Over the years and after working with countless artists, it is easy to forget what an artist really goes through when they exhibit their art. They open themselves up for critical review and there is significant exposure on the part of the artist. They might be appear to be nonchalant or even over-confident about exhibiting, but inside their stomach acids are working overtime. For me, it was time to put up or shut up.

The 'Foot in the Door' exhibit is different in this regard. It is completely democratic, because if it fits in the box, it exhibits. Consequently, it becomes much less about the art and more about just being able to exhibit and have fun. I submitted a photograph I took ten years ago. it is entitled "Midnight on Mason Street". It was taken in San Francisco and the image exposure was on the neon leg. This severely underexposed the rest of the image and you are left with these two illuminated signs on opposite sides of the street. It is a gimmick photo, but I am partial to gimmicks. I was raised on comic books and my favorite part was always the Johnson-Smith page on the inside back cover (x-ray glasses and such). The clearinghouse of gimmicks.

My favorite image from the exhibit has to be the seed art tribute to wrestler Baron von Raschke. Classic.

I love the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. I know that is not a profound observation for anybody who has ever visited the MIA, because anybody who has ever visited it, also falls in love with it. It is a friendly and welcoming arts atmosphere (which isn't as common as you would hope), the art is terrific and it is free. What's not to love?

Be that as it may, the 'Foot in the Door 4' is shaping up nicely. I had the chance to visit a second time before the public unveiling. The total submissions were beyond all estimates and the lines were long for nearly the entire four day submission period. The final number is a closely guarded secret until the public reception, but sources close to the count have provided a range of between 4,700 and 5,000 entries (compared to 1,700 submissions ten years ago, the last time this exhibit took place). Three large gallery rooms will be filled and the raw expression of creativity is almost overwhelming.

I managed to find my piece and two of the three pieces I had submitted on behalf of friends and offspring. It looked as if about half the art was up and I did hear that all of the art had been photographed for the online gallery.

This job provides for a couple of perks, one of which is being involved in interesting art exhibit projects from a 'behind the scenes' perspective. In other words, friends in the art world ask you to volunteer to help them with an event. Yesterday was a perfect example.

Every 10 years (this being the fourth time), The Minneapolis Institute of Arts hosts an event called the "Foot in the Door" exhibit. Essentially, any Minnesota resident, at no expense to themselves, can submit one original piece of art they have created to be exhibited at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The art cannot be larger than 12"x12" for wall art or larger than 12"x12"x12" for three dimensional art. It is a terrific opportunity to exhibit in one of the most prestigious museums in the world for four months.

Art check-in takes place over four days. As a volunteer for the art check-in, my responsibilities were 1) insure the art did not violate the size rule, 2) collect the paperwork for each piece, 3) assign a wall location, 4) provide a receipt for the art and then 5) deliver the art to the staging area. In other words, the first point of contact for the artists. The art itself was impressive and the range was amazing. Each piece was cradled by the artists as if it were a newborn.

After the art is received, it is staged in an exhibit room and waits to be registered in the computer and photographed for the on-line catalogue. Over 1,000 artists checked in art the first day and over 3,000 submissions are expected. At the peak crowd size, the wait was 2.5 hours, but everybody was extremely patient and in a very good mood.

One of the other perks in volunteering is checking in your own art (and your friend's art) without the complication of waiting in line. Those will be posted later.

Today my back is killing me (marble floors) and I am exhausted. It cost me a day's pay to be there and the tuna sandwich was stale when I finally had a chance to eat. But I made many new friends and saw many familiar friends and would do it again in a New York minute. I can't wait for the exhibit reception which is on February 18, 2010.

January is usually a quiet month in the art and framing industry. There might be a small bump in business because of some Christmas follow-up framing, but that trickles away pretty quickly.

This January was an exception. Several projects came in the door because of fiscal calendar years that started January 1st. Another major Catholic Charities project was delivered, this time for a Centennial Leadership Summit in San Jose, CA. This was the largest venue so far (this being the 4th) and it will move across the United States every month until September, where hopefully it will exhibit at the White House. Go to www.AmericanPoverty.org to get the most current updates. I love working on this project because it leverages the power of photography and it is an absolute adrenaline rush in meeting the tight deadlines. In this business, this is known as a 'good gig'.

We also had our first order from Turkmenistan. To be more precise; Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. This is a former Soviet Union republic that declared independence in 1991. It was a nice sized order of 10 large format mounted images and one extremely large canvas print. There is a sense of satisfaction in knowing your handiwork is on the job in some remote part of the world.

On an unrelated note; Downtown Mainstreet agreed to co-sponsor a photography competition with Red Wing Framing & Fine Art Printing. It is always fun to have too much to do.

And finally, if nothing else I learned a long time ago to surround yourself with very smart people. Or at least stand close to them.

I am uber-excited about a new project that some very smart people I have come to know are advising me on. This is on a six-month timetable, so the details will roll out over time.

The Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism in Washington D.C. The mission of The Newseum (from their web site) is to "educate the public about the value of a free press in a free society and tells the stories of the world's important events in unique and engaging ways". In other words, it is all about the First Amendment. It is located just off Pennsylvania Avenue near The U.S. Capital. This is a high profile location in a high profile city.

As part of our ongoing relationship with the AmericanPoverty.org photojournalism exhibit, we produced several very large (48”x72”) mounted prints for a reception at the Newseum later this week. The images needed to be large because the reception hall is large and visual impact is important. This is an exhibit designed to create momentum for the AmericanPoverty.org campaign going forward.

These images have this beautiful platinum print finish. Platinum prints (sometimes called platinotypes) is one of the oldest photographic processing techniques and provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using wet chemistry development. But because this is the digital age, platinum prints are ‘replicated’ in the computer, yet they do a terrific job of re-creating the original look.

2010 will see an acceleration of activity with Catholic Charities and AmericanPoverty.org.

And we can hardly wait.

Details have been finalized for our next original art exhibit. "Hard Boiled Art" presents original pulp magazine cover art from the 1930's to the 1960's. The exhibit will run from November 5th to December 6th, 2009 with a reception that is still to be determined.

This is a unique art form. Pulp magazine covers were very sensational and were considered the most important aspect in the sales of any particular pulp series. The socially acceptable boundaries were often tested and the topics reflected the then current popular culture.

The covers were typically machismo in nature with elements of evil or danger and at least one hero. The 1930's had strong detective and science-fiction followings and the 1960's were all about the 'Red Scare' of the communists.

Regardless of the threat, the damsels in distress typically had a torn blouse. :)

Come and enjoy the exhibit. This is a rare opportunity to see the original art that was used to create the published covers. It is fun and an absolute snapshot of an industry that hardly exists any longer.

This weekend is the much anticipated 2nd annual Flyway Film Festival. The event begins on Thursday night with a meet-and-greet reception and the opening night of movies begins on Friday night with "Storm", followed by "Ink". In many cases both actors and the directors of the films will be at the film festival to answer questions and over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday over 30 independent films will be shown.

Saturday will be a bit different with a one-day, genre-specific event of classic and cutting-edge independent zombie films. And everybody loves a good movie about the undead :)

We are proud to be a red carpet sponsor of this ambitious art endeavor and to have provided the large format graphics to promote this event.

Details are at www.FlywayFilmFestival.org. See you in Stockholm this weekend!

Last week Catholic Charities USA kicked off their annual conference in Portland, Oregon with the large format photojournalism exhibit produced by the In Our Own Backyard photojournalism team. This exhibit was entitled AmericanPoverty.org and is meant to raise the awareness of people living in poverty in the United States. Catholic Charities has declared the goal to reduce poverty in the United States by 50 percent by the year 2020. This is a very aggressive goal, but Catholic Charities understands that the only way to meet an aggressive goal is to set the bar very high.

In Our Own Backyard is a team of skilled and seasoned photojournalists who have witnessed first-hand the struggles of extreme poverty in the United States. This team includes, in part, Steve Liss, Jon Lowenstein, Brenda Ann Kenneally and Eli Reed. These are talented photojournalists, with strong personalities and stronger communication skills. They have crisscrossed the United States in capturing exactly what it means to be poor.

It has been a delight to be involved in this project. The deadlines were tight and God bless overnight delivery. There are a minimum of six more cities that will be hosting this exhibit over the next year, so we look forward to future involvement. Learn more about this large format photojournalism project at AmericanPoverty.org.

We are super excited.

This year Red Wing Framing & Fine Art Printing will be a 'Red Carpet Sponsor' of the 2nd annual Flyway Film Festival in Pepin, Wisconsin from October 22 to 25, 2009. The primary venue will be the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center. Besides providing support in part for the entire event, we will be the presenting sponsor for the opening night events on Friday night, October 23rd at 7 pm.

This is a significant investment for our modest operation, but it makes sense for several reasons;

1) We like what this group is trying to accomplish and their ambitious way of going about it.
2) We love films, which should be apparent by past entries regarding the Chief Theater in Red Wing.
3) We feel it is very important to contribute to the community and we like art venues that try to be all-inclusive.

More about this as the calendar gets closer to the the film festival.

Pulp cover art has a unique place in art history. It has terrific nostalgia appeal for anybody who enjoyed The Hardy Boys, comic books or even a peek at The Old Man's collection of True Detective or Stag magazines. It had the specific purposes to grab your attention on the newstand in a crowded field of competitor's and to evoke an emotion, usually with a provocative image of impending peril or suggestive sensuality. Common elements usually include a couple of 'toughs', a large breasted woman and a 'citizen' or a 'hero'. The above example (original on the left, Rudolph Zirn, 1939) has all three.

We are excited and delighted to announce a gallery exhibit of original pulp cover art. The show will open in October (date tbd) and will include both the original art and the subsequent ephemera the originals were used to produce. The colors are extremely vivid and the techniques used by the artists to project a response is fascinating.

This is the third year in a row that we have had the pleasure of working with Grapefruit Moon Gallery in presenting their collection of illustration art. In 2007 we presented original pin-up art (here and here) and in 2008 we presented original Cream of Wheat advertising art. Pulp magazine art is yet another sub-genre of illustration art that we are proud to present.

The 'pulps' were fiction magazines that were very popular from about 1930 to 1960. The term 'pulp' comes from the cheap paper typically used in production (cheap paper has a lot of wood pulp). The magazines became noteworthy for their provocative covers. The covers became so important that in many cases the covers were designed first and the text was designed around the covers. Pulp magazines were also a major employer of short story authors and the subsequent demise of the pulp industry created a vacuum for these authors that has never been filled.

Oil or gouche paintings are used to create the original cover art. The colors are intentionally vivid to compensate for the primitive printing technology at the time. Several pulp cover artists (i.e., Frank Paul and Margaret Brundage) became accomplished artists in this genre and attracted a following. Pulp art has recently experienced a renaissance in popularity and is widely sought by collectors.

More details as they evolve but I thought this teaser would have value.

Recently this Norman Rockwell concept sketch was in the shop to be re-framed. Rockwell would rough sketch a proposed painting, present it to a potential client and solicit feedback. Hopefully he would be awarded the project, finish the piece, get paid and then move unto the next project.

Does the fact that an artist is directed what to paint diminish the art itself? Not at all. Artists who can support themselves strictly on their own creative output are rare. And it is a minor step from an artist taking on a commissioned project to a full-time commercial illustrator. The net result might not be an artist's first choice, but finding opportunity to be creative within the boundaries of a client's expectations requires both a unique skill set and maturity as an artist.

This is the segue into an upcoming exhibit that was just finalized this week. The working title (and it will change soon) is "Tough Guys and Tough Cookies" and will be a presentation of original art used for pulp magazine covers. This art typically presents scenes of over-the-top drama, usually with somebody in peril. It is a sub-genre illustration art that required efficiency and productivity on the part of the artists. The pay checks were smaller than most of their colleagues, but it paid the bills and allowed artists to create art for a living.

This is the third year in a row we have had the pleasure of working with Grapefruit Moon Gallery. The first two shows (original pin-up art and original Cream of Wheat art) were very successful. This will be a bit different, but consistent with the idea of presenting 20th century illustration art and various subsets. More details next week.

Several Fiddler on the Roof selections were sung (a teaser for an upcoming production) and Rosanne Cash and her husband came out and performed for about 90 minutes. It was a straightforward performance, very professional and simple (two guitars). Just a class act. Then Roomful of Blues picked up the tempo for the next 90 minutes. The skies cleared (it was spitting rain on occasion) and the Sheldon Brass Band took the stage and played mostly some traditional John Philip Sousa music.

It was the final score, which was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, that something truly remarkable happened. Right at the crescendo, right at the peak of the music, cannons began firing off explosions and all the church bells in town started ringing. Red Wing has a lot of church bells and between the Brass Band, the cannons and the church bells, it was a very moving experience. Several people started spontaneously crying and it is hard not to get choked up thinking about it now. The Sheldon Theatre deserves a ton of credit for making this an amazing day in Red Wing history.

It has been fun charting the progress of the newest neighbor in our neighborhood. But now it is time to move on to other curious topics.

A little over a month ago, a prototype of the 2009-2010 traveling exhibit of the 'In Our Own Backyard; U.S. Poverty in the 21st Century' was unveiled at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. This was an opportunity to weigh the reaction and measure the effectiveness of the message. Think of this as a preseason event before the annual Catholic Charities USA convention in Portland in September, 2009.

Things have not slowed down since then. Details have been fine-tuned and the new web site can be found here. The tentative schedule for the traveling exhibit is:

September 24-29: Portland, Oregon
October 29, 2009: Sacramento, CA
January 21, 2010: San Antonio, TX
February 24, 2010: Atlanta, GA
March 8, 2010: Albany, NY
March 25, 2010: Nashville, TN
April 22, 2010: Cleveland OH
April 29, 2010: Chicago, IL

Track the updates by following it on Facebook:

Introducing the Red Wing Framing Gallery Panel Print.

It's a Panel! It's a Print!

It's a Panel Print!

It begins with any digital photo and ends with a full-print bleed, UV-protected, 1/4" thick hardboard panel print that is pool-table flat and rugged!

The Panel Print has a linen laminate finish and a 1" reverse frame mount. The mount lays flat on the wall and the print is an elevated surface that creates a modern 'drop-shadow' effect on the wall.

It can be printed at any size or aspect ratio (great for panorama photographs) and it has been especially popular with photographers who appreciate this very contemporary look. It also works great for commercial projects that are restricted from using glass or need to cover large wall surfaces, yet still need to project elegance and creativity.

Call the shop today at 1-651-385-0500 and create your own art from your own images!

Now, back to the regularly scheduled programming.

1) T-2 weeks: Once the project is defined, the supply chain of raw materials begins to fill up. This exhibit required two cases of 4'x8'x1/2" black Gatorboard.
2) T-1 week: Each image was printed on a premium luster photo paper (a wide color gamut, scratch resistant, but susceptible to fingerprints), vacuum mounted to the Gatorboard and then trimmed to size and packaged. 50 images were printed and mounted for this exhibit.

3) T-24 hours: The finished materials were delivered the day before the exhibit opening. The exhibit panels were problematic for a few reasons, but the image layout was deemed the most critical.
4) T-12 hours: The image title blocks completed the story-lines. I was delighted to see that Carlos Gonzales from the Minneapolis Star Tribune was participating. I came to know Carlos from the Max Becherer exhibit.
5) T- 4 hours: No exhibit is complete without a politician. In this case it was the Honorable Mayor Chris Coleman of St. Paul.
6) T- 0 hours: This exhibit generated a lot of discussion. A 'first person, photojournalistic' style was used.

7) T+x: From St. Paul, the exhibit moves to Portland, Oregon and then begins a nine city nationwide tour, with the goal of ending at the White House in 2010.

Math, art and terrorists in a single blog entry. Now that is efficient blogging.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune did a nice story today about Dan Murphy and his illustration art collection. We had the pleasure of working with Dan and Sarah on two different occasions; once in 2007 for The Dream Girl exhibit and again in 2008 for The Cream of Wheat exhibit.

Dan has a terrific collection and is a recognized expert of this genre. I look forward to working with Dan again this year, maybe with a pulp men's magazine (think True Detective) or a science-fiction exhibit.

The Strib article can be found here

On April 18th, 2009 at the Goodhue County History Center (1166 Oak Street, Red Wing, MN) the Red Wing Photography Club will present an Exhibition of Photographs.

Ardent readers will remember that this club was formed about this time last year. This is the first time this club has formally exhibited members’ photographs. Assuming there isn't a like-wise repeat of the Rolling Stones incident in Altamont, CA, it is likely this group will exhibit again.

The rules were pretty simple: no more than three pieces and nothing larger than 16"x20". And like most good photographers, the rules were almost immediately broken.

It is a non-juried, non-themed, non-competitive, not-for-sale exhibit.  The objective is for members to share their favorite images and for many members to exhibit for the first time.

A public reception is April 18th at 2 pm at the History Center.

I did the poster layout. It is absolutely derivative of a wpa poster from the 1930's (read: rip-off).

You're welcome and thank you.

Steve Liss is an accomplished photojournalist, as evidenced by having 43 Time Magazine cover photos to his credit.

But it isn't this professional success that Liss takes the most pride in. Steve Liss is a humanitarian who uses photo essays to communicate tough topics. His subjects have ranged from poverty in the Mississippi Delta, to runaway youth living on the streets of Hollywood, to a study of the Nuns of Mankato and Alzheimer's disease. He has been the recipient of the Soros Justice Media Fellowship for his work on juvenile justice and the Alicia Patterson Fellowship for his work on domestic poverty.

We are delighted and excited to be asked to participate in his latest project entitled; In Our Own Backyard: U.S. Poverty in the 21st Century (web site). This is a unique poverty awareness project being undertaken by 15+ preeminent American photojournalists. The project goal is to use the visual power of large-format documentary photography to elevate the discussion of making the fight against poverty a national priority.

This project is in partnership with Catholic Charities and their campaign to cut poverty in half by 2020. Nine major photographic and multi-media exhibits, each with 50 emotionally-moving large format photographs will tour throughout the United States begining in the fall of 2009.

This project will be kicked off at a leadership summit on April 20, 2009 at the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN. Registration is here and an invitation postcard is here.

Poverty has many faces and it is impossible to ignore when seen up close and personal. It is projects like this that make work seem less like work and more like purpose.

This week we decided to host our first major exhibit at our new location. It is an exhibit of original art from the Cream of Wheat advertising campaign from the period of 1913-1925. It begins on October 10, 2008, which doesn't leave much runway for a show of this magnitude, but it was a fairly spontaneous decision on the part of all the players involved.

The worst thing an art gallery can do is be boring, and this exhibit is anything but.

This exhibit is fascinating on many levels. To begin with, the art is amazing. The campaign director was very insistent on using the best available illustration artists and the art reflects that. The imagery is very wholesome and comforting and humor is a common element in many of the illustrations.

The exhibit also presents and discusses the use of racial stereotypes in the media. Times change and so do acceptable standards. The Cream of Wheat campaign usually used an African-American chef as a welcoming and reassuring icon. Was this naive, demeaning or enlightened on the part of Cream of Wheat?

And finally, Cream of Wheat went from a minor grain mill in North Dakota to a major worldwide cereal company in ten years because of their effective use of advertising and image branding. This alone is worthy of a Harvard business case study.

Cream of Wheat was located in Northeast Minneapolis from 1897 to 2002. The company has changed hands several times and is no longer independent. These paintings were in storage in the archives of the headquarters until the building was converted to condominiums in 2005. This might be the last opportunity to see a body of work this complete.

The best part of this exhibit is the chance to work with Dan and Sarah again. We first worked with them last year for The Dream Girl exhibit and they are a class act. Maybe next year we can do a pulp fiction or science fiction theme?