2019 Fair Fine Arts Preview

My, my, how quickly doth the days fly by.

It seems like only yesterday that I was attending the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview Night.

Oh. It was yesterday.

Some rough impressions of this year’s exhibit (click on images to embiggen):

While sculpture is always strong at the fair, Lester Hoikka’s 21st Century Nude Reclining is even better in 3-D (cross eyes for 3-D effect):



My old pal Nicole Houff, Barbie™ photographer, was back—this time with 3 Kens (and a Kip):



Karen Brown’s Foxy is a scary look at pre-adolescence, while Nathan Wagoner’s drawing Asa Nisi Masa looked as if it has been executed in 1918, not 2018:



Of all the photography, I probably enjoyed Tiffany Bolk’s Lost & Found the most:



And Pallavi Sharma (shown with her model Maricella Herrera on the left) was the multi-cultural hit of the show, with the gentleman (evidently a stranger) posing with the two:



Once again, the “no nipples in photographs rule” was in force. The closest it came to being broken was in the image of the 3 topless Kens, who don’t have nipples either!

This rule does not apply to any other medium, of course, and there were plenty in painting and sculpture.

And, as usual, lots of chickens, horses, dogs and images of Iceland.

I think I’ll have to enter one of my “Bubbleworld” photos next year, just to be contrary.

Check out my other Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts reviews.

Art in the Time of Covid

The Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview Night has returned after a one-year hiatus due to Covid quarantine restrictions. I masked up and braved the sultry air and sweaty crowd to get one last dose of culture for the summer.

Painting was extremely strong this year, Summer Goddess by Margo Selski and the surrealistic Untitled by Brandon Anderson were standouts:

It wouldn’t be a proper State Fair with farm animals, Dairy Queen by Patty Voje was another stunning painting:

If the painting was good, the sculpture was superb. Fred Cogelow is a past winner, his Strada Cornelia, Bucarest 2016 was amazing (cross eyes for 3-D effect):

This year also featured some fine examples of textile art, most notable was Kristin Williams’ felted moose:

My old fair-pals Genie Castro and Nicole Houff were there (as well as Nicole’s husband Kip):

Nicole‘s Wonder Woman Barbie was one of the few humorous pieces in the show, there was a lot of George Floyd and Covid imagery in paintings, drawings and photography.

It always warms my heart to see young people who have work in the show; here Julia Loth shows off her Flea Market Bottles painting to a proud parent:

Overall, I’d grade this year’s Fine Arts Exhibit as a strong B+. There was a ton of good stuff in all the categories. If you are cool mingling with a crowd of people in a pandemic, check it out, preferably in the morning when the crowds are small. About 95% if the attendees last night were masked, if that would be a consideration for you.

See all of my Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts posts here.

The State of the Fine Arts 2018

Whew! It’s been over ten years since I started my annual reportage of the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview Night.

I didn’t get any work into the show (again!) but there is usually plenty of other interesting work to appreciate. Genie Castro was there, this time helping out on the service desk (right); she just might be the reason color photography was invented. Speaking of photography, overall the photos this year were kind of schizophrenic: there were many “classic” fine art black and white prints (which had been scarce for a couple of years) as well as an equal amount of travel snapshots taken with cell phones. Hmm.

There were some imaginative things being done, although I thought the sculpture and painting were not up to the usual standards. There were a handful of nice prints and drawings, but the watercolors were for the most part cliché. Here are a few things that caught my fancy:

Amy Ballinger’s Voyager, a much better than average “levitation” picture:



Mary Zubrzycki’s Bag Lady held a lot of interest for women of a certain age:



Monica Sheets used neon signage as an effective means of communication:



After I left the exhibit, I saw the giant Ferris wheel going through its electrical testing:



Next week I'll have pics of my annual pilgrimage to the fair, if I can get there (they are short of drivers for the shuttles!)

Check out my other Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts reviews.

Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview 2024

It's that time of year for The Minnesota State Fair!

Last Tuesday I attended the Fine Arts Preview night, the unstated theme of this year’s exhibition seemed to be ‘Play it safe.’ Not much politics, not many farm animals (although plenty of cute cats and dogs) and lots of (mostly boring) wildlife imagery. Textiles and fabrics are always quirky but I was not that impressed, ceramics and glass left me unmoved as well. There were highlights, of course, as well as the continuing trend of the merging of painting and photography, as exemplified* by this pairing:

Shelly Mosman: Grace                                                 Margo Selski: Little Miss Sisyphus

Old school photography was scarce, but Will Agar’s Spot Cafe, Oregon upheld traditional film imaging:

Brian Wagner’s lithograph Of Ill Omens and Clipped Wings (the theme echoed in his tattoos) was sublime:

The always reliable Mark Alan Peterson had another mind-boggling cut-paper collage, Manhattan Elegy, made only from old magazines, scissors, magic markers, and paste:

Sculpture always has strong Surrealist aspects, this year’s show was no exception:

Message of Lament for a Blue Planet, Gary Carlson

What was encouraging was seeing more young people in attendance and exhibiting, we geezers will have to be replaced sometime!

You can view the whole show here. *Mosman’s is photography, Selski’s is a painting

2022 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview

A sure sign of the end of summer is the arrival of the Minnesota State Fair. A prelude to the fair is the Fine Arts Preview where aspiring (and often perspiring) artist and their friends and families can see the new crop of “fine” artworks by Minnesota residents.

Kathy Grundei poses next to her collage Kansas City Mo

This year’s offerings were underwhelming, with a few exceptions: Greta Sandquist’s sublime painting Ethos Meets Reality was a standout, as was Steve Thomas’ elegant retro Happy Trails screen print:

Nicole Houff (and SO) and this years Barbie image—bigger and better than ever:

I liked Glen Mckillips’ Predator sculpture as well as Alekz Thoms bittersweet embroidery Hours Without You:

There was even a bit of humor in this weaving:

It always seems as if the best imagery lies just outside the exhibit doors, where the slumbering fair attractions entice:

I probably won’t be attending the Fair Proper this year as my transportation options have been severely cut back—I find that it isn't worth the risk waiting for hours to be transported in a crowded bus; I’m still not 100% Covid-comfortable in large crowds. Last night’s preview, with the biggest turnout in years, was just barely tolerable. More Fine Art Previews…

2023 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview

A sure sign of the end of summer is the arrival of the Minnesota State Fair. A prelude to the fair is the Fine Arts Preview where aspiring (and perspiring) artists (heat index: 111°F!) and their friends and families can see the new crop of “fine” artworks by Minnesota residents. This years show is OK, the average quality is up but it didn't seem to have as many exceptional works. LOTS OF DOG ART! I first made it in to the exhibition in 1973—50 years ago—so my inclusion in this year’s exhibit is a special landmark for me.

Some brief impressions from last night’s preview…

Never lose sight of the vulnerable, a lesson from the birds, Blair Treuer:

Projections, Kathryn D’Elia:

Flight, Jack Mader:

Threatened Lady, Denise Mattes:

Monarch Butterfly Scarf, Samantha Haring:

Raise High the Roofbeams, Mark Alan Peterson:

Homage to Seydou Keïta, Betsy Thayer:

Godzilla vs. Barbie, Nicole Houff:

See all the entrants in the catalog.

Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts 2016

It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that I posted about the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit. A whole year has passed, last night was preview night. The Weaver and I joined our friends Nicole and Kip in casting our collective eyes at what we hoped would be a better showing this year. Our expectations were not high; the last couple of years were, to put it mildly, disappointing. Hope springs eternal, however, so here are my impressions as well as some of the highlights:


Country Club Barbie, Nicole Houff

The world's greatest Barbie® photographer returns to the Fair as an artist in residence. She will be there for 12 hours on September 3rd, doing her Barbie magic.

The photography is much improved over last year's debacle. There were many finely printed images, although their subject matter was generally "safe." There were some challenging images, however:


La Muerte del Chauro, Leslie Parker

Sculpture is always strong at the Fair, this year was no exception:


Big Daddy Hum and Mum, Fred Cogelow


Nude in the Key of G, Allen David Christian

Of course, people watching is as much fun as the art:


Renee Lynn Brasuhn and friends pose by her steel and fiber construction.
 
And I just may have captured my image for next year's fair:



Overall, I'd have to give the Exhibit a "B-", the painting was fair to poor, with only a few fine examples. Watercolor and drawing was OK but it has been better. Textiles, ceramics and printmaking, sort of the "poor cousins" of the exhibit had a higher rate of quality work, but were hard pressed to make an impression in the overall cacophony of mediocrity. A big plus for the photographs, however, as there were only a few clinkers (out of more than 100!)

Check out my other Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts reviews.

Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts 2014

It’s hard to believe that The Minnesota State Fair is almost upon us again. Of course that also means that the Fine Arts Exhibit had its preview night yesterday. A shower cleansed the sidewalks and despite a few gloomy patrons it did not dampen the previewers’ enthusiasm:



The usual mix of genres and quality was present, but this year seemed to have an abundance of paintings done in late 40s/early 50s styles.

Lief Peterson’s White Nude:



Patrica Bronstein’s mixed media work Mystery Entrance:



Jan Spencer De Gutierrez’s Encaustic study Series 12 Number 6:



There were even some large format film-based photographic prints, including Sue Tschida’s Joe Boxer:



The Kiwanis Malt Stand was open to refresh patrons including Nicole Houff—Barbie Doll Photographer Extraordinaire:



The walk back to the car always has various tableaux of workers preparing the stands for the twelve days of the fair:



Check out my other Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts reviews.