Education and Community Programs

This post was written by Marty Marosi, current Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC) member, about the 20 Under 20 exhibition.

Hello from St. Paul! This day is significant because it’s the second and last day of curating, and also the same for how many times I’ve been in St. Paul.

We’ve been putting the St. Paul show together by working with each piece like, well, let’s just say they don’t call ‘em ‘pieces’ for nuthin. We’ve looked at all the pieces in a giant group and picked out ones that seemed to work together. If an artist had multiple works, we considered it in its entirety. Then from there, we put it on the wall, and have been practicing a whole ‘mix ‘n match’ and trial and error process. Luckily we don’t make mistakes.

(Here’s a picture of Witt spouting off some philosophy)

Witt (WACTAC superfan) is workin like a dog over here, he paces back and forth all the time. With how long the spaces are in this warehouse, each trip takes alost 20 minutes. He hasn’t eaten anything all day except doritos for lunch and toast for breakfast. But I think he’s milkin it a little bit because he said he ate just ‘a piece of toast’, leaving much to the imagination as to the scantness of his meal. Nonetheless, I saw him sporting the tired-man’s beard a couple days ago and I think he needs to just kick back and let the WACTAC’rs do some work for a change.

While David puts his life on the line to hang up all the art, I get the real cush job of documenting our progress and eating snacks to sustain myself. David is the real strong-silent type, but we like having him around.

Putting all this together has been a trying process, both emotionally and physically. At one point I thought my body wouldn’t take another kit-kat after eating so many during the initial curating phase, but I endured.

Before we got to this point, we spent countless hours down in the WACTAC bat-cave looking at what seemed like, and probably was, thousands of artworks. It was like No Exit down there. Sartre said ‘Hell is other people’ and the temperature became infernal with all the bodies in the room. One benefit, however, was how much muscle mass I gained from raising my arm for multiple votes and re-votes.

Overall, this has been a great experience. It’s been a long and elaborate process, but that makes the fruit of our labor that much sweeter. We hope this contest and show will be successful in continuing our objective to reach other teens (and tweens) out there who want to get involved with the art world.

If you have a chance, check out the series of 20 Under 20 events happening in the coming weeks.

In April, I have the pleasure of working with an artist that I have admired for years - Alexa Horochowski. Alexa will be teaching a video workshop, inspired by the Richard Prince exhibition and rock album covers, for high school students at the Walker through out the month of April (click here for info).

What makes working with Alexa so great is her ability to move from medium to medium. Although she’s listed on mnartists.org as a sculptor, she has many titles including photographer, painter, printmaker, and filmmaker. Here’s some photos that show how just versatile her work is.

El Zorzal Criollo (The Native Robin)
28"H x 110"L x 59"W, steel, auto paint, airbag hydraulics, stereo, i-pod, battery, compressor, 2006

Heartbreak Highway 1999
5′ 6″ x 104′ x 144′, Interactive Mixed Media Outdoor Installation

Latina Incognita (I want…)
2000 chromogenic color prints, ed. of 10 20 x 16 in.

Girl Washing Elephant
Acrylic on paper, 62″ x 52″, 2006

If you want to find out more about her work, check out this Radio mnartists.org interview.

One of the coolest things about our new teen website is the fact that WACTAC members can change the whole look and feel of the site, and even though our little baby has only been up for a while, the battle over the background has raged at full speed. Check out this cool video of what we have come up with in the last couple of months, and we hope you keep checking in to see the new developments!

Whitney Garner, our Teen Programs Intern, permanently solidified her devotion to Kiki Smith’s Born.

Image:
Kiki Smith, Born , 2002
bronze Courtesy the artist and PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York
Photograph by Kerry Ryan McFate

This post was written by Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC) member Bre Blaesing.

I went with a group of people to see The Violin last night, directed by Francisco Vargas.

The Violin:

“In the 1970s, a seemingly harmless violin player named Don Plutarco (Don Ángel Tavira, winner of the Un Certain Regard best actor award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival) supports the peasant movement's armed revolt along with his son and grandson. After their village is attacked by the military in the harrowing first minutes of the film, Plutarco wins over the army captain with his music, which gets him closer to information and supplies that can help the guerrillas counterattack.”

The Violin is the best film I have seen all year, for three reasons:

1. It is apart of a new and exciting film movement. Personally I am very excited for the Nuevo Cine Mexicano movement that is going on in Mexico and other Latin Countries, I am excited that it is beginning to receive some of the attention that it deserves. The film The Violin is a strong example of the anthem of emerging filmmakers from Mexico, the anthem is reflecting on misguided policy structure, economic crisis, rejection of institutions and rights for the people (not only in Mexico). In a time were consumerism and weakened policy structure is common among many countries the artist response to the abuse of power and the corruptions that come along with is a direct response to oppression all over the world.
2. The filmmaking and use of close ups is stunning. Francisco Vargas ability to capture human emotion through high contrast close ups is stunning. The main character Plutarco is the hero of The Violin, throughout the film we are stunned by his wisdom and courage, often we see him reflecting on life, playing music with his grandson and passing on crucial information to the revolutionaries, we see him in high contrast at night in front of a fire the glow of the embers on his face are stunning.
3. The director has positive things to say to youth filmmakers. Francisco Vargas was at the screening of the film, after the film was shown I was able to ask him if he has any words of wisdom for young filmmakers, he described the process of creating The Violin, he discussed how many people did not want him to make the film, people believed that the issues that are discussed, the political edge of it was unimportant,and that no one would care . He searched for 6 months to find the character Plutarco numerous times people told him that the character they wanted did not exist. It took them five years to make this film, and they only had 4 weeks to shot it on a very modest budget. The film has since become a blockbuster and the lead actor Plutarco, who had never acted before, won the Best Actor Award from the Cannes Film Festival. Overall he said that if you have passion no matter what people say to follow your dreams!!!

If you ever have the opportunity to see The Violin or future Francisco Vargas films make a point of doing so you will not be disappointed.

I am Youtube-ing a trailer of the film, there are not English Subtitles, however this can serve as an example of the filmmaking and to get you excited for the Nuevo Cine Mexicano.

Enjoy..

If you are interested in reading more WACTAC reviews check out teens.walkerart.org

This post was written by WACTAC alumnus and current Teen Programs Intern Emmanuel Mauleon.

One thing all teens (or alt-teens) love are comic books. Although that may be a completely facetious statement, one thing I do know about teens is our shared love of confusing elders with a barrage of unnecessary questions. Cue picture:

That uncomfortable-looking artist in the middle (the ruggedly-handsome one) goes by the name of Joe Sacco.

In all seriousness we had the great opportunity to meet Sacco a couple of days ago and talk to him about his artwork. If you are unfamiliar with Sacco’s work it can best be described as fantastic. Sacco blends two passions of his to create a very aesthetically pleasing convergence of cartooning and journalism. You heard right. “Cartoonalism.” Or if you perfer “Jourtoons.”

Sacco, who went to school for journalism and later came to the conclusion that he did not like being told what news he would report depending on who bought the most ad space, turned to a lifelong passion for cartooning. After turning out some pretty funny and well-executed, not to mention visually-engaging comics, Sacco ventured new ground. Illustrations of journalism. Real world stories mapped out and drawn to create a new form of art. *see “Cartoonalism”

Sacco has since published a critically acclaimed book about the conflict in Palestine, and continues to draw readers in with the raw and very personal tellings of those who are usually avoided by camera and print.

Now the nitty gritty:

Sacco is a straight G, no… no, O.G. He came in cool and calm and didn’t show the slightest aversion to to a group of hungry teens (in the media world they have often been referred to as a pack of wolves). Even when senior member Ricardo went off on a complete tangent and started asking a question that went something like this…

“If the universe was connected with strings made of internet threads and the community of the world started visualizing people inside of the mind of computers would journalism fax itself and I.O.U.?”

…Sacco didn’t slap him, which showed how even a great artist like Sacco didn’t mind wasting time to listen to an blowhard teen run his mouth.

When we got down to some real questions it was apparent that Sacco has put a lot of thought into his medium, not just slapping some cartoons over a story. We discussed how his process involves everything from tedious note-taking and asking odd questions, (What type of clothing were you wearing? What were your surroundings like? How were you sitting?) to traveling across the globe in search for untold stories. He made it evident that there was an awful lot of work involved in keeping the integrity of the story-teller’s experience intact to hold true to his journalistic roots.

Meeting Sacco was a great experience, and if you are interested in the world, politics, cartooning, or perhaps a myriad of human experiences we would suggest definitely checking him out.

PS: Recently I was listening to “The Story” distributed by American Public Media and they had a story about one of two combat artists the military hires to produce art in the field, and they discuss a few of the issues Sacco says he encountered like being creative in the midst of such horrible occurrences. Subscribe to “The Story’s” podcast, I highly recommend it.

This seems like an event that would be considered an artist project if presented in the galleries, but the non-Walker City Wide Pillow Fight will be happening on our doorstep on Friday at 6 PM.

From the looks of it, the pillow fight is a world wide pheonomenon. NPR did a segment in February about the Pillow Fight in Union Square. Check out the video from this event.

Here’s some other links to events in Paris, San Francisco, Argentina, and Rome (thanks unapologeticnonsense.com).

Does anyone know who organized the Minneapolis event?

Here’s DJ Talk Radio’s Top 5 mp3 music blogs that have made being a deejay a lot more interesting. This Thursday, Talk Radio will be a featured act at the Student Open House.

1. Palms Out Sounds Don’t miss their Sunday remix series - posting several remixes every Sunday without fail. After a weekend of deejaying it helps to get even the most jaded human jukebox’s wheels turning again.

2. Discodust posts mostly harder electro and dance-rock. The designer for this page makes really cool custom record covers for each new post.

3. This is a French blog…I have no idea what they are saying but they post some great tunes.

4. Discobelle is a huge blog - posting a variety of good tunes not seen in other blogs until later.

5. Aw Ski Ski Ski is run by local boy Millions Billions who is all over Too Much Love and various other events. He posts dance tracks with a lot of Hip-Hop flavor.

If you didn’t get enough music, download Talk Radio’s Into The AM mix.

Uncover your children's eyes, and invite your spouses for some good ol' fashion Burlesque action. Throughout the last week a group of 15 teenagers have been getting a firsthand experience into the world of screenprinting at the studio of Minneapolis's very own Burlesque of North America. The art collective consists of Todd Bratrud, Bjorn Christianson, Mike Davis, Aaron Horkey, George Thompson, and Wezz Winship. With once loose foundations (relying on "Special" discounts from friends at Kinko's for their zines, and creating posters for parties) Burlesque kicked off its launch in the late 90's with the purchase of a studio on 25th and University, where they worked with First Avenue producing an array of limited edition concert posters, and released their eight issue run of the graffiti/music oriented "Life Sucks Die" magazine. Currently the group is working with an expansive and growing list of clients, both reigning from international and local regions; including The Arcade Fire, Ween, Wolf Eyes, Gay Beast, and their friends at Rhymesayers. You can find them at their new Studio on Broadway and Stinson recently acquired last summer. And ever since the new space they've been playing host to some awesome shows in their foyer gallery space, First Amendment, with hours as flexible as jelly (noon to five, Monday through Friday).

In the workshop "Life Sucks Design" the assignment was to create a PSA poster design, choosing one musician from a list that included 50-Cent, Johnny Cash, Marilyn Manson, and bunch of other artists that have had "run-ins" with the law. Working closely with Burlesque, the students were able to learn the basics of screen-printing, and a bit about working with clients, deadlines, and image restriction. For example, one of the groups that chose Jack White (Guitarist of The White Stripes), were only allowed to work with the three colors red, white, and black. While another group, focused on Sid Vicious and his tweaked/punk aesthetic.

Once all the celebrities/convicted criminals were selected, then came the tagging of slogans alluding to the crimes that the celebrities had committed. For instance, Kid Rock, who was busted for beating up another musician, was given the slogan denouncing violence. (aw, the sarcasm is thick with this one). As their ideas were recorded down on paper the first step was finished but done they went through the tedious process of cutting it out on rubylith, which allows them to the layer images.

As the exato knifes became dull and the gummy bears disappeared the week came to a close. The groups printed the many layers to their posters and got ready to display them in the gallery down the hall at the YouWorkForThem studio. The colorful posters, with a message, will be on display this Saturday, August 18 at 7 PM. Right down the hall, be sure to check out First Amendment's opening featuring Chicago rock poster legend Jay Ryan, as well as a performance by Dosh.

This article was written by Willy Schwartz and Jen Larson, the two workshop interns. Schwartz is a former Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC) member and is currently pursuing a degree in art history. Larson currently is a Journalism major at the University of Minnesota.

At the end of every year, high school seniors sign one another’s yearbooks and watch cheesy slide shows recapping their senior year memories. Fortunately for this year’s Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC), the Minneapolis Television Network (MTN) created a nice segment reviewing their experience (minus the tear jerking “friends forever” soundtrack).

Every June we get over 50 applications for a limited number of spots on the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC). Sifting through all of the applications and deciding upon a new council can be really difficult. Really, how much information can you get out of a written application?

In Blue Delliquanti’s case, the decision was a no brainer. Check out her amazing application and you’ll find out why. If you are interested in seeing more of Blue’s artwork, be sure look at her illustrated interview with Sara Varon.

This article was written by Blue Delliquanti, a member of the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC).

Arriving as unbelievably early as I do each Thursday afternoon, I have lots of time before each WACTAC meeting. I spend this time going all over the museum, eyeing interesting pieces and learning about the artists behind them. I found one of my favorite new artists in an unexpected place — on the last page of every Walker calendar. Sara Varon’s whimsical illustrations help advertise our family programs, and at the Shop you can read her comic book, The Present, about an adorable snowman exploring the galleries.

Her comics (featuring a cast of turtles, rabbits, and snowmen) are lighthearted tales of friendship and fun, and I enjoy them immensely. So I set up an interview with her, and since we are both comic artists we chose a unique format for our conversation. My drawings (the boxes on the left) contain my questions to Sara, and the ones on the right were left blank for her to fill in with her answers. I mailed the half complete pages to her, and she finished them. I think the drawings look incredible, if I do say so myself.

So here it is: the complete illustrated interview between me and renowned artist Sara Varon. Enjoy!

About me (Blue Delliquanti): I've been a member of the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC) for one year. I just graduated from Wayzata High School, and will be attending Franklin College Switzerland in August. I'm aspiring to be a writer, animator, comic artist (check out a drawing I did for the Kara Walker postcard project by click here), or hopefully a combination of the three. If you're interested in contacting me, I can be reached at thedeepblue42@hotmail.com. Thanks!

As a part of David Choe’s visit to the Twin Cities he worked with a group of high school students from Juxtaposition Arts and the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC). Over the last 10 years Juxta has been teaching Northside youth about the arts and recently the organization has been working on a project called Street Life, a partnership with the City of Minneapolis intended to redesign the visual landscape of West Broadway. Students involved in last Saturday’s workshop painted banners that will be placed on light poles around North Minneapolis.

This post, written by Mark Severson, is the first in a series of writings from the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC).

Next Thursday, I get the opportunity to meet David Choe, a California-based graffiti artist/musician with a desire to see new places and meet people across America. What was got me interested in Choe was Thumbs Up!, a VBS.tv series tracking his hitchhiking/train hopping journey from Los Angeles, California, to Miami, Florida. As Choe states, "Train hopping is one of the last American frontiers. As years go by it gets harder and harder to do, but it's a great way to see America. The adventure of hopping on a train to see a place you have never seen before is what creates the frontier.”

The greatest part about the Thumbs Up! series is the experiences Choe has along the way. Things get intense when Choe finds himself in the middle of the desert on a stopped train with no water. I can’t imagine how scary a situation like this would be, due to the fact that I live in the "land of 10,000 lakes.” This reminds me of being on a family vacation to the Black Hills filled with non-stop driving in a hot car far from the cities. Although Choe spends one night at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, his accommodations aren't all in the lap of luxury. From abandoned buildings to sleeping with strangers in a camper named "The Dolphin," Choe's lodging is very daring.

Thumbs Up! is an awesome series that takes a look at what hitchhiking/train hopping across America is like today. As a reflection to what Choe encounters on his journey, he creates grafitti art along the way. Thumbs Up! leaves the viewer hanging with only half of his journey completed. Choe promises that new episodes of his travels will resume in a couple of months, check the Thumbs Up! blog to see updates of where and when Choe is headed to next or come to his FREE artist talk next Thursday!

Yesterday, the Education and Community Programs staff took a field trip to the Chambers, a luxury art hotel owned by contemporary art collector/Walker board member Ralph Burnet. The hotel features over 200 artworks spread throughout every public and private space including synchronized monitors in the bathrooms and hallways displaying video art by local and internationally known artists, a massive winding four story stairwell mural by Juxtaposition Arts, and original art by Damien Hirst, Angus Fairhurst, Gary Hume, the Chapman Brothers, Ashley Bickerton, Santiago Cucullu, and Gregory Crewdson to name a few. Chambers curator Jennifer Phelps kindly showed us some of the private spaces - Meeting Rooms "A," "R," and "T," the "Landscape" suite, and the exclusive "Rock Star" suite.

Judas Iscariot (The Twelve Disciples) Damien Hirst, 1994

Elemental Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis, MN, 2006

If you are interested in seeing and hearing more about the art in Chambers check out this interview with owner Ralph Burnett.

Overall the tour was a fun way to spend lunch hour. As we were walking out we spotted Burnet having lunch with Fox 9's news anchor Robyne Robinson - CJ, I hope you got the scoop.