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In this Issue: Peak Color

In this issue, we're tipping our hats to artistic innovation and experimentation, to the spirit of invention and pure hustle that drives some to doggedly pursue even a sideways creative path and to strive to make their own good fortune.

 

• ZOOM IN: "Beginner's Eye, Tinkerer's Heart," photographer and painter Polly Norman
• MnArts Magazine highlights include: a candid look into one arts administrator's long goodbye to the profession, a chronicle of the recent turmoil at the Southern Theater, a review of Penumbra Theatre's staging of August Wilson's Fences, and a quirky mini-history in gallery flyer design
• An array of new artist opportunities in every discipline
• A handpicked roundup of festivals, screenings, exhibitions, and performances to keep you busy for weeks to come

PLUS: Don't miss Leave, a provocative, promising new play exploring the personal perils of "don't ask, don't tell" for same-sex military couples, written by mnartists.org regular, Matthew Everett

Susannah Schouweiler profiles Edina photographer and painter Polly Norman, from the humble beginnings of her sideways journey into art-making to her inventive experimentation with technique and media and forays into abstract painting and photography.

POLLY NORMAN IS AN ARTIST WITH INCREDIBLE HUSTLE. Her eye-popping artwork, much of it made through a technical fusion of photography and abstract painting, rewards sustained attention. But it's her business savvy—not a common strength among creative types, I've found—that first captured by interest. ("It's in my blood," she shrugs when I ask her about it. "I come from a family of ad-men, so I'm probably paying more attention to that aspect of things and have a more instinctive ability to tell that kind of story than most people.") Notices for her exhibitions, in frequent succession, have been crossing my inbox since I took this gig a few years ago. Norman's attractive digital press packets (links! pretty pictures! pithy, informative copy!) and extensive mnartists.org portfolio have served their purpose well. The more I see of her varied, inventive, work, the more I want to see.

Polly Norman is no Bohemian artist, and she's definitely not starving. This doctor's wife works from a cozy, jumbled attic studio in her genteel home in a highly coiffed Edina neighborhood. She's mother to two grown boys and she spent much of her adulthood as a stay-at-home mom, raising them. But keep your knee-jerk assumptions in check: Norman's no hothouse flower. Trained as a nurse, she worked for a number of years in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) caring for the most fragile of patients, impossibly tiny preemies and their anguished parents. The constant pressure and heartache of the gig takes a harsh toll on the people who work it. "Most nurses last a year," she says simply. "I worked as a NICU nurse for four years, myself, before I had to give it up. I miss it terribly, but the job just breaks your heart so much."

Though she dabbled in the arts as a child and hails from family of enthusiastic hobbyists, Norman's journey into making artwork her profession was a circuitous one with humble beginnings. It all started when she volunteered to take some pictures and do a little public relations work for her kids' school...continue reading the full profile on mnartists.org

Click here to read the full profile of this innovative Minnesota artist, then browse through an extensive collection of Polly Norman's artwork on mnartists.org.

About the artist: Polly Norman was born in South Minneapolis, and her family moved to Edina when she was 12 years old. She is a graduate of Edina High School and Abbott-Northwestern School of Nursing. She worked in nursing (Neonatal Intensive Care) for four years at Children's Hospital. She married, had two sons and stayed home to raise them. Norman has also run a residential photography studio for over twenty years. Beyond individual commissions, her career has expanded into many areas including legal/evidence photography, photo illustration for newspaper and magazine articles and commercial/advertising photography. Her work has been exhibited in Minnesota, around the country and all over the world, and she's won a number of both regional and national photography competitions. A collection of her pieces is on view at Flanders Contemporary Art Gallery, and inquiries about individual works may be directed to the gallery or artist. Visit Polly Norman's website or her individual mnartists.org pages for further information.

About the author: Susannah Schouweiler is editor of the arts writing and criticism on mnartists.org and in its twice monthly e-journal, access+ENGAGE.

Credits: (Top) Lifesavers, hand-painted black and white canvas print 72X48". (Bottom) Daisy, hand-colored gelatin silver print. Both images courtesy of Flanders Contemporary Art and the artist

You Are Here event listings are drawn entirely from the mnartists.org calendar, so if you want to improve the odds that you'll see your happening linked 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. Browse through more up-to-the-minute events listings or post a show of your own on mnartists.org's member-driven, DIY arts events calendar.

The mission of mnartists.org is to improve the lives of Minnesota artists and provide access to and engagement with Minnesota’s arts culture.