Tag Archives: art show

05/6/12

Whitney Center Show

12 pieces of my new and recent art work are now on display in the Sexton Gallery at the Whitney Center, 1527 Northway Dr., St. Cloud, Minnesota.  This show was installed on May 1st and is on exhibit through June 30th.  This work consists of 12 new and recent paintings in watercolor and acrylic collage, with fantasy, futuristic, and illustrative themes.  You can visit the Whitney Center from 8:00 am through 5:00 pm, M-F.  If you go:  The Sexton Gallery is past the reception area and to the left, around the corner by the piano.  Here are some photos from the shows. (Photos taken by Shelly L.)

My other current art show is currently at the Women’s Building in St. Paul, 550 Rice Street. It is a 2-person show featuring 18 of my paintings, sponsored by WARM.  Find out more at Leitworks — Events

Upcoming show: May 18, 19 and 20: Art A Whirl sponsored by NEMAA.org. I’ll be at Fitness Crossroad in the St. Anthony mall, which is an official AAW location — new this year.  Stop by and say hello!  This is a 3-day only event.

 

04/13/12

Bits of One

Here are some fun shots of one unfinished painting that look pretty good in their individual smallness. They are part of a painting meant for an art fair this summer here in St. Cloud.

On an unrelated note, I need people to join my mailing list! I have a lot of art show postcards to send out, so please send me your mailing address. I know it’s old fashioned but some of us still send out real actual postcards to announce shows.



I like the parts better than the whole, but it’s not done yet so that might change. Oh yes, the WARM show — It’s called Kinetic Connections. I have one or two paintings left to finish by next Wednesday but it’s not a problem. I can paint fast under pressure if I need to. Wish me luck and come to the reception May 5th!

11/30/11

Planet Earth Art Exhibit

The local arts organization sponsored several themed juried art exhibits this year, and the last on the list is the Planet Earth exhibit. My painting “Erosion” (which you can see here) was juried into this show, which you can read more about in that previous post too.

Below are more photos from the exhibit.

I hope everyone in the central Minnesota area can make it to see this show. Studio C is in the lower level of the Paramount building, which is directly downtown near the Falcon Bank. You can’t miss it. It’s an unusually strong show, in my opinion, and not because of my painting but because of the other artwork in it. There are some very unique pieces and I’m very happy to see St. Cloud art shows branching out into accepting more mixed media and collage and unusual things in general.

11/26/11

Visit a Local Art Gallery for Small Business Saturday

You have probably heard of Small Business Saturday. It’s a day when people are promising to visit a real small business (not a Mega-Mart) and buy at least one thing in that small business. I would like to extend this to include small local art galleries. Not the big Mega-Galleries, but the small galleries where local artists (small business people) are displaying their work. Hint: they want you to buy it. I, and a lot of other good artists, am in two local art exhibits at the moment. One is called Planet Earth (pics of that one in the next post) and the other one is called the Wrap Up show, sponsored by the Great River Arts Association in Little Falls, Minnesota. These exhibits are good examples of small gallery shows that lots of artists depend on to show their work and hopefully, some day, if the stars all align properly, make some art sales. So when you are considering which small businesses to give your business on Saturday, and other days in the future, consider the small local art galleries. Visit them, and maybe even buy something.

Below is a good preview for you of just such a small gallery, this one in Little Falls at the downtown art gallery. This is part of the Wrap Up show and it will last through December, until January 5th. I have four paintings in this exhibit.

09/27/11

Navigating the Aftermath Art Show

I have two paintings in the Navigating the Aftermath art show, one of which is shown in this ad for the event, which is touring Minnesota. If you are in central Minnesota, come on down to the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday night for a very cool and meaningful art and movie event called Navigating the Aftermath. The aftermath is that of the Iraq War, and the movie, which is also free, is called The Unreturned. It’s a good movie, socially relevant and important, and most people who see it learn a sad truth about the Iraq war. It created 4.5 million displaced people who now have nowhere to live. In that respect this will be an eye-opening event for some people.

Though most of the artists in this show are from Iraq or the Minneapolis area, there are several local artists who have work in the show too. My contributing artist page for this tour is here, where you can see some of my other anti-war artwork. I have even more, which I’ll write about here some day. For now, this is it.

09/26/11

Blue Moonscape

This watercolor was painted mainly for a local art crawl art show that I was asked to be a part of. It’s the kind of watercolor I’d do all the time if I didn’t feel I had to do other things. These drippy kind of paintings are extremely fun to do. But not everything about paintings can be fun . . . an artist always feels they have to do things that might some day sell. At least, I do. I read something very true on Twitter a while ago (of all places). It was, “Whoever said painting was relaxing isn’t doing it right.”

Surprised? The stereotype of a painter is someone doing something rather zen-like. I find painting anything but relaxing, most of the time. It’s difficult. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact.
Continue reading “Blue Moonscape” »

09/22/11

Hopkins Juried Show

Sunny Day in San Jose by Shelly

That is my painting in the corner, a street scene done of San Jose, Costa Rica. It was based on my own photo. I don’t usually put that much credence in juried shows versus non-juried shows, but I admit it’s nice to be juried into a show. It makes you feel just a little bit more that someone gets what you have done.  (When that doesn’t happen, I remind myself that all judging is really subjective, and it is.)  But this time,  I was juried into the Hopkins Center for the Arts Show last week and attended the opening reception on the 17th. It was a good reception, but like most of them for shows like this, attendance was probably 99% members/artists juried into the show, and their families. As for the show itself, I enjoyed it very much, and there are some great pieces in it.  You should check it out if you live in Minnesota — the Hopkins Art Center is right downtown, 1111 Mainstreet, and that’s near Minneapolis.  The show is running through October 29th.  Website is here.

Here are a couple of photos from the show.

  

   

These are just a sampling as they were some of my favorites of the show.  Only one of them was a winner — the collage that is second from the bottom.

08/9/11

Sizzling St. Cloud Summer Art Crawl

St. Cloud Summer Art Crawl is August 19 and 20th!  Stop by my studio at 701 St. Germain, Suite 206 if you are in town. I will have some paintings on display (and for sale) at my studio  (at least, that is the plan).  More updates on this coming soon.

The art crawl website with list of artists is here.  I’m not listed but I will definitely be in my studio those days, with artwork on display.

07/23/11

Cost of Being an Artist and City Limits Show

The City Limits Show, sponsored by the GRAA in Little Falls, MN, ends today, July 23rd. Check out the featured artists here.

In case you couldn’t make it to the show, here’s a little gallery of my photos. These photos do not include everything in the show.

Many people wonder if it’s easy to sell artwork. It’s not. Artists who are successful at selling their work (enough to make a living at it) are in the minority, especially if they don’t live in a large city. Being in an art show does not guarantee any sales whatsoever, and in fact I have never sold a painting from exhibiting it in an art show, anywhere, ever. I think this is rather typical, as I’ve seen some “sarcastic” pricings on some paintings (over $1,500 or more) on paintings from not well-known painters.

It’s always hard to price things, but if you see a price of over $1,000 for a painting in an art show by someone you have never heard of, and it’s not a stand-out painting, the artist is probably making a statement with their pricing.

Anyway, most artwork I have sold has been online, and there has not been much of that lately either (to put it mildly). However, the need for art supplies and art expenses always persists, if an artist wants to keep working!

Many people do not realize this, but the art you view for free has cost the artist quite a bit to produce and show to you. There are not just art supply costs, but there are entry fees for every art show I’ve been in. And then, after you have paid a juror or venue to look at your art, there is always the possibility that they will jury you out of the show (reject you) and your work won’t be shown at all. This happens to me about 40-50% of the time. There are no refunds. I remember one art show a few years ago where I entered two paintings (that I thought were very good) into an art show at $25.00 per piece. This was locally, so I dropped them off myself. I was not juried into that particular show, so I was out $50.00 and my paintings were not even being shown. To me, that’s a lot of money, and that’s not the first time that has happened. Many people who attend art shows do not realize that these supposed “pro-artist” art organizations in every city actually charge artists to ENTER shows, and entry is no guarantee at all that your artwork will be displayed.

However, when you see “member shows” advertised, those are often free to enter. Unfortunately they are the minority of shows, and you have to pay to become a member of these organizations. Currently I am a member of four art organizations, all of which charge a membership fee on top of the fee to enter “juried” shows.

Then there is studio rent, and art supplies to buy on a regular basis. And I’m living in the midwest, which is not exactly a mecca for art sales.

This is why I’m adding the artist grant donation button on this website as of today. If you can donate or know someone who can, you now have an easy way to support an artist — in this case, me.

04/23/11

Hopkins MN Art Show

Art show in Hopkins, Minnesota: I have one, and possibly two paintings in this art show. (I didn’t see the other one in this video). My “Isle of Elsewhere” can be seen in the third opening scene. It’s the wide green one. Also, if you are in St. Cloud, visit US Bank downtown. They are exhibiting Visual Arts Minnesota’s “Mail” mail-in art show. My painting in that show is “Nuclear Human”. It’s a good, small show. The show in Hopkins is up until May 21st. You can see more information about it here.

04/14/11

Isle of Elsewhere

Formerly quasi-named “Garden of Decisions” this is finished (as of today) and is now “Isle of Elsewhere”. This is another not so great photo, this time of the finished version.

(This would be an excellent, sharp photo if it wasn’t a windy day and I had a tripod on even ground and my battery hadn’t just given out.) This is going into an art show in Hopkins MN this weekend, along with Pumpkin Beach, which I am renaming to Citrus Sky. See it at Artspan.org.

All I have left to do on Isle of Elsewhere is knock it into the frame — with a hammer. I got a new bamboo frame for this one and it’s just the tiniest bit too small, so I’m having to gradually force the painting into the frame.