Heritage

February 15 – March 22, 2018 – Gage Family Art Gallery

Reception: Thursday, February 15, 6-8 p.m.

The artwork in this exhibition explores the visual relationship created by combining natural and manufactured elements. This combination is meant to appear grafted and somewhat uncomfortable. This tension and the forms I utilize are intended to reference ideas of transplantation, migration and change.

Bio

Alonso Sierralta is a native of Chile. He studied in Nebraska before settling in Northeast Minneapolis. He has an MFA from the University of Nebraska and has received several awards including a next step grant through the Mcknight Foundation. His work has been featured in numerous national shows. He also has public work on display at Stevens Point Sculpture Park, in Stevens Point, WI, and at Silverwood Park, in St. Anthony, MN.

Images

The post Heritage by Alonso Sierralta appeared first on Art Galleries.

CHELSEA, MA: ALL AMERICAN CITY

January 11 – February 8, 2018

Christensen Center Gallery

Artist Statement

My project is an ever evolving, multidimensional look at Chelsea, Massachusetts, the city where I live. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts, measuring just 2.5 square miles, yet has a population of at least 40 thousand people. Chelsea has historically been a landing spot for new immigrants which makes it a city continuously in flux. The project was initially conceived as a photographic exploration of the ordinary and everyday within this small dense urban environment but it has expanded into a narrative portrait of a specific place and time. Chelsea is a Sanctuary City and has also twice received the All America City Award from the National Civic League. At a time when immigrants are being demonized and the idea of ‘who is an American’ is fiercely contested it feels more vital than ever to explore and document overlapping layers of history, culture, and architecture, to try to define both a singular city in transition and my own personal sense of place.

Image: Orlando, Chelsea, MA, 2008, Gelatin Silver Print, 17×17

Chelsea, MA: all american city – q/a with artist

What inspired you to start this project?

I have always taken photos in and around Chelsea, but I became much more focused on the city in 2008. The project began with a series of urban landscapes and has expanded and evolved since then. As it progressed I became interested in visually exploring many different aspects (street portraits, vernacular architecture, interior space) of this unusual and unique place. The more I look at all of these different layers, the more I continue to be inspired by this place.

Ìę

How does this show speak for you as an artist besides it being the town you live in?

I think it summarizes a number of ideas and interests I’ve always brought to my personal work. Curiosity of people and place, the luxury of working on something without any fixed deadline, my interest in portraiture and landscapes as well as the use of black and white film. Also, working on something that is somewhat artistically uncomfortable and where the direction of the work is fluid or unknown.

How often did you take photos for this project?

I have no fixed working method or schedule but I tend to shoot more during the spring, summer and fall when the weather and light are more conducive. During those months how much I photographed varied from every day to a few times a week.

ÌęHow has this project changed in the 8-year process? What are your takeaways from making a long-term project such as this?

Initially my plan was to shoot the entire project with medium format black and white film but as it progressed I decided to include digital photographs, both with a DSLR and my cell phone. In addition, I also began collecting found papers and objects that I picked up off the street. Not everything ended up in the show at Augsburg, but they were all very much part of the process.

The takeaway is to be open and let the work take you in the direction that it takes you and not force it to go in a specific, preconceived or predetermined way. For me it’s important for a project to evolve organically and to allow for change. It’s more fun that way. I also feel it’s important to be flexible in your approach.

Ìę

How did you select what photos would be in the show?

Since most of the work was shot on film, I did what photographers have always done. I made contact sheets, edited them, made work prints from this edit and then re-edited the work prints. Then I made larger final prints, which were then edited down yet again to the final group that I’ve included in this show.

Part of the editing process was to see how the photos worked not only individually but as part of a much larger group. It is important that each photograph relate to and interact with the other photographs so that the sum total has more impact than any of them independently. My intention is to have the photos work with and inform each other.

Ìę

What were your interactions with the people of the town while taking these photos?

Since I was photographing strangers on the street I needed to work quickly. I would introduce myself, explain the project and then ask permission to take their photograph. Not everyone agreed, but I felt it was crucial for the kind of portraits I wanted to make to have permission first. I wanted these street portraits to be a collaboration between myself and the subjects. Later on I worked with a woman from Chelsea who spoke Spanish. This was a huge help, especially with people who were concerned about a stranger who didn’t speak their language wanting to take their photograph. Historically, Chelsea has always been a landing place for new immigrants to our country so this flux is an integral part of the city. It is deeply embedded in the fabric of this place.

Ìę

What do you hope the people of your town take from your view of them in this show?

I hope they see it as a subjective yet honest look at a complicated place.

Ìę

How do you think time will affect this show?

It’s hard to predict, but I think the work will hold up. It’s a multilayered visual document of a specific time and place but in some ways the urban environment and the people who live there are timeless.

Ìę

Who are the artists that inspire you?

There are many but for this project the portraits of Mary Ellen Mark and Milton Rogovin. Zoe Leonard and Lee Friedlander’s landscapes (particularly ‘Analogue’ and ‘Sticks and Stones: Architectural America’). William Eggleston was also a huge inspiration and influence.

Ìę

Will you continue to build from this piece as an ongoing project?

Even though I’m exhibiting a large portion of the work at Augsburg, it doesn’t feel completely finished. There are still things I want to photograph that I haven’t gotten around to or haven’t discovered yet. I’m not ready to stop work on this project; it’s still very exciting to me.

Ìę

What art projects do you have planned after this show?

A few ideas are percolating in my mind but nothing specific yet. I’m considering a series of urban and natural landscapes using a medium format panoramic film camera.

Ìę

What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

Work on ideas or projects that you are passionate about and keep working long past the time when you think you’re ‘finished’. Don’t be in a rush to complete the work; it isn’t a race. The job of the artist is to ‘make stuff’ so enjoy the process and the journey. It’s the best part.

Questions by Gallery Intern Maria Fleischhacker

The post Chelsea, MA: All America City by Mark Morelli appeared first on Art Galleries.

Landscape Abstraction

November 14 – December 19, 2017

Matthew Winkler presents a new series of layered sculptures that explore the representation of place. Created with cut paper, wood, paint, and printed imagery, the works engage the gallery environment and set up an interplay physical and pictorial space and positive and negative form.

Artist Bio

Matthew Winkler creates multi-layered drawings and sculptures that are a poetic response to the built and natural world. He is a 2017 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant recipient and a 2014 recipient of a Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. Matthew is adjunct faculty at Winona State University, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and Riverland Community College. He completed a BA from Williams College in 2004 and an MFA from California State University Long Beach in 2011. Matthew grew up in New Jersey and currently lives and works in Rochester, MN.

Artist Statement

I’m interested in exploring an interplay of physical, pictorial and perceptual space in my work. I use cut paper, wood, paint, and printed material to make layered two and three-dimensional constructions. These works contain a shifting relationship between positive and negative form and engage with their environment, registering changes in light and shadow and allowing for different views within an exhibition space.

Experiences with specific landscapes and architectural spaces are the starting point for each construction. The places I choose to focus on often contain layers of meaning – personal as well as social or ecological histories. I use a distinct process of collage, digital manipulation, drawing/painting, subtraction, and accumulation. Through this process I allow the form of each work to appear over time. I consider the course of making of each work a metaphor for the complex process of understanding and assigning meaning to place. I would like viewers of my work to have a physical/sensory experience with the work first and then question what visual forms are being represented, deconstructed, or manipulated.

LANDSCAPE ABSTRACTION – images

The post Landscape Abstraction by Matthew Winkler appeared first on Art Galleries.

FoR the Gods

April 26 – July 31, 2018

Reception: April 24, 6 – 8 p.m.

For the Gods is an exhibition of photographs that considers various facets of India’s economic and social structure in the wake of globalization. The photographs are designed to communicate contrasts within current environmental and economic realities in India, and to raise questions of cause and effect, within our small world of finite resources.
Priscilla Briggs is a fiscal year 2018 recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Artist Statement

For the Gods is an exhibition of photographs that considers various facets of India’s economic and social structure in the wake of globalization. While the caste system is technically illegal, it is embedded in centuries of social and religious belief. The already wide contrast between rich and poor has been compounded by globalization and its effect on the environment. These photographs are designed to communicate contrasts within current environmental and economic realities in India. A gleaming pool within a gated community contrasts with the river of toxic foam that flows a short distance from its gates. The intent of this work is to raise questions of cause and effect, within our small world of finite resources.

The title for the exhibit comes from an experience I had while visiting the Golden Temple in Varanasi. As I lifted a garland of flowers from my basket of offerings to breathe in the aroma, the temple guide stopped me short and informed me, “The smell is not for you, it is for the gods.”

Bio

Priscilla Briggs is an artist and an Associate Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her research has been supported by artist grants from the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, as well as various professional research grants. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Landskrona Photo Salon in Sweden, the National Galleries of Scotland, the Minneapolis International Film Festival, the DeVos Art Museum, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Louisville Photo Biennial, and the Living Arts New Genre Festival in Tulsa, OK. Her artist monograph, Impossible Is Nothing: China’s Theater of Consumerism, was published last year by Daylight Books.

The post FOR THE GODS by PRISCILLA BRIGGS appeared first on Art Galleries.

All-Student Juried Art Exhibition 2018

April 9 – 18, 2018 Gage & Christensen Galleries

Reception: Tuesday, April 10, 4:30 – 6 p.m. Awards at 5:15 p.m. in the Oren Gateway Lobby

The post All-Student Juried Show – 2018 appeared first on Art Galleries.

Contain Yourself by Allison Craver

October 19 – November 9, 2017

Reception: Thursday, October 19, 6 – 8 p.m.

Through processes relying on endurance and care, Craver attempts to unravel the seemingly disparate images and observations that compel her: scar tissue, heavy blankets, capillary action, the warmth and weight of our bodies. The sculptures presented in Contain Yourself are the result of her labor.

Artist Statement

I want to articulate how material and form have the potential to simultaneously elicit tenderness, familiarity, and alienation. Through material investigation and labor intensive processes, my thoughts become sculpture.

I find comfort in making, physically manifesting contemplation through labor. Though a gesture of generosity, the process is also compulsive, carrying the weight of an obligation. I am continuously navigating this dichotomy, negotiating the needs of my work with my own capacity to give; I empathize with the nurse. I feel deeply connected to and profoundly detached from the things I make, like a vital organ tethered outside of my body.

Bio

Allison Rose Craver (1988) grew up in East Aurora, NY. She received an MFA from Ohio State University in 2017, and holds a BFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Allison’s work is process driven, utilizing ceramics materials in conjunction with fiber and found objects to explore the nature of care and labor. She currently lives and makes in Saint Paul, MN.

Q&A with ALLISON CRAVER

What prompted your interest in creating work about the body?

My interest in the body revealed itself over time. In the beginning it was not a conscious pursuit. As I generated more and more work, however, the body was an obvious thematic pattern. I choose to embrace it. My personal history includes caregiving, and I have been witness to a great deal of physical pain. So, it makes sense that my work would reflect this preoccupation.

What is your process for choosing materials and the scale for a particular piece?

I usually start with a material that I am drawn to. Whether it is fiber or a specific clay body, I won’t understand its role in my studio practice until I have spent time playing with it and exploring all of its properties. This process could happen very quickly, or it might take many months of rumination. But eventually I will realize how the material relates to my conceptual interests, and a piece will follow. The process is very intuitive. In terms of scale, I often make work that relates to the size of my own body. I also appreciate making work that acknowledges my physical limitations; I am unlikely to make something that I can’t lift or move myself. I enjoy feeling autonomous, especially in the context of my studio.

To what extent do you plan out a piece before executing it?

While I might plan something in the beginning, this is usually just a strategy to get myself started. As soon as I begin working I am looking for moments that hold potential, and I am always open to changing the piece. The work is the result of a process – I can’t relate to the idea of ‘executing’ a piece. It would be more accurate to describe the idea as fuel: it gets burned off.

What research is informing your current work?

My work draws from my personal experiences and an eclectic mix of readings, observations, artworks, and stories. Research is important because it gives work context and keeps it relevant, but my work and research interests are not linear. I spent a lot of time in graduate school reading about nursing and other forms of caregiving. I was fascinated with Florence Nightingale.

What have you learned in the process of creating this work?

Preparing for this show has been challenging! I just graduated from Ohio State
University and moved across the country, so I have been learning about the challenges of working, living, and art-making outside of a structured academic setting.

How do you go about titling your pieces?

I spend time reading the dictionary, looking up words that seem relevant to a particular piece. I like pulling apart definitions and finding linguistic connections. I try to keep titles simple and let the works speak for themselves.

What is the most necessary and/or important item in your studio and why?

This is a really tough question! I can’t think of anything I couldn’t do without. I like to believe that my practice doesn’t rely on anything besides my hands and my curiosity.

How do you seek inspiration for a new series?

It is difficult for me to break my work into series or discrete investigations. Each piece builds on the last, and the work is a continuum. When I need inspiration I usually don’t have to look further than my studio table. If things feel stale, spending time in the world and reading will help me see older work from a fresh perspective. I am always making work about the same things – always trying to answer the same questions. Again and again.

Questions by Gallery Assistant Kristen Holmberg

The post Contain Yourself by Allison Craver appeared first on Art Galleries.

The Logic of the Exception

October 19 – November 9, 2017

Artist Talk: Wednesday, Oct. 18, 11:10 a.m. Christensen Center Gallery

In The Logic Of The Exception Anthony Warnick engages the ways contemporary society repeats the same problematic states of exemption that have persisted in the United States for three centuries. This is done through the deployment of objects from pop culture and approbation of the prison industrial supply chain.

Bio

Anthony Warnick lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. Warnick holds a M.F.A. in Sculpture from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a B.F.A. from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Web + Multimedia Environments. His work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions and group shows across the United States at such institution as Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, The Soap Factory, Roy G Biv Gallery (Columbus, OH), SPACES (Cleveland, OH), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and Cranbrook Museum of Art. He has been artist-in-residence at Elsewhere Museum (Greensboro, NC), SOMA (Mexico City), and Futurefarmers (San Francisco, CA). Also, he is the co-director for the alternative space The Muted Horn, a project space focused on bringing national and international artist to Cleveland, Ohio. His work is in public and private collections throughout North America.

Statement

My practice makes the viewer aware of the systems within which we operate. I commandeer appearances; treating art history as a database, retrieving and amalgamating for future creations. ÌęThis intentional remaking highlights the collaborative production of culture. Through borrowing, the context becomes the primary focus. The forms fall into two categories: objects and performances. I construct the objects from common, recognizable materials like drywall, 2x4s, plywood, newsprint, and cotton fabric. These material choices draw attention to the overlapping conditions we operate within, rather than the allure of the pieces. I augment these corporeal elements with intangible ones like bureaucratic procedures and archival records. My practice critiques and dovetails with our everyday. While the economic, political, or educational systems feel immutable, my work provides and produces poetic and symbolic paths of resistance.

Image: Still from “One Hundred And Fifty More“, 2017

THE LOGIC OF THE EXCEPTION – images

The post THE LOGIC OF THE EXCEPTION by Anthony Warnick appeared first on Art Galleries.

February 15 – March 22 – Christensen Center Gallery

Reception: Thursday, February 15, 6-8 p.m.

John-Mark Schlink juxtaposes architectural constructions and natural subjects in his new series of prints. His multi-layered compositions incorporate intaglio, woodcut and screen-printing techniques.

Bio

John-Mark Schlink is a printmaker and teaches Printmaking at Hamline University in Saint Paul. Notable recent exhibitions include: Formation, International Print Exhibition, China Printing Museum, Beijing, China; 50/50: New Prints/Winter, International Print Center, New York, NY; MAPC Members’ Juried Exhibition, Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN. His prints have been published in Art in Print and Creative Quarterly. In the summer of 2017 he was selected by Ann Aspinwall and Knut Willich of Aspinwall Editions, New York, to participate in a printmaking residency at the Print Association Kloster Bentlage in Rheine Germany.

Artist Statement

My approach to printmaking has been to embrace the autonomous act and significance of the print, emphasizing the visual and conceptual art of an individual image in a tradition of multiplicity. My primary media are intaglio with engraving and etching and woodcut relief techniques; as my process develops, photography and digital media have also been integrated into the intaglio and woodcut prints, as hybrid images. Recent print series
have contained both monoprints and small editions of prints that utilize multiple matrices for an individual print. This in combination with selective inking of the plates and blocks allows an improvisational approach to the creation of the images balancing the intentional with chance compositional relationships. In addition, this part of the process allows me to reference my “catalog” of images (whether created by me or from a found image) and arrange/rearrange them in a constructive/deconstructive manner. The overall conceptual concern in my work has been an exploration of infinite, transfiguring space through a non-linear narrative using architectural language and forms. I think of the compositions as inter-spacial, inter-dimensional, multi-perspective imaginings. I am interested in an active type of space that engages the eye and the mind through labyrinthine structure, mingling the boundaries of outside and inside in an indeterminate realm.

Image above: Sacred Site, Intaglio, 18″x 24″, 2017

Images from exhibit

The post Interspace by John-Mark Schlink appeared first on Art Galleries.

Natural World, Human Culture

January 11 – February 8, 2018

Reception: January 11, 6 – 8 p.m.

Three women make connections between nature and people with work that includes interactive dimensions for all ages. Marvel Grégoire, Regula Russelle with Raven Miller, and CB Sherlock

Bios

Marvel Grégoire is a book artist and member of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts coop, where she enjoys the community of artists as well as assisting teaching in classes. Her multimedia books integrate letterpress, photogravure and paper making. Her work can be found in private collections throughout the country as well as museums, universities and
libraries.

Regula Russelle is a Minnesota Book Artist Award winner for her body of work and contributions to the book arts community. Her work has been supported by the MN State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation. It has been exhibited and collected nationally. It can also be found on refrigerators, bulletin boards, and street corners. Regula loves teaching book arts at Minnesota Center for Book Arts and elsewhere, especially techniques with inexpensive tools and materials that can later be used on a kitchen table or a desk.

CB Sherlock made her first book in third grade and continues to make artist books. She focuses on small edition and one of a kind artist books. As an Artist Coop member at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, she is able to flourish as an artist and teacher of letterpress and non-traditional bindings. She is the founder of Seymour Press and co- founder of Accordion Press Collaborations with Regula Russelle. Her work is exhibited internationally and found in many special collections including the Walker Art Center, the British Library and MOMA.

Images from exhibit

The post Natural World, Human Culture by Grégoire, Russelle, Sherlock appeared first on Art Galleries.

The Ache for Home

November 14 – December 19, 2017

Artist Talk: December 7, Noon, Christensen Center Gallery

Selma FernĂĄndez Richter, originally for Mexico, has been documenting recent immigrants to the Twin Cities who have been displaced from their country of origin by war, violence, and famine. Her project The Ache for Home is a meditation on her own experience of adapting to a new life and home in Minnesota.

Kamilo Noor, Minneapolis, MN, 2011, Archival pigment print, 20 x 20 in

Kamilo Mohamud Noor sitting on the porch of her new house in Minneapolis. She and 5 of her siblings where born in a refugee camp in Kenya. Her mother and older brother were born in Somalia. They arrived to Minnesota in 2011.

THE ACHE FOR HOME – images

The post The Ache for Home by Selma FernĂĄndez Richter appeared first on Art Galleries.