Every year we take this photo because every year we like to be involved in the Flyway Film Festival.

This year the Festival will continue to grow and we are delighted to be a small part of it.

The Flyway Film Festival is still one of our favorite events each year. Each year it continues to improve and this year will be no exception.

We love to participate because we love films.

We are very fortunate to have a steady source of dependable and reliable workers by virtue of the local vocational college.

Minnesota Sate College Southeast Technical has a unique guitar and mandolin building program. These students typically have an uncommon attention to detail and are always mechanically inclined.

We came to know Devin and his girlfriend Hailey this past year while Devin attended the guitar program. Devin is holding his final electric guitar project and Hailey is holding his mandolin project.

We hired Devin last year and he was a terrific employee. He finished his program and immediately landed a job in St. Paul in a guitar shop.

We are delighted to have gotten to know both of them and wish them good luck!

Bear has been a shop fixture since we opened the shop.

His body failed him earlier this year and it has been a steady decline ever since. He will be genuinely missed.

Bear was an extremely active dog with a terrific sense of humor. If he was in a playful mood, he knew exactly how to agitate to get the attention he wanted.

He enjoyed greeting the customers long enough to get their attention and hopefully get a treat.

Rest in peace Bear.

The Flyway Film Festival is one of our favorite events each year. It is an uninhibited creative endeavor over three days in October. Each year it has grown in size and scale and this year promises to be especially exciting.

First, the Flyway Film folks received a generous grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism that will really boost marketing efforts. This extra money will be used to widen the circle of marketing.

Second, the festival graphic is noteworthy for the artist. Gaylord Shanilec created the original etching of the three pelicans that are used in the poster. Gaylord is unquestionably talented, pelicans are indigenous to this area and it is just an exceptional image of this region. Totally appropriate.

And finally, a very limited edition of signed fine-art are available for purchase, which will be used to help fund the festival. We printed the limited edition prints on a Hahnemuehle textured 100% cotton paper that should last for hundreds of years.

October 23-25. Can't wait.

My niece is a soon-to-be-famous film maker. She recently won a grant from the IFP Minnesota Center for Media Arts that enabled her to film and produce her original screenplay called "Hole in the Wall". It is a short film about intergenerational tension between a father and a son.

I had the privilege of shooting still set photography on the movie set. Exteriors were shot the first day and interiors were shot the second day. The interiors were in a totally dilapidated house in Minneapolis with extremely small rooms. I shot with an extremely wide lens and mostly from the hip to try and capture the tightness of the set and also to minimize camera intrusion.

It was a fascinating and tedious process. Everything was captured with real film, which is in itself a true challenge. A single overhead jetliner can ruin a shot. And you never know if there was a light leak with the film until after it is processed.

My niece Mandy is on the left of the top photo and she is reviewing a shot set-up. The bottom photo is the primary room in which the father confronts the son.

Once again we are delighted to be a red carpet sponsor of Flyway Film Festival. This event is in its third year and is really beginning to collect some traction. The quality of the movies this year is very impressive.

The Festival begins on Thursday, October 21 with a gala event in which the sponsors, directors, actors and organizers get together, nibble on snacks, drink some wine and have creative discussions. At the end of the evening there will be an awards ceremony.

The films begin on Friday, October 22 with the screening of "Baraboo", which sounds like a very interesting film about life and the hand we are dealt. Over the course of the weekend, 21 films will be screened.

Details are at www.FlywayFilmFestival.org. See you in Stockholm in two weeks!

This week marks the final chapter of the poverty awareness photojournalism exhibit entitled "In our own backyard". This exhibit has crisscrossed the United States for the past 18 months and next week the exhibit finishes in Washington DC at the annual Leadership Summit for Catholic Charities.

Since this is the final and highest profile stop of the tour, all of the large format images are being reprinted and remounted, which is close to 120 images.

It is a very moving set of images, that address all manners of poverty and everyday life. It is really hard not to stop and soak up the texture and realism of each image.

This has been a challenging and gratifying project. One of the best parts of this project has been working with Steve Liss. He is a natural-born educator and an amazing photojournalist who gets right into the thick of it. Please visit his web site at: SteveLiss.com.

It has 18 months since the last Max Becherer update. Just to refresh, we came to know Max five years ago when we hosted his photojournalism exhibit entitled "Through the lens; Life in Iraq". Max has been in Iraq since the very beginning of the conflict (remember "shock and awe"?) and has seen action in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza.

Max has since gotten married and splits his time between Cairo, Egypt and California when he isn't in the field. He is still a combat photojournalist and he is still extremely talented. Max's work has been featured in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The New Yorker, US News and World Report and Men's Health.

Recently Newsweek Magazine asked Max to retrace the Iraq invasion in reverse, using his photos. That feature can be found here.

After you visit that site, please visit Max's website and enjoy his talent. It is rare to see photography this deep in the action.

Tentative arrangements have been made to host an art exhibit later this year that will feature the work of contemporary cartoon artists. Britt Aamodt is a friend and her book will be released at about the same time as the exhibit, which is driving this exhibit. Her book will be available at the Minnesota Historical Society Press and can be found at this link. The intention is to invite several artists, exhibit some large format cartoons, have a cartooning Q&A and a book signing in an event spread out over three venues (Best of Times Bookstore, The Sheldon Theatre mezzanine gallery and at our gallery).

You might be asking yourself if cartooning is a legitimate art medium. It is and I would suggest you keep the comment to yourself, lest you become the parodied target of an offended cartoonist.

Therein lies the beauty of cartooning. It can either lampoon or glamorize their subjects. It can be humorous or it can be brutally and uncomfortably frank. It can address real life or it can fabricate an entirely new universe with it's own laws of physics. In other words, cartoon art defies definition.

This exhibit promises to be a lot of fun. I grew up reading the comics and I still read the comics. I love the comics.

This is completely consistent with past exhibits, including the Brown & Bigelow Pin-up exhibit in 2007, the Cream of Wheat original advertising art in 2008 and the original pulp magazine cover art in 2009 (see the illustration trend going here?). Details as they unfold.

This note is being added after the fact. May was a nearly overwhelming month between work, a mini-vacation, graduations and non-profit activity. In lieu of posting anything of substance, here is a photo that was taken in May.

Grand Marias, MN on May 24, 2010. The fog was very thick and the air was very gray. Probably not a good idea to stand in the middle of the road, but it was awesome.

It has been a full year since we became involved in the Catholic Charities American Poverty photojournalism project. It has been a rewarding and challenging year and now a certain rhythm takes place as the exhibit crisscrosses the United States. This coming week the exhibit presents itself in Nashville, Tennessee. The map above demonstrates where the exhibit has traveled (in red) and where it is yet to travel (in blue). Additional cites might still be added and no final confirmation yet if the final exhibit will take place at the White House.

Steve Liss is the Project Director and will travel to each city immediately prior to the exhibit reception and artfully and tastefully documents the slices of poverty unique to each community. Our job becomes image preparation (printing, mounting and packaging) all of the images for each exhibit and delivering them directly to the exhibit venue. Usually there isn't a single day to spare and thankfully UPS has delivered each and every package on time and in perfect condition. Ideally there would be a larger buffer of time for production, but then, what would be the challenge in that?

It is a challenge and from every challenge you hope you learn and improve from the experience. The official web site is worth a visit. It is very well done.

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.

Apparently not.

In any case, it is time for a Red Wing Central Park Band Shell follow-up.

This time last year, the park was a mess. Frozen and snow-covered dirt piles were scattered all over the site. It looked like a project that was going to miss the July 4th deadline. But the Red Wing Construction company is very professional and proud of the product they deliver. The 4th of July deadline was met with days to spare.

After the project was finished, Red Wing Construction presented The Jones Family Foundation (the benefactors of the band shell to the City) with this beautifully framed momento. It is a 36"x32" multi-opening custom framed piece of the band shell from all different angles and during the very first performance. It also includes a custom embossed mat of the Red Wing Construction logo.

We were proud to provide all of the photographs, the printing and the framing and we have since built a few of these pieces for Red Wing Construction.

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 morning the Minneapolis Star-Tribune business columnist Dick Youngblood wrote a very favorable column about our business here in Red Wing. It was a lot of fun getting to know Dick over several conversations and meetings and I really didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, I was very happy and a bit embarrassed by the attention.

But it was the sub-headline on the second page of the hard-copy article that really made me smile. For many years I thought I was a "washed-up sales rep" when in fact I was only a "burned-out sales rep". Imagine my relief.

You gotta love it. :)

The article can be found here.

Thanks for the article Dick and thanks for the support Dave and Dean.

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.

It has been 18 months since Jon Hassler died. Jon was well known for his literary skills, but many people are not aware that Jon was an artist before he was a novelist. He would teach English during the school year (high school and college) and during the summer he was on the art fair circuit. He began writing relatively late in life (Staggerford was published when he was 44), but he always enjoyed painting whenever he had the chance.

Just like his books, his paintings have reoccurring themes; rural landscapes, long light, complex skies and almost always a strong vanishing point element. In fact, they are almost exactly what you would expect if you have read any of his novels or short stories.

We came to know Jon five years before he died from the complications of progressive supranuclear palsy. Jon and his wife Gretchen entrusted us with 22 of his original paintings (above left, 'Snowfall', 20"x16", oil on canvas; above right, 'Road to Johnson's Farm I', 16"x12", oil on canvas), all of which were painted in the late 1980's. These are all remarkable originals and a portion of each sale will be donated to CurePSP (www.psp.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.

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:

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

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.

I was delighted to get a note from Max Becherer this morning. I have planted the seed of thought with Max to begin to prepare a five year retrospective photojournalism exhibit for next year. Max has been in Iraq since the initial days of "Shock and Awe" and has made a career of globetrotting to the hot spots on the planet. But let Max speak for himself:

"Hi John!

So good to hear from you. I hope you are having a great New Year! I am in Cairo, Egypt at the moment but should be heading to Iraq for the Provincial Elections later this month. I also think it will be a good place to be when Obama takes office. I was up at the Egyptian Border with Gaza last week and watched as Israeli bombs blow up the tunnels and as the Palestinian wounded came over on their way to Egyptian hospitals. It was a difficult scene. I was waiting for a chance to enter Gaza but they are keeping a tight lid on things there.

So, your idea sounds great. I would love to do a five year retrospective. There are so many ways we could go with it for sure. I have a portfolio book of images I collected from the last five years.

Last year I started covering the elections in Pakistan. It was interesting and I was even able to head up to Peshawar where the North West Territory begins. What a wild place. In any case, I was in Iraq at the last part of this year for the New York Times and then did an assignment about Samarra for the Smithsonian Magazine which is on newsstands now. This week I head to Baghdad for a month and then in April I will be in Afghanistan where things are expected to be difficult this year. That is all for now.Thanks for checking in with me. I hope we get to see each other soon. Say hello to the crew for me!
Best, Max"

Leah Lundgaard is the latest 'Art al fresco' artist. We came to know Leah several years ago and have enjoyed watching her grow as an artist over the years. Leah is a full time artist and is both a painter and a potter.

She typically paints with either a watercolor pencil or with oils. A common element in her paintings is a burst of color and activity, i.e., fall leaves or waves crashing on beach rocks.

Her pottery has an interesting pattern of geometry. I see a Fibonacci sequence in her patterns. This is a common sequence found in nature. Sunflower heads, honeybee combs and artichoke flowers are all examples of Fibonacci patterns.

Leah is modest and soft-spoken and a very genuine person. She clearly has an inner voice that she expresses with her art. Visit her website at: www.triple-l-design.com and buy lot's of her art. Right now.

No, not art in the nude (maybe next year), but rather 'art in fresh air'. We are going to try something different this weekend by hosting a mini-art festival in our parking lot. We have this terrific street-side parking lot and the intention is to pop up a tent and host a different artist each weekend.

This is actually the brain child of Ingrid Bjerstedt Rogers from Beldenville, Wisconsin. Ingrid is a veteran of the art fair circuit and it was her suggestion to turn our parking lot into an art venue. And why not? We have this terrific black walnut tree that shades the entire parking lot and it is very pedestrian friendly. Stop by this Saturday and check it out.

Ingrid is our first artist. I would describe her pottery as being both primal and whimsical. It creates a very positive vibe when you experience it and it is very affordable. Good stuff.

I will post the 'Art al fresco' schedule as it evolves. We should have something every week.

This past February, The Red Wing Photography Club kicked off its first meeting. This is a grass roots organization, driven by the common interest of photography. All skill levels are represented and there are several sub-groups focused on wildlife, strobists and special events.

It is fun to be involved with these lively enthusiasts. Several contests are underway and several photography outings are in the works. Mary Ouret and Jeff Marcus provide the energy and the growth of the group is impressive. I think one of the aspects I enjoy the most is how grounded the group is. There is no sense of elitism and all of the support is positive.

Several local businesses have taken note of how popular the photography club is. These businesses are clever enough to understand that if they can provide a venue for the photos, they are ensuring foot traffic for themselves. Smart.

See for yourself. The main group meets once a month (3rd Monday of the month) at the St. James Hotel. The group web site (more of a forum currently) is: www.rwphotoclub.org