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!

Our new Project Director, Scott Stulen, 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 Scott's upcoming new role at the helm of this fine enterprise, I sat him down to ask a few questions.
--mnartists.org editor, Susannah Schouweiler



• What's your earliest memory of being moved by art of some kind?

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 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 creating a stir amongst the guards nearby. Whenever I revisit the painting as an adult, I recall my childhood inspiration and still feel slightly apprehensive about peering too closely.


• Do you collect anything--art or otherwise?
I don’t collect, so much as I hoard things. As a child I obsessively collected baseball cards and actually paid for a portion of graduate school by selling my collection. My current collections include art books and exhibition catalogs, Urban Vinyl toys, and all types of music.


• How do you typically start your day?
I am definitely more of a night person, so mornings can be a struggle. I start to wake up by checking email, fantasy baseball stats, and other news on my iPhone while still in bed (I am growing increasingly addicted to that gadget). I get ready for work, read more email, eat breakfast…the usual stuff I guess.


• What music do you go to again and again--not for edification, just for pleasure?
The National, Neil Diamond, Grandaddy, Johnny Cash, Faith No More, Talking Heads, Kylie, G N’ R, The Knife

• Top five movies in your Netflix queue?

My Kid Could Paint That
There Will Be Blood
Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Flight of the Conchords: Season 2
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

• First favorite author as an adult?
Chuck Klosterman

• Reality TV--guilty pleasure or scourge of the airwaves?
Both, I hate it but I also am guilty of watching it on occasion as well. VH1 is the worst, its so bad but I kinda love it too. Yes, I am talking about Bret Michaels.


• What do you want to do first when you start this new gig with mnartists.org in June?
I want to meet with the contributors to the site and evaluate both the successes and the areas that need improvement for the project, both on and offline. I immediately want to start formulating plans for adding web 2.0 features, including image tagging and commentary, and I'd like to improve the uploading procedure for images and media files to the site.

• What are you most looking forward to?

I am looking forward both to the opportunity to work with a creative and talented staff and to play a leadership role in an organization whose mission I passionately support. In addition, I hope to assist artists in the state of Minnesota further their careers in meaningful and substantial ways and to continue to raise awareness about their work while creating informative and entertaining programming for both artists and arts lovers statewide.

That, and having Walker Art Center on my business card.


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 at such venues as the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN; Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN; VU Gallery, Bellingham, WA; The Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN; Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago; and Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN; Kiehle Gallery, St. Cloud State University and St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame University. 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 much more information about Scott's artwork and more on his website, www.scottstulen.com.

access+ENGAGE Issue 28.2: Meet the Folks
Click here to read the web (HTML) version of the issue of a+E (mnartists.org's twice monthly e-mag) in which this originally appeared.

Scott Stulen's website
Visit Scott's website to find out more about his background, his artwork, and his past-present-future exhibitions.

"A Note from Out-going Project Director, Kathleen Kvern"
Read a note from the former mnartists.org Project Director, Kathleen Kvern, upon her departure in March. She offers a survey of where this democratic online arts project has been and where it's headed in the coming year, along with a heartfelt farewell.

access + ENGAGE, Regional