2011 St. Cloud Cult Print

The “St. Cloud Cult Print” is comprised of art from two stage painters from the band “Cloud Cult”, art from the illustrator Mary GrandPre, a couple-hundred print blocks from kids and adults, and an overall design inspired by Earth Day 2011. The St. Cloud Cult Print is a collaborative public art piece from the nonprofit art group called ArtOrg. The St. Cloud Cult Print was shown on Friday, April 15 near the rec center in the St. Cloud State Halenbeck Hall in an incomplete state–where the illustrator of the “Harry Potter” books, Mary GrandPre, contributed a small painting to the work. Then, the print was be moved the next day to hte St. Cloud State Halenbeck Hall Fieldhouse for Mississippi Music Fest, and completed live on-stage by Cloud Cult artists Connie Minowa and Scott West during the headline act of Mississippi Music Fest. We were excited to merge art from across the state after this long, snowy 2010-2011 winter. Earth Day 2011 Huzzah!

It is estimated that 10,000 people will took part in the arc of events that include the 26th year of the Mississippi Music Fest, and the 12th year of the St. Cloud Earth Day Run. The Earth Day Run events will started on Friday night with a children’s race and continued Saturday with the Earth Day Half Marathon, 20 Mile ECO Challenge, and a Relay Marathon. Mississippi Music Fest kicked off at around 11 a.m. and the music continued into the late afternoon. The events were free and open to the public.

ArtOrg started printing for kids and adults with steamrollers in the fall of 2006. Dave from ArtOrg then successfully applied for an artist grant from Forecast Public Art to build an ongoing public art event around steamroller printing which we call the “Thousand Print Summer”. All Thousand Print Summer events have been free and open to the public. During those Thousand Print Summer events, each participant created a printing block, inked it up, placed a piece of paper over the block, and it was run over by the small steamroller. A wonderful paper print was produced, the print was signed and stamped, and taken home. ArtOrg squirreled away all of the printing blocks, however, to use them in collaborative works like the St. Cloud Cult Print.

The St. Cloud Cult Print is large and covered the entire back stage at the open-air Mississippi Music Fest. The print measures about 16 feet tall by 30 feet wide. Please contact ArtOrg for more details if you would like the print hung at your venue after April 16, 2011. ArtOrg would like to thank the band Cloud Cult, Lance Hughes, Mary GrandPre, and staff of St. Cloud State University (Anna Hunter, Ron Seibring and others), Mississippi Music Fest, and St. Cloud Earth Day Run. A special thanks to Steve Winge of Eternal Systems fro making the setup very easy.

St. Cloud Cult Print FAQ

How many kid’s blocks will be in the print?
The print measures 16 feet tall by 30 feet wide (the back of the stage at Mississippi Music Fest). This means, for 16″ x 16″ print blocks, the amount of blocks required is 12 x 22 = 244 blocks. Because two areas are left open and unprinted for the Cloud Cult stage painters and Mary GrandPre to create work on, that decreases the number of blocks slightly.

Which events do these blocks come from?
ArtOrg printed at 17 venues near St. Cloud in June of 2010, and we completed about 900 prints total. We will be taking the blocks for the St. Cloud Cult Print from this group. Alas, we can only include about 250 blocks of the 900 blocks! We will insure that every one of the cities that participated will be represented and have a reason to be proud, however. Blocks were chosen if they fit the theme of “Earth Day” best.

What happens to the print after April 16?
The print will be available to display after April 16 at other venues and events, and it measures about 16 feet tall by 30 feet wide. ArtOrg is contemplating exhibiting the piece as early as April 30 at a Northfield-based Earth Day celebration, for example. The St. Cloud Cult Print will have an ongoing life in exhibition.

So, just who is the artist here?
There are about 244 artists whose print blocks were created in June of 2010 at 17 ArtOrg events in the St. Cloud area–and those 16″ by 16″ blocks each make up an individual contribution. The stage-painted portions of the work are from Cloud Cult members Connie Minowa and Scott West. The illustrator Mary GrandPre will contribute a piece, and she will paint it the evening before the concert. The overall visual design was conceived by artist and illustrator, Kari Alberg. The concept for this piece is from ArtOrg’s Dave Machacek. We must also acknowledge the artistic input from the Principal Printer for the work, Ben Finley. In other words, a real collaboration.

Events

Watch Mary GrandPre Paint on the St.CCP
4 to 6 pm
Friday, April 15, 2011
in Halenbeck Fieldhouse,
St. Cloud State University
Watch Scott and Connie Paint on the St.CCP in Concert
5 to 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 16, 2011
in Husky Stadium,
St. Cloud State University
Photos on Stage with Mary GrandPre, Cloud Cult, and the St.CCP
about 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 16, 2011
in Husky Stadium,
St. Cloud State University