MPLSART

With a new space now carved out for emerging artists in the Midtown Exchange Building, it has been up to&nbsp;Ahnali&nbsp;Tran to figure out how to fill it.

A senior at&nbsp;Perpich&nbsp;Arts High School in Minneapolis, Tran has spent the last four years thinking strategically about getting paintings off the wall &mdash; for example, by hanging work from the ceiling and asking visitors to circle it.&nbsp; However, an upcoming exhibition at the Creating Change Gallery will be her first time developing and promoting a solo show.&nbsp;

For the project, Tran has partnered with Ryan&nbsp;Stopera, one of four teaching artists working as mentors during the gallery&rsquo;s pilot year. Located in the John and Denise Graves Foundation office, the space was started by the nonprofit earlier this year with the goal of supporting young artists&rsquo; development. The opening of Tran&rsquo;s exhibition on May 8 will also be viewers&rsquo; first introduction to the gallery itself.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will take place virtually, with Tran bringing guests on a walkthrough of the physical space and answering questions via&nbsp;livestream. As she prepares to graduate from Perpich, Tran noted that the show at Creating Change is also a kind of culmination of her last four years of work &mdash; drawing largely on a portfolio entitled&nbsp;Healing the Halves &amp; Quarters.

For Tran, the &ldquo;healing&rdquo; in the collection&rsquo;s title comes from both the process of making art and the ideas she explores through her media &mdash; notably her experience of being mixed race and Southeast Asian American.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Putting things down through art is very powerful to me, especially the idea of creating a homeland away from homeland,&rdquo; said Tran, noting that this exploration has also led her to install work in a more physical way. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the idea of being mixed and not having a place that feels quite right.&rdquo;

She added that her work has also been a way to delve into intergenerational trauma, which she said she&#39;s seen manifest through language and cultural barriers within families. For people who came to the United States from Southeast Asia, Tran noted that a lot of this inherited trauma stems from the violence of the Vietnam War.

&ldquo;I grew up in a very assimilated family,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of untapped post-immigration trauma that can only be recognized through the progression of time. My grandparents have only recently begun to really open up about their own struggles with immigration.&rdquo;

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjQ1MzcwMDAx/full.jpg" />In the Mirror this Morning, oil on mirror

<h3>Demanding a physical presence</h3>

Favoring two-dimensional media &mdash; including oil, acrylic and ink &mdash; Tran attempts to get creative with the surfaces that she uses and the way that she hangs finished pieces. With work that explores the creation of a new homeland, she has also focused on carving out physical space for her art on display. Painting often on plexiglass, she then hangs it from the ceiling as opposed to mounting it on a wall.&nbsp;

&quot;It demands a physical presence in a gallery,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s the idea that, &lsquo;I need to avoid this hanging piece of glass.&rsquo; It captures the air inside the glass and around it, and there is a very literal feeling.&rdquo;

The thick plastic is also an interesting barrier &mdash; it can divide a room, while still leaving everything in view. Although it&rsquo;s transparent, plexiglass is thicker than traditional drawing surfaces. In one piece from the collection called&nbsp;In the Mirror this Morning, there&rsquo;s an almost complete portrait drawn in blocks of color with a few key pieces missing and the eyes two distinctly different styles &mdash; one heavily shaded, one drawn with as seemingly few lines as possible. Mouth, forehead, earlobes and heart are filled in by whatever happens to be on the other side of the plexiglass surface; the piece is automatically shaped by whatever room it&rsquo;s in.

<h3>Creating change in context&nbsp;</h3>

As with the portrait, the show itself is inevitably formed by its context. While the foundation made the decision to continue funding the gallery&rsquo;s pilot exhibition, and while Stopera and Tran opted to move forward with a virtual opening, COVID-19 played a large part in shaping some of Tran&rsquo;s newest works, which will also be included in the exhibition.

&ldquo;I&rsquo;m currently working on a piece with a tarot card theme &mdash; this one is around the Six of Pentacles,&rdquo; explained Tran. &ldquo;The card itself reads on themes such as charity and wealth &hellip; [the piece] captures the idea of wealth during the pandemic and who&rsquo;s getting treatment, whose lives are worth more than others.&rdquo;

Stopera added that a surge in anti-Asian racism fueled by the virus has been a factor in his regular discussions with Tran and the direction some of the work for the show has taken. Having recently produced a book centered on Asian-American stories, he said he was able to share some of his past work with Tran and use it as a conversation starter.

&ldquo;Having that shared experience, especially in the current context, has been really helpful,&rdquo; said Stopera, while noting that the work in the show is all Tran&rsquo;s. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t pushed too much, I&rsquo;ve just opened up those ideas and affirmed those things, so that she can work on what speaks to her.&rdquo;

<h3><img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjMxNTEwMDAx/full.jpg" />Ch&uacute;c mừng năm mới, watercolor on paper.</h3>

<h3>Intergenerational collaboration</h3>

Even after the duration of Tran&rsquo;s three-month exhibition at Creating Change, Stopera added that he hopes to be able to collaborate with his current mentee in the future. With Tran likely headed off to pursue a post-secondary art degree and Stopera continuing his work as a professional photographer, filmmaker, and educator in the Twin Cities, he noted that future collaborations could be an interesting way to work together across age and medium.&nbsp;

&ldquo;You just don&rsquo;t see as much intergenerational collaboration now, and I think it&rsquo;s important to have more spaces like that. I&rsquo;m learning from her and I think older folks don&rsquo;t always see what they can learn from people younger than them,&rdquo; added Stopera. &ldquo;This whole time, I&rsquo;ve had my eyes open to that.&rdquo;

Now, Stopera and Tran are also learning together while preparing for the virtual opening. Tran will give a tour of the space and host a question-and-answer via Facebook Live on Friday night, before looking ahead to the summer. In addition to wanting to do another virtual walk-through and artist talk during the show&rsquo;s run, Stopera said he hopes that by the end of the exhibition, there may even be the possibility to have individuals walk through the show in-person.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjIxNDUwMDAx/full.jpg" />The entrance to the&nbsp;Creating Change Gallery at&nbsp;the John and Denise Graves Foundation office in the Midtown Exchange. Photo by Ryan Stopera.

<h3>&lsquo;Almost more observed&rsquo;</h3>

In the meantime, the camera is adding one more dimension to the space of Tran&rsquo;s work. As a slight silver lining, she hoped that people would be able to see her pieces with greater clarity and focus from home &mdash; rather than in the midst of an opening &mdash; as she walks them through the new place she&rsquo;s created and communicates some of the physicality of the work.

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s an ability to have an ongoing and designated dialogue about the work and the space,&rdquo; Tran added. &ldquo;In a way, it seems like the work is almost more observed &mdash; since it has to be through a different lens.&rdquo;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The opening will take place on Friday, May 8, from 7&nbsp;to 8&nbsp;p.m. A livestream can be found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/jdgravesfdn/" target="_blank">John and Denise Graves Foundation Facebook page</a>. More information on Creating Change can be found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jdgravesfoundation.org/convening" target="_blank">foundation website</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/creating_change_gallery/?hl=en" target="_blank">@creating_change_gallery</a>&nbsp;on Instagram.

More information on Tran&rsquo;s art can be found on her&nbsp;<a href="https://tranahnali.wixsite.com/arts" target="_blank">website</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/tranworks/?hl=en" target="_blank">@tranworks</a>&nbsp;on Instagram. All images courtesy of the artist.

An upcoming livestream of the Perpich Arts student's solo exhibition at the Creating Change Gallery will highlight her work and the space.

Off The Wall: Ahnali Tran at Creating Change Gallery

Ahead of their upcoming online discussion, two of the McKnight Foundation's 2018 Artist Fellows talk to us individually about their practices.

Through a Screen, Brightly: Profiles of Alison Hiltner & Mohamud Mumin

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B_c-F-bJPdr]

MPLSART visits the studio of Reggie LeFlore as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Reggie LeFlore

I once heard a character in a movie say &quot;color is for children and whores.&rdquo;&nbsp;I found this ironic years later&nbsp;as the character who uttered this bizarre sentiment was a woman OF COLOR. But unintended media depictions of self-loathing aside, I digress.&nbsp;

Hatred of&nbsp;not only a select few colors&nbsp;but of color as a whole&nbsp;is a&nbsp;practice&nbsp;that is common but not widely discussed. Colors, especially in their vibrant, saturated, lush, and jewel-toned varieties, are often seen as tacky, gaudy, garish,&nbsp;campy, tawdry, and tasteless by those with more conservative sensibilities. And maybe this is my own bias speaking, but when I hear language like that I imagine some suitably conservative WASP passive-aggressively propagating verbal disdain for aesthetics that are rooted in black, brown, queer, and feminine cultures and communities that are not considered economically advantageous.

In other words, white supremacy.

I say this because as we are speaking about color hatred, it is a great segue&nbsp;into a discussion of Pink, the most widely hated color on the spectrum. Now, I personally LOVE the color pink. However, growing up I got deeply made fun of for my love of it, to the point where whenever I was asked about my favorite color I would lie and say &quot;red.&quot;&nbsp;Ever since the age of about five, I wondered why this was. For example, one of the main questions I had was why black Barbies always wore blue while the white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Barbies were always in pink. Even as a small child, I knew that binary color language was sending me messages about masculinity and femininity and what kind of women are allowed to inherit the benefits of that narrow depiction of womanhood. Granted, on the rare occasions I was gifted Barbies, I usually cut their hair and sent them on fictional lesbian adventure where questions of pink and blue gender hierarchy were never addressed. My childhood was amazing.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjQ3MjkwMDAx/full.jpg" />Pinking shears at work.

Historically, the word &ldquo;pink&rdquo; or &ldquo;pinking&rdquo; was a verb first used during the 14th century to describe the act of decorating by way of frilling, or creating perforated edges in material. Pink made its way into fashion as a color around the 18th century due to European monarchs&#39; appreciation for pastels, and fashion trends associated the color with sexuality and nudity (NOTE: White nudity). Lingerie in shades of pale pink became increasingly common; the color was also linked to clothing worn by prostitutes. Once the 19th century rolled around, it had largely become&nbsp;associated with women and children. There was a period in which pink was asociated with boys, but it was short-lived, and the cause for the shift back to pink in connection with girlhood was a simple one:&nbsp;marketing. Prior to the 1920s, men were associated with the aggression and power of red, and women with the tranquil docility of blue. (Blue was also deeply associated with the Virgin Mary.)&nbsp;It made sense to the ad men of the day to lighten the colors to represent the children of those respective genders: pink for boys, baby blue for girls. But in the 1930s and &#39;40s, they noticed that parents started buying pink items for girls and blue items for boys, and the 1950s cemented this gender divide via marketing. Pink became the color for sweet innocent young girls&nbsp;and mild-mannered and docile young women and mothers. Mind you, these were&nbsp;again&nbsp;color codes specifically geared toward white women and their role within white patriarchy.

At the same time, pink&#39;s association with queerness began during the Holocaust, when Jewish concentration camp inmates who were suspected of being gay or trans were forced to wear bands with pink triangles. Post World War II, the pink triangle has been associated with the gay liberation movement, and since then the color has made its way into multiple queer (LGBT+) movements and banners.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjE3MzcwMDAy/full.jpg" />

After that, pop culture drove the message the rest of the way home with cultural icons, books, movies, and musicals associating pink with womanhood, femininity, and ladylike fashion. Then Barbie came along, but I won&rsquo;t bring that back up.

Now, nature seems to love pink. There are pink birds, iguanas, and elephants, and most of the world&#39;s flowers are pink.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s a color used to attract pollinators and is derived from natural pigments called anthocyanins, which are also found in raspberries. But pink is generally one of the most widely hated and avoided colors (with blue being the most beloved, as 53% of the world&rsquo;s&nbsp;population claims&nbsp;the color as their favorite).&nbsp;But why? Well, I googled it and the answers were pretty much what I expected.

Pink is a color typically associated with everything supremacy has built entire civilizations on the hatred of. Sex, queerness, femininity in all forms, gentility, compassion, vulnerability, love, sweetness, and playfulness. And while I am well aware that different cultures view colors differently, I am&nbsp;speaking from a very American, very Westernized filter because that is the country and culture that has had the greatest impact on my life, and likely on the lives of those reading this. Pink is a color that contains the passion of red mixed with the purity of white. It is almost exclusively used to represent girlhood and childlike femininity to the extent of almost symbolizing immaturity and childishness. Which is probably why it&rsquo;s a color you don&rsquo;t see often representing countries, teams, and organizations; it is not taken seriously.

But feelings about the color are shifting, with the love of colors like Millennial Pink, which is really just regular old pastel pink that is keenly marketed to improve the moods of depressed young adults who are watching helplessly as the world spirals into chaos. And as we are finally having conversations about how binary thinking is an erasure of the true fluidity of gender expression, the color is slowly losing the ingrained bias associated with cisgender,&nbsp;heterosexual women. We are in the process of moving away from viewing pink as a silly and frivolous color, but there are still some conflicting messages.&nbsp;

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjQzMzcwMDAx/full.jpg" />Janelle Monae (center) in the music video for &quot;Pynk.&quot;

For instance, while Janelle Monae&rsquo;s song and music video &quot;Pynk&quot;&nbsp;championed the sexualities of queer women of color, with queer black women at the forefront, the pink pussy hat symbolized a narrow-minded version of feminism that was empowering to only white, cis-het,&nbsp;middle class women. And as we expand conversations in an attempt to gain visibility and inclusivity, we want to be active regarding the colors we use on the banners we wish to fly. 
 
But we&rsquo;ll discuss that more next time.

&nbsp;

This article is the second in a series. Check out the <a href="https://www.mplsart.com/written/2020/04/kaleidoscope-eyes-intro-to-color-theory">Intro to Color Theory</a> here.

Amina Harper is an artist, writer, and educator based in the Twin Cities. For more info and to see her work, visit<a href="https://aminaharper.wixsite.com/aminaharper/" target="_blank">&nbsp;her website</a>&nbsp;or follower her on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/amina.harper/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.

Banner image photo by Alexander Kovalev / Pexels.

From French royals to politicized pussy hats, Amina Harper unpacks pink, a color most hated but also most meaningful.

Kaleidoscope Eyes: The Color Pink

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LQ_I2nK6k]

MPLSART visits the studio of Jodi Reeb as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Jodi Reeb

<div>
I love color. I can&rsquo;t say that I love it more than the average person, but I can tell you that my &ldquo;superpower&rdquo; is to see the difference between two seemingly similar hues that have a single degree of temperature between them. I can mix you any pigment you want with a basic description, I can see a color and replicate it without second thought, I can arrange a color story and place colors in descending order from lightest to darkest, warmest to coolest, hottest red to iciest indigo. This is not a hidden talent or a humble brag, I&rsquo;m just telling you how it is: I&nbsp;have kaleidoscope eyes.&nbsp;

When asked about my artwork, the first question that comes up is how I select my color palette. And the truth is, I don&rsquo;t select a color palette&nbsp;but a range of emotions I want the image to evoke;&nbsp;I select the colors based off of that. Because there are as many colors as the world is old, this is quite the task to take on. But in order to make a decision regarding what colors to choose, one has to see a wide variety of colors applied diversely, so that the options are made known.&nbsp;

Basically, the more color you take in, the more you can produce (or reproduce) when making art.&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m always looking at color, not just in my everyday life, but I make it a point to seek out opportunities to absorb everything from jeweled and highly saturated tones, to milky and muted hues. There are monochrome color palettes (where a specific color and its variants are chosen), complimentary color palettes (where two opposing colors and their variants are the core of the palette), and even palettes where you throw all the colors at the canvas to create a beautifully balanced technicolor acid trip that makes you want to taste the fucking rainbow.&nbsp;

But before you can play around in any of that. You have to know what feelings you want this image to get across; because colors are about feelings.

It&rsquo;s important to note that colors don&rsquo;t just make things prettier; they affect our mind and bodies. They make us hungry, turn us on, jog our memories and can even be linked to trauma. If you can control the color palette of an image, you have an incredible amount of power over your audience&#39;s reaction to that image. Having a basic understanding of color as a symbol is a great way to start this exploration.

Here are some examples.
</div>

<div style="color:#cc0000">
RED 
Emotional/Psychological: Passion, Romance, Power, Caution, Anger 
Social/Cultural: Promiscuity (Lust), Violence, Love, Alarm 
Symbols: Fire, Blood, Red Apple, Red Roses, Stop Signs&nbsp;&amp; Stop Lights
</div>

<div style="color:#ff9900">
ORANGE 
Emotional/Psychological: Warmth, Freshness, Youthfulness 
Social/Cultural: Fun and Amusement, Vibrancy 
Symbols: Sunsets, Fruit, Fire, Fall (Autumn)
</div>

<div style="color:#ffd966">
YELLOW&nbsp; 
Emotional/Psychological: Joy and Happiness, Warmth, Cowardice&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Social/Cultural: Optimism&nbsp; 
Symbols: Sun and Sunshine, Stars, Light, Summertime&nbsp;
</div>

<div style="color:#6aa84f">
GREEN&nbsp; 
Emotional/Psychological: Envy, Health (Both good and bad health), Safety and Permission 
Social/Cultural: Youthful Inexperience&nbsp; 
Symbols: Nature, Springtime, Hope, Life, Money&nbsp;
</div>

<div style="color:#1155cc">
BLUE&nbsp; 
Emotional/Psychological: Sadness (Emotions in General), Tranquility, Calm, Healing 
Social/Cultural: Intelligence, Wisdom, Sadness, Loyalty, Peace&nbsp; 
Symbols: Water, Sky, Winter, Uniforms&nbsp;
</div>

<div style="color:#674ea7">
VIOLET&nbsp; 
Emotional/Psychological: Mystery, Spirituality, Cosmic Energy, Magic&nbsp; 
Social/Cultural: Royalty, Wealth, Luxury, Vanity&nbsp; 
Symbols: Outer Space, Flowers&nbsp;
</div>

<div style="color:#e476aa">
PINK&nbsp; 
Emotional/Psychological: Love, Romance, Sexuality, Softness, Sweetness, Cuteness, Playfulness, Tenderness, Compassion, Femininity, Delicacy&nbsp; 
Social/Cultural: Girls, Young Women, Queerness, Gender Identities that are not considered Masculine&nbsp; 
Symbols: Girls, Hearts, Flowers, Sweet Foods
</div>

<div>
These are framing devices that give context to how color is often used in the world around us. This kind of symbolism makes its way into just about every form of cultural content, from the gold and yellow of wealth and death in The Great Gatsby, to the character color coding in 2018&#39;s Black Panther (more on that soon).

Now, you may notice I didn&rsquo;t mention the colors black and white in this list. And that&rsquo;s because black and white are associated with binary thought, which is a violent hierarchy in which one of two terms or ideas dominates and oppresses the other in an attempt to destroy the natural fluidity of human identity. This is where the stakes heighten drastically. In western language especially, we tend to define one object via its proximity to and cultural privilege over another. This is a problem because&nbsp;black and white specifically&nbsp;are terms often associated with people, and as we all know that when you privilege one kind of person over another, the consequences are catastrophic.

I will get into the binary and exclusionary language surrounding color and its usage in later installments of this series as it is important to examine these toxic views in order to shed them. Subjects like race, gender, and sexuality will feature prominently and I want you to keep these ideas in mind for later.&nbsp;Once you know what the rules are, you can break them entirely in favor of a new narrative that allows for more nuance and interrogation of larger, more impactful social structures. Hopefully, the tools I present in this series can heal some of the colonial conditioning we&rsquo;re accustomed to; art is meant to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, after all.

For now, this is an introduction to something that will grow larger as we continue. It is the opening of the color rabbit hole that we&rsquo;re all going down together. But as a reflection of this I want you, dear Reader, to symbol hunt for colors in the creative content you take in. What are the colors around you telling you about the world you live in? What do the colors you gravitate toward say about you?

Until then.

&nbsp;

Amina Harper is an artist, writer, and educator based in the Twin Cities. For more info and to see her work, visit<a href="https://aminaharper.wixsite.com/aminaharper/" target="_blank"> her website</a> or follower her on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/amina.harper/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.

Banner image: Adrien Olichon / Pexels
</div>

The first in a series of articles diving deep into color, thinking critically about their meanings, their emotions, and, in some cases, their cruelties

Kaleidoscope Eyes: Intro to Color Theory

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B-5VoSznkvD/] 
 
Follow&nbsp;<a class="notranslate" href="https://www.instagram.com/jamie_owens_art/">@jamie_owens_art</a>&nbsp;on instagram.

MPLSART visits the studio of Jamie Owens as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Jamie Owens

I realized not too long ago that walking is a delusion. It feels calm, controlled, coordinated &mdash; utterly normal. But then, out walking my dogs one day, my toe caught on an uneven bit of sidewalk. I tripped, and for just an instant time slowed down: inertia carried me forward, but my foot was not there to catch me. My body lurched in a state of panicked instinct,&nbsp;my foot shot out, and I caught myself at the last moment. My shoulders flushed with acid adrenaline, and the dogs looked up at me like &quot;You okay, dude?&quot;&nbsp;Then it occurred to me: walking is an act of constant free-fall.&nbsp;

Our current crisis has reminded me a lot of that moment. This pandemic has caught our collective toe on the sidewalk and revealed the degree to which we&rsquo;ve been one step away from free-fall the whole time. The casual brutalities that are baked into our systems have been laid bare, pitting the health of the public against the health of the economy: who gets treatment, who gets protective equipment, who gets assistance, and who still needs to do our dirty work. One hope from all this is that we finally realize the word &ldquo;menial&rdquo; is synonymous with &ldquo;essential&rdquo; (and should be paid accordingly).

Now a few weeks into our isolation, many of us are back to putting one foot in front of the other, looking to regain some normalcy, some balance, and hopefully some income. We are working, baking, exercising, wrangling children.&nbsp;Bingeing Netflix, maybe. Some of these footfalls are routine but others are pivots, responding to the circumstances with new technology and new initiatives, like SooVAC&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.soovac.org/mnartmart" target="_blank">MN Art Mart</a> and Springboard&rsquo;s <a href="https://springboardforthearts.org/additional-resources/emergency-relief-fund/" target="_blank">Emergency Relief Fund</a>. Just last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://mrac.org/2020/04/03/mrac-announces-2020-next-step-fund-recipients/" target="_blank">MRAC</a>&nbsp;forewent the final round of Next Step Fund jurying and&nbsp;simply gave the&nbsp;award to all 72 finalists, putting unrestricted&nbsp;money&nbsp;directly into their hands. And despite having to cancel this year&#39;s&nbsp;Art-A-Whirl, <a href="https://nemaa.org/art-a-whirl/" target="_blank">NEMAA</a> is currently working to recreate the experience online.&nbsp;

On a broader scale, artist talks and studio visits have moved online, providing a real-time crash course in communication across multiple platforms. Some artists are exploring new opportunities for sales and service as well, cranking out homemade masks and hand sanitizers to meet the needs of the moment.&nbsp;Here at MPLSART, we&rsquo;re pivoting as well, working to rethink how an art events calendar can best serve a world without actual art events. (Towards that end, please keep us up to date on all your virtual events at <a href="mailto:calendar@mplsart.com?subject=Virtual%20event%20listing">calendar@mplsart.com</a>.)

There&rsquo;s no telling what new habits, methods, and innovations will stick with us beyond this crisis. Videoconferencing, remote working, homeschooling, hyper-hygiene &mdash; who knows if these will become our new normal? It&rsquo;s fascinating to wonder what of it will stay and what will fade into memory, years from now, as we recall those strange few months of doom &amp; Zoom.

In the meantime, here and now, we are looking for answers day by day. And in their absence, we&rsquo;re looking for comfort. No surprise, we are finding it in the arts. From the music of Bill Withers and John Prine to the gaudy insanity of Tiger King, art is here to help us get through this grief and this fear.&nbsp;

As the crisis continues, though, stretching out now over months instead of weeks, a lot of folks are realizing that this is a marathon, not a sprint. That the breathless output of quarantine content is unsustainable. For those of you still running ahead, I say good for you, keep going. The rest of us will catch up at our own pace. Some walking, some jogging, some stopped altogether, simply sitting with our existential dread. Some days are harder than others, especially when you take a moment to read the news. It&rsquo;s astounding, really, the vicious ineptitude coming from our country&rsquo;s highest echelons, and it can hurt your heart to see. Some of these assholes would charge admission to a life raft.

But there is still much hope to be found on a local level, from competent governors to tireless health care workers to the hand-drawn rainbows stuck in my neighbors&rsquo; windows. The hashtag AloneTogether still makes me chuckle, but if there&rsquo;s one thing that artists in the Twin Cities have taught me, it&rsquo;s the importance of community. Ours is tight-knit and fiercely supportive, even from a safe distance.&nbsp;

Still, the odds are stacked against artists financially. We&rsquo;re already the lowest rung on the ladder even in our own industry. Events have been cancelled, galleries shuttered, and sales opportunities postponed, but the bills keep coming. And, to add insult to injury, most of us have garbage health insurance. Artists, like many Americans, have always been running full-tilt, one stumble away from that free-fall face-plant.&nbsp;

At the same time, I can&rsquo;t help but think that artists are built for moments like this. We&rsquo;re scrappy: we&rsquo;re used to working against bad odds with limited resources. This social isolation that&rsquo;s so jarring to everyone else is a way of life for us, sequestered away in our studios. And, at the end of the day, we were going to make this stuff anyway, whether or not it was going to sell.

Perhaps most vital to this moment: artists imagine new futures. We&rsquo;ve had to adjust to a lot of &ldquo;new normals&rdquo; over the past three years, but the truth is that a lot of them were same-old same-old, just with the volume turned up. The COVID-19 crisis is certainly new and most definitely abnormal, but it has shined a spotlight on the cracks in our society that have always been there. It has revealed what a luxury it is to simply have good health to protect and a home in which to shelter. It has highlighted race and class disparities; even my metaphor of walking underscores the privilege of ability. No surprise again, the way we&rsquo;ve organized the&nbsp;world, that marginalized groups are bearing the brunt of this crisis.&nbsp;

It seems to me the greatest tragedy of all would be to learn nothing from this moment, to run full sprint back to that old normal. It&rsquo;s time to move forward carefully, thoughtfully, to build new structures on more solid ground. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re doing here, looking for sure footing with each step forward. It may be a long summer, now that the beaches are closed, but we&rsquo;ll get through it. Together, apart, however you like to think about it. In the meantime, stay safe, make art, buy art, and send memes.&nbsp;We could&nbsp;all use a good laugh.

&nbsp;

Banner image: Russ White, Fits &amp; Starts (one in a series), mixed media on paper, 10 x 8&quot;. For more, visit <a href="http://russ-white.com" target="_blank">the artist&#39;s website</a>.

How tripping on a dogwalk helped me understand this shitstorm a little better

The New Abnormal: Artists were built for this

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B-nT6E0n2LD]

MPLSART visits the studio of Colee Recke as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Colee Recke

The local art community is struggling under the shadow of COVID-19. Galleries that are used to lively openings and in-person sales are figuring out new ways to adapt. Gallery owners may feel pressure to continue &quot;business as usual&quot; or to drastically &quot;pivot&quot; to do something totally new with the gallery. Regardless of how you navigate this time, you are best positioned to determine what to do. It&#39;s ok to be candid with your audience. It&#39;s ok to try new things and make mistakes. It&#39;s also ok to do nothing. 
 
For those with the means to be active during the crisis, here is a guide to help shape your efforts.

<h2> 
1. Start With&nbsp;Your Goals</h2>

Your goals as a gallery may look different than they did three months ago or they may remain&nbsp;the same. Either way, clearly define what your goals are now and write them down.&nbsp;Is it to sell art? Is it to&nbsp;cultivate future collectors? Is it to support your represented artists? Solicit donations? Educate? Entertain? You can have more than one goal, but be clear to yourself about your goals. Don&#39;t try to do too much and be cognizant of your abilities and capacity.&nbsp;

Related:&nbsp;There are several different goal setting frameworks out there&nbsp;such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thebalancesmb.com/goal-setting-2948135" target="_blank">SMART</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.newsteer.com/okr-goals-practical-examples-for-companies-and-startups-a1d2fbb037c5" target="_blank">OKRs</a>. These frameworks can help guide&nbsp;your thought process, but&nbsp;don&#39;t get too hung up on the frameworks themselves. The most important thing is to set goals.&nbsp;

<h2> 
2. Boost Your Online Presence</h2>

As most people are currently at home experiencing the world through the Internet, it&#39;s a good time to evaluate how you are representing your gallery online. Don&#39;t worry about creating epic viral campaigns that make the front page of Hyperallergic. Instead focus on&nbsp;clear calls&nbsp;to action to achieve the goals you documented above.&nbsp;Whatever your goals are, your online presence should be working to accomplish those goals.

Clear Calls To Action 
While people are spending more time online right now AND likely want to help support local arts, their attention is being increasingly divided. Make sure your calls to action are straight forward and easy to understand. For example, if your&nbsp;goal&nbsp;is to sell artwork, when promoting&nbsp;work for sale, make sure it is clear that is available for purchase and how to buy it.&nbsp;

Your Website 
You likely have a great website. However, it may have been&nbsp;designed for a different set of goals than you have right now.&nbsp;Evaluate the front page of your website. Are the calls to action clear and support your goals?&nbsp;Is it easy&nbsp;to figure out what artwork is available for sale and how to make a purchase? Does someone need to click on several links to find the page where to donate? How easy is it for someone to join your mailing list? A simple way to evaluate your website&nbsp;is to tell your goals to a friend or family member and ask them to use your website to accomplish a desired task (such as making a donation).&nbsp;If they have a hard time, evaluate if there are changes you can make to your website content to make it easier. Once you have made changes, try them out with someone new and re-evaluate. Don&#39;t focus too much on aesthetics. More so, focus on the calls to action, information clarity, and ease of use.&nbsp; 
 
Related: Evaluating your website in this nature is a part of the field&nbsp;of User Experience (UX).&nbsp;While this is a massive field of research blending psychology, sociology, design, and technology,&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/usability-testing" target="_blank">here</a><a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/usability-testing" target="_blank">&nbsp;is a practical&nbsp;guide</a>&nbsp;to start evaluating your own website.&nbsp;

Your Social Media 
Now is also a great time to evaluate your approach to social media. Not every post needs to be a sales opportunity, but the ones that&nbsp;are&nbsp;should have clear calls to action.&nbsp;Think about the platforms you use in the context of your goals to determine where to focus your&nbsp;energy. If posting on Facebook used to get a lot more&nbsp;foot traffic to your openings than posting on Twitter, it is likely posting artwork for sale or soliciting donations will work similarly. It is also a great time to explore the potential for other platforms such as LinkedIn or&nbsp;YouTube. If you are having trouble finding your voice on these platforms, pay attention to what others are doing and emulate them. Don&#39;t be afraid to experiment. Just as your goals might be different than they were before, your approach to social media may be different.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<h2>3. Make It Easy to Purchase Artwork</h2>

If your current goals include selling artwork, make&nbsp;it&nbsp;easy. Previously, you may have not wanted to post all the work in an exhibition so to not spoil the opening reception. However, without feet in your physical gallery, you&#39;ll need eyeballs on your virtual one. If you do not have have your website set up to easily browse work for sale and purchase it, we&nbsp;highly recommend e-commerce platforms such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shopify.com/" target="_blank">Shopify</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.squarespace.com/ecommerce-website" target="_blank">Squarespace</a>. Use your existing website, social media, and mailing list&nbsp;to drive traffic to these platforms. Contrary to popular belief,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-booming-online-art-market" target="_blank">collectors are increasingly buying online</a>. At the very least, using these platforms can supplement your current sales process and potentially generate new collectors locally or out of state. 
&nbsp;

<h2>4. Promote Artists</h2>

Artists are the reason we are all here and they need support for us to continue to exist.&nbsp;Even if you do not represent artists, now is a great time to help promote artists you have worked with in the past. Re-share their social&nbsp;posts. Offer to make their work available for sale via your online presence.&nbsp;Buy their work for your personal collection.&nbsp;Offer to facilitate a virtual&nbsp;artist talk.&nbsp;The artists you support now will likely return the favor in kind.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<h2>5. Create Video Content&nbsp;</h2>

If you have the means, a great way to bolster your social presence is through video. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3fCf3YanHw" target="_blank">Flanders &amp; Associates</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/KPAhH7k4isY" target="_blank">Studio Pintura</a> have produced some great video of their current&nbsp;exhibitions. <a href="https://vimeo.com/405948931" target="_blank">Groveland</a> has posted interviews with their artists.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/soovac/?hl=en" target="_blank">SooVac</a>&nbsp;is conducting virtual studio visits via Instagram Live. Others have been hosting virtual happy hours via Zoom and Jitsi&nbsp;Meet. There are lots of&nbsp;great options out there. Don&#39;t be overly&nbsp;worried about producing Oscar-winning films with professional lighting and make-up. We all are long overdue for a hair cut and even the local news anchors are having technical glitches broadcasting live from home. Your cell phone camera is just fine. This is new territory for everyone, and people are mostly forgiving. Remember your goals and use video as a means to support those goals.&nbsp;Some simple ideas&nbsp;for unique video content include: interviewing your artists over video conference, giving a video tour of your personal collection, or doing a personal video talking about how you started the gallery.&nbsp; Also, we highly recommend if you are doing live virtual events, <a href="/submit">let us know</a> in advance and we will get it listed on our calendar and share in our weekly news letter and on our social platforms. 
 
Related: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3wXwIIEbrw" target="_blank">Some simple tips for producing quality videos on your phone</a>.

&nbsp;

<h2>6. Find Your Voice</h2>

The world we&#39;re living in right now is like nothing we&#39;ve experienced before. There is no roadmap for how to navigate this time. That is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. Galleries are a reflection of the courageous&nbsp;people who run them. Find your voice during this time and represent it through your website and social platforms. If you are trying new things, know that you will make mistakes and that that is ok. Mistakes are how we all learn and grow.&nbsp;

<h2> 
7. Help Us Help You</h2>

We love our local art galleries. We&#39;re in awe of the powerful and immediate gallery responses we&#39;ve already seen in this crisis. We&#39;re looking forward to what&#39;s next. We&#39;re going to get out of this together.&nbsp;

MPLSART is here with you, struggling and evolving to support the art scene in reaction to COVID-19. We&#39;re listening, sharing, and building new tools. We have great things planned and will be announcing more soon. 
 
In the meantime, our local art scene is active and vital. Our website traffic is strong. Our social media audience is growing. Various artist talks are keeping us all connected. Art sales continue from safe distances. And people are still looking for ways to engage with visual art. 
 
Let us know what you&#39;re struggling with and any ideas you have. 
Please continue to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mplsart.com/submit" target="_blank">submit your virtual art events</a>&nbsp;to our calendar. 
Tag us in your social posts and we will reshare with our audience. 
Send info to:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:calendar@mplsart.com" target="_blank">calendar@mplsart.com</a> 
 
 
Image Credit: <a href="https://www.nicole-l-thomas.com/" target="_blank">Nicole Thomas</a>

7 Helpful Tips for Galleries to Flourish Now and Into the Future

Tips for Galleries During COVID-19

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VVqYXnMMH]

MPLSART visits the studio of Laura Brown as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Laura Brown

Water Works: Profiles of Sean Connaughty and Shanai Matteson

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B-DY1-FJcXf]

MPLSART visits the studio of Reid Olson as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Reid Olson

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MPLSART visits the studio of Ron Brown as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Ron Brown

As the COVID-19 Coronavirus continues to spread, we&rsquo;re seeing local art events being canceled out of concern for&nbsp;the health of staff, artists, and general public.

Due to the face-to-face nature of the events we promote, we are taking action to do our part to protect the health of members of the community we serve. Please note, we are not medical experts nor should this information be construed as medical advice. See the links at the bottom of this page for official resources from the City of Minneapolis, CDC, and more.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<h2>Canceled or Postponed Events</h2>

We&#39;re doing our best to keep with event cancelations and postponements. If you are a gallery canceling an&nbsp;event or you know of an event listed on our site that has been canceled, please let us know by emailing us at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mailto:calendar@mplsart.com?subject=Canceled%20Event%20Update">calendar@mplsart.com</a>

Please include the link to the event affected and the canceled/postponed dates. We&rsquo;ll leave events on the calendar that have been canceled but denote them with a &quot;canceled&quot; or &quot;postponed&quot; notice as per the image below.

Before attending an event or normal gallery hours, check the website of the venue to ensure they have not otherwise canceled.

 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjQxMjcwMDAx/full.jpg" />

<h2>&nbsp;</h2>

<h2>Prevention</h2>

General Etiquette&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Please refrain from attending events if you are ill</li>
	<li>Minimize&nbsp;personal contact with strangers including handshakes, high fives, and hugs 😢</li>
</ul>

As per the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html" target="_blank">CDCs recommendations</a>:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Wash your hands&nbsp;often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.</li>
	<li>If soap and water are not readily available,&nbsp;use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.</li>
	<li>Avoid touching&nbsp;your eyes, nose, and mouth&nbsp;with unwashed hands.</li>
	<li>Avoid close contact&nbsp;with people who are sick</li>
	<li>Stay home&nbsp;if you are sick, except to get medical care. Learn&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/steps-when-sick.html">what to do if you are sick</a>.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html" target="_blank">More Recommendations</a></li>
</ul>

&nbsp;

<h2>How To Support The Arts Community During this Time</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Consider making a donation to your favorite gallery or art organization</li>
	<li>Purchase artwork from the gallery or artists&#39; online.</li>
	<li>Promote your favorite gallery, art organization, and artists through your social media channels and encourage your followers to support them as well.</li>
</ul>

<h2> 
Additional Resources for the Arts Community</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://artsmn.org/arts-alert-arts-advocacy-day-changed-to-virtual-arts-advocacy-day-thank-legislators-for-arts-funding/?fbclid=IwAR1Lc2wxyj6Rg2BeEaYvsVYD-0OjyrgtHVfOneH989ZAMOdWnyQjeCGgUYg" target="_blank">Arts Advocacy Day</a>&nbsp;will continue but be online only.</li>
	<li>MRAC&nbsp;programming will continue but their offices will be <a href="https://mrac.org/covid-19/" target="_blank">closed starting Friday March 13th</a></li>
	<li>Springboard for the Arts programming will&nbsp;continue but their physical offices will be <a href="https://springboardforthearts.org/stories-writing/coronavirus-response/" target="_blank">closed starting Monday March 16th</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Springboard for the Arts has put together a great evolving <a href="http://springboardforthearts.org/coronavirus/" target="_blank">list of resources&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;as well as an <a href="https://springboardforthearts.org/stories-writing/principles-for-ethical-cancellation/" target="_blank">ethical cancelation guide</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h2> 
Further Information on Coronavirus</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.minneapolis.org/minneapolis-convention-center/coronavirus/" target="_blank">City of Minneapolis Statement</a>&nbsp;- <a href="https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/emergency-management" target="_blank">City of St Paul Statement</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.hennepin.us/residents/emergencies/covid-19" target="_blank">Hennepin County Statement</a>&nbsp;- <a href="https://www.ramseycounty.us/residents/health-medical/current-health-issues/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19" target="_blank">Ramsey County Statement</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html" target="_blank">Center for Disease Control</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public" target="_blank">World Health Organization</a></li>
</ul>

<h2> 
Personal Closing Thoughts</h2>

&quot;We Love Art. We Love You.&quot; is something we firmly believe in. We care greatly about the local arts community. To the best of our understanding, there is no reason to panic; however general precautions mentioned earlier should be taken.

The&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;outbreak is scary. Everyone is dealing with it in their own way. We ask during these times everyone be patient and understanding. We&#39;ll get through this. Listen to medical professionals. Take care of yourself and check in on friends and loved ones to be sure they&#39;re ok and if they need anything. Share your energy with those that might need it.

To quote, Bill S. Preston Esq, &quot;Be Excellent To Each Other&quot;

XOXO, 
Blaine, Katie + Team

&nbsp;

COVID-19 Statement

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B9fSRTbJhzP]

MPLSART visits the studio of Samantha Leopold-Sullivan as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with Samantha Leopold-Sullivan

Curiosity Studio co-founders Ashley Mary and Lauren Callis&nbsp;refer to their artistic partnership as a &ldquo;love story.&rdquo;

Ashley, a painter and graphic designer, had been working out of her studio on the second floor of the Northrup King Building for a few years when Lauren and her business, An Upcycled Closet, moved into a nearby space in the summer of 2018. While making the rounds to meet her new neighbors, Lauren knocked on Ashley&rsquo;s door and the pair soon connected over a shared interest in how creativity and wellness overlap.&nbsp;

&ldquo;We got to talking about my background in art therapy, and at the time Ashley was finishing her master&#39;s degree and creating curriculum around the foundational blocks of Curiosity Studio,&rdquo; explained Lauren. &ldquo;She was seeing what it looks like to create some sort of learning environment for adults that promoted play.&rdquo;

Ashley added that, as a graduate student in the Minneapolis College of Art &amp; Design&rsquo;s graphic design program, her thesis had centered around this concept. After connecting with Lauren, who came from a clinical art therapy background prior to starting An Upcycled Closet, she noted that the idea for a play-centric workshop model became far more complex.

Outside of discussions for a new joint venture, Ashley would also frequently seek Lauren out for help on murals. It was over one such project at the nearby Dogwood Coffee that the pair began making plans in earnest. Curiosity Studio was becoming a reality: a place where anyone &mdash; friends, strangers, clients, and customers;&nbsp;artists and non-artists alike&nbsp;&mdash; could come to play in the world of art-making.

Over this past summer, Curiosity Studio had its soft launch and, in the fall, the business hosted a number of corporate retreats along with a test of an eight-week course out of what is now Ashley and Lauren&rsquo;s joint studio space in Northrup King.&nbsp;

Starting this winter, the duo is ready to roll out their curriculum in full &mdash; a series of eight-week workshops, group retreats, and other experiences that they note are tailored to try and answer a recurring question: How can art-making be a part of your personal&nbsp;wellness?

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjE1NDMwMDAx/full.jpg" />Ashley Mary (left) and Lauren Callis Erickson. Photo by <a href="http://www.grahamtolbert.com" target="_blank">Graham Tolbert</a>.

<h3>&quot;How do you get started?&quot;</h3>

Outside of Curiosity Studio, Lauren&rsquo;s business An Upcycled Closet sells secondhand goods and offers classes on mending, sewing, and sustainable clothing practices. Ashley works frequently on commissions for murals and paintings, as well as product design in partnership with other businesses. These connections to clients and communities gave the two a network to tap when first building up their new business.

Most importantly, both artists were already established as creators. The central question they sought to answer with Curiosity Studio was one they were getting asked all the time by their peers, who looked to them as experts in the field.

&ldquo;Because of the spaces we work in, we&rsquo;ve had lots of people initiate their conversations on creativity with us,&quot; Ashley explained.&nbsp;&quot;Time and again, we&rsquo;re getting the same sentiment:&nbsp;&lsquo;How do I get started?&rsquo;&rdquo;

During the fall, Ashley, Lauren, and their group of rotating instructors worked primarily on retreats and corporate group events &mdash; which included both on-site experiences and instances where a group would come in and work with Curiosity Studio at its homebase in Northrup King.

Starting in 2020, Lauren explained, the business is going to be rolling out more of its bread-and-butter two month workshops, which are open to anyone who wants to enroll.&nbsp;

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjM3MjkwMDAx/full.jpg" />A Curiosity Studio participant getting messy in the making. Photo courtesy of Curiosity Studio.

<h3>Centering classes around a topic</h3>

While the exact structure and curriculum is still being adjusted as Curiosity Studio continues its first year in business, the current model includes 8-week courses, one-day workshops, and one-off events. The longer&nbsp;courses&nbsp;meet once a week&nbsp;and are centered around a theme, with two-week chunks focused on different&nbsp;topics within that theme.

&ldquo;The theme can be a number of things. It could be a word, like &lsquo;delight,&rsquo; or it could be about slowing down or perfectionism or play,&rdquo; explained Lauren. &ldquo;That is then informing what tools and what skill sets we use in our artist&rsquo;s toolbox for what practical things we&rsquo;ll be teaching.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Each two-week period will also have its own instructor, which the co-founders said they hoped would provide an array of perspectives for participants. Unlike a traditional art class, Lauren added that participants might not always leave with what they consider a finished product. The focus for Curiosity Studio, she said, was more on the process.&nbsp;

Coming from an art therapy background, she noted that she was particularly interested in the role that practicing creativity could play in overall health and wellness.&nbsp;

&ldquo;All of this&nbsp;is based on the fact that art is inherently therapeutic,&quot; says Lauren.&nbsp;&quot;You&rsquo;re moving, there&rsquo;s a lot of body awareness, there&rsquo;s a lot of higher-level thinking that has to happen in our frontal lobe.&rdquo;

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjIzMTgwMDAx/full.jpg" />Another participant works with paper, pipe cleaners, fabric, and doo-dads to dress up a potato. Photo courtesy of Curiosity Studio.

<h3>&quot;We&rsquo;re giving people permission&quot;</h3>

In a recent workshop at athletic clothing store Lululemon, the studio brought massive sheets of paper and asked participants to paint with their whole bodies, at one point even&nbsp;holding brushes between&nbsp;their elbows. Tempera colors were put into bowls not palettes, and organizers made sure the space was big enough for people to really move around.&nbsp;

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re breaking down some of the barriers people have to utilizing art and really anything for the first time,&rdquo; said Lauren. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to figure out how it&rsquo;s something they can give some space to in their daily lives.&rdquo;

With many of the planned activities, Ashley and Lauren said participants will ideally be able to replicate them at home &mdash; again comparing keeping up with a creative practice to working out or getting enough sleep.&nbsp;

&ldquo;It is sort of a muscle and mechanism. If it&#39;s left untouched, it gets a little rusty,&rdquo; said Lauren. &ldquo;A lot of the programming we offer, it&rsquo;s some confidence-building. We&rsquo;re giving people permission for something that they already can do in their own spaces.&rdquo;

To that end, the studio is also planning to offer classes at a range of price points &mdash; from eight-week workshops that can run a few hundred dollars to one-off events or First Thursday open studio sessions every month at Northrup King. They&rsquo;ll also continue to work with organizations on retreats or other group events either on- or off-site.

For any experience, Ashley and Lauren also emphasized that they hope participants not only get unstuck creatively, but also form connections with others in the community &mdash; perhaps meeting in the studio building the same way the co-founders did a couple years back.&nbsp;

&ldquo;People want a way to make friends,&rdquo; added Lauren. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re making sure we&rsquo;re doing this in a community setting, making sure that we&rsquo;re honoring the relationships that are being built in this space as just as valuable as the art that&rsquo;s being made.&rdquo;

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjIxNDAwMDAy/full.jpg" />Lauren Callis Erickson (left) and Ashley Mary. Photo by <a href="http://www.grahamtolbert.com" target="_blank">Graham Tolbert</a>.

For updates on Curiosity Studio and information on upcoming events, visit <a href="https://curiositystudioclass.com" target="_blank">curiositystudioclass.com</a>&nbsp;or follow along on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/curiositystudio_/" target="_blank">@curiositystudio_</a>.

Banner image by <a href="http://www.grahamtolbert.com" target="_blank">Graham Tolbert</a>.&nbsp;All images courtesy of Curiosity Studio.

After a chance meeting, two local artists teamed up to help unblock other people's creativity

Cultivating 'Curiosity'

[instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/B9NMkbGnDXO]

MPLSART visits the studio of @Nofancypaint as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

#StudioVisitSundays with @Nofancypaint

Content Warning:&nbsp;This article mentions domestic violence and abuse.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjI1MDYwMDAx/full.jpg" />Interior Violence, installation view. Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.josholsonphoto.com" target="_blank">Josh Olson</a>.

As I entered Interior Violence, I was greeted with a bubble-gum pink vanity mirror with red vinyl lettering for the artist statement. During the opening reception, the room was full of happy, excited people with drinks, and doll-sized furniture surrounded the space. Although the exhibition appears&nbsp;fun with bright colored patterns, light with pink undertones, and playful while people are surrounded by tiny dollhouse toys, there is an underlying message about domestic violence and trauma within the household. Murphy&rsquo;s paintings come from her own experiences and help others find ways to communicate and cope with theirs.

How do victims of traumatic experiences in a home reflect on their past in the present? How do we take back control and change the narrative for our futures?&nbsp;

Reflection

Within the exhibition, there is a literal sense of reflection. Mirrors are hung throughout the exhibition. Some small and at eye level between paintings, reflecting small parts of yourself. There were larger mirrors with words from the artist herself and Virginia Woolf. A second reflection can be seen throughout the exhibition. Tiny furniture pieces scattered throughout the exhibition are replicated within her paintings. Looking through the exhibition altogether, I felt as if I was inside of a giant dollhouse that Murphy constructed.

Delving deeper into the work I found a reflection that had a more serious tone. As I observed Murphy&rsquo;s work, there were opportunities to reflect on my own realities. I was enveloped in familiar objects: tractors, toy ponies, dollhouses with tiny furniture, feminine forms in relaxed positions, and various daily-life scenes such as casually lounging on the sofa in my underwear.&nbsp;

While I was at the opening reception, there was a part of me that fully understood I was safe in Minneapolis. However, another part couldn&rsquo;t deny growing up in rural Minnesotan homes. The kind of homes that appeared beautiful on the outside, but were actually stressful and dangerous on the inside. I found myself flashing back to heavy childhood experiences throughout the night. Even though I encountered this, I found relief by losing myself in the paintings. The replicated tiny furniture gave me a sense of control. The intricate floral patterns helped me concentrate on the present moment. The expressions on the subject&rsquo;s faces were neutral, rather than upset, sad, or angry. Depending on my mindset, I felt the expressions were communicating calmness, which helped me stay calm. I also saw myself in them as they appeared disassociated and distant.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjM3MjYwMDAx/full.jpg" />Interior Violence, installation view. Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.josholsonphoto.com" target="_blank">Josh Olson</a>.

Taking Back Control

In the context of dolls, childhood, and control, I think of common rules and expectations we learn when we&rsquo;re young. Children play with dolls to create fantastical stories. Dollhouses give children a great amount of control over their current situation. Dolls are also used in therapy sessions to reenact or change life scenarios. Playing house helps children socialize and understand societal norms within a happy home. For instance, when I played house it was common knowledge that:

The bathtub is supposed to be in the bathroom, not the kitchen.

A good house is at least two stories high.

A household has a mom, dad, two children, and a dog.

After you cook and eat, you have to clean the dishes.

There are rules to living in a home, like you can&rsquo;t stand on the roof. It&rsquo;s dangerous.

For some, the reality of a household isn&rsquo;t represented in the games we played. Murphy wrote about this in her statement:

&quot;The presence of toys and child&rsquo;s drawings underscore the loss of girlhood, and the dreams children hope for when &lsquo;playing house.&rsquo; What we didn&rsquo;t imagine as children was that 1 in 7 adult women and 1 in 25 adult men have been injured by an intimate partner.&quot;

While at home as a child, I learned that verbal abuse was normal, domestic violence was just &ldquo;tough love,&rdquo; and to never tell anyone what happened behind our doors. Playing house gave me an opportunity to take control of my surroundings. As I&rsquo;ve grown up, I decided to make the fantasy into a reality by pursuing better living situations, curating a chosen family, and creating new patterns in my daily life.

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjE1NDIwMDAx/full.jpg" />Interior Violence, installation view. Photo by <a href="https://www.josholsonphoto.com" target="_blank">Josh Olson</a>.

Growth in Recovery

Why would distressing experiences be represented in a happy and playful environment? Not all pain needs to be dark and dismal. Surviving and recovering is empowering. Lessons we learn through trauma are scars that do not disappear easily, whether you learn them in childhood or adulthood. Trauma is addressed in various ways. From my experience, it was a process of identifying triggers, unlearning habitual actions or thought patterns, and loving in a completely new way.

Murphy&rsquo;s paintings depict a new beginning for people who have endured trauma. Floral forms embrace feminine forms, as if overgrowing their environments. They stretch beyond the canvas and join with the adjacent paintings. Groups of womxn in the paintings appear to be in conversation with each other, some in similar poses reflecting the same stories. One is submerged under water, grasping a plant above water as if they are starting their journey to recovery.

In her statement Murphy writes, &ldquo;exposure to long term, significant domestic violence statistically increases rates of suicide in women across racial and economic backgrounds.&rdquo; The variety of social dynamics, locations, and daily life scenarios in her work shows that everyone has a different background and path through their recovery. Even though their experiences may differ, we share the same goal: growth in ourselves.

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">As a survivor I understand that trauma can be discovered and rediscovered by triggers. I feel it&rsquo;s important when talking about trauma such as domestic violence, abuse, or sexual violence to always provide resources for anyone who needs help now. I wish I could provide a larger library in this article, but finding space at Murphy&rsquo;s exhibition might be what you need, too.</div>

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">Sexual Violence Crisis Line: 612-871-5111</div>

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">Minneapolis Domestic Violence Crisis Line at Tubman: 612-825-0000</div>

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)</div>

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">Crisis Text Line: text MN to 741741</div>

<div style="background:#eee;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px 10px;">More about Cognitive Process Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as noted in Murphy&rsquo;s statement: <a href="https://cptforptsd.com/">cptforptsd.com/</a></div>

<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.mplsart.com/file_container/RmlsZUNvbnRhaW5lch4fMjM1NDAwMDAx/full.jpg" />The artist in situ. Photo by <a href="https://www.josholsonphoto.com" target="_blank">Josh Olson</a>.

Meg Lionel Murphy&rsquo;s solo exhibition, <a href="http://brlsq.net/coexhibitions/megmurphy/" target="_blank">Interior Violence</a>, is on view at CO Exhibitions through February 28th. Gallery hours are M-F, 12-5pm. The artist will be present on Saturday, February 28th, from 12-3pm.

For more info on Meg Lionel Murphy, visit <a href="https://meglionelmurphy.com" target="_blank">the artist&#39;s website</a> or follow on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/meglionelmurphy/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.

Banner image:&nbsp;This Is War, gouache on Arches paper, 38 x 51&quot;, 2019. Photo by <a href="https://www.josholsonphoto.com" target="_blank">Josh Olson</a>.

Meg Lionel Murphy takes us into a reality where self love and care is a process of reflecting, taking control, and growing within ourselves.

A New Angle on Self Love and Care: "Interior Violence" at CO Exhibitions

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MPLSART visits the studio of Patrick Pryor as part of our #StudioVisitSundays series.

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