The Festival of Appropriation has always been focused, quite simply, on artists who use bits and pieces of previously existing images, objects and sounds to create new and compelling works of art. It’s quite literally the visual counterpart to my sample based music and audio art show, Some Assembly Required. In assembling work for the exhibition this year, I decided to skip the studio tours, word of mouth, and
Google search. Instead, I asked Ms. Iverson if she’d help me pore over the 10,000-plus artists who’ve registered at mnartists.org to find artwork. We punched every key word we could imagine into the site’s search engine. (If you’re curious, here are some of the many keywords we plugged in: “collage,” “found,” “assemblage,” “dada,” “recycle,” “surreal,” “collagist.”)


This curatorial process resulted in a very well rounded exhibit which reflects, in microcosmic form, what mnartists.org is all about. This year’s festival, like the website, includes artists at a variety of levels in their careers, from outsiders to emerging and established artists, all living and working in Minnesota. The Star Tribune has referred to two of the artists in this year’s Festival of Appropriation as “giants of sculpture;” and there are, in fact, several artists in this year’s show who have been doing amazing things for quite some time. And yet, I’m sure you can find just as many artists in the show who’ve yet to achieve that kind of attention. We welcomed them all.


I hope you’ll take an hour or two this month to visit our collection of Minnesota Artists at The Soap Factory. You’ll find collage, assemblage and mixed media artworks by: Eric William Carroll, Andy DuCett, Kyle Fokken, Greg Gossel, John Grider, Brant Kingman, Suzanne Kosmalski, Cory McNally, Coleman Miller, Mari Richards, Erik T. Ritter, Chad Rutter, Ian Sorlie, Scott Stulen, Michael Thomsen, Sheryl Tuorila and Anastasia Ward, through November 30th. Try your hand at interpreting the work for yourself. Take part in the creative process.
- Jon Nelson


For more information, please visit us at: www.festivalofappropriation.org.


About the curators:
Jon Nelson is an artist, curator, and producer focused almost exclusively on collage, with forays into radio, visual art, theater, writing, and installation. His nationally syndicated radio program, Some Assembly Required, is a weekly radio art show airing locally on 770 Radio K and in podcast form on mnartists.org. The show highlights the talents of audio artists who appropriate sounds from their media environments and, since SAR’s inception in 1999, Nelson has also produced over two dozen artist features, interviewing everyone from John Oswald and The Evolution Control Committee, to Christian Marclay and DJ Spooky—providing a variety of unique perspectives on the nature of this daring and creative style of expression.


Kate Iverson is an award-winning art photographer who has been shown in numerous galleries locally and nationally. Her work has been published in The Onion, Lavender Magazine, Underworld Magazine, l'etoile magazine and on startribune.com. Kate is the Arts Editor for l'etoile magazine, a local arts and style publication, and she also serves as the Marketing Director for Some Assembly Required. Kate sits on the Board of Directors for the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA) and is also a board member at Altered Esthetics gallery. Curator for the now defunct Density Studios Gallery (2004-2006), she still works closely with artists, galleries and arts organizations and will be curating visual art shows at various locations, including the Festival of Appropriation now on exhibit at the Soap Factory.

access+ENGAGE Issue 23: A Festival of Appropriation
Click here to read the issue of a+E, mnartists.org's twice monthly e-mag, which originally featured this collection.

Bits and Pieces in a Semblance of a Whole
Read Jon Nelson's behind-the-scenes essay in honor of this year's Festival of Appropriation exhibition.

Festival of Appropriation website
Find full exhibition details and information about special related events for this year's FOA on the website.

Festival of Appropriation on mnartists.org's calendar
Get all the pertinent dates, times, and venues for the exhibition and related FOA events.

The Soap Factory
Get directions and gallery hours on The Soap Factory website.

Festival of Appropriation Artlab with Beatrix* JAR, Nov 29 at the WAC
Join visionary sound-art duo Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske of Beatrix*JAR to produce a unique sonic hybrid of pop and experimental electronic music with circuit-bent machines, toys, and consumer electronics at the Walker Art Center.

Festival of Appropriation: Screening of "Uso Justo" by Coleman Miller, Nov 29 at the WAC
Roughly translated as “fair use,” Minneapolis director Coleman Miller’s film is restructured completely from an obscure 1959 Mexican hospital drama. Program also includes new works by the Tape-beatles, Wobbly, Steev Hise, and Jon Nelson.

Jon Nelson on mnartists.org
See some of Jon Nelson's own assemblage and collage work on mnartists.org.

Kate Iverson on mnartists.org
See some of FOA curator Kate Iverson's photography by browsing through her mnartists.org portfolio.

access + ENGAGE, Digital Art, Film, Mixed Media, Music, Photography, Regional, Sculpture, Unclassified