State Fair Cupcake: Crop Art!

Today's cupcake is a tribute to crop art. Yes, the fine art of using seeds, beans and grains to express yourself. My cupcake below is decorated with nonpareils, sugar pearls, and candy-coated sunflower seeds. Yes, I'm pretty sure sprinkles don't count as seeds, technically, but have you ever planted and watered one to see if a cupcake bush will grow? I haven't tried it so who can say with 100% certainty?

One my favorites in the crop art display at the fair is the Bad Seed. Below is from last year.....

And below is a pic of this year's piece! Cool, right?

Below is a smattering of my personal favorites from this year's competition.

Below is another, less sucessful, crop art cupcake. I think crop artists must have a boatload of patience - and lots of tweezers! Perhaps a magnifying lens, too.

These last two are very representative of the political tradition in crop art. THere are two amendments on the ballot in November - one limiting marriage  and one limiting voting rights. This isn't a political type blog, so I'll just say both pieces are creative and clever in delivering their message.

Artists in Storefronts - Jack Edwards Pop Up Gallery

A friend and I happened upon this pop up gallery when driving past on Nicollet Avenue. I saw the giant White Rabbit sculpture and was like, "What is THAT? That is awesome! We need to stop!"

It turns out that it was a Pop Up Gallery featuring the work of Jack Edwards. The gallery is part of the Whittier neighborhoods "Artists in Storefronts" project that has been going on this summer.

I had the chance to speak with Mr. Edwards while looking around the gallery. In addition to decades of costuming work for the Guthrie Theater, the artist worked on the old Dayton's department store 8th floor Christmas show for many years and designed some of the Holidazzle parade floats, as well. Since Macy's acquired Marshall Fields (which acquired Daytons), the holiday display has been exactly the same for three years running and Mr. Edwards is no longer affiliated with the display. Macy's is so lame. Apparently, they own all of the figures from past displays but won't sell them and hardly ever display them. It's so sad; these quirky characters should be shared with the public.

There are some good interviews with Jack Edwards at these links:

http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2012/01/from_broadway_to_the_guthrie_to_holidazzle_a_jack_edwards_retrospective.php

http://metromag.com/blog/arts/theater/studio-jack-edwards

The Artists in Storefronts project is ongoing until September 9th. The last walking tour is scheduled for noon on Saturday September 8th. There is more information on their website:

http://www.artistsinstorefronts.com/

New Work



It's probably pretty obvious that I've been going through a long creative dry spell this year. Since I left pastry school, I've been struggling to figure out what to do next. While I'd love to make a living making cakes, there is a small matter of needing to have health insurance and being able to pay my bills :(  So, I've been trying to figure out what's next and have been working a pretty terrible temp job in the meantime. Truth be told, the schedule is terrible and leaves me with little energy at the end of the day for anything creative. So, I'm looking for something better and trying to keep on truckin'.

My sister and I decided to participate in the Red Hot Art festival again this year. It's the only festival we'll probably do this year but I thought I better have some new work to show for all my MANY fans. 



Faces at the MIA

My sister I visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art (http://www.artsmia.org/) last week. While I was there, I thought it would be fun to take some photos of different faces in the paintings and sculptures.

When Pigs Fly

These pigs may have wings, but I doubt they could fly. They weigh a bunch - mainly because they are made of cast iron.

Melanie and I decorated these pig banks for a fundraiser for Articulture (www.articulture.org). They auction these banks in November to raise money for their programs. They also have art classes that you can sign up for; Melanie and I are taking a drawing and painting class on Monday nights. They also have a cute retail space where we're selling some of our art cards.
It's a great organization and the two women who run it are really cool people.

The black one is mine and Melanie's RoboPig is shown in the pic at the bottom.

Our Tent at the Fest

Here are some pics of our set up at the Fallout Art Fest. It was crazy windy so we couldn't have the tent walls up; they acted just like a sail! We made do without them. It was a good time and we mets lots of cool people.

You can see lots of my Melanie's (my sister) art in the above photo. Isn't it cool?

Fallout Art Fest This Saturday

Melanie and I will be selling our work at the Fallout Art Fest this weekend. It should be fun, and the weather looks like it will cooperate this time (fingers crossed). Stop by if you get a chance. The times are noon to 10pm and more info can be found on the website:

http://www.falloutminneapolis.com/

Field Trip - Minneapolis Institute of Art

A trip to the MIA always means a few minutes of staring at this massive work by Dale Chihuly. I saw an exhibit of his work once and it was really amazing to see so much of it all together - like walking into an alternate (albeit fragile) world.

This hand above and the weathervanes below are part of a permanent exhibit of American art and folk art from the 1700's-1800's. It's cool that they can put more of this kind of thing on display now since adding a new wing.

I was drawn to the painting below by the shiny, luscious fruits. No raspberries have ever looked that way - unless these were an heirloom raspberry that we have since stopped planting? Hmmm... still, I like the depiction of the fruit as little jewels.

And below is a creepy copper horse from China - must be a war horse, right?

This buddha below was originally gilded but was damaged in a fire. I really like the patina on it better than I would a smooth gold finish. I've read that a lot of the ancient statues and buildings were originally painted in bright colors (one prime example is the pyramids in Egypt and in Mexico). It's hard for me to imagine.....

Spoonbridge (sans Cherry)

I went to the Walker Art Center to see the Elizabeth Peyton exhibit (I liked it but it seemed a little fluffy for the Walker) and snapped the photo above. They've removed the cherry to give it a fresh coat of paint! Below is a picture I found on the web (from a slightly different angle).

Artist Trading Cards & Swap-bot

I've started a new hobby! I'm going to start swapping Artist Trading Cards (ATCs to those in the know). ATCs are little works of art that are traded, not sold. When I say little, I mean pretty little - 2.5 x 3.5 inches, or the size of a playing card. Here is a link with lots of good info on ATCs:

http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

I signed up for a swap on a cool website called Swap-bot (http://www.swap-bot.com/) You can sign up for all different types of swaps, not just ATCs. People swap books, postcards, letters, stickers, scrapbooking materials, fabric, vintage items and a million other things!

I sent off my first ATCs to my two swap partners - one in Washington state and one in England. The theme was insects. The one pictured at the top of this post is one that didn't make the cut and get sent out, but I was still pretty happy with it.

Microsoft Paint

Here are some drawings I made using the paint program. It's kind of a crappy program if you're using a mouse instead of a stylus, but the results are kind of cool since you are limited to just a few different textures and colors.

A New Watercolor

Art-A-Whirl This Weekend

Well, I was hoping to make it to a few studios this weekend to check out some local art. However, due to a terrible cold that won't release it's iron grip, it looks like my head is the only whirling I will be experiencing.