Artist Access Grant
Artist Access Grant
To create four watercolor paintings inspired by Betty Bridgman's book "This Is Minnesota."
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
My goal with this project is to create four watercolor paintings inspired by four poems selected from the Betty Bridgman collection of poems entitled, This Is Minnesota. During the course of this project I will research and take farming reference photos in New Prague, Minnesota. I will select two farm related photos to print in large format to use as references to create two paintings inspired by farming themes in Bridgman's work. In addition, I will select two reference photos related to lake country from my personal archives to correlate with Bridgman's work inspired by lake themes. The four paintings created will be peer-reviewed by members of the Ely Watercolor Club and approved by the Bridgman family. Potential funding sources for a large-scale expanded project and possible re-issue of the book of poems will be identified and researched. The family of Betty Bridgman has provided an Agreement to use the poems and a Letter of Support for the project. In order to evaluate the success of this grant I have created a timeline including milestones to be achieved and reported. June 1, 2019 Grant period begins. July 2019 Visit to New Prague, Minnesota to take reference photos completed. August 2019 Two farming reference photos selected and printed in large format. Professional painting supplies purchased. September 2019 First lake subject poem chosen, and painting completed. October 2019 Second lake subject poem chosen, and painting completed. November 2019 First farm subject poem chosen, and painting completed. December 2019 Second farm subject poem and painting completed. Peer review by members of the Ely Watercolor Club completed. Betty Bridgman family has viewed and approved the work. January 2020 Future grant application identified for funding a large-scale expanded project. Potential publishing opportunities to re-issue book of poetry identified. March 1, 2020 Final Report Form completed. Digital copies of work created submitted with the final report form.
During the course of the grant project I completed four paintings. Two paintings were inspired by northwoods themes related to two poems by Betty Bridgman. Two paintings were inspired by the farms surrounding New Prague, Minnesota. In addition, I researched possible printers for an illustrated re-print of Betty Bridgman's book of poetry, "This is Minnesota" I will attach digital files of the paintings at the end of this report form.