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ArtOrg is hitting the road in June with its small steamroller printing activity for kids and adults called the “Thousand Print Summer”. Starting on Monday, June 7 we are printing at no fewer than 19 venues over the next 20 days. The events travel to cities as diverse as Upsala, St. Cloud, Dundas, Grey Eagle, and Minneapolis. Seek out our calendar, to find the nearest location to you. Come early and print often! A special thanks to the Great River Region Library for sponsoring many of the events through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Legacy Fund. A special treat will be on Sunday, June 13 when we are at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts—the prints from this event get integrated into a 100-foot-long gallery exhibit at the Hennepin County Government Center in December of 2010, and that project is called the “Progressive Mural in the Community”.

The ArtOrg 2010 Thousand Print Summer kicks offs at Edison High School during the Northeast Minneapolis Art-A-Whirl. We will be in front of the main entrance of Edison High School from noon to 4pm on Saturday, May 15. Come and make a print with a small steamroller! We already have over twenty small steamroller printing events scheduled this summer from Rochester to Thief River Falls–check our main calendar for a list of all of these events. This first one at Edison is one of five special events–because the prints feed into a special exhibition at the Hennepin County Government Center in December of 2010 for the project called the “Progressive Mural in the Community“. Stop by and find out more. Edison High School is located at 700 22nd Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418.

At the annual ArtOrg meeting last night, several board of director positions were decided. New member Kathy Ruby was elected Treasurer, Ron Wolfe was elected Vice-Chairperson, Ann Nordby continues as Board President, and Greg Mattern continues as Secretary. In addition, Wendy Sivanich, who is now Director of Operations at the Northfield Youth Choirs, will be doing the books and advising ArtOrg in everything financial. Find our more about them, and the rest of our board on our People and Mission page.

ArtOrg is pleased to introduce Brooke Vertin, a recent MFA graduate from the printmaking department of the University of Notre Dame. She will be putting together a series of printmaking classes in the ArtOrg printmaking studio for the summer of 2010. If you have wishes and ideas for classes, please contact Brooke directly at 261-0661, area code 816. We anticipate that the class schedule will be announced in early June. Brooke will also be assisting various ArtOrg projects, including the 2010 Thousand Print Summer and the Progressive Mural in the Community. Brooke has taught classes in Experimental Printmaking, Silkscreen, and Artist Books and Papermaking. Welcome Brooke!

ArtOrg is bringing together five artists that will create large works in an activity we call the “Five Sculpture Project”. The five sculptures will be exhibited at the pedestal in front of the Lampe Law Group in downtown Northfield, Minnesota. The projected public unveiling of the project will be in the fall of 2010, and thereafter each sculpture will be on display for a period of ten weeks each, or a total “Five Sculpture” display period of one year.
The artists in the project are Mac Gimse, Ray Jacobson, Sharol Nau, Juan Jose Palacios and Ed White. Three artists are well-known Continue Reading…

ArtOrg Executive Director Dave Machacek attended the Blandin Foundation’s Community Leadership Program recently. This part of the training was the 5-day residential retreat and was held in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Along with 23 other members of the community, Dave learned quite a bit about our community, and built some tools to move forward. It was cold, and the food was great!

ArtOrg Executive Director Dave Machacek will be presenting at the Minneapolis group of PechaKucha Night on Saturday, February 20 at 7pm at the International Market Square, 275 Market Street, Minneapolis, MN 55405. This evening is special and is organized to raise money for Haitian reconstruction efforts. The PechaKucha Night gathers about ten presenters together on various interesting topics, and this night is special: all 200 Pecha Kucha locations around the world will be presenting on February 20–that means 200 cities, 2000 presentations, 200,000 people – with the aim to raise $1,000,000 for rebuilding Haiti. Dave’s 6-minute-40-second talk will be on the artist John Berkey.

All the PechaKucha Night cities will be connected by a 24-hour PechaKucha presentation WAVE that will gradually move westward city by city, circumnavigating the globe. The wave will be dropping in on each city for around Continue Reading…

Artist Kari Alberg will be displaying her work from the 2009 Day of the Dead Plains Art Museum project at the Illo Minn: Volume Two exhibit at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. The print measures 4 foot by 8 foot and was the title block for the 9-artist Plains Art Museum exhibit in the Fall of 2009. Kari has also created a special Munny Doll for auction to support CVA programs.

Illo Minn: Volume Two is a biennial exhibition. 2010 features the work of twenty-eight commercially active Minnesota illustrators. Each illustrator will exhibit a printed illustration with original artwork and a one of a kind Munny doll. The illustrated Munny dolls will be sold in a silent auction during the exhibition reception. The auction will close at 7:30 p.m. The funds raised from the auction will go toward the CVA Scholarship Fund. The first Illo Minn show traveled to the ArtOrg gallery in Northfield two years ago.

Nathan Davis has recently joined the Board of Directors of ArtOrg. Nathan has an extensive career in education and the arts. He has worked as a music professor in the Minnesota State University and College system, as a performing arts presenter, and extensively in developing rural arts education outreach projects. Professional positions also include serving as a Provost of a higher education consortium, and as Executive Director of the Perpich Center for Arts Education. Along with ArtOrg, Nathan serves on the Board of Trustees of the Minneapolis College of Arts and Design. Welcome aboard!