Striking Exhibition Comes to Fulton Art Gallery

The retrospective showcases photography by Natasha D'Schommer as turns her lens on rare books.

This month, Southwest Minneapolis art lovers will likely find Gallery 360's newest show a must-see event. "Possessions..." curates photos from across Tangletown photographer Natasha D'Schommer's  recent projects, offering an eclectic mix of a stunning images of antique rare books. The subject matter may seem, if you will, dusty and dry, but D'Schommer's strong compositions and her eye for detail turn on its head the typical understanding of early modern books and manuscripts as nothing more than artifacts fit for scholars. As she pages through tomes in some of the state's and the nation's most significant rare book collections, D'Schommer focuses her lens on small details in illustrations or text, sometimes digitally manipulating the …

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What's The Coolest Tombstone In Lakewood Cemetery?

Lakewood Cemetery is home to the remains of many local greats.

If you're ever in the mood to hunt down some under-appreciated art, take a stroll through East Harriet's Lakewood Cemetery.  Large enough to be its own neighborhood—and with a population as big as some of the city's communities—Lakewood is the final resting place for many local notables, from the families who built Minneapolis all the way down to those who keep it great. That rich and varied history, though, makes for some spectacular funeral art, according to MinnPost. Alongside the "towering obelisks" dedicated to "the grand muckety-mucks in Minnesota history," writer Peter Schilling, Jr. writes, there are a surprising number of beautiful, hardly-known monuments. Schilling picks out several deserving the special attention of a cemetery …

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Mixing Skyscrapers And Tree Bark In New Art Show

Minneapolis mixed media sculptor Shannyn Joy Potter shows her work at Gallery 360.

The geometric will meet the organic this Saturday, when abstract wood sculptor Shannyn Joy Potter’s latest show opens at Gallery 360. “Opposites always coexist,” said Potter. “I like the dualities and how they work together.” The show, entitled “Triggers … Sculptural Abstractions in Wood,” includes 11 mixed media sculptures. Nine of the pieces are wall reliefs, but the show also includes two freestanding sculptures — Potter’s first in more than ten years. Potter, who also played a significant role in the show’s curatorial and installation process, considers her work to be the result of a dialogue with the materials. She manipulates the wood — painting, staining and greying it or coating it with Venetian plaster. Potter’s sculptures have a …

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Fulton Store Celebrates Successful First Year

Paper Hat launched in July 2011.

For the owner of a store that's precisely a year old today, Greta Norlander has surprisingly little to complain about. "My father warned me about it before I opened, but sometimes a few people still come in asking if Paper Hat is a stationary store," Norlander told Patch on Tuesday. Norlander does carry a few greeting cards, but her shop next to  Broder's Pasta Bar at 50th and Penn Avenue South is more like nearby art galleries-slash-giftshops Gallery 360 and Patina than any variation on a theme of Paper Source. Despite the competetive company Norlander keeps along 50th Street, she seems to have been able to stand apart from the crowd with a diverse array of jewelry, art, and gifts. Nearly 90 percent of that stock is one-of-a-kind, …

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Anna Schier

5:53 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012

I love the concept of crafting parties and the mini-gallery idea -- I'm going to have to check this place out!   more ›

How Much Is That Scarecrow In The Window?

Kingfield artist livens up vacant storefronts in Whittier.

What do you do with a persistently vacant storefront?  Fill it with art, of course, if you're JobyLynn Sassily-James.  When the Kingfield resident and public art aficionado got wind of the 2012 edition of the Whittier neighborhood's Artists in Storefronts project, she jumped at the chance. The project aims to beautify vacant storefronts—and a few occupied ones—with a dizzying array of local art. "I really believe in public art and the way it connects communities," she told Patch in an interview on Thursday. "I love how it brings people out and how you meet people you never might have talked to." Sassily-James puts that excitement into action. She was not only involved in the Walldogs on Nicollet mural painting, but also maintains a …

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New Store Opens At 50th And Bryant

Zinia Folk Arts opens today.

At long last, you can finally get skeletons dressed as mariachi  players without having to travel to Mexico! Zinnia Folk Arts is opening at the corner of 50th and Bryant, across the street from Patina, George and the Dragon, and The Malt Shop. That may sound trite or sarcastic, but we mean every word of it—as we wrote back in March, owner Anne Damon regularly traverses Mexico, searching for curious, interesting, and funky pieces of folk art to bring back to Minneapolis. And these are no ordinary pieces of folk art. Many of the artists she buys from have their work in major Mexican museums. When we interviewed her just as her plans for her Lynnhurst shop were starting to gel, she told us about one such meeting:  On her last (trip), she …

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Murals Must Stay, Ramsey Parents Say

The school is moving across town this summer, and parents want to preserve a voluminous artistic legacy.

When Ramsey International Fine Arts Center students leave their building for good at the end of this school year, they'll be forced to leave behind part of the school's soul on the walls. Thanks to the efforts of a tenacious group of parents, teachers, and staff, though, some of that soul will be able to come with them. The most striking example hides from visitors in plain sight, above their heads as they enter the school. "This mural is lovingly dedicated to all the brave souls who lost their lives in the pursuit of human rights, justice, and peace. May 8, 1998," reads a small block of text next to the front door. Its red letters each no more than an inch high, it's easy to breeze by on your way to the rest of the school. But stop for a …

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Kingfielders Fighting Graffiti With Mural

Mural will hang on the I-35 soundwall at 40th and Stevens.

Art That's Fighting Like A Mother

Local artists explore the fears, joys, and challenges of motherhood at a new gallery show this Saturday.

The young man's eyes stare out from the canvas, kind yet arresting. His handsome, coffee-colored face shines in with a placid, beatific expression. But artist Melodee Strong framed this loving portrait of her son with a grey hoodie and a bucolic suburban background, palpably laying bare her fears that her son could be the next Trayvon Martin. It's an arresting image, and juxtaposed with Strong's joyous children's book illustrations across the room at ColorWheel Gallery, it illustrates the duality of her own motherhood.  This weekend, Strong and scores of other local artists will be exploring the fears, joys, and challenges of motherhood at ColorWheel owner Tammy Ortegon's yearly "Fight Like A Mother" show.  The show's opening reception …

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Former Local Explores The 'Jungles' of Kentucky

Ex-Minnesotan Bethany Kalk practically sculpts her subjects—the environment of her current home in Appalachia.