Emergency Working Artist Project Grant
Emergency Working Artist Project Grant
Coming Home - A Return to the Woods of Northern Minnesota. A landscape painter returns to Minnesota and captures intimate scenes of Northern Minnesota's woods in oil paint and egg tempera.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; 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; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community.
Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Kendra Carlson: writing and theater instructor, University of Minnesota Duluth; Carla Hamilton-Eisele: visual and multimedia artist; Karen Savage Blue: visual artist; Moira Villiard: visual artist.
ACHF Arts Access
These funds are essential for the project to go forward. As artists, we typically self-fund our projects and have to balance income producing activities with creative time. These funds will enable me to create artwork knowing I have the means and resources to complete a project and show my work. You can be confident that I can execute this project as I have a consistent track record of creating and showing work in this manner. I have infrastructure in place (social media account, website, e-newsletter, etc.), I have experience with plein air painting, putting shows together, and creating artwork around this theme. I also have the technical skills to create and complete the project as outlined. The greatest challenge to completing the project centers around COVID-19. I am taking as many measures as possible to protect myself and doing the work for this project is ideal for social distancing. Should I contract the virus, my hope is that a six month project duration will be sufficient to complete the project (assuming full recovery from the virus). This is the work that sustains me during difficult times and will be conducted on some level. The grant will give me the resources to see it through to completion.I will know that I have been successful by the following measures: - Drawing and painting daily ? studies, found objects, compositional sketches, color studies, etc. - A minimum of twelve plein air studies ? this includes exploring new areas, revisiting places from my childhood, and returning to scenes over multiple days to study, draw, compose, and paint - A minimum of twelve pieces available to show and sell this fall ? based on studies, drawings, and studies, some of which will be included in the show along with a minimum of three larger studio pieces - Participation in a gallery walk art show and/or self-hosted online show to present work ? depending on social distancing and the challenges of COVID-19, my work will be shown in either Duluth or Grand Rapids (or both) or through a self-hosted online show on my website and social media - A minimum of six sales over the duration of the project - Chronicling the journey on social media and growing my following by a minimum of 100 followers.
The artistic goals of exploring the woods of Northern Minnesota were achieved by drawing and/or painting. I completed 12 plein air studies, as well as several drawings and sketches. Searching out locations, revisiting past locations, seeing things newly, and in many ways seeing with adult eyes was a greater challenge than expected. I found that many places had changed, and my initial ideas need further development. I found that I need to slow down. There were also limitations due to Covid. Some locations were closed. I had to quarantine at one point, and found myself limited by weather as some days I allocated for painting were stormy. I did meet my goals of growing my audience by chronicling my journey on social media and grew my following by 132 new followers. From an artistic perspective, I mostly met my goals of exploration and continuing my painting practice, even though I have yet to meet my production goals.
Other,local or private