{"id":50055,"date":"2019-03-28T21:35:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/?p=50055"},"modified":"2023-01-18T19:45:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T19:45:12","slug":"alumni-spotlight-matt-swenson-91-and-the-minnesota-art-truck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/2019\/03\/28\/alumni-spotlight-matt-swenson-91-and-the-minnesota-art-truck\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Spotlight: Matt Swenson \u201891 and the Minnesota Art Truck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Matt<\/a><\/strong>Minnesota Art Takes to the Road<\/h2>\n

Picture yourself in your favorite Minnesota town, enjoying one of those great community festivals\u2014relaxing while you peruse a wide range of art and crafts for sale, connect with old and new friends, and discover some remarkable local talent. Who doesn\u2019t love those festivals? What may surprise you is that you may be doing all this while standing inside the Minnesota Art Truck!<\/p>\n

Instead of expecting you to go to a museum or store to find a piece of art to your liking\u2014which may or may not be original or fit your budget\u2014Matt Swenson \u201991 has found a way to turn the tables and let Minnesota art come to you.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the first full calendar year of his new business, Swenson took his MN Art Truck to 90+ events throughout the state, providing a unique shopping opportunity for not only the local residents seeking unusual and affordable art, but for artists seeking a wider audience for their creations. And by \u201cart,\u201d we mean much more than old paintings and marble busts. Swenson finds artistry in jewelry made from flatware, digital illustration, wooden jewelry, wire sculptures, every type of painting, doodle drawings, coloring, writing, calligraphy, fiber work, handmade paper, photography, screen printing, T-shirts, fused glass, ornaments, greeting cards, pillows, alcohol ink, metal work, welding, and stained glass, to name a few.<\/p>\n

As Swenson searched over the years for the perfect creative outlet for his own art, the ideal medium kept eluding him. Then, about five years ago, he was introduced to \u201cassembled art,\u201d which combines two disparate objects into a new form\u2014say, perhaps, a robot automaton made from some cast-off item from yesteryear. That was it\u2014the medium for which he had been searching! And the art form continues to give him amazing joy and fulfillment to this day.<\/p>\n

\"inside<\/a><\/strong>Many Artists and a Truck<\/h2>\n

As Swenson connected with more artists, he realized how difficult it is for most of them to connect with consumers. He decided to \u201csteal a page from the now-booming food truck phenomenon\u201d and sell art from a truck\u2014more specifically, original local art displayed in a friendly, welcoming truck.<\/p>\n

Earlier, when Swenson had reached out to galleries in hopes of forging some kind of partnership, he was disappointed to find very little interest in anything that wasn\u2019t \u201cfine art.\u201d By contrast, when he took his MN Art Truck to communities across the state, he discovered that people\u2014rural and urban\u2014 found his unusual sculptures appealing and were willing to purchase them\u2014even people who weren\u2019t his relatives. They seemed to find his art more approachable and less intimidating than some traditional art forms can be. He has also been gratified that his \u201cnutty sculptures\u201d have been accepted in juried Minnesota art shows, and have been part of three different curated art exhibits. Some have been purchased around the world, and others added to some permanent corporate collections.<\/p>\n

As an Augsburg student, Swenson had gained invaluable practical business experience, particularly through internship programs\u2014which served him well in this unique business venture. But, even more importantly, he had learned how to recognize important areas of interest for him that were underdeveloped, and then move to develop them further.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>Running a mobile business meant plenty of new learning experiences for him\u2014finding the right truck, getting it DOT-approved and roadworthy, and setting it up per his business model. Securing insurance was tricky since insurers are accustomed to insuring a fleet, not a single truck. Then, of course, he needed to find artists who wanted to have their art onboard, and then schedule events. He took on every event that came his way.<\/p>\n

But no business is likely to move forward unless there are good ways to get the word out, and in this case, to convince Minnesotans that it\u2019s okay to climb aboard a truck and try out this new model for buying original art. Some of the best responses to the MN Art Truck have been found at rural art and book festivals, farmers\u2019 markets, wineries and breweries, and corporate \u201cArt Stop\u201d events. There has been moderate success using Facebook to spread the word, though word-of-mouth communication seems to be the most effective\u2014artists sharing success stories within their peer groups, satisfied customers telling friends, businesses posting notices, etc. In 2019, Swenson will be partnering with new local groups, such as The Loft, LOLA Art Crawl, 4 Angels Creations, Dundee Floral, Anoka Food Truck Festival, and Holidazzle.<\/p>\n

\"Support<\/a><\/strong>Looking Long-Term<\/h2>\n

Swenson is thoroughly enjoying his vocation and wants to franchise the Art Truck concept across the country. Doing so, however, will require profitability so that the endeavor doesn\u2019t simply become a hobby. Though many of the artists whose work he carried on the truck enjoyed success last year, Swenson knew that his numerous start-up expenses would make profitability in 2018 much less likely for him. Now, with those expenses behind him, profitability in 2019 looks promising. Since he and his wife are currently covering the costs of the operation from their retirement and their daughter\u2019s college funds, a banner second year would be a blessing.<\/p>\n

Swenson\u2019s hope for 2019 is to find a corporate partner that would like to support local arts, and could make use of Swenson\u2019s business and marketing background\u2014maybe something, he says, like the \u201cExplore Minnesota Art Truck\u201d or \u201cGeneral Mills Art Truck.\u201d Minnesota artists of all stripes would certainly benefit! And think of all the communities that could enjoy original Minnesota creations!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–by Cheryl Crockett \u201889<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Art Takes to the Road Picture yourself in your favorite Minnesota town, enjoying one of those great community festivals\u2014relaxing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[885],"class_list":["post-50055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlights","tag-mn-art-truck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50055"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51502,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50055\/revisions\/51502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}