The above photo slideshow shows highlights from the ArtOrg project called the 1000 Print Summer as it traveled to ten different places this summer and printed for (mostly!) kids with a steamroller. The final print tally in the end was 1180. Whew! Locations included The Walker Art Center, The Anderson Center in Red Wing, Owatonna, Crazy Days and Just Food Co-op Harvest Festival in Northfield, The Rochester Art Center, Stillwater, St. Cloud, and Peavey Plaza on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. All of the prints can be seen here in our 1000+ photo archive. Congratulations to all participants, and especially those volunteers who got home bone-tired after a few of those long 200-print days. (Stay tuned for phase two of the project where we reprint all 1180 blocks into a big mural-like print measuring 40 feet tall by 80 feet wide!).
The print suite “The Twenty Views of Dundas” has been accepted into a charity auction at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Organized by the 85-year-old “Friends of the Institute” group, the September 26 Art Perchance event raises money to bus kids to classes and events at the Institute. ArtOrg is very proud that the set made it through the acceptance process and has been chosen to be sold at silent auction. Through this event, the set will be seen by many people, and bring well-deserved regional attention to the project and its artists. (ArtOrg has donated similar projects in the past–for example the large Northfield Governor’s Ball Lithograph raised $4600 for the Northfield Sesquicentennial, and $2000 for the Laura Baker school.)
In the field of printmaking, there is one technique that hold a particular mystique–and that is called lithography. To make a long story short, this printing method uses huge slabs of special limestone. Traditionally, this limestone has been mined in the quarries of Bavaria near a town named Solnhofen, and because the properties of that stone are quite unique, most of the stone in the world comes from this source. However, right near the Minnesota border in Iowa, there exists an outcropping of a limestone with similar properties, and in 1914-1915 a town sprung up with the the name “Lithograph City”. A nice review of that history can be found here.
This October 18, a field trip is being organized by the “Society for Sedimentary Geology” to these locations of this special limestone, and a printmaking professor will be the speaker at a dinner that evening. Here is a pdf file announcing the field trip. Only printmaking or geology geeks need apply!
ArtOrg has received several requests for information and resources on the important Dia De Los Muertos holiday. This post is designed to collect a bit of that information for easy access. These are the events that ArtOrg organized in 2006 and 2007.
1) Day of the Dead Steamroller Print Video. Viewed over 13,000 times on the web already, this video is 7 minutes long and shows the creation of the 13-artist, 104-foot-long steamroller print.
2) Ray Gonzalez Dia De Los Muertos poetry reading. This video is about one hour long, and shows the great Latino poet reading from several of his works. This is a must-see for everyone interested in learning more about the holiday.
ArtOrg has been invited to add another stop to the “1000 Print Summer” project: the nonpartisan expression of democracy called The UnConvention. The UnConvention is just one of the large gatherings planned around the Republican Nation Convention to he held in St. Paul next week. Find out more from the UnConvention website and an article from last week’s New York Times. It is likely that the magical 1000 print goal will be surpassed sometime during our Monday, Sept. 1 and Tuesday, Sept. 2 presence! We will be there from 11am to 10pm each day, and are located at Peavey Plaza, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis (right in front of Orchestra Hall, and across from Brit’s Pub and Vincent’s). Join us to express your inner politics!
An interesting report from Minnesota Public Radio was heard today and concerns the role of the boards of directors in arts organizations. The link to the written story is here, and a link to the actual radio broadcast is here (the audio file is about 4 minutes long). It is provided here as food for important thought!
[9/15/08 UPDATE: Approval for the grant was received today–more information and press release forthcoming!]
Thanks in large part to the energy of Art-On-Water’s Dean Kjerland, a nice proposal went in today to the Southeastern Minnesota Initiative Fund proposing that an special area in Northfield be designated the Riverwalk Arts Quarter. The grant called a Town Meeting Initiative grant, will engage asset-based community development efforts leading to economic growth and prosperity. In this case, our assets are simply our wonderful arts-based businesses! Special thanks to Dean Kjerland for for the energy to make this proposal happen, but also to venues which, at this time, are in the Riverwalk Arts Quarter such as The Sketchy Artist, Northfield Arts Guild Galleries, Northfield Arts Guild Gift Shop, ArtOrg Print Studio, GREZZO Gallery, Holmes Design, Right Brain Ventures, The Key, Art-On-Water, Bohnhoff Design, and the ArtOrg Moving Walls Gallery.
On Sunday, August 10, at 3pm the large sculpture by Mac Gimse called “Between Earth and Sky” will be unveiled at the Lampe Law Group offices at 105 East Fifth Street in Northfield. Facilitated by the local group ArtOrg, the outdoor dedication ceremony will celebrate this important work with music, poetry and stories from Mac’s former students and colleagues. Speakers will include Pat Quade, Glenn Switzer, Carl Arnold and some surprise quests. Music will be provided by Peter Diggins. The sculpture will be placed in Northfield for the next year, until which time it is permanently sited at the Continue Reading…
