It's been 30 years since founding members took on the challenge of turning an old shoe factory into a vibrant artist community. Sunday August 16th we celebrated their vision and hard work.
Founding members still living at Lowertown Lofts Cooperative. Left to right: David Eric Oie, Ta-coumba Aiken, Judith Morem, Marla Gamble, and Bob McBride.
Lowertown Lofts Kristi Abbott can be found here this weekend, look for her in booth #117! Just for you a link to all the activities. Have fun!
For two days each August, white tents dot the landscape around Powderhorn Park bringing individuals from all over the country together to enjoy an abundance of creativity and skill that flows through the artists participating in the Powderhorn Art Fair.
Come enjoy the show!
Saturday - August 8th: 10am-6pm
Sunday - August 9th: 10am-5pm
Featuring artists from the Lowertown Lofts Artist Co-op, including Frank Brown, Ta-coumba Aiken, Willim G. Franklin and others! Don't miss it!
For Eva's full schedule in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg,China and the USA please visit this site.
Join Kristi Abbot Lowertown Lofts Artist at Jungle Red Salon, Spa and Gallery for a showing of her latest works. Also, featuring music by Lowertown Loft Musician Sam Stanley!
When: August 5th, 7-9pm
Where: 1362 LaSalle Ave, Minneapolis
http://jungleredsalon.com/
Visit AZ Gallery July 30-August 30 to see three of Liz Carlson's Mini's! These pieces are 1.5" in diameter and created in pencil and watercolor. More information about hours and location below.
Photographic work by Lowertown Lofts Artist, Gina Dabrowski looks at contemporary landfills as well as re-purposed sites to explore the relationships between people and their belongings. The large-scale prints examine the business of waste disposal through the lens of a 4×5 camera.
Exhibition Statement:
In my landfills project, I use photography to capture the residue of people’s presence, which is preserved in man-made landscapes composed of garbage. I photographed re-purposed landfills using a large format camera and film. The resulting color photographs look at old dump sites located on the boundaries of our daily life, as well as the people who dispose of their personal belongings.
Artist Bio:
Gina Dabrowski is a visual artist who lives in St Paul, Minnesota and teaches at North Hennepin Community College. She received her MFA in Photography and Video from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), as well as a Master of Art in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Gina has received awards of support from the McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship for Photographers, the Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. For the McKnight Fellowship, Gina gave a presentation on her Landfills project at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Closed on major holidays
Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Tel: 612-330-1524
Lowertown Lofts Artist, Beth Barron just received notice that all three of her Implosion pieces will be hung in a show called “Flights of Fancy: Unexpected Works of Whimsy” at the Northbrook Public Library, north of Chicago from October 9th - November 20th, 2015.
© Beth Barron Implosion 1
© Beth Barron Implosion 2
© Beth Barron Implosion 3
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane
Northbrook, IL 60062
"MMAA’s exhibition, Summertime, looks at the spirit and essence of summer through the lens of its permanent collection. Using the lens of your smartphone or digital camera, we want you to create art in the form of a 6-second video” (MMAA website). An outdoor screening with FREE food and prizes will take place on Friday, July 31st, 7:30 pm, on the Pioneer Endicott Green Roof (2nd floor across from chocolate shop). For more info visit: http://mmaa.org
Lowertown Loft Artist Co-op, curator and video artist William G. Franklin submitted two entries to join the fun. Here’s one of his entries titled 31 years later, YouTube below. The video was inspired by forgotten bobsled tracks in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, now used by locals and visitors for hiking and biking.
The Featured Artists Show
Featuring: David Aschenbrener, Elizabeth Garvey, Ben Moren, Judy Onofrio, Nancy Robinson, Lynn Speaker, and Jantje Visscher
Exhibition Run: July 18 - September 12, 2015
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 18, 6-8pm
Visit Nancy's Website!
"Cassidy" by Kristi Abbott - The winning piece making Kristi the featured Artist for the 2015 Edina Art Fair - www.madebykristi.com/
33 Musicians and Composers Interpret 32 Diverse Works by Minnesota Artists
McNALLY SMITH COLLEGE OF MUSIC’S “ART-INSPIRED MUSIC PROJECT – SECOND EDITION” - OPENING FEBRUARY 24 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2015, ST. PAUL
You can thank the 20th century French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy ("Clair de Lune") for motivating the creation of the "Art-Inspired Music Project - Second Edition," opening February 24 and running through April 30 in the lobby of McNally Smith College of Music (19 Exchange Street East, St. Paul 55101, www.mcnallysmith.edu).
Upon attending an exhibition on Debussy at the Musée de 'Orangerie (Paris) in 2012, curator William G. Franklin was so moved by the composer’s grasp of the power of visual arts on music that he wrote an essay focused on the French composer's use of The Great Wave by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. From the program notes of the gallery show, Franklin learned Debussy asked his publisher to put the image on the cover of the score of his masterpiece, "The Sea." Afterward, Debussy declared his love for the visual arts, stating, “Moi qui aime les images presque autant que la musique.” (“I love pictures almost as much as I love music.”)
In a rare collaborative display of music and art, this multi-media installation at McNally Smith features 33 students, faculty, staff, and alumni musically interpreting 32 visual works by Minnesota artists - ranging from painting and sculpture, to architecture, glass pieces, and video. Contributors include well-known artists like painter Ta-coumba Aiken, mixed-media artist Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, and animator and filmmaker Tom Schroeder. Visitors can listen to the new musical compositions on headphones, while viewing the physical artwork that inspired them.
The public is invited to the opening reception of the “Art-Inspired Music Project – Second Edition,” on February 24 at 7:30 p.m. Regular gallery hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibition is paired with free satellite lectures in March and April, focusing on the impact music and art have on each other.
"This project is one of many initiatives directed by the College's Liberal Arts Department to inspire creative thinking," says Franklin. "There is increasing interest in the arts and the Twin Cities arts scene, and we wanted to leverage that interest for the public - but also spur some interdisciplinary thought among participating musicians and artists."
The “Art-Inspired Music Project - Second Edition,” is sponsored by the American Composers Forum (ACF), the Minnesota Museum of American Art (MMAA) "Project Space," the American Swedish Institute, and Union Depot. The Project is curated by William G. Franklin, a member of McNally Smith’s Liberal Arts faculty, and Curatorial Assistant and artist Elizabeth Black.
LLAC members are delighted to be participating in the global art project "Inside Out" both as portrait subjects and photographers. We're looking forward to decorating Lowertown this spring!
http://insideoutlowertown.com http://www.insideoutproject.net
The popular urban sketching group MetroSketchers began their new year by hosting their Annual Portrait Party at Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative on January 4. Around fifty sketchers filled the Third Floor Atrium drawing each other and enjoying a pot luck spread.
MetroSketchers was created by Liz Carlson, and co-founded by LLAC members Liz and Tim Jennen with the simple mission to get out in the world and draw. Starting in 2011 with five members, the group has grown to over 450 members on Facebook and by email. An inclusive and supportive group in a non-intimidating environment, the membership of MetroSketchers ranges from new artists who had never before drawn to professional artists looking for new places to draw. The group specializes in finding unique locations of particular interest to the sketcher and have included locations as diverse as the Minnesota River Valley & Wildlife Refuge, Firefighters Hall & Museum, and Lakewood Cemetery.
There are no fees to belong and anyone is welcome to join. Those interested can visit the public MetroSketchers Group Page on Facebook or write Liz and Tim at metrosketchers@yahoo.com.
Photography by Marty Owings
A wonderful article in the Pioneer Presss about A=RT - the project started by LLC member Shelly Losee.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26818292/paintings-and-peace
With fresh paint and unique works by local artists, the Ramsey County Detoxification Center looks less like a jail.
The change is the result of work by a group of Lowertown St. Paul artists called Art Equals Real Transformation, or A=rt, who place art in health facilities that have limited funding -- state-run hospitals, county detox centers and homeless shelters -- in hopes they will be more conducive to healing. The detoxification center on University Avenue in St. Paul is its first project.
"When you know somebody who has struggled with addiction or mental health and they're just a person to you, you just want them to have something beautiful," said full-time social worker and part-time artist Shelly Losse, who is leading the project.
Tom Abel of St. Paul created this mixed-medium piece titled "A Bridge To Health and Wellness" out of hollow ceramic rocks, glass, and maple wood for the Ramsey County detox center in St. Paul. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)
While many hospitals, such as Mayo Clinic in Rochester, have large budgets or grants to purchase and display art, most state-run facilities have little or no budget for art. As a result, many facilities, especially in rural Minnesota, have bare, beige walls. Some have no windows, poor lighting and other aesthetic issues, Losse said. She said many of the clients who are admitted to these centers feel like they are being brought to a correctional facility instead of a healing center.
Losse came up with the idea for A=rt in January after she toured the detox center, noticed the blank walls and heard about the center's desire to change -- spotlighting art is just one of many steps the facility has taken.
"When you're on the other side of it as a social worker trying to convince somebody to go get help, they go, 'I don't want to go to that place,' " said Loss, whose clients in Dakota County are referred to the detox center. "But now I think I could really say, 'Oh, it's going to be OK.' "
In a matter of months, Losse and her team raised almost $30,000 for the program by selling T-shirts and prints of artwork that will fill the walls of the center. They took steps to change their organization's status from for-profit to nonprofit and soon will be supported by Springboard for the Arts. The one hurdle the team had to jump for the detox center project was getting permission from the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners.
"We're very rule-bound here," said Alyssa Conducy, who manages the county's chemical and adult mental health programs. "Hanging a picture can take months."
But the county has placed priority on improving mental health services, said County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, and board members approved the idea.
"It was just a matter of folks getting connected with the fabric of the community, determining what are the needs," Ortega said. "Folks stepped up to the plate."
The idea of art in a health care facility is nothing new.
More than a century ago, nursing theorist Florence Nightingale emphasized the importance of not only fresh air, sunlight and cleanliness, but changes in color and art in health care institutions.
"Art can not only reduce anxiety and stress and have a positive space, but art can also just sometimes be a stimulus and catalyst for people to reflect. And it can be conducive to the whole process to healing," said Mary Jo Kreitzer, founder and director of the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing.
The artists who contributed to the detox center put much thought into the subject matter of their pieces and the placement within the facility, Losse said.
For example, ceramist Tom Abel purposefully cracks his pottery. Since many of the people Losse works with describe themselves as "broken," she thought his art would be perfect for the facility.
After several attempts at creating the perfect piece, he crafted a rickety wooden bridge over shattered glass water, with fractured, rocky shores. He said the meaning of his piece is that the bridge to healing isn't always easy.
Contributing artist Kristi Abbott creates artwork out of hundreds of pieces of paper. She said she wants individuals to see the pieces and remember that, although life can be messy and torn apart sometimes, each piece is part of a greater whole.
Before A=rt came to the center, the first thing most arriving clients saw was a plain concrete wall, Losse said. Now blue, the wall is adorned with one of Losse's paintings of blue wildflowers with white stars and gold circles in their centers, representing Buddhist ideals of enlightenment.
As she painted the piece, Losse said, she had in mind a quote from poet Mary Oliver: "What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
When the artists came to put up art in the facility, they explained the meaning of each of their pieces to the staff.
"They about had us in tears," Bob Rohret, the center's program director, said.
The artists' final project in the detox center is to redo the seclusion rooms. The rooms are a challenge to decorate, Losse said. During withdrawals, individuals may fall or hallucinate and see things like bugs and want to hit the walls. Almost all of the surfaces in these rooms minus the ceilings are padded.
Three contributing artists -- Abel, Joseph Sip and Kristi Abbott -- discussed possible solutions, which include creating fiber art, painting blue skies on the ceilings or airbrushing art in portions of the rooms.
A=rt plans to transform three more facilities in 2015 -- the Ramsey County Mental Health Center, a homeless shelter and its biggest project yet, the Juvenile and Family Justice Center.
Each project is different, Losse said. In some locations, the organizaiton might offer art classes, in others it might refurnish and replace lighting. But all of them will include art.
Losse said her project has opened doors for many facilities that were looking for inspiration to change. Since the installation of her art, the Ramsey County Detoxification Center has considered changing its food and playing music.
Before the new Ramsey County Detoxification Center was built three years ago as part of an effort to improve chemical dependency and mental health services, Losse might have had a much harder time implementing her plan.
The old facility at 16 E. Kellogg Blvd. had no windows, no painted walls and certainly no art.
"It was very institutional-looking, and it was run like an institution," Rohret said.
He said many facilities throughout the state and the nation are still run this way. Other changes at the center include new training for trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing and peer advocates. Additionally, the center has unlocked its doors so that individuals admitted are not held against their will.
"We want to be a place where people choose to come here to get help, rather than a place where they feel coerced or are dragged in," Rohret said.
Nursing supervisor Nina Keeling, who has been at the Ramsey detox centers for 12 years, said that since the county has brought in new training and art, she has seen significant positive changes for the patients and staff, such as an increase in the number of self-admitted patients, fewer patient stays in seclusion rooms for bad behavior and a drop in worker injuries.
Ortega said that even with financial limitations, a statewide transformation is possible.
"We're hoping that we're a model to many of the counties," he said, "because if it becomes a priority to many of the counties throughout the state, then we have a case for the state Legislature that this is needed."
https://www.facebook.com/ArtequalsRealTransformation?ref=hl#!/ArtequalsRealTransformation
In it's sixth and final year, the first of it's kind art show in Minneapolis, Deviant Art once again explores the theme of "Deviant" breeds, beloved canine companions who are often portrayed as menaces. A multi-media art exhibition focused on Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and other similarly stigmatized breeds.
Mingle with ARLP volunteers and dog lovers, experience the artwork, take part in the amateur photo contest, meet therapy registered Rottweilers and Pit Bulls, sample the food and support ARLP.
Including Lowertown Artist Loft Resident: Lizzie Wortham
When: APRIL 5th
Where: Northrup King Building, Gallery 332
The Coop held a welcome brunch for our recent guest artist Liz Steinworth. Liz has lived in California since 2009 but grew up in the area and wanted to spend some time here as an artist in a cooperative that she used to visit as a child during the St. Paul Art Crawl. We are delighted to have her and she has quickly become an integral part of the artistic energy here. We will hate to see her go.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtofLIz http://www.theartofliz.com/
