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Issue #19.1 |
Zoom In: Artist Michael Wong |
 MICHAEL WONG’S SCULPTURAL DRAWINGS AND
installations offer a dizzying mix of symbols from as many cultural traditions as you’d find represented in any urban Minneapolis neighborhood. In his recently installed mural Comet Thrower the cosmic architect of Buddhist tradition, Pan Gu, hurls his transformational thunderbolts and offers of good fortune upon the world. Forgotten Friends, Hidden Enemies is populated with a collection of semi-godly creatures from both the Asian New Year and Mexican Day of the Dead traditions, joined together to mark time’s ineluctable passage. King Kong and the Chinese god of longevity meet up for a birthday party complete with Coke, hot dogs, and cupcakes.
 Wong is well acquainted with the precarious half-in/half-out feeling faced by the children and grandchildren of immigrants. “As I grew older and had to deal with people’s questions (like ‘Why don’t you speak Chinese?’), and it became more important to me to find out what traditions I come from.”
“I’m suspended between identities of ethnic heritage and what it means to identify as an American,” he explains, “occupying that transitional space between East and West.”
Wong’s grandmother moved here from China in the late 1930s, the beginning of a particularly tumultuous time in the country’s history, and she never looked back—she stopped speaking Chinese altogether in favor of her new country’s tongue, she largely abandoned the religious traditions of her youth, and threw herself wholly into her new life as an American. Wong has a diffuse cultural connection to his Asian roots, but the particulars of Chinese language, mythology, and tradition have been largely lost to his  family—leaving him in the unlikely role of student of his own family’s ancestral traditions.
Wong began his artistic life as a professionally trained cellist* but he abandoned that path early on. “I didn’t like the ephemerality of performance. You work so hard to prepare a piece, but there was no permanence to performance. When I was done playing it felt like my work was gone, over. I wanted to find a way to do something that would last—something with more staying power.”
“I really love the timeless universality of mythology, whatever tradition it comes from,” Wong enthuses. “I appreciate the moral compass these allegorical images offer the viewer. I think a lot of [art]work today references pop culture, almost like it’s a new religion, and I’m more interested in paring down my work to constants, the things that really matter.”
Wong’s mythic figures are distinctly ferocious, even in blessing they’re more often than not toothy and a bit menacing. “I think if your imagery is too tame, no one will look,” he shrugs. “If it shocks, or if it inspires fear or even distaste, people may turn away from it, but it will reach them.”
>>CLICK HERE to read the whole profile and to browse through a collection of Michael Wong's cleverly constructed sculptural drawings and his richly imagined allegorical artwork.
About the artist: Michael Wong is a student in the University of Minnesota Art Department's sculpture program. He’s shown his unique pieces both in galleries in Minnesota and internationally. Most recently, he was invited by the nonprofit FORECAST Public Artworks to install an enlarged mural of Comet Thrower in the Stinson Building in Minneapolis as part of their "Spontaneous Storefronts" series.
*Correction (7/12): The emailed version of this article indicated, in error, that Wong began his artistic career as a pianist when, in fact, he was a cellist. |
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| Point of View: On the Varieties of Minnesota Produce |
 The Unexpected Pleasures of Art Shopping at the Farmer's Market
Dispatch by Christie Wells
BEYOND THE PLETHORA OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND PRODUCE
at the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market, there’s also the prospect of more abiding goods: the vendors who populate the south end of this market are selling everything from cell phones and bumper stickers to fire pits and fine crafts—and yes, even art. I'm pretty sure I'll never renew my phone plan here, but there’s a great time to be had browsing the booths of the artists and craftspeople in the sheds tucked in the shadow of the 394-Interchange.
There are several stalls offering ceramics, but only Phil “Pottery Dude” Echert stacks his pots atop one another and calls them “garden art.”  These sculptures are deceptive—the pots look precariously balanced but they are threaded on iron poles, so the whole structure is really quite sturdy. Aside from the topsy-turvy trickery, it’s the glazes on Phil’s pots that will lure you. These saturated primaries capture the cheery feeling of a garden in full summer bloom. The best part: you can pick your favorite pots to be included in a custom sculpture that Phil creates on the spot.
A few stalls down you’ll find Cheryl Fitzgerald’s Iron Gallery. Like many of the market’s artists, Fitzgerald shows a lot of outdoor sculpture. Her pergolas and arbors have the appeal of lovely old iron gates and will lend any garden an aura of mystery, as if promising entry to an otherworldly place just beyond the vines that hang on them. These pieces make me want to plant some night blooming wisteria just to see what magic happens in my own garden as the flowers climb the wrought iron. On a recent trip, I was especially entranced by an oversized flower sculpture and a stand of giant iron cattails. For those focused on more practical outdoor accessories, Fitzgerald also offers high-top tables and chairs stylish enough to rock any backyard patio bistro....>>CLICK HERE to continue reading the article on mnartists.org.
—Christie Wells is a Twin-Cities based writer on interior design and architecture.
>>BUT WAIT, THERE'S MUCH MORE: read the full article on mnartists.org to get tips on finding fused glass jewelry to glam up any girl's night on the town, handwoven Andean rugs to warm your hearth room, and yard art that'll put those pink flamingos to shame.
 Photos (above) from the Minneapolis Farmer's Market were taken by Aaron Fenster and appear courtesy 10,000 Arts, Minnesota's Creative Quarterly co-published by The Rake and mnartists.org. Look for this article and other features from mnartists.org in the next issue of 10,000 Arts on stands throughout the Twin Cities and select arts centers around the state at the end of July. The top photo features work from Evla Pottery accented by fresh farmer's market flowers; bottom right photo shows Phil Echert's vivid stackable pots.
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MnArtsWeekly 1.18
MN State Arts Board Director, Thomas Proehl |
Read Michael Fallon's revealing interview with new Minnesota State Arts Board Director (and theater veteran) Thomas Proehl, get the skinny on what happened at B-Girl Be, and reflect on the art of SAD now on display at the Weisman. Or, take a poetry voyage, check in with this week's What Light verse, get an in-depth look at MN pottery legend Warren Mackenzie, a new podcast from Some Assembly Required, and much more. |
Join us at the Fair!
Courtesy the Minnesota State Fair |
mnartists.org will be at the Minnesota State Fair again this year, but we can’t do it without help from our members. So come on out and join in on the fun: help staff the booth, get a free t-shirt, and rub elbows with other members of the mnartists.org community. CLICK HERE for details on the mnartists.org booth and browse through the times we still have open for volunteers. |
Artist Opportunities
Summer 2007 cover of ARP! (Art Review & Preview Quarterly) |
CALL FOR ART: The art magazine ARP! is seeking art that explores the extremely localized art history of the Twin Cities since 1945
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church seeks proposals for exhibitions in ArtSpace, their lobby gallery
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: ARThouse, a residential, phantom exhibition venue in New London, MN is seeking proposals especially for collaborative art projects
CALL FOR THEATER ARTISTS: The Twin Cities Chekhov is seeking artist submissions to breathe new life into the classic work of Anton Chekhov |
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Dance
Momentum: New Dance Works
Maggie Bergeron and Company, photo by Randy Karels. |
Providing a snapshot of Minnesota's dance landscape, the popular Momentum dance series illuminates the skill and passion of the next generation's most promising artists. Featuring two companies each evening, Momentum showcases new voices and ideas that speak to the latest combinations in dance while solidifying the Twin Cities as a hotbed of fresh, experimental, and often under-the-radar talent. This year Maggie Bergeron and Company (House/Home), Justin Jones, Off-Leash Area, and Cathy Wright each premiere new works co-commissioned and co-presented by the Walker and the Southern with support from the Jerome Foundation.
Where: The Southern Theater, Minneapolis, MN
When: July 12-14, 19-21, shows begin at 8 pm. Click here for specific details about both the first and second weekends’ performances.
Tickets: $18 ($14 for WAC and Southern members) Check out this issue's mnAccess coupon—you can see both weekends' shows for just $25! |
Design
10,000 Arts Design Crawl
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Join mnartists.org and The Rake magazine as we celebrate the newly released issue of 10,000 Arts with a design crawl on Glenwood Avenue, featuring music (including Beatrix Jar), visual and design arts, and performing arts at multiple venues. You can sample food and drink all evening as you amble between Lyndale and Girard Avenues North on Glenwood Avenue in Minneapolis to take in some of the Twin Cities’ hottest contemporary design talent.
Where: Glenwood Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
When: July 26, 6-10 pm
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Festivals
ART WATCH: Live Art Demonstrations
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Watch as over fifty local professional artists in a variety of disciplines create unique works of art before your eyes, from painting and watercolor to raku firing and metalworking, from lamp working to jewelry design. If you see something you like, come back for the Art Watch silent auction and gala scheduled for Saturday.
Where: White Bear Center for the Arts, White Bear Lake, MN
When: The demonstrations will be held Thursday and Friday, July 12-13 (studios open from 10 am to 10 pm on Thursday and 10 am to 6 pm on Friday). The art auction and gala is Saturday July 14 from 6-9:30 pm and proceeds will benefit The White Bear Center for the Arts.
Tickets: Art Watch is FREE and open to the public. Tickets to the gala are $45 at the door ($40 in advance, $35 for WCBA members). |
Art in The Park Bemidji
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In scenic Library Park situated just north of the famous statues of Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, and the Tourist Information Center, Art in the Park features a juried selection of work from over 120 artists, a dozen food vendors, and live entertainment, all within easy walking distance to Bemidji’s downtown. Now in its 40th year, the popular annual celebration sponsored by Bemidji’s Community Art Center drew over 8000 people from all over the region last year and promises to do the same this season.
Where: Library Park, Bemidji, MN
When: July 21-22, from 10 am-6 pm
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
17th Annual Grand Marais Arts Festival
Taking a Turn by Shayann Hoffer, one of the festival’s exhibiting artists |
This year’s festival promises work from around 100 local and regional artists, live music, demonstrations, and a silent book auction—not to mention a pie social and special performance by musician Michael Monroe. All that and the Grand Marais Lake Superior area is gorgeous this time of year (just don’t forget the bug spray). What more reason for a day trip do you need?
Where: Grand Marais Harbor, Grand Marais, MN
When: Saturday and Sunday, July 14-15 from 9 am-4 pm
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Political Party
Work created by students from the Xuchialt Art School in Nicaragua.
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In spite of the name, there's nothing particularly partisan about this party. Issues regarding immigration touch all of us—from immigration raids to the tangled politics of immigration policy reform. Political Party explores a number of facets relevant to this critical issue through music, art, spoken word performances, and interactive workshops.
Where: Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, MN
When: Saturday, July 14 from 10 am-4 pm
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Film
Summer Music & Movies
Film still from All That Heaven Allows, 1955, directed by Douglas Sirk
The Plastic Constellations, photo courtesy the artists
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It’s time to pack up your blanket and head over to Loring Park. A beloved tradition continues for its 31st year with the Walker Art Center’s free Summer Music & Movies series that combines classic films with cutting edge live music performances. This season’s cinematic offerings will focus on the 1950s films of Douglas Sirk which document the public’s growing discontent with the social conventions of the time. In Sirk’s stories characters struggle to live as they’d like to, often flying in the face of a moralistic, disapproving society—nosy neighbors, conformist friends, and stubbornly traditional family members. The series begins July 16 with the trance inducing, sultry trip-hop vibe of Black Blondie, followed by Douglas Sirk’s iconic film All the Heaven Allows. Listen to fist-pumping sound of The Plastic Constellations then watch Sirk’s classic movie There's Always Tomorrow on July 23.
Where: Loring Park, Minneapolis, MN
When: Mondays in July and August, the music begins at 7 pm, the screening at dusk. Click here for the full Summer Music & Movies line-up.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public. |
Literary Events
Teen Poetry Slam: Quest for the Voice 2007
MC Pyro the Rhymestress, photo courtesy Minnesota Spoken Word Association |
Quest for the Voice, presented by the Minnesota Spoken Word Association, brings together young people from all walks of life in a night featuring the Minnesota Slam Team, a group of the best teenage poets from around the state. This event is a prelude to the group's trip to San Jose, California, where they will compete against 300 other teen poets in the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival.
Where: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
When: Friday July 12, 7 pm
Tickets: FREE (Tickets for this Target Free Thursday Nights program will be at the Hennepin Lobby Desk beginning at 6 pm) |
Music
Musicapolis
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Minnesota Center for Photography, in collaboration with Juxtaposition Arts, presents its 3rd Annual Outdoor Music Festival, with free activities all day long—including hands-on interactive demos from MCP, Northern Clay Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, the Textile Center, ’zine artist J. Gerlach, Juxtaposition Arts, and hip-hop dance instruction with Mr. Worm. Later in the evening, there will be a live concert that’ll knock your socks off. The two organizations are working together to combine the urban arts of hip-hop to create a real-time aerosol mural in MCP's parking lot, adding an element of visual art that will be a fitting complement to the spontaneity and energy of the music being produced on the Musicapolis stage.
Where: Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis, MN
When: July 21, free events from 1-5 pm, then a live concert in the evening.
Tickets: Daytime events are FREE and open to the public, there will be a $10 admission charge starting at 5 pm. Click here for detailed info on the concert’s roster of musicians and ticket locations. |
Symposium
Minnesota Center for Book Arts 2007 Symposium: 23 Covered Bridges
Photo of accordion book courtesy MCBA |
MCBA’s 2007 Symposium, this year on the theme of book arts in the landscape of contemporary art, explores both traditional and innovative approaches to book arts. The workshops, panel discussions, and trade fair will be kicked off by keynote speaker AA Bronson, who is director of the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists. The symposium will conclude with a collaborative project using accordion structures created throughout the week during open studio time, by which all symposium participants will create one gigantic accordion book which will span the Stone Arch Bridge and the mighty Mississippi.
Where: Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
When: Monday July 23 through Saturday July 28. For details and registration info visit the MCBA website.
Tickets and fees: Registration fees vary depending on which events you’d like to attend. Click here for details. |
Theater
PlayLabs 2007
Carlyle Brown, Minneapolis-based playwright of Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been, one of this year's winning PlayLabs shows.
Rosanna Staffa, playwright of The Interview, another PlayLabs 2007 selection
Photos courtesy the Playwrights' Center. |
PlayLabs is one of the nation's most celebrated annual theatrical festivals for new work. For over twenty years, more than 150 playwrights have come together with over 1,000 theater artists from across the country to develop plays at PlayLabs. The two-week conference culminates in a weekend of public readings of the five winning plays in The Waring Jones Theater. As many as 300 playwrights each year vie for a spot on the PlayLabs playbill, and ten of the last fifteen PlayLabs plays have gone on to enjoy full production at theaters nationwide. Be among the first to hear these five new pieces from the theatre's brightest emerging playwright talents.
Where: Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN
When: July 18-July 22
Tickets: $10 per show. Reserve tickets by calling 612/332-7481 x14. Individual performance details are on the Playwrights’ Center website. |
Visual Arts
not the running type: Kimberly Tschida Petters and Cheryl Wilgren Clyne
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This double show of new works by Cheryl Wilgren Clyne and Kimberly Tschida Petters features drawing, painting, photography, projection, film and sound art by two people thrown together during a nervous moment of pairing—a bit by chance, a bit by choice.
Where: Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
When: The exhibit runs from July 2 through July 29. There is an opening reception from 7-11 pm on Friday July 13.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Aquatic Oddities by Martha Iserman
Tangled Jellys by Martha Iserman |
Martha Iserman, a.k.a. Big Red Sharks Studios, will be displaying her latest installment of Aquatic Oddities, in which the Minneapolis-based artist translates her own fear of the ocean into a series of ink drawings and mixed media paintings. The resulting body of work is an eerie hybrid of scientific renderings and the work Iserman's own surreal imagination.
Where: Cosmic Coffee and Gallery, Saint Paul, MN
When: The show runs through July 30.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Hot Off the Press: New Prints by Highpoint Center for Printmaking Studio Members
Deckled Specs by Mike Elko, screenprint with craft scissor “Deckle” on bottom edge, 2007
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See the original lithographs, screenprints, etchings, woodcuts, and monoprints of the co-op’s studio member artists. Almost 30 local artists will be showing a variety of prints from large, bold, colorful works to small, intricate pieces in styles ranging from realistic to abstract, from expressive to experimental.
Where: Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN
When: July 13-August 31. Opening reception is Friday, July 13 from 6:30-9 pm.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Browse through more up-to-the-minute events listings or post a show of your own
on mnartists.org's new DIY arts events calendar.
You Are Here event listings are drawn almost entirely from the new calendar, so if you want to improve the odds you'll see your event mentioned here, you'd better start posting your events! We've made it super easy to begin: here's a step-by-step guide that'll show you how to promote your own events on the new arts calendar. |
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CREDITS
mnartists.org Project Director: Kathleen Kvern
access+ENGAGE Editor: Susannah Schouweiler
Original e-journal design: Brand & Butter
Featured Contributors and Artists
Banner image (reprinted with permission of the artists): Collaborative mural on the side of the Uptown Minneapolis shop Cal Surf by John Grider, Isaac Arvold, Drew Peterson, Gabriel Combs, Michael Fitzsimmons, and Eric Inkala. Photo by Greg Hubacek (courtesy of Extra Grind). You can see more work by Eric Inkala, John Grider, Isaac Arvold, and Keiko Yagishita in a group show, Almost Famous, opening at the First Amendment Gallery July 28.
access+ENGAGE is a twice monthly e-journal offering indispensable,
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