the $5.00 parking fee, but I'm not going to complain too much. It would be nice, though, if the parking money went back toward helping the artists. Oh well... it is what it is.

The End of ePublishing? I Don't Think So

August 17... 229th day of 2013. Azure skies, sun sliding up through the trees. Looks like another gorgeous summer day in store here for the Northland.

It's always interesting to read predictions about the future. People daily cite data and present arguments that project trends. The arguments sound logical and self-evident only to be flatly contradicted by others using other data.

In the course of my own lifetime I've numerous times heard people assert that we're going to run out of oil in ten years. I've been hearing this for more than forty years. The logical conclusion is based on projections regarding future usage alongside assumptions about the finiteness of the oil supply.

The reality is that economics has a say in the matter since acquiring this natural resource does cost money. When the profit potential becomes significant enough, companies invest to find new ways of acquiring it. The playing field changes and all the data that once convincingly showed one outcome has to get shelved. Because the supply is not nearly as depleted as previously surmised.

The debate that interests me this morning, however, has to do with publishing, and specifically ePublishing since I've now brought five eBooks to market via my fledgling partnership with TJ Lind called N&L Publishing. Recent data has revealed that the growth of eBook publishing has slowed. Some have gone so far as to declare this as something alarming. But what's the reality here? 

I reached to my bookshelf (print) and grabbed my copy of How To Lie With Statistics. It's a classic scenario that also fools a lot of investors. A small company gets a big contract and their revenue expands exponentially, let's say 125%, in one year. That's more than double the previous year. Is this a good investment? Well, at that rate, in thirty years the company will be making more money than all the companies on the New York Stock Exchange combined. Problem is, that kind of growth is impossible to sustain because the market for the companies product is not as large as all that.

eBook sales growth has been stellar only because it has been growth that began at zero. The publishing industry (print media) has indeed been shrinking but I've got proof in my hand that it's not going away altogether. I love my book shelf. Even though I have a Kindle and take it with me every time I travel, I still enjoy reading the spines of the books on my shelf and holding a book in my hands.

Alexandra Primiani's article in the New York Daily News titled Rumors of the eBook's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated is a fun read, especially for ePublishers like myself. Here's an excerpt:

The Christian Science Moniter also shares Hoffelder's opinion, “Even if e-book sales have slowed, the industry has made massive progress: the 457 million e-books sold in 2012 represent a 4,456 percent increase over 2008 when 10 million e-books were sold”. It is important to note that regardless of a percentage decline (that 5% number everyone's been toting around), actual sales have increased, leaving e-book sales well over the sales of paper books.

The very good news for writers in general, and society as a whole, is that people are still reading.

For what it's worth, even though my stories are currently only available as eBooks, I've been working on finding a way to get them into print as well. I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, I invite you to check out my first eBook of short stories... Unremembered Histories Available wherever fine eBooks are read.

Make the most of your day. It looks like it will be oh so beautiful.

Lessons In Collaboration ~ Intergalactica

Discovery

Collaboration. It's something musicians do all the time. Think John, Paul, George and Ringo. Each brought something different to the group. And the music they created would never have existed had they not learned how to collaborate. Each had talent that was recognized and respected by the others, but in order to be The Beatles they also had to have an additional talent: the ability to collaborate.

Theater is another collaborative experience. The range of skills required is vast, from playwright to director to set designers, casting, actors and all the technical facets of sound and lighting in order for the audience to receive the full force of the production.

By way of contrast, artists and poets have historically been soloists. Walt Whitman, Claude Monet, Robert Frost, Salvadore Dali... They did what they did. They associated with others, bounced ideas off others, but they usually worked alone. Like writing this blog, or a daily diary, painting or drawing is usually a soloist pursuit...

The Beginning
Artist Kamikaze has been an annual Twin Ports event in which artists who work in different media and genres are paired with the aim of producing a work of art on a given theme. It's a competition, invented by Limbo Gallery and Eris Vafias, which results in art for display each year at Pizza Luce.

Last year for Artist Kamikaze IV I was paired with Steampunk fashion artist Patricia Mahnke. Intergalactic was the theme. We initially decided was to create a character and costume, that I would subsequently paint. Eventually this evolved into two characters and costumes, and ultimately a narrative. Our ideas kept expanding and the desire for a third team member with photography and Photoshop skills was fulfilled when Kate Dupre joined the team.

I found the end result -- costumes and five pieces that included two original paintings and over 700 photos -- so exhilarating that I felt it should be shared with a wider audience. That was the impetus behind producing the eBook Intergalactica. 

Here are some of the lessons I learned through this experience.

Trust

Intergalactic Contact

I had no pre-conceived notions on where to take our project, but when Patty and I first met she showed me some ideas for costumes that she'd sketched. She envisioned more than one character, as in a story. My skeptical response, when she described the first character was, "Can you do this?" She replied yes with much confidence.

Lesson One in collaborations is Trust. I was impressed by Patty's imagination and had to trust her capabilities. Being a painter my initial thought was that she would make the costumes and I would paint the characters wearing them. But Patty asked me to decorate one of the dresses, right on the material. I'd never painted on material in this manner and was insecure. But she was confident. And she trusted me as well. The final costume for Aurora was a true collaboration.

Confidence
Confidence is a plus in any endeavor, and Patty had it in spades. In basketball you give the ball to your star player at the end of the game because he is confident that he can make that final shot.

Serendipity was also working in our favor. Napolean Bonaparte stated that in planning a battle one is wise to include spaces in the plan to allow serendipity, the unexpected, to happen.

Njall

As a team the three of us brainstormed to develop a story line. That week I wrote a first draft. I was encouraged when they liked the foundation I fleshed out. In a subsequent meeting Patty and Kate expressed the thought that the names didn't work. The story was good. Together we generated ideas for names, searching online for Danish, Icelandic and other name sources which would sound foreign to us but have a cool ring to them. Names of characters and planets emerged. And a sense of mutuality began to build. It was not one person’s project, but began to have its own life to which we were all connected and to which we were all contributing.

This is an important part of team collaboration. In projects like this, everyone needs to feel part of the project, have a voice. But there was another important factor at work here, the ability to lay aside ego for the greater good. I created names in the initial story, but when Patty and Kate weighed in I let go of what I originally proposed. The suggestions they offered strengthened the story.

Planning 
The photo shoot would be an important part of the final presentation so we had to set a date for accomplishing this. It would have to give Patty enough time to produce the costumes she conceived and would be far enough from the deadline to create the final pieces we were to display, which was a collage of images, two paintings and a fabulous shot which required amplifications via Photoshop by Kate. The date was set for May 19.

Personal Sacrifice
Making the time commitment was challenging for we each had exceedingly busy schedules. But Kate made a comment that especially fired me up to not pull back on my end. She expressed her concern that what we end up with might look like a high school art project, that we must take this project to another level. This was precisely the prod I needed to go all out, to put in the extra hours required to embellish the paintings with essential details. The best teams are those in which everyone is making the same kind of all out effort.

The night of the show three other teams garnered more votes for their work, but I felt truly gratified by what we had accomplished. It was a privilege to be part of such a dedicated team.

Over the past eight months I have been working with TJ Lind, my ePublishing collaborator, to create an eBook version of our story so it could be shared with a wider audience. The art show is long gone, but the fruit of it is now available as a FREE DOWNLOAD called Intergalactica from the Apple iTunes Store. Check it out. You can't beat the price. 

Don't have an iPad or iTunes, here's a link where you can download the PDF.

It's Not Woodstock, But Almost

Some people are still talking about it. I know a few people who were there. But guess what? If you missed Woodstock, your life really isn't a ruin. Weekends of music are as common as boll weevils in cotton country. Last weekend here in Duluth we celebrated Blues Fest again. And if you know where to look, you'll find an abundance of folk festivals, bluegrass festivals, film festivals and even jazz festivals like this year's Sol Fest in Carlton. This coming weekend in Lake Nebagamon there's the Bigfoot Boogie.

Tonight's the pre-party with the currently sizzling Brothers Burn Mountain. Then the music kicks Friday and Saturday. Their Facebook invitation states that on Sunday Sasquatch himself will show up to make free pancakes for everyone.

Groups slated to perform include Javier Trejo, Absent Minded String Band, Sonja and the Reckoning, Cranial Fracking, Shotgun Ragtime Band, Black River Revue, Five Pints a' Rye, Tin Can Gin, Kind Country, Pushing Chain, Barefoot Wonder, The Branditos, Luke Warm and The Cool Hands, Collen Myhre and Friends, Wild Bill and many more. Dean Harris Wolfson, who performs with Gene LaFond and the Wild Unknown, sent me a note saying they'll be doing a Dylan tribute as well during the weekend. (Thanks for the invitation.

The event will be at Wasko's Campground, Lake Nebagamon, WI.

Art in Bayfront Park

Last week there were two art festivals here in Duluth and earlier this summer the 43rd annual Park Point Art Festival. If you missed those you and you're in town, you might enjoy a stroll down by the bay in Bayfront Park either Saturday or Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. When I went last year I was impressed by the caliber of the artists. According to the newspaper there were so many artists and artisans that wanted to be there that they had to turn 15% of them away. If you see the Husbys or Peter Juhl, say hi for me.

Meantime, listen to the music and take it with you.

Available as a free download -- Featured eBook of the Day: INTERGALACTICA

Wordless Wednesday: Wanda's Perpetual Perennial Paradise

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Featured eBook of the Day: INTERGALACTICA

365 days a year it's a Free Download, 24/7

Calls for Art and Lit Submissions from PRØOF and the PRØVE

Year one for the PROVE Collective was an exhilarating one not only for the five young men who made it happen, but also for those of us in the local arts community who watched it emerge. The big question in some minds was how long would it last. And where would things go once others in the group moved on. After all, four of the founders were newly graduated art students.

Two indeed move on and the replacement selections seem only to have strengthened the Collective in unimagined ways. Two women filled the void, both of them a little more seasoned, each bringing new artistic disciplines to this affiliation of artists: Kathy McTavish and Kathleen Roberts.

Roberts, in association with the PRØVE, founded PRØOF, a literary arts publication featuring essays, poetry, short stories and art. Each of the first two issues has been surprisingly good. I enjoy the multi-layered possibilities inherent in the themes.

Here's the announcement:

PRØOF, Duluth, Minnesota’s publication of contemporary art and literature, is accepting submissions to its third issue, ‘For the Record,’ coming out in February 2014. ‘For the Record’ will focus on the role of music in various forms of art. Any format or style of written or visual work addressing this theme is acceptable, and contributors are encouraged to think outside of the box.

Issue overview: Whether it is aural or visual, art creates a music of the mind. Moreover, our own movements as artists mirror the notes, harmonies, and pauses in our surroundings. Many artists and writers also use music as a source of inspiration. PRØOF is seeking work that speaks to the connection between music, art, and literature.

Work guidelines: 
 • Any form and style of work is acceptable. 
• Written submissions should be limited to three thousand words or fewer. 
• Submitted images should be at least 300 dpi. 
• Magazine staff reserves the right to edit for style, content, and grammar.

Cover letters are encouraged, although they are not required. Cover letters should tell us a little bit about you as a writer and include a brief statement about the work you have submitted. They should not include any pitch for or interpretation of your work. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, provided that the author notifies PRØOF immediately if their work is selected for publication elsewhere. All works should be previously unpublished.

If you write or make art, I pass this along and encourage you to sift what you have created, or use this opportunity to create something new. For more information, or to submit work, contact proofmagazine@provegallery.com
Submission deadline is November 30, 2013.

To download copies of the first two issues visit provecollective.com and click on the PRØOF tab.

The call for art for the September PRØVE Show has also gone out. The theme will be Transplants. Here's the Show Description:

In this modern life, we all move a lot. For work, for environment, and for many other reasons, we relocate in order to better ourselves and to seek new experiences. This fosters a mixing of ideas, of cultures, and of media, across time, disciplines, and upbringings. For "Transplants," Prøve Collective is seeking works from artists who have moved to Duluth for any reason. We are in a time of change in many ways, and would like to showcase this with an exhibition highlighting the rich variety that all of this intermixing can achieve. All types of art and media will be considered for exhibition.

Local transplants will want to download a PDF for artist guidelines from the PRØVE website. (Click the øppørtunities tab.) Deadline for submissions is August 28.

If you have been making work - whether poetry, pottery or paintings -- that you're proud of but have been reticent to share, maybe this is a good place to make a go of sharing with a wider audience. It's a lot less work than assembling and promoting your own first show.

Thanks again, to everyone in the Collective who has worked so hard to bring this space to our community here in the Northland.

A Visit With Printmaker and Arts Activist Cecilia Lieder

In front some of her woodcut prints at North Shore Bank.

Saturday afternoon I found a space of time to visit the Panorama opening for the Northern Printmakers Alliance. With the exception of Cele here at top, the images on this page are from that exhibition.

Cecilia Lieder’s East Hillside residence not only houses her studio but is also home for the Northern Prints Gallery. An artist printmaker for over 35 years, her work is well-known in the region as well as the Boston area where she lived for ten years. Her most recent awards are the Arrowhead Regional Arts Commission George Morrison Artist Award for lifetime achievement in the arts (2007) and in 2006, the Depot Foundation Artist Award for art and arts activism. Her career has demonstrated her commitment to making a difference in cultural awareness in northern Minnesota.

EN: Why are you so passionate about printmaking and how did this passion develop in you?

Cecilia Lieder: That’s a huge question! It would have to start at about 9 months old – when my calling as an artist began to exhibit itself by an extraordinarily keen absorption in visual beauty in all its forms – particularly color and shape. I developed quickly – by 18 months old I had my own chalkboard and other art supplies, and was drawing every day, as well as taking great pleasure in the skill of my hands. My family had already recognized my talent. I took art-making supplies for granted – though where my parents found the means for it – with seven children and not much income – I can’t guess.

Heart of a Peony: Red by Lieder

My engrossment in beauty, color, form, drawing and craftsmanship has persisted and dominates my work to this day. As it happens, these are qualities that nearly every printmaker strongly exhibits, so unknowingly, I had already begun evolving into a printmaker. My formal education in art began when I was 16, with my first art class in high school. The initial project was relief printing, where all my art skills suddenly drew together – and that was it. I recognized it when I found it. It called me.

EN: How was the Northern Printmakers Alliance formed?

Woodcut by Lieder titled "She"

CL: After I directed the “Perspectives on the Hillside” grass roots art exhibit, Joel Cooper – whose wife Deborah had been part of the Perspectives show at Sacred Heart – approached me and suggested that I organize something for printmakers. I thought it was an excellent idea, so I called the printmakers I knew and invited them to come and talk about it. Six of us met at my dining room table on January 15, 1999, and laid out a plan for a printmaking group. We decided on the name – Northern Printmakers Alliance – because we felt the need to support each other in a city where there was very little understanding of original prints at that time.

We had no trouble coming up with a mission statement: Jon Hinkel was adamant about - and all of us were in agreement with – its emphasis on the traditional printmaking arts (though we’ve always included digital prints and other experimental media as well) and on educating our region about printmaking. By the time of our first group show six months later, we had tripled our membership and received an ARAC Project Grant for promoting the group’s aims. The opening attendance was one of the largest turnouts Lizzards had ever had at that time. We were given amazing community support and enthusiasm from the start – from Bob DeArmond at ARAC, John Steffl at the DAI, Donna Ekberg at Lizzards, Joan Farnam at the newspapers, and from the community at large – which really helped us grow. The Northern Prints Gallery developed naturally out of this impetus, as a place to give printmaking a constant public presence in the region.

Paper cutout, mixed media story by Susan Pagnucci

EN: Some of the work in your last show came from all over the country. Is your gallery connected to a larger group of print makers? In what way, and how did that come about?
CL: This show was our first “national call” – but printmakers are still a relatively small community in the arts, so there is a general thread of connectedness. We tend to seek each other out.

EN: When did printmakers begin to be taken seriously as artists? How did this come about?
CL: It’s true that for many centuries printmaking was primarily a utilitarian art form – serving the need for illustration and artwork reproduction, as well as commercial and publishing purposes. However, when I look at the incredible skill and sophistication involved in much of that work (even ‘primitive’ forms of it) I have to conclude that printmaking had already surreptitiously evolved into a fine art form long before it was widely recognized as such. Though the transformation was gradual, even from the beginning its practitioners had all the tendencies, talents and creativity of those we now call fine artists. It became fine art when they began to (openly) use it as a personal expressive tool, and the art world took notice.

The invention of photography also did a great deal to free printmakers. The crafts movement in the early 20th century – with its revival of respect for the crafts as fine art also contributed. By mid-century, the present day proliferation of printmaking in the United States had begun – one of its first centers was in the Midwest: Chicago. This movement is still gathering steam and incorporating new media and practitioners at the present time.

The show provided a true panoramic view of the possibilities of printmaking.

EN: You have been making art for a very long time. How has your work and vision evolved over the years?

"Giraffe" by Mary Bruno

CL: I’ve been educated in many other art forms since I discovered printmaking, but it’s still my native place in the arts – along with drawing. It uses all my proclivities and skills, and presents a constantly exciting challenge. So I would say that one development in terms of my work has been in a significant refinement of my skills – beginning with basics – line and craft– and progressing to development in form, composition, etc, as well as the practice of creativity, itself. For the past decade or more, it has been centered on a joyful exploration of color. In terms of vision, my work in art has consistently mirrored my personal spiritual/psychological development, as it does with all artists. I have been conscious of art as a spiritual journey for many decades – both in the interweaving comprehension it mirrors for the artist-maker, and in becoming an actual vehicle of the growth itself. These two aspects – the making and the vision – are so intertwined as to be inextricable and can only approximately be spoken of as distinct entities. The artist-maker must develop apace with the artist as person (and vice versa) – one’s development demands it. I find that subject matter has very little to do with this – though it is, of course, the expressive means (just as wood is necessary to make a woodcut). Subject matter is simply a metaphor. All visual artists are essentially working with the same elements of art… regardless of their subjects.

My early work was symbolist, abstract, and surrealistic – in that order. A crisis came in my life during which it seemed imperative to me that I ground my vision more in “reality” – to learn the truths that the natural world had to teach me. There was a need to be more connected with my outer environment and to integrate it more fully with my inner life. This subject matter has continued to engross me (at ever deeper and differing levels) for nearly thirty-five years. Though I can see hints of new directions appearing, most of the work that the public identifies with me, comes from this period. All the while, the basic foundation – the mystery and delight of what and how the eye reveals life – remains a constant.


EN: My only regret is that I couldn't stay longer.... and while I had the chance I should have taken time to meet more of the artists.

For more information on the Northern Prints Gallery visit www.northernprintsgallery.com