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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, Digital Art, Film, Mixed Media, Music, Photography, Regional, Sculpture, Unclassified

• Beatrix*Jar,, Beatrix*Jar
• Untitled (snow), Eric William Carroll
• Untitled (ultimate frisbee), Eric William Carroll
• Shimizu, Clement, Clement Shimizu
• untitled (*click*), andy ducett
• untitled (howdy), andy ducett
• Tjabbend, Kyle Fokken
• Terror 3, Greg Gossel
• Billy., John Grider
• Damocles., John Grider
• America the Beautiful, Brant Kingman
• Show/Down, 2006, Suzanne Kosmalski
• and it happened one day, corey mcnally
• siouxsie sioux #2, corey mcnally
• Another still from "Uso Justo": Have you ever seen an experimental film?, Coleman Miller
• Still from "Uso Justo: Who ARE we?, Coleman Miller
• Invention H, DeJunked
• conviviality, Ian Sorlie
• stems04, Ian Sorlie
• Pony Show, Michael Thomsen
• Round About, Michael Thomsen
• Can't Keep Bessie Down on the Farm Anymore, Sheryl Tuorila
• Flora Mae of the Hampshires, Sheryl Tuorila
• Lamb, Anastasia Ward
• Lips, Anastasia Ward
• had it up to here, Mari Richards
• break free of your bad habits, Mari Richards
• Carr, Greg, Greg Carr
• Dreamachine video clip, Greg Carr
• Nelson, Jonathan, Jonathan Nelson
• Kate Iverson, Kate Iverson