AmericanPoverty.org

AmericanPoverty.org Exhibit Kicks Off at Catholic Charities USA Annual Conference

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. Entitled AmericanPoverty.org, this exhibit aims to raise awareness of people living in poverty in the United States. Catholic Charities has set an ambitious goal to reduce poverty in the United States by 50 percent by the year 2020. They understand that the only way to meet such 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 firsthand the struggles of extreme poverty in the United States. This team includes talented photojournalists such as Steve Liss, Jon Lowenstein, Brenda Ann Kenneally, and Eli Reed. They have crisscrossed the United States, 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 at least 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.

New Red Wing Shoe Store and Museum

Red Wing Shoe Company: A Pillar of the Community

Red Wing is a company town, and the name of that company is the Red Wing Shoe Company.

Red Wing Shoe (or 'The Shoe' to the locals) has been manufacturing shoes and boots in Red Wing for over 100 years. The company manufactures and sells purpose-built footwear. Some of their target markets include oil and gas, construction, iron workers, agriculture, hunting, and hiking. Their largest manufacturing plant is in Red Wing, Minnesota. Almost all other footwear today is manufactured and imported from low-cost countries, so a work boot made in the USA is unique.

The Shoe is paternal about the City of Red Wing. When The Shoe announced last year that they were going to purchase a blighted downtown building and create a flagship shoe store and museum, it was a major announcement, especially locally.

This past week, The Shoe moved their World's Largest Boot (20x a normal boot) from a warehouse to the new store. It was an exciting event that garnered a lot of attention. As exciting as that was, the energy level is even higher inside the store as employees scramble to meet an aggressive deadline in opening the new store.

Red Wing Shoe understands the value of visuals and is an image-oriented company. We are proud to have provided the graphics and framing for this exciting new venue. The store opens August 3rd, and the museum later this month.

Flyway Film Festival sponsorship

Exciting News: Red Carpet Sponsorship of Flyway Film Festival

We are super excited to announce that Red Wing Framing & Fine Art Printing will be a 'Red Carpet Sponsor' of the 2nd annual Flyway Film Festival in Pepin, Wisconsin, taking place from October 22 to 25, 2009. The primary venue will be the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center. In addition to supporting the entire event, we will be the presenting sponsor for the opening night events on Friday, October 23rd at 7 pm.

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

1. We admire what this group is trying to accomplish and their ambitious approach.

2. We love films, which should be evident from our past entries about the Chief Theater in Red Wing.

3. We believe it's essential to contribute to the community, and we appreciate art venues that strive to be all-inclusive.

We'll share more details as the festival date approaches.

Mac and cheese smackdown

1st Annual Downtown Red Wing Mac and Cheese Smackdown

Tomorrow (August 12), the 1st annual Downtown Red Wing Mac and Cheese Smackdown takes place. We are delighted to host and look forward to a most delicious event. Every small business in Downtown Red Wing is invited to participate.

You might be asking yourself, "What does a mac and cheese smackdown have to do with small businesses?"

The answer is both nothing and everything.

Nothing, because it has nothing to do with business, per se. And everything, because every small business feels the economic challenge these days, and providing a small amount of escapism has real value.

There is always room and time to have fun. And nothing says fun like a mac and cheese smackdown.

Certified Picture Framer (CPF)

Understanding the Certified Picture Framer (CPF) Designation

A Certified Picture Framer (CPF) is a prestigious designation administered by the Professional Picture Framing Association (PPFA). The PPFA conducts the five-hour CPF exam twice a year, testing in the following areas:

1. Art and framing preservation

2. Framing knowledge

3. Mechanics of framing

4. Mathematics of framing

5. Art and image mounting

To ensure that CPF-certified framers remain current in the professional framing field, they must retake the exam and recertify every five years.

This is an arduous and rigorous process, which is why very few framers pursue CPF certification. Red Wing Framing Gallery is proud to be one of only five active CPFs in Minnesota.

We take great pride in our professionalism and our commitment to the highest industry standards. This dedication should be important to any client who values their art.

Art for hire

Re-Framing a Norman Rockwell Concept Sketch

Recently, this Norman Rockwell concept sketch came into 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, complete the piece, get paid, and then move on to 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 solely through their creative output are rare. Taking on commissioned projects is only a small step from being a full-time commercial illustrator. The final result might not always be the artist's first choice, but finding opportunities to be creative within the boundaries of a client's expectations requires a unique skill set and artistic maturity.

This brings us to an exciting upcoming exhibit that was just finalized this week. The working title (subject to change) is "Tough Guys and Tough Cookies." It will showcase original art used for pulp magazine covers, which often depict dramatic scenes with someone in peril. This sub-genre of illustration art required artists to be efficient and productive. The paychecks were smaller than those of their peers, but it allowed them to make a living creating art.

This marks the third consecutive year we've had the pleasure of collaborating with Grapefruit Moon Gallery. The first two shows (original pin-up art and original Cream of Wheat art) were very successful. This exhibit will be a bit different but consistent with our mission of presenting 20th-century illustration art and its various subsets. More details will be shared next week.

New name - new web site - new challenges

Evolving with the Times: Our Business and Website Update

People who invent snappy metaphors to describe business principles might say something like, "A small business today is like a great white shark—always on the move, never resting, never sleeping." That sounds way too contrived. It’s best to simply say that a business must constantly ask itself what it does for a living, and whether it's where it wants to be in doing that thing it does.

The name change is more about acknowledging how this business has evolved. We frame, we print, and we do anything in between. It was also time to freshen up the logo—to shine our shoes, so to speak. This was harder than you might think because the fonts used are fabricated for our needs. They aren’t off-the-shelf fonts, but they do have a basis in the history of this business. It’s too difficult to explain without hand gestures.

The new website is another matter. The changes appear mostly cosmetic, but under the hood, it is an entirely different animal. It would take a rocket scientist to explain the differences, and unfortunately, one isn't immediately available.

With any new website, it’s very easy to be driven crazy trying to chase down every image resizing requirement or some dropped HTML code. This is called 'overhead' and produces no income. Overhead bad. Income good.

But, you do what you have to do, when you have to do it.