Weekend

This weekend was pretty jammed packed. Early Friday evening I went to the Rogue Buddha to help bartend the closing show for the current exhibit Under Our Skin, featuring works by Thom deVita, Nick Bubash and John Wyatt. It was also a precursor to the Bearded Lady contest/show that took place on Saturday.

















After I left the RBG, I headed to my friend's house for a "puppy party", which basically just means we introduced everyone to Wally and let him roam around freely in my friend's fenced in yard.

I didn't make it to the Bearded lady contest because I was making my way towards the Red Bull Flutag. Traffic was so unbelievably bad it took us 2 hours to get from Minneapolis to St. Paul, which, is about 10 or so miles... by the time we got there, there were only about 7 jumpers left.

The time we spent at the park was fun, but we pretty much had to immediately turn around and spend another 2 hours in the car getting home. There were easily a few hundred thousand people who attended, and part of the main interstate is closed for construction, which in turn equals the worst traffic I've ever had the joy of being stuck in. And that includes a couple trips to LA.













After an incredibly long trip home (which would normally only take about 15mins) I proceeded to take a nap. Who knew sitting on your rear for nearly 5 hours would be so exhausting?

Later we rode our bikes the 10 blocks to our friend's house for his impromptu dance party. Said friend also has rock band, which really does make you feel like a rock star.. haha.

Sunday, Ryan and I attended a baby shower for his cousin. It was outside and very informal, so we got to bring the dog and let him run around and wear himself out. This worked fantastically well and he slept like a log all night. However, it just reinforces my desire for a fenced in yard. Until then, I suppose we'll just have to invest in an extra long leash to tie him to the drying rack pole.

Thomas Barry Fine Arts: Summer Invitational - Layered

On Tuesday, I met up with my dear friend, Emily Smith to check out her new work that is currently on exhibition at the Thomas Barry Fine Arts Gallery in the warehouse district. I feel like I'm admitting a dirty secret when I say I've never been to this gallery before, and worse, had never even heard of it... eek! But I'm glad my naivete was remedied, and what an excellent first exposure, I must say.

The show is a group show featuring works by Bethany Kalk, Caleb Coppock, Josie Lewis, Drew Peterson, and of course, Emily.









Apart from Emily's work (which was my favorite by far, and I'd like to think it's not because I'm biased..) I also really enjoyed Josie Lewis' pieces. I have never seen her work before, and I thought it was pretty incredible. Emily told me that all of her work is comprised of cutouts from Vogue Magazine. I can't imagine the process she must go through keeping track of all of these tiny pieces of paper..







All of the artists also collaborated to make this amazing installation:







It is a fantastic show. I really recommend checking it out, and you have another 4 weeks, so hop to it! Below is more information about the show (taken from the Thomas Barry website.)

Summer Invitational: Layered
July 17 - August 27

We are excited to announce our fourth annual Summer Invitational featuring the work of five artists, Caleb Coppock, Bethany Kalk, Josie Lewis, Drew Peterson, and Emily Smith, who share similar interests in layering images, information, and materials. This exhibition will open with a reception on Saturday, July 17th from 6-9 PM and run through August 27th. Please note that the gallery will be closed on Saturdays until September. This exhibition originated from a proposal by Bethany Kalk to engage four artists and herself to collaborate on a common work in the gallery as well as a compliment of individual studio pieces.

Bethany Kalk is a Minneapolis-based artist and Master of Fine Arts graduate from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design working in a variety of media and subject matter. Her imagery ranges from representational to purely abstract and is inspired by natural phenomena and technological development and desecration.

Caleb Coppock lives and works in Omaha, NE and is a 2007 graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His encaustic paintings are expressive and colorful, often incorporating geometry and found and invented objects.

Josie Lewis received her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota in 2008 and is currently living in the Twin Cities. Her assemblages of resin and paper strips cut from glossy, mass publications are primarily abstract compositions that use light and shadow to create a sense of volume and multi-faceted surfaces.

Drew Peterson graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The imagery in his work comes from Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogues circa 1900. Through a process of reconstructing and combining these images electronically, the final composition becomes the subject of large paintings on canvas.

Emily Smith received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2006 and her Masters of Fine Arts at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA where she currently lives and works. Her mixed-media-on-panel pieces are layers of medium and information that seem to identify a specific location being charted and navigated through colorful, topographical references.

Wally!

I am forewarning you now that the contents of this blog may slowly but surly turn to nothing more but pictures of my new puppy... at least for a little while ;)

This weekend, Ryan and I went up north to go pick up our new basset hound puppy, Wally. His official title is Sir Walter Wulfric Wensleydale. Trust me, it fits perfectly.



Wally did tremendously well on the car ride from the farm his was born on to Ryan's parent's house, which is about an hour drive. He whined for probably 15 mins, then curled up next to me and fell asleep.

The next 48 hours were spent as such: Playing for about 20 mins, then outside to go potty, play some more, take a 2 hour nap. Wake up, go potty. Play for about 20 mins, take an hour nap. Wake up, go potty. Eat. Go potty. Run around spastically for about 20 mins, calmed down and placed into kennel, cry. Cry. Cry. Give up and take a 2 hour nap. And Repeat.

The ride down went as well as the first, including the addition of our fat cat Frodo, who up until this point, has been a spoiled only child. Frodo is not too keen on this new creature in his midst, but seems to be too lazy to do anything more than just hiss when Wally gets too close. This appears to be the best I'll get from fat ol' Frodo, so I'm happy about it. I can't quite imagine them snuggling together anytime soon that's for sure.



Today we were woken up at the crack of dawn by a I-Have-To-Pee!-whine (which Ryan thankfully took care of,) slept for a couple more hours, woken up again by a I-Have-To-Pee!-whine (this time I took him out so Ryan could get ready for 'real-job' work, followed by about 20 minutes of play time and a 1 hour nap... I see a pattern forming here, don't you?

We tackled the new world with a few walks, on which he did amazingly well. Naturally there was a lot of whining (a where-am-I? type of whine) but I've designated myself as "Pack Leader" as Cesar Millan would say, and Wally followed in suit.

Currently, Wally is snoring by my side with his head on my leg and his big puppy paw on my arm... Yeah, this is the life.

Cheers,
Karen

US Ad Review

For the past several months I have been working with a small team of people to update and relaunch an advertising magazine called the US Ad Review. We are in the final stages of getting this first issue printed (due out in Sept.)

Learn more HERE

New Find

Best find ever - Thank you streets of Minneapolis, how can I ever repay you? This will be perfect for Wally.

Colorado

Thursday, Ryan and I left with his Uncle for a wonderous 14 hour drive to Golden, Colorado. I suppose I really shouldn't complain, as I got to stretch out in the back seat for all of those 14 hours. Lucky for me, I remembered to bring a pillow (a necessity for any drive longer than 4 hours...)

We took this journey so that Ryan and his uncle could partake in the Triple Bypass, a 120 mile bike ride through the Rockies. I came along to explore Colorado, and be moral/transportation support during their ride.

We stayed in Golden, Co, a cute town just outside of Denver. We arrived Thursday evening, to have just enough time for dinner and a couple drinks before completely crashing.





The next day, we had a fabulous Friday Funday adventure, exploring the town of Golden.







This included a visit to the Golden City Brewery. I couldn't decide which beer to try, so I tried them all... (naturally)



That night we went out and consumed the most sushi I've had in one sitting.. well, except for perhaps the last time I had sushi with Ryan's uncle. The man is a giant, and can easily ingest enough food for 3 people.



Saturday we awoke the the ungodly hour of 4am to get ready for the big ride.



Ryan wasn't feeling the best, possibly due to the combination of a day of drinking beer, a night of drinking sake, vast amounts of raw fish and inadequate sleep. This, plus a discovery of sensitivity to altitude resulted in him puking so hard his nose began to bleed on mile 4 of the ride... He toughed it out for 11 more miles before accepting defeat.

In the meantime, I was driving ahead to Idaho Springs, one of the first stopping points in the ride. I had a minimum of 2 hours to kill before the possibility of Ryan and/or his Uncle to reach the town, so I took the opportunity to explore.

The town was beautiful, and filled with such amazing character. The houses are fantastic. I wish Minneapolis had more houses like the ones dotted in the mountains of Idaho Springs.























After awhile, the bikers began to turn up. I sat patiently on the back of the car and cheered them on as they made their way past. Eventually I learned of Ryan's unfortunate situation. Luckily they have ride support just for such occasions and he got a lift for the 20 some odd miles the rest of the way to Idaho Springs.



He was totally bummed (understandably) but at least we got to be there to support his Uncle and explore the little towns and mountain tops together.












One of my other favorite places we stopped in is Silver Plume. This town was unlike any place I've ever seen, except perhaps Living History Farms in Des Moines, IA, but that is more of a history museum than an actual town.

















The most notable part of the bike ride has to be Loveland Pass. Nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, this beast of a mountain is one hell of a challenge to bike up, and terrifyingly fun to bike down.










60+ miles later, the ride is finally over. Ryan's uncle finished in about 10.5 hours, which is amazing. If it were me, I'd probably still be out there struggling to that finish line 3 days late..







We'll most likely do it again next year (and by "we" I clearly mean Ryan and his uncle) but I'm sure we'll take a few extra days to get used to the altitude and to explore more of Colorado in all it's glory.