We've got a new addition around here!

We're so pleased to announce that mnartists.org has a new Project Director—artist and former Rochester Art Center curator, Scott Stulen. Scott is going to fully step into the role after Memorial Day, and I'm sure he'll introduce himself to all of you more fully then. But in the meantime, I knew you'd want some details about the new guy—so in celebration of his upcoming new role at the helm of this fine enterprise, I sat him down to ask a few questions.

• What's your earliest memory of being moved by art?
I was on a fourth grade field trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art when the group came upon Rembrandt's Lucretia. I was stunned by the work, both by its deeply upsetting content and as a beautiful painting. I distinctly remember, at that moment, thinking to myself that I wanted to be a painter when I grew up. As I leaned in closer to view the detail, I tripped the alarm in front of the painting...continue reading on mnartists.org

Click here to read the full Q & A and to browse through a collection of some of Scott's own artwork on mnartists.org

About the new Project Director: Scott Stulen was born in Willmar, Minnesota in 1974. He received his BFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and his MFA in Painting and Drawing, with a minor in Art History from the University of Minnesota. He has worked as the Associate Curator and Curator of Education at the Rochester Art Center since 2004. In his professional life, he's taught at numerous institutions including the University of Minnesota, Rochester Community and Technical College, College of Visual Arts, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Scott is also a mixed media artist whose work explores personal and collective memory, pop culture, failure and loss, and the Midwest. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his artwork, including the 2004 Katherine E. Nash Purchase Prize and a 2005 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. His work is included in numerous private collections including the Weisman Art Museum and University of Minnesota. He exhibits throughout the country and his work was selected for inclusion in the juried national publication New American Paintings in both 2004 and 2007. In addition to all this, Scott curates audio work and performs as a DJ and sound artist; his work in this area includes the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Headphone Festivals at the Rochester Art Center, the 2007 Art Shanty Projects on Medicine Lake, and 2007 Spark Fest. You can find out much more about Scott by visiting his website.

Credit: My First through Fourth Grade Teachers by Scott Stulen, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48", 2007. (Exhibited in the show Arrested Development at St. Mary's College, Notre Dame University 2008)

WAC Director Olga Viso talks with Susannah Schouweiler about the joys of working with living artists, the populist power of the public museum, and about the rejuvenative benefits of CSI reruns.

WHEN YOU SEE THE NEW DIRECTOR OF THE WALKER ART

center across the room, it's easy to be intimidated. Statuesque and regal, she's also armed with impeccable arts cred, having honed her curatorial and administrative chops at an impressive array of institutions across the county (most recently the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum in D.C.) before joining the Walker's team in January of this year. But once you've been siting down with Viso for just a few minutes, between her graciousness and infectious passion for her work (and after discovering a shared enthusiasm for CSI reruns), you'll be surprised how quickly you forget to be nervous.

Her zeal for artists themselves is immediately evident. In fact, like many people working in arts administration, Viso got her start making art herself. "But, at a certain point," she says, "I realized my gift lay more in writing about art than in making it." Even so, she goes on, "that experience gave me valuable perspective on the creative process and on the way artists work. I think spending some time at it myself it has enabled me to bring a greater depth of passion to my work, whether it's in my writing or working with artists." ...continue reading on mnartists.org

Click here to read the full interview with Olga Viso on mnartists.org

Credit: Photo of Olga Viso is by Matthew Worden (courtesy of The Washingtonian)

Read the Spring 2008 miniStories Winners

What is a ministory? We've deemed it to be a story told in 500 or fewer words. It is a distillation. It is naturally intense. It is easy to read on the web! Our first miniStories competition was a fantastic success, and the response from Minnesota writers was incredible--we received some 130 entries for this inaugural round! Our judges read fast and hard and made difficult choices (the entries were stellar). And now we have twelve award-winners for the spring 2008 quarter, whose short stories will be published monthly, from April-June, on mnartists.org in batches of four.

April's batch of four winning miniStories is:
      Tice by Maggie Ryan Sandford
      Fitness by Mark Ehling
      The Newt by Jack El-Hai
      Transmittal to HQ by Jill Bernard

About the series: miniStories is a quarterly flash fiction competition and publication project for Minnesota writers presented by mnartists.org and coordinated by Electric Arc Radio's Geoff Herbach (author of newly released novel, The Miracle Letters of T. Rimburg, published by Three Rivers Press).

miniStories logo design by Kelly Munson