Archive for the ‘Around the Museum’ Category
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.
Noon Holiday Concerts fill the Museum with good cheer
Yesterday, Darin Henze and Friends played to a packed house, delighting the crowd with a variety of holiday favorites.
We hold these Noon Holiday Concerts annually, and what a breath of fresh air they are. They give our lunch visitors a little piece of holiday cheer to take back to their homes or offices and have become a way for many to reconnect with friends. We still have two weeks’ worth of Noon Holiday Concerts left; you can see the full lineup here.
Up on the roof
It wasn’t exactly the most picturesque day in downtown Fargo, but that didn’t stop me from jumping at the chance to go up onto our rooftop to take a look around. Going up on rooftops? Always cool.
Why head up to the roof on such a crummy day? I joined Museum Graphics Director Cody Jacobson (left), Raul Gomez (middle), and Museum Director of Collections and Operations Mark Ryan in scouting locations for a photo shoot, the photo from which will be used in the poster for our upcoming Spring Gala.
In the foreground of this photo, you can see a bit of the skylight for our atrium. In the back ground, you get a view of the Burdick Federal Building and, off in the right hand corner, you can see the Black Building and the Radisson.
T’is the season!
Kaylyn, Steve, and Penny do the inevitable tangle with lights while readying the Museum for the holiday season.
You can see the Museum in full holiday splendor – and catch plenty of our region’s top musicians – at the Noon Holiday Concerts starting next week and running Monday through Friday through December 15.
Laurie Van Wieren livens up the Museum
Choreographer Laurie Van Wieren has been a resident here at the Museum for the past week, and we’ve been thrilled to have her. While officially here on “business” exploring ideas for a new dance piece, she’s also been getting involved with some of our day-to-day activities; she took part in a discussion with a group of visiting students and even joined in Marjorie Schlossman’s “Painting at the Plains” class on Wednesday. Her positive attitude and enthusiasm are infectious.
Laurie has appreciated the opportunity to rehearse and create in our third floor raw space and tailored a few of her movements to the architecture. She will further share her talents and expertise this Saturday in a movement workshop, inspired by the Judy Onofrio exhibition See Acts of Audacious Daring, entitled “I Ran Away with the Circus“. In the workshop, she’ll focus on the movements of circus performers, clowns, and acrobats. It’s an excellent opportunity for performance artists, visual artists, and dancers to expand their physical repertoire. If you can’t make it for the workshop, feel free to drop by tomorrow, 10 a.m. – noon and 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., to watch Laurie rehearse and have a chat.
Learn more about Laurie Van Wieren by visiting her website at laurievanwieren.com.
A visit from Mark Nisbet
Mark Nisbet, North Dakota principal manager for Xcel Energy, (left) stopped by the Museum last week to chat with our curator Megan Johnston (middle) and education director Sandy Ben-Haim. Mark oversees Xcel’s sponsorship of our Kid Quest series.
The three had a lively conversation about energy policy and the responsibility of companies to encourage a more vibrant community for its customers and employees. We thank Mark and Xcel Energy for their continued support of the Museum and Kid Quest.
