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The Experimental Meditation Center of Los Angeles Invites you to Meditate on the Open Field

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Abigail Anderson, part of our Education and Community Program team an the Walker, remarked yesterday “turns out zen is kinda hard”. Help is on the way!  This Saturday the Experimental Meditation Center of Los Angeles, led by artists and performer Adam Overton, takes up temporary residence in the Walker’s James Turrell Sky Pesher for sessions [...]

James Turell Sky Pesher

Abigail Anderson, part of our Education and Community Program team an the Walker, remarked yesterday “turns out zen is kinda hard”.

Help is on the way!  This Saturday the Experimental Meditation Center of Los Angeles, led by artists and performer Adam Overton, takes up temporary residence in the Walker’s James Turrell Sky Pesher for sessions at 1 and 4 pm. The sessions are free and open to the public.

Experimental Meditation Center of Los Angeles is a frame[work], a magic circle, a safe space, a temporary autonomous zone, a performance space, … for the facilitation of artist-led meditations. Their definition of meditation is loose, areligious, and open to many gentle forms. They believe that the notion of ”experimental meditation” is redundant, in that all meditation is an experiment in shifting our perceptions. experimental meditations at EMCLA are often facilitated through some form of focused activity, engaged in by groups or individuals, in a variety of physical and non-physical locations. They approach each meditation with humility and the wisdom that its ultimate social and aesthetic purpose needn’t always be understood immediately, or ever.

Activities at EMCLA differ from session to session, each featuring new artist-facilitators and practices. they favor the playful, the experimental, and the temporary over the fanatical, dogmatic, and proselytic, gentleness over violence or aggressiveness, and seek to reinforce the magical and connective undertakings we artists are already engaging with on a daily basis.

The Experimental Meditation Center of Los Angeles has no center, these days it often convenes at the home of Adam Overton, but for this Saturday it lands on the Walker Open Field.

Adam Overton is an artist, composer and performer of experimental action and music, a teacher of various subjects, and massage therapist based in Los Angeles. Adam is also a member of the Los Angeles based collective Machine Project, who will be taking up residency on the Open Field July 19th – 29th.  Mark you calendars for two weeks of performances, workshops and surprises throughout the campus.

Here is a sample of a past piece: 30 meditations in 30 minutes, shouted.

http://plus1plus1plus.org/emcla

http://plus1plus1plus.org

Celebrate a successful year in community supported art with us!

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Today’s a big day around here: tonight’s Community Supported Art (CSA) pick-up party at the Black Dog Café in St. Paul, the kick-off for the spring 2011 CSA season, will also serve as a birthday celebration-cum-reunion party. This grassroots arts patronage program, which mnartists.org has undertaken in collaboration with Springboard for the Arts and a [...]

Join us tonight, 6/22 at the Black Dog Cafe for a CSA celebration

Today’s a big day around here: tonight’s Community Supported Art (CSA) pick-up party at the Black Dog Café in St. Paul, the kick-off for the spring 2011 CSA season, will also serve as a birthday celebration-cum-reunion party. This grassroots arts patronage program, which mnartists.org has undertaken in collaboration with Springboard for the Arts and a bevy of generous artists, is marking its one-year anniversary this summer.

A fair amount of ink has been spilled in the last year about our new community-rooted “art shares” project, and we’re thankful for every bit of it. If you’re interested, I’ve pulled together a linky round-up of articles below, from both local and national press outlets and blogs, featuring our CSA program and artists. Scroll to the base of the post to read through the enthusiastic press coverage for this first year of community supported art.

So much attention has been paid to the model we’ve used, and indeed a number of like-minded arts organizations around the country have already replicated it in their own communities. There’s no mystery to the program’s appeal. It’s a simple, but hugely effective direct-to-consumer paradigm, cribbed directly from an already established food production model developed by the increasingly influential community supported agriculture movement.

From what we’ve witnessed in the last year, the public is as eager to support their local cultural producers as they are their neighborhood farmer’s markets and regional growers.

Translating that model of production to the arts is surprisingly easy: Assemble a carefully curated group of artists and give them a modest stipend, which they in turn use to make a limited run of original items for a small group of member “shares.” Our CSA members, like those buying into a farm for a share of the season’s crops, pay a flat fee (around $300);  in return, members receive three crates brimming with original art throughout the season, just as members of an agricultural CSA get a regular supply of farm boxes filled with fresh produce.

Each season, patrons received a "share" filled with original art by MN artists

Because the cost of a share is affordable at just about any income level, it’s a fabulous opportunity for art lovers of all stripes to have access to the thrill of collecting work made by an array of accomplished artists whose pieces might otherwise be out of reach. Is it any wonder our first year’s CSA shares sold like gangbusters, in a matter of just a few hours each time we opened them up for sale? For anyone who loves art, it’s a great deal by any measure.

The thing is, a program like this simply wouldn’t work without the artists; it’s the fruits of the generosity and talent of the people who make the unusual, intriguing, clever, and deftly executed art work which fill those crates. Credit for the runaway success of this program belongs entirely with the artists whose amazing work consistently delighted our CSA shareholders, and kept new crops of patrons chomping at the bit for more.

So, here’s to the phenomenal CSA artists whose work made such a splash!  We owe them a debt of gratitude for their ingenuity, boundless creativity, and the hours upon hours of work they put into making each contribution to these art shares something extraordinary. Their efforts consistently exceeded our grandest expectations, not to mention the modest compensation provided to them.

We’d like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all the artists who contributed work in the CSA program in the last year. The following folks have left awfully big shoes for future seasons’ artists to fill:

Artists of the spring 2010 CSA season -

Amber Jensen, fashion designer and fiber artist

Amy Rice, visual artist and printmaker

Andy Ducett, visual artist

Calpurnia Peach, fashion designers and fiber artists

Jennifer Davis, visual artist

Karl Unnasch, visual artist

Lacey Prpic Hedtke, book artist

Maren Kloppmann, ceramicist

Sam Hoolihan, visual artist

Artists of fall 2010 CSA season -

Richard Barlow, visual artist

Gene Pittman, photographer & Rebecca Yaker, designer/fiber artist

Jim Proctor, sculptor

Kimberly Richardson & Sara Richardson, performing artists

Aaron Dysart, sculptor

Edie Overturf, visual artist

Michon Weeks, visual artist

Ellie Kingsbury, photographer

Tom Wik, photographer

Alex Kuno, visual artist/illustrator

Kao Lee Thao,  visual artist

John Jodzio, writer & Laura Andrews, visual artist

Craig Campbell, glass artist

Michele Heidel, fiber artist

Jeffrey Morrison, installation artist

Greg Brosofske, performing artist

Kimberlee Roth, ceramicist

Maren Kloppmann, ceramicist

Finally, our current crop of artists for the spring 2011 CSA season -

Liz Miller, visual artist

Drew Peterson, printmaker

Scott McGlasson, furniture maker and woodworker

Danielle Everine, fashion designer

Nou Ka Yang, fiber artist and fashion designer

Areca Roe, photographer

Peter Jadoonath, ceramicist

Dana M. Johnson, visual artist

Luke Aleckson, visual artist

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Click through to see a representative sampling of what the last year’s CSA artists made for our members’ shares  >>

Get the details on tonight’s CSA pick up event and celebration at the Black Dog Cafe (beginning at 5 pm) >>

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Related links and press clips:

The hub for current information on the Community Supported Art program on mnartists.org >>

Springboard for the Arts informational page about the CSA program >>

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“Local Artists Create Farm Share for the Arts” – Minnesota Public Radio (April 2010)

“Community Supported Art Harvests Creativity” – PBS Art Beat

“New CSA will feature a crop of locally-produced art” – MinnPost (April 2010)

“Subscription Art Spreads: Minnesota’s ‘Community Supported Art’” – The Present Group Journal

“If the Bay Area is the Capital of Art Subscriptions, then the Mid-West is the Country it Should be Located In” – The Present Group Journal

“Artists Try Farmer’s Tactic, Selling Community Shares” – The Boston Globe

“A ‘Buy-Local Mentality’ – Community Supported Art at threewalls” – Chicago Art Magazine

“Art by the Bushel” – Vita.mn (April 2011)

“Invest in a Bumper Crop of Art” – Minnesota Public Radio, State of the Arts blog (April 2011)

“From Locavore to Art-a-vore: the local food movement inspires tasty new forms of art support” – The Line (July 2010)

“Appetite for Art” by Betsy Altheimer – Rain Taxi Review of Books (Spring 2011)

“CSA: Homegrown Art, Bought by the Bushel” by Christy DeSmith – Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 2011

“Check it out – community supported art” by Sarah McKenzie – The Southwest Journal

“It’s Simple, Give Some Money, Get a Box Full of Art” by Amy Gustafson – Pioneer Press (link no longer available)

“These artists think inside the box, and they give art lovers a novel way to buy their works” – Pioneer Press, April 2011 (link no longer available)

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The CSA program was also listed on several “best of ” lists for 2010, including:

METRO Magazine’s, “The METRO 100″

“Best of the Twin Cities 2010,” in the category “Cheap Art Will Travel”, Mpls/St. Paul magazine

Minnesota Monthly’s “Best of the Cities” for best arts innovation

“Highlights of 2010” on Art Hounds, Minnesota Public Radio

Studio Visit: Fiber artist and sculptor, Mary Giles

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One of the great joys of my gig is that, every day, my job involves poring through the posted art work by Minnesota artists on mnartists.org, or hanging in local galleries or area studios, with the aim of ferreting out some of the most interesting stuff to share with you-all. Aside from the pleasures of [...]

One of the great joys of my gig is that, every day, my job involves poring through the posted art work by Minnesota artists on mnartists.org, or hanging in local galleries or area studios, with the aim of ferreting out some of the most interesting stuff to share with you-all. Aside from the pleasures of seeing the artwork itself, I’m consistently intrigued by the rich variety of people making it, and in how their creative practice is lived, day by day. In this series, I’m hoping to offer brief thumbnail sketches of Minnesota’s working artists, in their own words, as well as a window on the nuts and bolts of the processes that go into creating the work on that ends up on gallery walls: the tics and rituals, work spaces and unorthodox inspirations, supplies, and works in progress that comprise a life steeped in art.

For this first interview, meet Mary Giles, a St. Croix valley-based fiber artist and sculptor. She weaves both metal and linen to create organic sculptural forms evocative of the landscapes and fauna outside her sylvan home and workshop.

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"Where I can make a lap, I can work."

Fiber artist and sculptor: Mary Giles

Where do you live and work?
I live on the banks of the St. Croix River north of Stillwater, looking at Wisconsin.

What’s your preferred medium?
Waxed linen and metal

What is your work space like?
I have a studio and a shop. The shop is a room in the garage where I prepare all of the metals.  There I have a power hammer, torches, drills and the basic dirty stuff. The studio is an addition to the house where I build the pieces using the ancient technique of coiling while adding thousands of hammered and torched pieces of metal.

What objects (not artwork) in your studio provide inspiration or reference for your work?
The views out of my windows….the light on the river, shadows in the woods, and the textures of the water, rocks and trees.

Mary Giles, "Golden Fissure," waxed linen, hammered brass, brass and iron wire.

What are your work habits and routines in the studio: does your studio time take place during “business hours,” or on evenings and weekends? Does your practice follow a regular, disciplined schedule, or is your time for art-making more catch-as-catch-can?
Fortunately, I am now a full-time studio artist and I can work anytime and all of the time if I want. I like mornings best for problem solving and thinking; I never finish a piece or make decisions in the evening. Much of the work is done on my lap, so where I can make a lap, I can work.

Beuys made a practice of sweeping up; painter Jehra Patrick says she leaves a glass of Malbec out “as bait.” Do you have any rituals for the studio?
I try to keep the cats and the husband out. The cats are better trained!

Name five supplies you can’t live without.
Waxed linen, wire in various gauges, a good pair of pliers, Zap-A-Gap, and my husband’s supply of criticism.

Is there a local artist whose work has caught your eye lately?
The St. Croix valley has a whole group of great potters whose work I admire. Tim Harding, a fiber artist makes beautiful work just down the road in Stillwater.  Morgan Clifford, who lives in Stillwater, does handsome weavings and recently I met the jeweler Judith Kinghorn, and I think she is a Twin Cities treasure.

What are you working on now?
Large abstract forms that were inspired by split rocks found when I built my studio last year, and wall panels which comment on issues of population.

What’s on the backburner? Do you have any projects sitting around you just can’t bring yourself to complete (or, maybe, which you never officially started)?
I am very excited about and engaged with my current work. However, I am constantly making notes about possible projects….and I might even make some of them eventually.

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Mary Giles, "Quarterniron" found iron and iron wire figueres

Related exhibitions, links and information:
Mary Giles was the featured banner artist in the last issue of mnartists.org’s biweekly e-mag, access+ENGAGE. Read more about Giles, her work, current exhibitions and more in the “about the artist” article created for the newsletter.

Mary Giles’ work is currently on view at the gallery of College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, alongside that of Nancy Mackenzie and Kelly Marshall, in the exhibition, Over and Under. The show will be on display through June 25; it is running concurrently with Confluence, the 2011 International Surface Design Association Conference in Minneapolis/St. Paul, which takes place from June 4 – 17. Her work is also on view at the Racine Art Museum through Oct 2, and will be featured in an exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum, July 10-Dec 10, 2011.

Image credits: Top right, Golden Fissure, 10′x28′x13′, waxed linen, hammered brass, iron and brass wire. Bottom left: Quarternion, 27″x35″, found iron and iron wire figueres. Photo of Mary Giles as she’s working, overlooking the St. Croix. (All photos courtesy of the artist)

Gather ‘Round for Acoustic Campfire on the Open Field

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We closed last summer’s edition of Open Field with a celebration of the summer’s creative activities with an event we called harvest party.  Part of the event was  Acoustic Campfire, a program which invited local musician to experiment with our unique platform to perform un-amplified sets on the Open Field. We loved it and it [...]

Harvest Party, 2010

We closed last summer’s edition of Open Field with a celebration of the summer’s creative activities with an event we called harvest party.  Part of the event was  Acoustic Campfire, a program which invited local musician to experiment with our unique platform to perform un-amplified sets on the Open Field. We loved it and it seemed a perfect way to experience a summer evening on the field. So its back and expanded it for this year’s Open Field.

So we would like to invite you to close your Thursday evenings on the Open Field with free performances by local musicians. From vocal ensembles in the Skypesher, to old-fashioned jams under the grove, to acoustic sing-alongs on the greenspace, each event will offer intimate musical experiences nestled within the unique setting of the Walker campus. Some nights it will be a single performance…some may have multiple groups playing throughout the campus…you just have to come to find out.  The great things about Thursday’s on the Open Field is the mashup of activities that are guaranteed to surprise and hopefully entertain. The Garden Bar and Grill is open late and the galleries are open and free for Target Free Thursday nights making all the more reason to come out regularly to the Field. Be sure to regularly check out the Open Field Website and Facebook page for updates and lineups.

The Hummingbirds (Lynn O'Brien & Kestrel Feiner-Homer)

We kick off Acoustic Campfire with the Hummingbirds a local folk duo comprised of Lynn O’Brien & Kestrel Feiner-Homer playing in the intimate confines of the Sky Pesher Thursday, June 9th from 8:00-9:30pm.  Grab a blanket and a friend and join us for this start to summer and Open Field.

Sample some of the songs of the Lynn O’Brien’s most recent album here and hope to see you tonight!

If you are a performer interested in participating in this series please contact Scott Stulen or Ashley Duffalo for more information.

Taking it outside, notable book launches, and the latest news about the fate of the Southern Theater

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TIPSHEET, June 8, 2011 Now that the days have (finally!) turned milder, when I’m planning things to do, I find myself looking to take the kids outside. Happily, here in Minnesota, we do love to take advantage the great outdoors, so there’s no shortage of options on that front. But amid the bountiful cultural offerings [...]

TIPSHEET, June 8, 2011

Now that the days have (finally!) turned milder, when I’m planning things to do, I find myself looking to take the kids outside. Happily, here in Minnesota, we do love to take advantage the great outdoors, so there’s no shortage of options on that front. But amid the bountiful cultural offerings this time of year, my family’s perennial favorite summertime artspot has to be Franconia Sculpture Park. Through the warmer months, this lovely park near Taylor’s Falls really shines.

Read on for a shortlist of news and events, including a couple of wonderful happenings coming up at Franconia, that I’ve earmarked in recent days.

"Playstation" by Bridget Beck

Free live music and smart conversation about art at Franconia Sculpture Park: The park’s popular 3-D Music Concert Series continues this year; the first show of the season is coming up this Saturday afternoon, June 11 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m., and features live performances by Brothers Burn Mountain, DJ ESP, and Dance Band. The timing is perfect for a late-afternoon road trip with the kids, and the atmosphere at Franconia is unfailingly laid back and family-friendly.

If a more subdued, just-for-grown-ups evening is more your style, you could head out for tomorrow night’s 3-D Symposium at the park; it’s a delightful al fresco discussion series that Franconia holds on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, which facilitates conversation between resident sculptors, philosophers, critics, academics, and area art lovers. Featured artists for the upcoming discussion are 2011 Open Studio Fellow, Araan Schmidt (OH), and Franconia alum and “blog mastermind” Bridget Beck (WI).

McKnight Artist Fellows for Photography - a double exhibition

Double-opening for recent McKnight photography fellows: mnartists.org, along with Midway Contemporary Art and Franklin Art Works, is hosting a joint opening reception for two exhibitions of work, by the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 McKnight Artist Fellows for Photography respectively, this Saturday, June 11. Openings will take place at both galleries from 7 – 10 p.m., and a free bus will shuttle gallery-goers between the venues’ receptions until 10 p.m. Both exhibitions will remain on view through July 24. Franklin Art Works will be showing recent work from 2009-2010 Fellows Monica Haller, Paul Shambroom, Lex Thompson and Carrie Thompson. Midway Contemporary Art will be exhibiting new work from 2010-2011 fellows Chuck Avery, Amy Eckert, Gina Dabrowski and Karl Raschke.

And two book launches of note coming up in the next several days: Punk legend Bob Mould, of Hüsker Dü and Sugar fame, will read from his new memoir, See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, which traces the peaks and valleys of his storied musical career, his struggles with addiction, intimate relationships, and homosexuality, and his curious foray into pro wrestling. Mould will be at Magers and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 14 at 9 p.m., preceded by Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad at 7:30 p.m.

Geoff Herbach's "Stupid Fast" book launch - Red Balloon on June 10

This Friday evening, June 10 at 7 p.m. in the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Electric Arc Radio co-founder, author, and sometime mnartists.org contributor Geoff Herbach (The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg) will celebrate the publication of his second (and already well-reviewed) novel, Stupid Fast: The Summer I Went from a Joke to a Jock, a funny, painfully candid YA book about football, high school, and the awkwardness of teenage boyhood.

Finally, a predictable, if sad resolution for the Southern Theater’s near future: With virtually all its programming staff laid off, the theater will go down to just one full-time employee – a general manager. Last week, MPR’s Marianne Combs reported that the facility — home to so much smartly curated new dance, music, and theater in recent years – would, as expected, dramatically downsize its annual budget for the 2011-2012 season and become, primarily, a rental facility, adding its own programming “only when it’s feasible and fully underwritten.” Like lots of Twin Cities performance-goers, I’ll miss the provocative, reliably interesting shows, but I suppose this is still better than hearing the Southern’s beautiful space would be turned into condos or something, right?

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So, these are the things that have drawn my eye in recent days. I’d love to compare notes. What’s on your to-do list for the coming week? What  stood out among the headlines that passed through your RSS feeds? I’m eager to hear about the local cultural news and events that have caught your attention in the comments below.

Open Field Drawing Club Returns!

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Last summer we started the Open Field Drawing Club as an opportunity for artists and the public to gather, converse and create collaborative artworks.  While many wonderful pieces were produced, the intent was to create a comfortable space for artists to socialize and meet outside the usual places (openings, artist talks etc.).  What we wanted [...]

Last summer we started the Open Field Drawing Club as an opportunity for artists and the public to gather, converse and create collaborative artworks.  While many wonderful pieces were produced, the intent was to create a comfortable space for artists to socialize and meet outside the usual places (openings, artist talks etc.).  What we wanted was a situation where art could be fun, loose and just an excuse to talk to your neighbor and have drink outside.  What developed was a loose group of regular attendees as well as dozens of new members at each session.  The collective created thousands of drawings by the end of the summer, which according to the rules of drawing club, remained with the club as no singular artist can claim authorship to any piece.

This week we are  jumping into summer and a new season of the Walker Open Field.  Drawing Club also returns for its second season with several new additions and surprises in the coming months. So here is a quick overview of the program in case you missed it last year and a rundown of what is new.

What is Drawing Club?

The spirit of Drawing Club is built on sharing, collaboration and social experience of art making.

Here is how it works: Drawing Club meets every week under the trees outside the Bazinet Lobby in the Open Field Grove. Members of the public are invited to join with local artists, grab a pencil and share their contributions. All supplies are provided. The center of each table will contain the working pool of pieces (including works in progress from prior weeks). You can start a new drawing, slide it back into pool, pass it around, alter, edit, and amend it until the group declares each piece complete. The finished works will be collected and displayed throughout the summer in our completed portfolios. What can beat making art under a grove of trees with a cold drink!

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?
Just show up.  No registration or RSVP required. Drawing Club is open to everyone.

WHEN IS DRAWING CLUB?
Drawing Club meets every Thursday from 2pm -7pm from June 9th to September 1 in the Open Field Grove.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING?
Nothing but yourself, and maybe a friend.  All supplies are provided.

WHAT IS NEW THIS YEAR?
The core of Drawing Club is the same, but in response to feedback from last year we are adding a few new elements to keep things interesting.

Guest Artists: We are hoping to have several surprise guest artists join us throughout the summer….you never know who you might be drawing with.

Theme days: We may introduce theme materials or themes for specific days to challenge artists to integrate new approaches or experiment with new materials.

Demo Days: We are partnering with Wet Paint Art Supplies in St Paul to bring in several guest artists for special demos within drawing club.  The artists will be teaching techniques and reveling some of their tricks.  Wet Paint is also generously supplying materials for “try it” sessions on select dates.

Here are the dates and guests confirmed for the summer
Thursday June 9th 5-7pm         Mary Esch
Thursday July 7th 5-7pm         Fred Anderson
Thursday August 18th, 5-7pm     Joshua Cunningham

New Materials: We have introduced several new materials and options for Drawing Club members to choose from…hopefully this will lead to some unique outcomes and surprises.

Discussions: We are inviting Drawing Club members to propose and/or lead discussions around topics of your choosing during sessions.  These could be art related or not…the choice is up to you, but we would like some scattered organized discussion to occur throughout the summer…think the discussion you might have with your artist friends over a drink. Contact me or one a member of our team if you are interested.

Portfolios: We will be keeping ongoing portfolios of finished work at the tables…so you can see how your pieces may have transformed and found completion from week-to-week.

STAFF

Last year’s Drawing Club team returns with a few new additions. As with last year, we will be outside participating along side you for the summer.

Jehra Patrick, Artist and mnartists program coordinator
Marria Thompson, Art Historian and Artist
Scott Stulen, Artists and mnartists project director
Kristina Mooney, Artist and mnartists fellow
Katie Czarnecki, Art Historian and mnartists program fellow

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH DRAWING CLUB AND ALL OPEN FIELD ACTIVITIES:

Open Field Website
Open Field Facebook
Drawing Club Facebook

I hope to see you this summer and those of you that are teachers….Drawing Club is ideal for your students.

Northern Spark is here!

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Beginning tomorrow night at sundown, you’ll have a whole night’s worth of urban adventures in store. If you’re still in the planning phase, you can find all the details you need to establish your nocturnal itinerary, or get the rundown on all the artists and projects, a map of sites and participating venues, or tips [...]

Beginning tomorrow night at sundown, you’ll have a whole night’s worth of urban adventures in store. If you’re still in the planning phase, you can find all the details you need to establish your nocturnal itinerary, or get the rundown on all the artists and projects, a map of sites and participating venues, or tips on how to get around as you hop from project to project on the website for the Northern Spark Festival.

Read below for a final sampling of participating “nuit blanche” artists: Ben Garthus and his Mobile Creative Outpost, Janaki Ranpura’s fertile retooling of “hide-and-seek”, and Diane Willow’s luminescent nightscapes.

Read a recent feature article on the Northern Spark Festival, written by Regan Smith, on mnartists.org >>

*Editor’s note: The original version of this post indicated that the festival begins tonight, when in fact it is taking place June 4 &5. I’m sorry for the error!

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Ben Garthus' all-purpose Mobile Creative Outpost

Artist: Ben Garthus

Project: The Mobile Creative Outpost

Project description: The Mobile Creative Outpost is a nomadic social gathering point that redefines spaces into areas of a creative, self-determined activity. Inspired by the free open-ended play of adventure playgrounds or junk playgrounds, which allow children to build using simple tools, are more common in much of Europe but are a rarity in the United States, the Creative Outpost doesn’t propose a specific program. Instead, it offers a variety of loose parts, old building materials, tools and open-ended equipment that challenges participants to come up with their own objects, inventions and activities.

Night Owl or Early Bird? Night owl

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? Cold press iced coffee

What were you doing last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Working in my studio.

What’s your favorite after-hours breakfast joint? Uptown Diner

What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Stay up until I’m tired (sleep deprivation), acupuncture, and exercise.

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Any of my closest buddies after I haven’t seen them for a while.

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble?

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The artist's own rendering of the moment she conceived the Egg

Artist: Janaki Ranpura

Project: Egg & Sperm :: Hide & Seek

Project description: Egg & Sperm Ride :: Hide & Seek is an adult hide-and-seek game that will be repeated throughout the night. Six members of the public per rotation are invited to wear glowing Sperm helmets and count while a large Egg rolls to a hiding location. When the Sperm find the Egg and lay hands on it, it lights. They usher the Egg back to the start point. This project plays with the metaphor of contact, creating it through electricity and through the human body. Many art + technology projects use technology as a way to bring people closer, and this project is no exception. It exaggerates technology’s role by putting it at the center of the human quest for love; and yet, when you meet someone and there’s electricity, you know it. The Egg & Sperm project is inspired by the lack of romance in the tundra of Minnesota. Its attention to corporeality hopes to inspire participating individuals to unplanned acts of contact.

Night Owl or Early Bird? Night owl

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? A hot thermos of green tea and scotch

What were you doing the last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Taking a shower after a long dinner party in Washington, DC

What meal is best when eaten in the middle of the night? Noodles, noodles, noodles — three times a day and for snacks.

What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Daybreak

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Right now it would be Kevin Kelly, because then I wouldn’t have to finish reading his latest book. I hope that we could talk while on a long country road cycling side by side.

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble? An album: Run Rabbit Run by Sufjan Stevens is perfectly nice music to travel in an Egg to. I think it goes well with lights.

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Diane Willow's concept for the luminescent veil

Artist: Diane Willow

Project: beneath a glowing ceiling veil of living light

Project description: A Glowing Ceiling Veil of Bioluminescence transforms one arch of the Stone Arch Bridge into a chamber that invites people to experience the living light that illuminates the night within this space. Glowing bioluminescent plankton inhabit a membrane of soft vessels filled with seawater. Together they form a liquid veil suspended within the arch. The plankton are in tune with the night phase of their cycle, ready to luminesce in response to subtle and grand movements of the water in which they dwell. Conceived as an ambient site that is responsive to the presence of people who visit, the water in the soft vessels is animated by subtle vibrations as people enter and experience the chamber. There is a sense that the glowing light is responsive to people’s movement within the space and at the same time this relationship is muted, suggesting the emergence of a collaborative atmosphere that shifts with the flow of people.

Night Owl or Early Bird? I am by nature a night owl. I experience the night as a very open and spacious time. Although I rarely wake up at dawn I share my life with an early bird and have grown to appreciate her love of the morning – especially our pre-dawn departures for long road trips.

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? Glow sticks, seltzer, and sparklers.

What were you doing the last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Obsessively watching the plankton luminesce – a mesmerizing, meditative, and awesome experience.

What are your go-to cures for insomnia? I love to sleep and rarely have trouble sleeping – being active in the day and being outside may be the best cures.

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Joanne Jones-Rizzi

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble?

A dancey houseboat, phone booth migrations, cheesy dreams and a big-ass horn section

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The big night is drawing near! Find all the details you need to plan your nocturnal itinerary for Northern Lights.mn‘s upcoming “nuit blanche” and the night-long assortment of projects, art installations, and performances across the Twin Cities June 4 & 5 on the website for the Northern Spark Festival.  In the meantime, read on for [...]

The big night is drawing near! Find all the details you need to plan your nocturnal itinerary for Northern Lights.mn‘s upcoming “nuit blanche” and the night-long assortment of projects, art installations, and performances across the Twin Cities June 4 & 5 on the website for the Northern Spark Festival.  In the meantime, read on for more about some of the night’s offerings: Barbara Claussen’s phone booth monoliths on the move, BodyCartography invites you aboard the HOUSEBOAT, Peter McLarnan would like to offer you a bit of cheese and sweet dreams, and Chris Kallmeyer’s preparing to herald the onset of night with a big horn section.

Read a recent feature article on the Northern Spark Festival, written by Regan Smith, on mnartists.org >>

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Artist: Barbara Claussen

Project: Modern Monoliths migrating

Project description: Modern Monoliths migrating emerges out of an investigation of the sociological and technological shifts in the borders between public and private space.  In this piece the phone booth, originally designed for private conversation in a public place, acts as a repository for speech between parties in a dominant/subversive relationship. This speech shifts the function of the booth from the modern monolith in decline to a space that sets up a dialogue between types of power wielded by the various parties in the hierarchy.  Modern Monoliths migrating will be placed at the convergence of several types of power : the natural power of the river, the political and cultural power of the city, and the site of a power plant generating electricity since 1882. 

Night Owl or Early Bird? Early bird

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? Trail mix

What were you doing last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Making art

Meal best served at 2 a.m.? Something light – Edy’s frozen coconut bars
What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Reading a dull book

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Armin Strohmeyer

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble?

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Artist: Peter McLarnan

Project: Dreaming a la Carte: Take-out for the Subconscious

Project description: A 2005 study by the British Dairy Board investigated the relationship between the ingestion of cheese before bed and the sleep patterns of the study’s participants. The research unexpectedly discovered that various cheeses produced uniformly similar dreamscapes in a diverse group of participants. These findings have been used to create a menu of dreams, allowing visitors to the Black Dog Cafe to order the type of dream they’d like to have when their night is done. By ingesting a dream catalyst in the form of a small sample from a select variety of cheeses, participants are able to extend the Northern Spark Festival into the personal and mysterious realm of the subconscious.

Night Owl or Early Bird? Night owl

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? 10-hour energy drink and shoes a half a size too small

What were you doing last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Waiting on an Amtrak platform in Detroit lakes, MN. 

Favorite after-hours breakfast joint? I used to work at the after-bar grill at Santana’s on University Ave. They have a pretty decent burger, and are usually open until 3 or 4 a.m.. Otherwise, I’ll take a frozen pizza from Cub, and splurge on arugula. 
What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Talk radio podcasts from NPR.

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Klaus Kinski

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble?

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Artists: The BodyCartography Project (respondents: Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad)

Project: HOUSEBOAT

Editor’s note, June 3: I received an email from Otto Ramstad since this was posted, and he says HOUSEBOAT “has been cancelled due to strong river flow and wind making it impossible to drive to boat up to Minneapolis.  Next year hopefully…”

Project description: The BodyCartography Project invites you on a low-rent cruise. Step into a houseboat bobbing on the black water of the Mississippi. Plunging downriver, what seems like social hour gets progressively charged by the intensity of this immersive performance. Featuring the original Holiday House cast: Minneapolis dance stars Kristin Van Loon, Karen Sherman, Morgan Thorson, Otto Ramstad, Bryce Beverlin II and special guests Justin Jones, HeatdeatH’s Tim Glenn and Andrew Broder. (Directed by Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad)

Night Owl or Early Bird? Neither…Otto and I like to sleep a lot, but now that we have a new baby, it’s not really an option.

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? Olive: Diapers; Otto: Black tea, courage, and a life jacket to dance for eight hours

What were you doing last time you were up at 3 a.m.? Olive: Breastfeeding; Otto: Changing diapers

What meal is best served at 2 a.m.? Olive: Cereal and bananas in bed; Otto: Yogurt and tea in the kitchen
What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Olive: Eating a banana and cuddling with family; Otto: Tea and yogurt while reading the New Yorker, then back to bed with earplugs, eye mask and Rescue Remedy Sleep spray.

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? Uma Rabbit, Steve Paxton, Meg Stuart, Benoit Lachambre, Andy Kaufman; Otto: Olive Bieringa, Olive: Otto Ramstad

Soundtrack for a midnight ramble?

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Chris Kallmeyer at the Walker (Photo by Scott Stulen)

 

Artist: Chris Kallmeyer

Project: for dawn or dusk // homeward

Project description: for dawn or dusk // homeward is a 10-15 minute sound work for 100+ local musicians playing brass, percussion, woodwinds and tiny whistles.  The site specific performance will take place on the Stone Arch Bridge, stretching across the Mississippi playing overlapping melodies derived from the route of the river.  The piece follows the route of the river south past St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico. Community involvement is integral in this piece. I am interested in how we can create a forum of equal participation and creative input, much like the brass bands in Europe and community bands that used to populate the United States.  In this spirit, local amateurs have worked side by side with professions, as well as community leaders who ran rehearsals.

Night Owl or Early Bird? I often end up hanging out late with friends, but honestly I’m an early bird! I love getting up early in the morning for a pot of coffee, watering our vegetables, and having a quiet walk around my neighborhood.

All-nighter survival kit secret weapon? A good friend!  If I had my pick, I’d bring my partner Katie Tate.

What were you doing last time you were up at 3 a.m.? I think that last time I was up that late was for a concert I played with DeVotchKa! (We played at the Music Box in Hollywood this past February).  Afterwards, I hung out with my buddy Shawn and the rest of the band and their friends till way late.  (Shawn is the drummer/trumpeter in the group.)  That was an excellent time — it takes a pretty awesome reason to keep me up till 3 a.m.

Favorite after-hours breakfast joint? Taco Trucks: I love my La Estrella. I can eat taco trucks anytime. 

What’s your favorite after-hours breakfast joint? Hard Times Cafe in West Bank
What are your go-to cures for insomnia? Moby Dick and single malt scotch. 

If you could choose anyone to stay up all night talking with, who would it be? My peers here in Los Angeles. They are absolutely brilliant and endlessly interesting. We often talk and brainstorm projects at late hours over hoppy California IPA. If I get to pick from those who have passed on, I’d choose my old mentor (and aesthetic philosopher) Alan Paskow.  I often think about what it would be like to have another chance to share ideas with him late into the early hours.

Pack your bag for the Nightshift

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Do you remember staying overnight at a friends house as a kid?  You would anxiously prepare for the event by gathering all the items you may need, or could possibly want for that night’s activities. This might include extra clothing, sleeping bag, toothbrush, music…whatever necessary to get through the night. Often, very little if any [...]

Nightshift Toolkit

Do you remember staying overnight at a friends house as a kid?  You would anxiously prepare for the event by gathering all the items you may need, or could possibly want for that night’s activities. This might include extra clothing, sleeping bag, toothbrush, music…whatever necessary to get through the night. Often, very little if any sleep actually occurred during a sleepover. Instead the night was filled with stories, games and activities until dawn….you just didn’t want to be the first one that fell asleep. This Saturday night June 4th through Sunday morning June 5th the Walker Art Center is giving you the opportunity to revive some of those childhood feelings at Nightshift (but we promise no punishment for falling asleep).  The program is the Walker’s contribution to Northern Spark, a new Twins Cities-wide Festival modeled on a nuit blanche or “white night” format.  Northern Spark features more than 200 artists, presenting 100 installations and performances from the top of the Foshay Tower to boat rides along the Mississippi to light sculptures and projections to performances galore, including car horn and brass band fanfares, color guards, river dancing, sewer pipe organs, lullabies, and storytelling. Nightshift and Northern Spark promise to well worth losing a nights’ sleep.

The following is a guide to all of the Nightshift programs and activities.  So take note, and pack your overnight pack correctly.

1. Exhibitions: Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870 and Goshka Macuga: It Broke from Within will both be open from 9pm – 6am.  Here is your opportunity to view both of these recently opened exhibitions between other events or as a quiet close to your Northern Spark experience.

2. Drawing NIGHTCLUB: Join in making collaborative drawings under the twinkling lights of the Open Field Grove from 9pm to Midnight. Think glowsticks and disco balls for this nocturnal round of social art making for this kickoff of last year’s hit Open Field Drawing Club.

3. Skyspace Headphone Concerts: Plug into the cozy confines of the James Turrell Sky Pesher for a series of live concerts featuring local musicians performing through a series of headphone jacks and amps. Each performer will be performing music specifically for headphone listening. BRING YOUR HEADPHONES…we will have a few pairs for people to use, but you are encouraged to bring along your own.

Performers include:
10am                     Chris Strouth (Paris-1919)
11pm                     Ryan Olcott (FoodTeam)
Midnight                Caly McMorrow
1am                       Grant Cutler
 2am                       Vortex Navigation Company
3am                       Scott Puhl


4. Jim Woodring: Artist Talk and Performance: Seattle based artist Jim Woodring will be creating large ink drawings with a giant six foot pen on a specially constructed easel on the Open Field Grove at the close of Drawing Club. You will have the opportunity to watch the drawing take form, speak with the artist and maybe even try your hand at the pen. This is a unique format and opportunity to hang out with a internationally recognized illustrator and storyteller…not one to be missed.

Jim Woodring’s performance is in partnership with Rain Taxi Review of Books who will also be on hand with copies of  Woodring’s books for sale during the event.

5. The Shape of Night: The Language of Sleep: The Walker is partnering with McSweeney’s Publications to bring pages of one of their books to life… on a larger-than-life scale. Try on poses from The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple’s Guide to the Thirty-Nine Positions, printed to the scale of king-sized beds.

In addition, at the Walker or from home, you can also enter to win a contest for the 40th Position. Evany Thomas and Amelia Bauer, the authors of The Secret Language of Sleep will create a new text and illustration based on the winning entry. Submit your photo and an accompanying title via the Flickr.com “McSweeney’s & Walker Art Center: Sleep Position Contest” group, or by emailing SleepPosition40@gmail.com by June 6. The contest winner will be announced on June 14. For more information on the Secret Language of Sleep, click here.

6. The Shape of Night: Busby Berkeley Nocturne: Bring your sleeping bag to participate and be documented in this happening with choreographer Megan Mayer, creating a Busby Berkeley kaleidoscopic composition at 2am outside the Cargill Lounge.

7. Bedtime Stories: Rain Taxi has collected an impressive group of local writers, poets and storytellers who will gathers to exchange tales in a story filibuster from 3am to dawn at various sites on the field.

8. Marcus Young: The Lullaby Experiment: The Lullaby Experiment (for 35 sleepers, 10 attendants, 4 singers, and solo viewers) invites people to sleep at the Walker Art Center to experience giving up their daytime selves and being sung to lovingly throughout their nightlong stay. Participants bring their sleeping gear and supplies to create personal comfort within this rare opportunity to explore the museum, the public night, and the soft mystery of slumber. This work of participatory art is gentle and creative misbehavior with fellow sleepers where sleeping does not belong. Within a live pianissimo concert of love, The Lullaby Experiment is a struggle for peace and rest, a remembrance of affection, and a succumbing to one’s inner nature.

There will be limited spots for this activity, so participants are encouraged to sign up ahead of time.  Walk-ins are welcome as space is available.  Non-sleepers are welcome to view the work any time. For more information and how to participate, visit: graceminnesota.org

9. Amenities! The Garden Bar and Grill will be open to 1am after which food service will be available from street vendors.  The restrooms are open all night and there are plenty of places to rest, nap and otherwise crash over the course of the evening.

 

So we hope to see you at our sleepover this Saturday.  Nightshift runs 9pm to 6am with fresh donuts delivered to the hardy few that make it all night, including our dedicated staff.

Nightshift is presented by the Walker Art Center in conjunction with mnartists.org and Rain Taxi Review of Books.

And in closing ….I couldn’t help myself.