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.

Twin Ports Art: Piszczek's Superior Zentangle Pieces and Other Things To See TODAY

One of the first places I showed my art locally was in the showcase at the Superior Public Library. As a regular visitor to the library there I am ever conscious of the various artists displayed there. For the month of December Esther Piszczek is the featured artist, a small variety of works offered for public consumption. If you frequent the Superior Library, do take a few minutes to check out the various artists who occupy this cozy little space.

As an active maker, Esther has made connections in a variety of circles which are especially active this time of year. What follows are several places where you can find her work alongside a variety of others'. Still need to find gifts for the people in your life? Here are several places worth checking out today. 

(Zentangle designs here from Esther P's display in the lobby of the Superior Library.)

Saturday, December 16, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fitger's ART on Tap—Holiday, Fitger’s, August Fitger Room, 3rd Level, 600 E. Superior Street. This new addition to the holiday art and craft scene is organized by Sally Cavallaro Designs. Local artists, (including Eshter's Zentangle-inspired art.)

Saturday, December 16, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Handmade Holidays, Free Family Art Day, Duluth Art Institute / Lincoln Center, 2229 W. 2nd Street. "Anyone is invited to drop-in for make-and-take art projects."

Saturday, December 16, 12-5 p.m., Handmade Holiday Market, Duluth Folk School, The Lincoln Park Craft District, 1917 & 1924 W. Superior Street.

"30+ local vendors including pottery, jewelry, art, apparel, kombucha, stationery, skin care, and more with a FREE gift wrap craft station. Brought to you in association with Duluth Pottery and Duluth Made."

If you've never been, the Superior Public Library is located at 1530 Tower Avenue just past Belknap.

EdNote: You can see some of my own paintings at the following locations in Superior.

At Goin' Postal you can see works by a wide variety of artists while shipping packages via UPS, FedEx or U.S. Postal Service. It's a pretty good deal. I have more than a dozen pieces there on display. Goin' Postal is located next to the tracks on the 800 block of Tower Avenue.

Art on the Planet shares the former Dunbar Building with Wine Beginnings on the 1300 block of Tower Avenue. It's a cozy space crammed with arts and crafts. There's plenty to see, whatever the price range you wish to spend within.

"Dogs of War"

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

A Few Thoughts About Living With Purpose

Cheshire Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderlnd

“If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there” ― George Harrison

“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

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What a contrast between the Alice in Wonderland excerpt above and the Roy Bennett quote.

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"It’s important to have a purpose. I have seen lives filled with loneliness and despair when no specific purpose has been embraced. On the other hand, I have seen drastic improvements in psychological well-being when people have identified a meaningful purpose."  --Brad Klontz Psy.D., CFP

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When Keith Richards & Mick Jagger met at the train queue they each discovered they weren't alone in their love of the Chicago blues. The moved in together and made a commitment: no dating, no jobs, no distractions... just learn how to play the music they were hearing on these records they scored from America. They had a purpose. It became the focus of their lives and because of their commitment, they learned the music indeed, which opened doors they never dreamed existed.
(Keith Richards' Life.)

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Like everything else, there is a counter-balancing truth that should accompany our purpose-driven activities. That is, purpose-driven living can have a dark side. Is the purpose a worthy one? I think here of Captain Ahab and his quest for the great white whale Moby Dick. His obsession not only cost him his life, it cost the lives of most of his crew. I think here of the damage wrought by Bernie Madoff, as well as Adolph Hitler's megalomania. I think here, too, of the quest for wealth, power and status which can all be achieved while still leaving the soul empty.

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I'll close off here with a handful of observations from the author of Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl. Frankl was a Nazi concentration camp survivor whose insights from that experience have been published and nurtured people all over the world.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

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"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."

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"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

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"When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure."

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"Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her own life."

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meantime life goes on all around you. Engage it.

Poetry Notes and a Call for Submissions

"A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician..."
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Duluth Poet Laureate Project seeks poems from regional writers for a poetry/dance collaborative event to take place in May 2018. Send a poem on any theme and the dancers will choose a poem and create a dance in response. The poets who inspired the dance will be invited to read at the event and will receive a $50 honorarium. Send ONE poem and contact information to: elliesch@cpinternet.com or to Ellie Schoenfeld, 530 E. Skyline Parkway, Duluth, MN 55805 by January 10th, 2018.

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An appreciation for poetry is not something tacked onto my life like hand-scrawled announcements on a bulletin board. I come by it honestly; it is in my blood. My grandmother wrote poetry, influenced in that direction by her uncle John S. Hall. John Hall, the youngest of five boys, was left blind after the Civil War, whereupon he pursued a life of writing, founding two newspapers, the St. Mary's Observer and the Oracle, before retiring to private life. His book of poems, Musings of a Quiet Hour, was published in 1907. I have been told that through this lineage flows the blood of Robert Burns, the famed Scot Highlander and literary luminary.

None of this means that the poems I have written are any good, or will have historical merit. It is simply an acknowledgement of my roots.

"Poetry is the mother tongue of mankind."
--J.G.Hamann, 1762

I have a number of favorite poets whom I return to from time to time for inspiration, among these Rilke, Pessoa, Dylan and Billy Collins, whose poem Introduction To Poetry always brings a smile and a lift.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

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If you be a poet, write on. If a reader only... Thank You.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Lake Superior Art Glass and a Midweek Morsel of Inspiration

Did you know a loved one's ashes can be inserted in this memorial piece?

Lake Superior Art Glass

Original art glass Christmas ornaments are a nice gift this time of year.

A number of area artists show and sell their work at Lake Superior Art Glass.

Learn more about founder Dan Neff here. 

Et res non semper, spes mihi semper adest. --Ovid

My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope.

The Road Not Taken

I first became aware of Robert Frost when he recited a poem at the John F. Kennedy inauguration in 1961. As I was only eight, I remember it more because my mom made a big deal of it at the time, not because it really stood out on its own. Since that time I'd always assumed he was our National Poet Laureate until now when I did a little fact-checking. He was actually Poet Laureate of the State of Vermont, hence my tendency to associate him with the artist Andrew Wyeth, another famed New Englander in the arts.

Though a winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, I have to believe Frost's The Road Not Taken must be his most famous poem. I'd venture to say that this poem alone, even without Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, had sufficient muscle to make him a household name, a fairly rare occurrence amongst twentieth century poets. I've assumed that school children everywhere have studied the poem, appreciating its elegance and accessibility. The simple metaphor of making a choice during a stroll through the woods has far-reaching applications that resonate with all of us, from relationship decisions to career moves.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The author comes to a fork in the path and ponders the possibilities of each, but because of the winding nature of what lies ahead is unable to really know how to choose. The first stanza outlines the problem. The following two stanzas reveal the storyteller's cogitations as he leaned into the former and then the latter, looking for a basis for making his decision.

In the end, he focuses on a decisive variable. Knowing that he will likely never be back at this spot again, he chose the path least travelled. That final line is an affirmation that he chose wisely.

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A forest of birches. Photo by Ryan Tischer.

This Ryan Tischer* photo provides a clue as to what kind of "yellow wood" Frost may have been meandering through, as well as the time of year. The photo, as you can see, paints a different scene. In the poem I envision rolling hills. In the image here, especially striking when it looms large, we see a relatively flat landscape with a single road, marching through rows of trees much like a headful of hair that has been parted by a fine-toothed comb.

My father was fond of white birches. When we moved to New Jersey in 1964 one of the first things he did was to plant a trio of birches near the corner of our front yard, hence my own special regard for these beautiful trees that seem especially abundant here in the Northland.

Meantime, life goes on...

* Ryan Tischer has opened a new gallery in Duluth's emerging Arts District. 

My Dinner with George, and How Much Is a Beatles Autograph Worth These Days Anyways

We're talking about George Harrison here. This past weekend I dreamt we were sharing a meal. This is a brief summary of what I remember about the dream.

Scene from dream, before waitress shows up.

A young George Harrison was seated at a rectangular table with another young man who looked a little like Brian Jones of the Stones. The two were eating and engaged in conversation when I arrived in the company of another fellow. I took a seat by George and the other fellow took a seat between George and the Jones look-alike. (Illustration show seating order with place settings and glasses missing.) The table was situated in a wide corridor and one could hear quite clearly that down the hall the other Beatles --John, Paul and Ringo -- were evidently working out harmonies and chord progressions in the recording studio, George being on break. I recognized the song, which would soon appear on an upcoming album.

A waitress approached and in an exchange with George I learned he did not have a wallet with him, and that none of the other Beatles had paid for their meals. This malfeasance was atoned for because they had given her a copy of their album With The Beatles, upon which each had signed their faces. She had a Sharpie and the album cover at the ready, so that George could add his signature to the cover, which he promptly did.

The strange part of the dream is that I was my current age of 65, whereas this scene taking place was back in 1965 while George was in his twenties. As I watched him put his signature there, I was trying to determine what this signed album cover would be worth in our 21st century eBay era. Here is what I learned.

My first Beatles album, With The Beatles.
This is the one George signed in my presence, in the dream.

SIGNED ALBUM COVERS HAVE REAL VALUE

My first stop after waking: a Beatles forum at BeatlesBible.com. Once authenticity is determined, however, you can get a sense of the real value here at the Beatles Blog.

THE BEATLES ON QUORA

It wasn't until I became involved in the Quora online community that I really learned how much enthusiasm is still out there for the Fab Four. I wrote an answer to a question about Ringo, and suddenly all variety of Beatles questions were delivered my way, most which I preferred to defer to higher authorities. I knew the albums, intimately familiar with them all, but I'd not read all the books or zines. When I read an answer by Chantal de Paus of the Netherlands, whom I interviewed here, I realized quite quickly how extensive the knowledge base is out there beyond the album tracks.

If you're a Beatles fan, you might enjoy this timeline of Beatles trivia, along with links to three Beatles trivia contests.

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"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." --Abbey Road, 1969