infinite distances exist

 infinite distances exist happened during the St. Paul Art Crawl as part of Paper (Ex)Change at Echo Arts.  It was a game of visual telephone that began like this:

48 blank sheets of paper.  I put out a drawing I'd made as the initial "phrase".  Hanging it in the upper left hand corner of one side of the piece.  This was my drawing:

Then a visitor or visitors to the Crawl were invited to make a response to my drawing using paper and supplies I provided.  This is the response to my drawing:

I then hung this image up and put mine away.  The next visitors who wanted to participate responded to only the second drawing and came up with this:

I hung this third response up and put the second one away and the next participants responded with this:

And so on and so on:

 #5

 #6

 #7

 #8

#9

 #10

#11

#12

#13

 #14

 #15

 #16

 #17

 #18

#19

 #20

#21

 #22

 #23

 #24

 #25

 #26

 #27

 #28

#29

 #30

 #31

 #32

 #33

 #34

 #35

 #36

 #37

 #38

#39

#40

Until 40 images where made, then I hung all the images up in sequence the progression was revealed to viewers, participants, and even me.   This is how it ended up:

 Side 1

Side 2

People responded well to infinite distances exist and really got into the entire Paper (Ex)Change show which was full of participatory pieces.  Here are some participants enjoying infinite distances exist:

The title infinite distances exist comes from this quotation of Rilke's: "A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky."

Paper (Ex)Change

Upcoming art show!  I have been organizing a group show with 6 other artists that will be opening April 26th at Echo Arts during the St. Paul Art Crawl.  The show is called Paper (Ex)Change.  The opening starts at 6 pm on April 26th and will run through the weekend during the Art Crawl.

From the Press Release:

Paper (Ex) Change seeks to explore how we alter and use paper as a medium and a tool to exchange ideas, communication and information between people. The participating artists, who work in a variety of media, are coming together to explore the way paper impacts their artwork.  Many of the works in the show will have interactive components.  

Marnie Erpestad (mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=262076) will have large photographic works which explore the personality of letters. She invites the viewer to compose the proceeding lines of the letter by building off of the words on the person before them.

Mary Foote (maryfooteartist.com) builds her piece on a framework which gives the viewer simple instructions to follow. The viewer will then be asked to post publically what they have made on a website.

Kate Renee (katerenee.com) has exhibited her traveling installation, The Bad Fortune Cookie, in two prior exhibitions including “Food Fight” at Altered Esthetics and “Imaginarium” at Gamut Gallery. This exhibition allows the viewer to literally take the art off the wall and take home a wooden fortune cookie that has a funny, sarcastic, sassy, paper fortune. Kate also will be exploring the concept of capsulated dreams. She asks the viewer to consider and recognize their own goals and provides an opportunity for the viewer follow their own dreams.

Julia Helen Rice (juliahelenrice.blogspot.com) creates a game of visual art telephone. Using paper drawings as the medium she will be initiating a participatory art piece that highlights how human communications and relationships are colored and shaped by our individualities. This individuality often causes misunderstandings and misperceptions but these misunderstandings and misperceptions are exactly what lead to innovation and creativity. Rice demonstrates how all the misunderstandings led to new and interesting works.

Mark Elton (markelton.tumblr.com/) will be exhibiting an oversized comic called, Macrocomic. He explores how stories, ideas and messages can be told when the vessel is released from the need to be compact. Elton’s Macrocomic will be anything but a mini comic. Through his piece, Mark will explore the written and visual storytelling potential when we reconsider size.

Kristy Childress (kristychildress.com) has mixed media drawings of landmasses and snowforms connected with threads. She explores the physical and the mental space between ourselves and others and the connections that we hold on to.

Work will also be featured by artist Sarah Theisen (theisenstudio.com/).

Hope to see you there.

(Echo Arts is located at 275 East 4th St. Suite B200, St. Paul, MN)

Interior/Exterior #7: Beaver Pond

Interior/Exterior #7: Beaver Pond, 2013, 58 x 72 inches, oil on canvas

34 Studies for Ema

I've made 34 Studies now.  The project is beginning to add up to something.

County 23, MN

County 23, MN; 2012, 48 x 60 inches, oil on canvas