Stepping out of the Studio!

Minnehaha Falls

Today I had a chance to cross the river to visit my old stomping grounds--south  Minneapolis, and enjoy some artsy fun. Hubby and I started out by making a few stops on the Longfellow neighborhood art crawl--aka Lola art crawl. There are a number of coffeeshops and local businesses participating and exhibiting art of local artists, but a great number of artists are opening their homes to show off their work. Some are exhibiting outdoors. Hats off to all those artists opening up their home spaces--it's a lot of work and intimidating to have people enter your home and comment about your artwork and space. Even though I do it on nearly a monthly basis in my own home, I find it hard to enter someone else's personal space. I don't want to be too intrusive! But it's a wonderful way to view an artist's work. Lola will also be running tomorrow, Sunday, August 29th from 10-5 pm--check out their website for more info!

Umber Studios

Following a quick lunch, we drove by a gallery space I've been wanting to check out--Umber studios. It's  a small space in south Mpls located in an older brick building. The gallery is being collectively run by several local artists. The artists have  maintained much of the original beauty of the space--such as the wood floors. They also brought back the original tin ceiling by knocking down a false ceiling.  The space was simple, but charming. Intimate and welcoming. 

The gallery was not actually open when we stopped by, but one of the artists/owners was there hanging a show of children's art (opening tonight) and invited us in. We had a wonderful little talk about the space.  I would love being part of running a space like that one day! 

Then we headed to downtown Mpls, where Joel was going on an audition. I spent my time at the Mpls downtown library (a beautiful building!) and checked out an exhibit that I had heard about--The Art of Aging. It is only up til September 5th, but I would highly recommend making an effort to take it in before it's gone. 

The exhibit features the artwork of four Twin Cities women artists--Karen Searle, Lucy Rose Fischer, Bette Globus Goodman, and Jody Stadler--all facing the aging process themselves (I don't know the ages of the artists, but I'm guessing they are in their 60/70s).  The work, presented in a variety of mediums--glass, photography, fiber/textile, painting/drawing--was very powerful, moving, and insightful. And I must add that it was inspiring to view the work of four artists actively making such powerful work in their 60s and 70s!

Even if you are not able to check out the exhibit, you can visit the exhibit link to  watch the video interviews with the artists. It will inspire you!

It was a good day for stepping outside my own studio and checking out the work of others! It's also fun to check out different types of spaces.

Trotter's Cafe

And tomorrow I will be off to rearrange my show at Trotter's! Earlier in the month I was asked if I would like to share the space with another artist in September--extending my exhibit there for a second month. I will be taking down my work in one room, but then rearranging things in the other. Feel free to still stop by to check out a small sample of my work!