VORE, Scheel, Rosenquist, Crawl

The week that was

We’ve been full of hustle and bustle at the PAM offices for the last several weeks. On September 10, we opened Andrea Carlson: VORE, a stunning collection of mixed-media images chock full of animal imagery and horror-movie taglines. This is the debut of this new series by Carlson, an artist currently living in the Twin Cities, and we’re excited to be featuring this exhibition in the William and Anna Jane Schlossman Gallery on the 3rd floor. Keep an eye on the blog: a Q&A with Carlson will appear soon.

Last night, we held the opening reception for The Frederick B. Scheel Photography collection: A New Gift to the Plains, which opened on September 17. Despite the lousy weather and a busy arts calendar, we had a fantastic turnout. There were plenty of photographers and photography fans in attendance, and all received this new donation from the Scheel family warmly. Christian Peterson, associate curator of photographs at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, gave a presentation outlining the background of Fred Scheel’s numerous influences and acquaintances, many of them famous photographers whose prints were included in the donation. A walk through this show will either confirm or ignite your love for the quickly vanishing silver gelatin print – the quality of contrast between the dark blacks and the brilliant whites shown in these prints is breathtaking. This show is a must-see for any fan of photography.

The week that will be

As if things couldn’t get any more exciting: next week, we will begin installing The North Dakota Mural on the north wall of the Landfield Atrium. If you’re unfamiliar with the saga of the mural, we’ll be posting some background on the story of the mural and its creator, Pop Art luminary and North Dakota native James Rosenquist, in the next couple weeks. If you’re familiar with the story, you know that the acquisition and hanging of a large-scale Rosenquist piece has been a major goal of Plains Art Museum for a long, long time. In fact, it fulfills a major leg of our There’s a Little Artist in All of Us campaign.

Our tagline with the debut of the mural, coming up on Thursday, October 7 at 11 a.m., has been “What’s the Big Deal?” We say this because the answer is “this work of art,” a 13 x 24 ft. mural with many of the traits audiences have admired in Rosenquist’s work over the span of his long career: sharply juxtaposed collage, manipulation of scale, and a strong representation of the fixtures of social and political life. Further, and most importantly, the mural will spur a number of narratives about our state and will give North Dakota an outstanding signature work of art to represent her. Due to the size of the piece, the process of hanging it will take a few days and require the assistance of specialists who work exclusively in exhibiting large works of art. Check back to the blog over the next week or so for a more detailed look at this process.

Last, but certainly not least: we’re also gearing up for the FMVA Studio Crawl taking place all over the Fargo-Moorhead area next Saturday and Sunday, October 2 and 3 (click through to the FMVA website for details and a map). This is a marvelous opportunity for art fans to sneak a peek at a number of our local artists in their natural habitats – their studios. The Studio Crawl has also become a big social happening over its six years of existence with a number of events taking place on the periphery. Among them is our Studio Crawl Preview show, now on display on the 2nd floor of the Museum. The Preview will be up through October 10.

Question

Did you attend the opening of the Fred Scheel exhibition? What was your impression?