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TASK+ Bethel and MCAD join with Oliver Herring

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Brooklyn based artist Oliver Herring is bringing his TASK party  to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and also an exhibition to Bethel University.  The exhibition in Bethel’s Olson Gallery will include Oliver Herring’s large-scale photographs, videos, performance work, and photo-sculpture. Two of these life-sized photo-sculptures will be on display, one at Bethel and [...]

Brooklyn based artist Oliver Herring is bringing his TASK party  to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and also an exhibition to Bethel University.  The exhibition in Bethel’s Olson Gallery will include Oliver Herring’s large-scale photographs, videos, performance work, and photo-sculpture. Two of these life-sized photo-sculptures will be on display, one at Bethel and one at MCAD.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design (in collaboration with Bethel) will host a TASK PARTY with artist Oliver Herring on Tuesday, April 20 at 7pm.  The community is invited to take part in this unique opportunity, which is free and open to anyone age fifteen and up. TASK is an improvisational collaboration between Herring and a group of participants – generally strangers – that provides a complex, messy, open-ended outlet for creativity. Participants both write and randomly select tasks. Then, using simple, accessible materials like tape, cardboard, aluminum foil, markers, and string, each person interprets chosen tasks. As a participant completes a task, he or she writes a new one for the bucket and draws a different one to interpret. From what I understand the events are much cooler if a diverse community shows up to participate….so now this is not just for students. Come out and join this very cool project and a somewhat unlikely pairing of local art programs.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzuKx3pqgao&feature=related[/youtube]

Here is the rundown for the next couple days and your first TASK is to attend at least one.

TASK+ selected work by Oliver Herring
April 15 – May 30, 2010-
Bethel University’s Olson Gallery, CLC Building 2nd Floor
3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN

Additional sculpture on view from April 13-26at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Gallery 215, 2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN

Artist Talk: Friday, April 16 at 6pm
The Underground, Brushaber Commons, Second Floor, Bethel University Campus

Opening Reception with Live Performance:
Monday, April 19, 5-8pm
Olson Gallery, CLC Building, Second Floor, Bethel University Campus

For Olson Gallery hours and directions please visit our website.

TASK Twin Cities with Oliver Herring and DJ Black Lacquer
Tuesday, April 20, 7-10pm
Minneapolis College of Art and Design in the College Center
2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN

Additional TASK Party information on Facebook.

All events open and free to the public.
About the Artist and work included in the exhibition:

Since 1998, Herring has created stop-motion videos and participatory performances with ‘off-the-street’ strangers. Open-ended and impromptu, Herring’s videos have a dreamlike stream-of-consciousness quality; each progresses towards a finale that is unexpected or unpredictable. Embracing chance and chance encounters, his videos and performances liberate participants to explore aspects of their personalities through art in a way that would otherwise probably be impossible.

Also, in a series of large-scale photographs, Herring documents strangers’ faces after hours of spitting colorful food dye, recording a moment of exhaustion and intensity that doubles as a form of abstract painting. Herring’s use of photography takes an extreme turn in his series of photo-sculptures. For these works, Herring painstakingly photographs a model from all possible angles, then cuts and pastes the photographs onto the sculptural form of his subject. Two of these life-sized photo sculptures will be on display, one at Bethel and one at MCAD.

Herring is a German-born, Brooklyn-based artist who has exhibited internationally at venues including The Museum of Modern Art; the New Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Camden Arts Centre, London. In 2002, he began the TASK+ project, seeking further interaction with non-artists. In 2005, Herring was featured in the “Play” episode of Art:21. Herring’s work is represented by Max Protetch, New York

Grab a pencil and some sun block: Open Field Drawing Club

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The first rule of Drawing Club: What is made at Drawing Club stays at Drawing Club. Collaborative art making is nothing new, nor is the idea of regular drawing clubs (my personal favorite is the Taco Bell Drawing Club ).  Our variation of social art making will play out throughout the summer as part of [...]

Millet at work in his studio, photographer unknown. Millet, Francis Davis, 1846-1912

The first rule of Drawing Club: What is made at Drawing Club stays at Drawing Club.

Collaborative art making is nothing new, nor is the idea of regular drawing clubs (my personal favorite is the Taco Bell Drawing Club ).  Our variation of social art making will play out throughout the summer as part of the Walker Open Field project. We invite you to join local artists, families and community members in a progressive experiment on the commons. Sit in the shade, sip on a drink, doodle, sketch or paint while helping to build a collection of  creative output authored by the collective. While you can take home some of your creations if you choose, the spirit of Drawing Club is built on sharing, collaboration and social experience of art making.  So grab a pencil and your sun block and offer your creative contribution.

Here is how it works. Basic paper and art supplies are provided on large tables outside on the Walker plaza. The public is invited to join with local artists, grab a pencil and share their contribution. The center of the tables will contain the working pool of pieces. Start a new drawing, slide it back into pool, pass it around, alter, edit and amend it until the group declares it complete. The finished works will be collected displayed in the commons, archived on the Open Field Flickr page and stored for a future exhibition.

Drawing Club occurs every Thursday and Free First Saturday throughout the summer from 2-5 pm on the Walker Open Field. No invitations, special talents or art experience are needed to participate and contribute. Please check back on the  Walker and mnartists.org sites in the coming weeks for more information of special drawing club news and guest artists.  If you are an artist that would like to participate and would like to be featured on the Drawing Club calendar please email me (scott.stulen@walkerart.org) with your name, contact info and desired Thursdays to attend.

mnartists.org/Springboard for the Arts: Community Supported Art Program Launches (CSA)

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Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farms. With the same buy-local spirit in mind, mnartists.org and Springboard for the Arts are joining forces for a similar endeavor to support local art, artists and collectors.  Last week the project [...]

Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farms. With the same buy-local spirit in mind, mnartists.org and Springboard for the Arts are joining forces for a similar endeavor to support local art, artists and collectors.  Last week the project assembled a panel of local food and culture taste-makers including Lee Zukor (Simple, Good and Tasty), James Norton (The Heavy Table), Chuck Olsen (MNOriginal) and Mecca Bos-Williams (Metro Magazine). 

The panel reviewed over 160 artist applications and selected the 9 featured CSA artists:

Calpurnia Peach: (textile/fashion)

Jennifer Davis/ Burlesque design: (painting/printmaking)

Andy Ducett: (drawing/printmaking)

Sam Hoolihan/Switzerland: (musician/photographer)

Amber Jensen: (book arts)

Maren Kloppmann: (ceramics)

Lacey Prpic Hedtke: (tin type photographs)

Amy Rice: (painting)

Karl Unnasch: (stained glass/sculpture).

The selected artists will receive a commission to create 50 “shares” for the program. Interested consumers/collectors will purchase a share from Springboard for the Arts and in return receive 3 “farm boxes” of locally produced artwork at intervals this summer. Featured works could include items such as: an edition of vinyl 7”, a run of screen-prints, series of small tea cups, run of photographs, tickets to an upcoming performance or event, letterpress editions of a poem or short story, or small original paintings. Each member share will include one piece from each of the 9 CSA featured artist works over the summer and will also include “bumper crop” of additional artwork and arts opportunities.  The pick-up evenings will be at local art sites and will be events in themselves, including a special outdoor event for the  first pickup at the Walker on June 17th.

Member shares cost $300 for the three-month season and can be purchased by contacting Andy Sturdevant at 651-292-4381 or info@springboardforthearts.org.  Sales of member shares begin on Monday, April 5, 2010 and will sell out fast.

The goals of the CSA program are to support artists and to create an engaged community of local arts supporters.  CSA supports artists: in the creation of new work, to establish relationships with local collectors and patrons, and to participate in the launch of an exciting new model of art support and distribution.  CSA Share member benefits include multiple works of art from local emerging and mid-career artists at a fantastic value! Additionally, CSA Share members have the opportunity to develop relationships with the local artists and art community, discover new artists, explore a variety of disciplines and support artists’ careers and a vibrant community.

About the Partners:

Springboard for the Arts is an economic development organization for artists.  Springboard for the Arts’ mission is to cultivate a vibrant community by connecting artists with the skills, information and services they need to make a living and life.  For more than 20 years, Springboard for the Arts has been providing affordable professional development services to artists and their organizations. Springboard’s programs include one on one consulting, workshops, the Artist Loan Fund, Emergency Relief Fund, Artists’ Access to Healthcare and online Job Book and Resource Guide.

mnartists.org is an online database of Minnesota artists and organizations from all disciplines. It offers to Minnesota-based artists a central gathering place on the Web, and will grow to become a marketplace and community hub. It offers the public a new way to explore art and get to know artists. In addition to providing artists and organizations with a web page containing images and information, mnartists.org provides news and features about the local arts scene from a variety of sources. mnartists.org was developed as the result of a survey of Minnesota artists conducted by The McKnight Foundation. The survey revealed the survival struggles of individual artists. The McKnight Foundation partnered with the Walker Art Center’s New Media Initiatives group to develop mnartists.org.