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ART CENTER NEWS • SUMMER 2008
(Click on About Us to return)
Fall I classes start September 2, 2008
Fall II classes start October 27, 2008
HOURS
Monday & Friday 9 AM - 5 PM
Tuesday - Thursday 9 AM - 9:30 PM
Saturdays (June 16 – Aug. 23) 9 AM - 1 PM
Saturdays (Beginning Sept 6) 9 AM - 5 PM
Closed August 25th - September 1
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FACULTY SHOW
September 4 - 25
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LAKE COUNTRY PASTELS
October 9 – November 6, 2008
Laura H. Miles Gallery
Open to the public
Opening Reception
Thursday, October 9, 6 - 8 PM
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GIFT SALE
ARTS OF THE HOLIDAYS
November 20 – December 23, 2008
Opening Reception, Thursday, Nov. 20, 6-9 PM
Laura H. Miles Gallery
Open to the public
The planning for the 2008 holiday sale is well underway. The search for new and unique handcrafted gifts and accessories has been going on for weeks – and this year promises to be bigger and better than before, with different artisans and great gift items. Enjoy the festivities of the opening reception and get first pick of the hundreds of handcrafted items. As usual, we will replenish the display areas as work sells.
We select work based on creativity, craftsmanship and value: Jewelry, ceramics, glass, multimedia, wood, sculpture, paintings, drawings, fiber, furniture, photos, cards and Holiday ornaments. We will have an amazing selection to choose from!
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Questions? Call us at 952.473.7361, ext. 16
Or send an email to: information@minnetonkaarts.org
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DIRECTOR'S NOTES
July 2008
Dear Friends,
With fall comes the beginning of a new fiscal year at the Art Center. As the last year ended on June 30th, we celebrated many successes. In case you missed the annual meeting, here’s a brief recap….Despite challenging economic times, we had a year of growth and success. Our series class enrollments were ahead of plan and 15% higher than the previous year. Our outreach programs exceeded an aggressive goal having served over 2,000 children and youth. We experienced record-setting participation in our annual fund drive - 194 of you gave just under $150,000 to support the operations of the Center and approximately 900 members contributed over $53,000 in dues. The McKnight Foundation awarded a two year, $40,000 grant for general operations, and several other corporations and foundations renewed their support. 170 people attended our spring fundraiser Art 4 Lunch and produced over $45,000 to support our programs…over twice the goal! All of this made it possible to end the year with a surplus…our deepest thanks to those of you who contributed to this success.
The past spring we launched an innovative, three-year partnership with the Ridgedale Mall to install two exhibits per year in the center court and magnet store courts. Be sure to stop by and check it out! There's quite a buzz about this unusual partnership. It’s an amazing opportunity to increase awareness about the Art Center and its programs as well as providing our member artists a fabulous venue in which to show and sell their work.
Special thanks to Bob Bowman, our exhibit volunteers, the jurors, and members who participated in the 2008 Member’s Juried Show (one of our best ever) and to Thomas Paquette for sharing his delightful collection of miniature gouaches. Be sure to make the gallery a frequent destination as we’ve got some equally amazing things planned for the upcoming year.
Best Regards,
Roxanne L. Heaton
Executive Director
rheaton@minnetonkaARTS.org
952.473.7361, ext. 15
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FROM THE CHILDREN’S PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Leah Hughes
Dear Friends and Supporters,
It’s been a VERY BUSY and WILDLY CREATIVE summer for the Children & Youth Program.
To start, the 2008 Summer Arts Camp was a huge success! With over 1000 registrations and 53 different children’s classes offered (27 new classes this year) the Art Center was buzzing with creative energy and activity. To help out with these new and specialized classes, some new Arts Camp instructors were hired including; Lindsay Gerardy, Katie Landeck, Mia Bierer, and Melodee Strong. Many returning instructors and assistants helped out as well including; Frank Picos, Kevin Showell, Kaja Martinson, Hallie O’Connor, Elyse Michaelson, Jennifer Mastellar, and Laura Erickson. And for the first time, the Art Center hired two summer interns to help assist with Summer Arts Camp classes; Emogene Schilling and Marissa Johnston. The Art Center would like to heartily thank all of you for the incredible work you do with the kids.
As always, throughout Summer Arts Camp instructors ask our young artists to volunteer their fabulous masterpieces for display in the professional Laura H. Miles Gallery. This show is on display from August 9-21 and will exhibit art works created in Summer Arts Camp classes by children ranging in age from 5-12. The grand finale will be the closing reception held for students, families, and community members on Thursday, August 21 from 5-7pm. This free public reception will include the opportunities to; view these great student works, talk to the children about their creations, meet the Summer Arts Camp staff, eat some tasty kid-friendly treats, and participate in fun arts activities such as face painting, murals, and process demonstrations. Please come join us to celebrate the creative accomplishments of these young artists!
Besides Summer Arts Camp, the Art Center offered numerous programs off-site throughout the community. New partners for this summer included; Step-By-Step Montessori of Chaska, the MN Landscape Arboretum, St. Bartholomew Catholic School in Wayzata and Robbinsdale Adventure Club (Robbinsdale Area Schools. Community outreach programs happen off-site (not at the Art Center) and included projects in all visual arts media. Our community outreach programs included series classes, one-day workshops, artist residencies and Family Free Days. For more information on any of these partnership programs please visit our website at minnetonkaARTS.org and view the Outreach Page.
Partners continuing their programs throughout the summer months with the Art Center included; Hammer Residences, IOCP CONECT Kids and Hennepin County Libraries. Hammer residents participated in classes both at the Art Center and off-site at Hammer’s main building. These classes and workshops included studies in ceramics, drawing and collage arts. Hammer will be exhibiting artwork at the Art Center September 4 - 25. For more information on Hammer Residency and their programs, please visit their website at: http://www.hammer.org.
CONECT Kids “Go Green” was the summer theme for our partnership with IOCP CONECT Kids; a year-round camp program for low-income youth living in the western suburbs. Classes and projects focused on renewable, recycled and environmentally friendly art. This fall the Art Center will display some of the work created by CONECT. For more information on Interfaith Outreach CONECT Kids please visit their website at http://www.iocp.org.
And lastly, throughout the summer Minnetonka Center for the Arts partnered with nine Hennepin County Libraries offering twelve one-day workshops to children ages 5-18 at various library locations. Many of these community outreach classes combined reading, writing and the visual arts to complement the libraries 2008 reading initiatives for children. The Art Center, Wayzata Library and Creative Kidstuff Stores also collaborated to offer free arts activities at the Wayzata Library’s annual garden picnic. This year’s theme was Monarchs, Mariposas Y Mexico and featured traditional Mexican music, story tellers, dance performances, and arts and crafts projects. For more information on Hennepin County Libraries and their children & Youth Programs please visit their website at http://www.hclib.org.
This fall the Art Center is looking forward to an equally successful and exciting school year filled with new classes, new instructors, and new community programs. Fall Children & Youth Programs will consist of many returning partners including; Hill School, Wayzata Public Schools, Robbinsdale Schools, IOCP CONECT Kids, St. Johns Elementary in Excelsior, St. David’s Family Services, Hammer Residency, Hennepin County Libraries, Creative Kidstuff Stores and the Ridgedale YMCA. New partnerships for fall include; Temple Israel of Minneapolis, Plymouth Park and Recreation and possibly the Ronald McDonald House.
Mark your calendars for these upcoming FREE FALL EVENTS for children & youth (and their families):
St. David’s Child Development and Family Services
Fall Festival “Art Gone Wild”
September 27th from 10:00am – 2:00pm
3395 Plymouth Road • Minnetonka • www.stdavids.net
Creative Kidstuff book event in November
Details to follow in our Winter Newsletter., or if you’re interested in more information, please send me an email.
Sincerely,
Leah Hughes
Children & Youth Program Director
952.473.7361, ext. 26
lhughes@minnetonkaarts.org
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FROM THE EXHIBITS DIRECTOR
Bob Bowman
Dear Friends and Supporters,
As we move into a busy fall season, I’d like to offer a glance back and a look at what lies ahead for our exhibits program. First, congratulations to the 2008 Members’ Juried Show award winners.
Best of Show:
Jerry Gale for “Esperanza” – a pastel drawing;
Second:
Mark Laub for “Ariosa” – a wood and mixed media vanity cabinet;
Third:
Bruce Stillman for “Fuzzy Logic” – a kinetic sculpture;
Honorable Mentions to: Arlene Zimmerman for her figurative bronze “Jasmine,” Mary Jo Kline for her photograph “Grand Canyon Oak,” Sandy Girard for her untitled stoneware covered jar, Richard Krogstad for his painting “Bountiful Hills” and Patricia Vaurio for her weaving “Study in Black and…”
I want to thank everyone who participated in the 2008 Members’ Juried Show for helping make it the success it was:
Our member artists, many of whom stepped a bit outside their “comfort zone” to submit their work for jurying, and adapted so well to our new system of intaking and entering artwork;
Our jurors - Dennis Michael Jon, Acting Co-Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Marcia McEachron, a sculptor with many public and private commissions to her credit - who spent a day with us thoughtfully considering and reconsidering each entry;
And especially the exhibit volunteers: Joan Hickey, Sue Gove, Arlene Kennedy, Marie Kopolow, Sue Meyer, Joyce Ostlund, Don Sherwood, Joan Thompson, Betty Ann Wiens and new recruits Annick Pratbernon, Diana Soline and Tina Verburgt. I joined the exhibit volunteers in 1995 as the “new guy” – they’d been hanging shows together for years already – and we’ve been working together and learning from each other ever since. The list of names changes a bit over the years as people come and go – and the venue has certainly changed! – but the contribution made by the exhibit volunteers to our exhibit program is a constant. And now, more than ever, in my new role as Exhibits Director, I rely on their contribution to our program and look forward to working with them to meet each new installation’s challenges.
As this newsletter goes to press, “Intimate Landscapes – The Gouache Paintings of Thomas Paquette” fills our gallery with jewel-like landscapes rendered in opaque watercolor. The pictures are tiny, but there is nothing small about the evocative power of these lush images. You still have time to see them before the show closes on August 7.
We are on the verge of installing our second collection of art at Ridgedale Mall as part of our “Partners in Art” Exhibit series. The first exhibit got us off to a great start; including works by Cindy Anderson, Donna Bruni, Dawn Currie, John Currie, Reid Galey, Heidi Hoy, Peter Jadoonath, Cheryl Krause, Richard Krogstad, Allison Luedtke, Kelly Marshall, Ernest Miller, Mary Pagnucco, Frank Picos, Richards Poey, Barbara Ryan, Sandra Shaughnessy, Foster Willey Jr., and Arlene Zimmerman. What a tremendous opportunity to show our neighbors the scope and quality of our members’ work! If you haven’t been in to Ridgedale to see the exhibit, by all means do so. The difference in tone conferred on the mall’s public spaces by the addition of art – our art! - is unmistakable, as the Ridgedale management knew when they approached us for this unique partnership. But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself…
Ahead of us, we have the Summer Arts Camp Kids’ Show, showcasing our youngest artists’ creativity, followed by the Faculty Show in September, in which our talented instructors show us what they’ve been working on lately, The Lake Country Pastel Society Show in October, and the 2008 Arts of the Holidays Show and Sale opening in November, just in time for inspired holiday gift giving.
See you in the gallery!
Robert Bowman
Exhibits Director
bbowman@minnetonkaARTS.org
952.473.7361, ext. 17
PS If you would like to have your artwork considered for inclusion in an upcoming “Partners in Art” exhibit, please send images on disc or slides to me here at MCFTA or email images to me at bbowman@minnetonkaarts.org. Partners in Art exhibitors must be current members of the Minnetonka Center for the Arts.
If you would like to join our exhibit volunteers, and have time available during weekdays, I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you. Call me at 952 473 7361 ext. 17 for more information.
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