Archive for the ‘Around the Museum’ Category
Stevie Famulari’s garden fashion
Artist and NDSU landscape architecture professor Stevie Famulari (left, with intern Courtney Valen) puts the finishing touches on a long coat with from living greenery. The coat is completely wearable, and it will continue to grow, flower, and reseed itself over the course of time. The coat is one of five pieces Famulari is creating for The Green Line Series, a collection of garments made with like materials. One is on display as of today, and the others will be added just prior to our Spring Gala on May 5. The complete collection will be on display until May 28.
Famulari and her green fashion was featured last night on WDAY; you can find that here.
“Dakota Horizons” by Jon Offutt
Yesterday, the bright morning sun was pouring through the windows by our alcove on the second floor. And it caught these works, new glass pieces by Jon Offutt, just right, filling them with light for an undeniably cool effect.
It’s perfectly fitting for these works, too. Created as a multi-work installation, an important element of this new series is Offutt’s channeling of light, transparency of atmosphere, and the creation of depth found on the distant horizon. To accomplish this effect, Offutt added layers of glass powders that are rolled on to the hot glass surface. He then added the rolling prairie as a separate component, then inflated and shaped the vessel. “This collection enables me to present the prairie landscapes on a larger scale — a scale suitable for the massive prairie landscape that surrounds us.”
The installation, entitled Dakota Horizons, will remain on display through August 19.
Architecturally inspired birdhouses flock to the Museum
Birdhouses of a slightly different feather will be on display in the Museum atrium through April 1. The houses, created by architecture students at North Dakota State University, are part of an annual project called “Architecture for the Birds.” Students randomly choose a Pritzker-Prize winning architect and a species of bird or bat, then set to work on creating a work in the style of that architect that will suit that particular species. The resulting works offer a glimpse into the design and build process vital to the development of a budding architect–plus, they’re a lot of fun to look at. Stop in for a birds-eye view.
This project is overseen by Joan Vorderbruggen, assistant professor of architecture at NDSU.
Our apologies for our phone gremlins
If you’ve tried calling the Museum any time over the last week or so, you may have had a long hold time or you weren’t connected to your intended contact in a timely manner. We’re having some problems with our phones and we apologize for any difficulties you may have had.
Also, we blame gremlins (not this kind, the other kind).
We’re currently transitioning to a new phone system, a process that may take up to 30 days. In the meantime, we ask you to do the following:
Be patient. If your call is lost, please wait a couple minutes and call us back. If you experience long hold times, please hang up and try again.
Try email. If you’re trying to reach a specific member of the Museum staff, you can find their email over at our contact us page. If you’re not sure where to direct your email, you can use our general email address, museum@plainsart.org.
Don’t feed any Museum staffers after midnight. We don’t need this thing getting any worse.
Thanks again for your patience.
(Photo: greatvectors.com through a Creative Commons license)
Misfit Cup Liberation Project installation
Brittany Greenwood, a graduate student in architecture and a member of artist Michael Strand’s Engage U group, installs “orphanages” for the Misfit Cup Liberation Project, an ongoing project by Strand. Strand will put a hand-fired cup in each of the wooden “orphanages.” The public is welcome to bring in their own misfit cup and exchange it for one of Michael’s, provided they also leave a short story about their own cup. Michael will be speaking about this and his other recent projects in a talk at the Museum on Friday night.
Governor and First Lady Dalrymple visit the Museum
(l to r) PAM Director Colleen Sheehy, Gov. Jack Dalrymple, First Lady Betsy Dalrymple. (Photo by Dave Arntson, Milestones Photography)
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of being the site for the rollout of the 2012 marketing campaign from North Dakota Tourism, kicking off the year’s push for visitors to visit our state. Governor Jack and First Lady Betsy Dalrymple were here for the proceedings and we managed to steal them away for a photo, appropriately, in front of James Rosenquist’s North Dakota Mural. It was exciting to have Jack and Betsy in the house, and we’re proud to say that they’re Museum members.
Our year in review
Without a doubt, 2011 was an exciting year here at Plains Art Museum. We had a little bit of everything: circuses, crowdsourcing, skateboards, Sodbuster, “Star Monster,” popsicle sticks, masks … plenty to look back on as we all steer our bows bravely into 2012.
The banner from the 2011 Youth Art Month exhibition. It really says it all.
At the beginning of the year, we were digging out from a huge snowstorm and preparing Cafe Muse for artist Chris Walla’s Art = Food installation Wait & See. In the galleries, we were showing The Frederick B. Scheel Photography Collection, a stunning collection of black and white prints donated by Fargo business leader, collector, and photographer Fred Scheel (who, sadly, passed away this year). We were also showing the popular exhibition The White Album: The Beatles Meet the Plains, which paired works from our permanent collection with music from The Beatles’ album The Beatles, aka “The White Album.” February brought us the printmaking exhibition Vermillion Editions to Hannaher’s Studio, which displayed 40 prints created at Vermillion Editions Limited in Minneapolis. Vermillion was curated by our good friend, and MSUM printmaking professor, John Volk (who, by the way, helped create an international award later on in the year). We also pondered the depths of communication theory (and disembodied heads) with Don Renner, voted for a successor to “Star Monster,” and got the Kid Quest kiddos printmaking.
As winter gave way to a messy and wet spring, we spent March checking out some cool birdhouses and getting into the school spirit during Youth Art Month (photo above). In April, the atrium was home to several popsicle stick towers, we said goodbye to “Star Monster,” and we kicked off the crowdsourcing project You Like This: A Democratic Approach to the Museum Collection.
In May, we held our 15th Annual Spring Gala, an evening we dubbed “Masterpiece Masquerade.” It was a tremendous event; we raised a substantial amount of money for our education programs and had a kickin’ party to boot. Really, photos like this say it all:
Who were those masked revelers? Photo by Milestones Photography/
We also said hello to a new SPACE sculpture in May and opened an exhibition of work donated by collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel entitled Collectors Humble and Extraordinaire. Through the 50 works in the show, we got a double whammy: we were able to display some powerful contemporary work by artists like Richard Tuttle and Judith Shea while being able to tell the delightful story of Herb and Dorothy, working-class collectors who were the subject of a Magumi Sasaki documentary.
As May gave way to June, we displayed an ArtView exhibition by Tom Kemmer, a Fargo photographer and skateboarding addict with both a passion and a penchant for skateboarding photography. His exhibition, Local Spots, was a big hit. Later on in June, we opened Big Country: FMVA Scale the Plains a group show consisting of large-scale, inventive work by member artists of Fargo Moorhead Visual Artists. Also known as The One with the Big Mosquito and the Really Big Picnic Table, this exhibition proved that some big work – both in scale and concept – is indeed being done by artists in our community.
Photo by Tom Kemmer.
In the heat of the summer, we turned it up a few degrees with Ramp Jam at the Plains, an open street course for skateboards, and Hip Hop Don’t Stop 3, a weekend of hip-hop culture and aerosol art-making. We also welcomed our new curator, Megan Johnston, to the PAM family and promptly put her to work as the tour guide for the public art bike tour during the Bike Jamboree, an event held on August 18 exploring the arts through everyone’s favorite mode of transport, the bike.
After the first eight months of 2011, though, we were just getting started. In September, we opened the fantastic See Acts of Audacious Daring: The Circus World of Judy Onofrio with a three-ring circus complete with acrobats, a magic show, and balloon animals. See Acts of Audacious Daring has been one of our most popular recent exhibitions thanks to the scale of Onofrio’s work, the subject matter, and its technicality. It’s still open through the 8th, so check it out if you haven’t.
In October, we summed up months of surveys, meetings, and stat-crunching with the exhibition You Like This: A Democratic Approach to the Museum Collection, a crowdsourced exhibition that put our audience in the driver’s seat in selecting the work for an exhibition. We made this snazzy video for it, too. We got quite a bit of attention for the show; the NEA carried an interview with staff who worked on it, and the chair of the NEA even came by to see it. The Forum listed it among their favorite things that happened in Fargo in 2011. No big whoop. All in all, we were thrilled with the process and thrilled to work hand in hand with our audience to collaborate on the You Like This project. It was a ton of fun. Also that month: Laurie Van Wieren danced her way into our hearts.
During the month of November, we ran a series of discussions on the role and future of public art in Fargo-Moorhead. Noted public artist Patrick Marold gave an enthralling presentation on his work, Rebecca Krinke detailed her project The Mapping of Joy and Pain, and we hosted a summit for Sodbuster.
(From l to r) Doug Burgum, Colleen Sheehy, Rick Buresh, and Meg Spielman-Peldo discuss the Center for Creativity following today's announcement. Photo by Dave Arntson.
And that brings us to December. After gussying up the joint for the holidays, and having a nice run of our Noon Holiday Concerts, we made a big announcement: a $300,000 donation and $200,000 challenge grant from the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Trust and the Burgum family, respectively, and we also announced that our expansion next door will be named the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity at Plains Art Museum. Construction on the KKBC4C@PAM will begin this year. Talk about your Christmas presents!
So, there you have it. The PAM year in review. It was quite a year, and we hope to keep all this momentum going into 2012. Stay tuned!
Happy Holidays from Plains Art Museum
On behalf of our board and volunteers, and the staffs of Blue Wolf Casino, King Pin Casino, and Big Top Bingo, the Plains Art Museum staff wishes you a safe and happy holiday season!
We had a wonderful year and we’re thrilled to see what 2012 has to offer, especially with the opening of the Center for Creativity. We couldn’t do it without the support of a vibrant and dynamic community, and for that we extend our sincerest gratitude.
(The big picnic table we’re on is a work entitled When I Was Five by Jon Offutt. Read more about it here. Photo by Britta Trygstad, Milestones Photography.)
Top row, l to r: Frank McDaniels, Museum preparator; Cody Jacobson, graphics director; Mark Henze, CFO; Becky Gwinn, accounting clerk.
Middle row, l to r: Mark Ryan, director of collections and operations; Joni Janz, director of development and marketing; Megan Johnston, director of curatorial affairs and interpretation; Colleen Sheehy, Museum director and CEO; Kris Kerzman, communication manager.
Bottom row, l to r: Jade Larsen, facility management; Amanda Sayre, administrative assistant; JoAnn Abrahamson, accountant; Sandy Ben-Haim, director of education.
Not pictured: Tonya Scott, visitor services and store manager; Penny Solum, events coordinator; Kaylyn Gerenz, events coordinator; Chelsea Lee, events coordinator; Steve Johnson, facility maintenance coordinator.
Announcing the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity
(From l to r) Doug Burgum, Colleen Sheehy, Rick Buresh, and Meg Spielman-Peldo discuss the Center for Creativity following today's announcement. Photo by Dave Arntson.
Today marked a watershed moment in the history of the Museum. Doug Burgum and James Burgum announced, respectively, a $300,000 gift from the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Trust and a $200,000 challenge grant from the Burgum family. The combined funding from these sources will allow us to begin construction on the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity and will cap off the There’s a Little Artist in All of Us capital campaign.
As you can tell from Meg’s reaction in the photo above, we’re absolutely thrilled.
The Center for Creativity marks an innovative partnership between the Museum and Fargo Public Schools. It will replace the current Creative Arts Studio, but also function as a hub for creative life for the entire community.
This is great news–amazing news–but we still have just a little bit to go before the Center becomes a reality. We need you to help us meet the $200,000 challenge grant by December 31. To make your contribution AND have it matched by the grant, click over to our Donate Now page.
And, thank you to all donors, community members, artists, and advocates who have gotten us this far. It’s thanks to your inspiration and dedication that we’ve made it this far.
NEA chair Rocco Landesman visits the Museum
He couldn’t stay long, but Rocco Landesman, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), managed to swing into the Museum for a quick tour and photo op with our curator, Megan Johnston (left), and our director, Colleen Sheehy, during a visit to Fargo today. Landesman’s official business? To check in on the City of Fargo’s progress with The Fargo Project, a design program under the direction of artist Jackie Brookner looking to transform a neighborhood drainage basin into a vibrant community space. Fargo received $100,000 for the project from the NEA through its Our Town program, which seeks to encourage the expansion of the arts in community cultural life. That sum will be matched by the City of Fargo.
While here, Landesman toured our exhibition You Like This: A Democratic Approach to the Museum Collection and chatted with a small group of folks in our atrium. If he’d stayed longer, we no doubt would have had to discuss the future of Albert Pujols, as we understand he’s a big baseball fan. Next time.
