Art & Events
My work starts by finding inspiration among long tossed newspapers, books and magazines. Using fragments from these items I combine other materials to create a whimsical story, a sense of wonder or bit of mystery. I have a studio in NE Minneapolis, live in St. Paul and teach high school art.
Learn more about Ward 4 City Council candidate Mitra Jalali Nelson, the incumbent for the 4-year term. Owner Andrew Kopplin will host a conversation using curated questions. Submit ideas for topics and questions via email to andrew@kopplinscoffee.com prior to the event. Local elections matter! Come to learn more about the candidate’s perspective and cast your vote with confidence.
St. Paul School Board has four open seats in the current election. We’re excited to host an afternoon open house to learn more about what the candidates have to offer education in St. Paul. Each attending candidate will have an opportunity to briefly describe their ideas for board. These presentations will be followed by open discussion with individual community members. Come, sip, consider, and join the conversation!
Learn more about Ward 4 City Council candidate Chris Holbrook, a challenger for the 4-year term. Owner Andrew Kopplin will host a conversation using curated questions. Submit ideas for topics and questions via email to andrew@kopplinscoffee.com prior to the event. Local elections matter! Come to learn more about the candidate’s perspective and cast your vote with confidence.
Learn more about Ward 4 City Council candidate Tarrence Roberson-Bayless, a challenger for the 4-year term. Owner Andrew Kopplin will host a conversation using curated questions. Submit ideas for topics and questions via email to andrew@kopplinscoffee.com prior to the event. Local elections matter! Come to learn more about the candidate’s perspective and cast your vote with confidence.
刘思羽(Liu Siyu)
Sharon Liú
I started learning art at a very young age. It almost feels like another life when I look back to those years of professional training at one of the top art schools in China. I often tell people that growing up, I was well trained as a painter, but I was never trained as an artist. Most of my sense of art came from life itself, but because of the highly technical way in which I was trained, it is very new to me—and very hard—to try to speak for myself through art.
Almost 10 years ago, I “quit” being an artist and started working. I didn’t hate it; my job was stable, and it provided me all I needed during a time when I lived in Shanghai. It was actually pretty awesome. But when I moved to the States and had my first born daughter, things started to change. I started to face the reality of life; I was a single mother of a Nigerian Chinese mixed race child. Given the demographics and social realities of China, I knew that I couldn’t go back to Shanghai to raise her. So I started to work as hard as I could in order to stay. I began reading more about politics and caring more about the news. And along the way, I’ve spent years on YouTube figuring out how to detangle (ideally without breaking) and style my daughter’s hair. Even now, I still feel like I have a lot more to learn. Then, of course, my second born, a Norwegian Chinese mixed baby came along with this silky smooth hair that holds nothing…oh well.
I love art. And I want to use what I do to speak for my children and what they might be able to represent. The mixed race population is growing, and for them to be able to feel normal growing up and safe in their adulthood, there’s a lot that needs to be changed. I’m still addicted to strokes, brushes, the touch of oil and fabric, but I am more aware of the power of art for expression and social engagement.
Instagram | Email: mintshaz@gmail.com
My love and fascination for rabbits began with the book, Watership Down, a novel by Richard Adams. Feeling oppressed in their current community, a handful of rabbits who are considered weak or misfit, combine their individual strengths and natural gifts to escape, survive a long and challenging journey and begin a healthy community of their own.
Although rabbits have been a favorite subject in my paintings for many years, it wasn’t until last year ( in June 2018), that I decided to commit to painting rabbits on a larger scale. Painting rabbits larger places more of an emphasis for me on the power of their quiet qualities.
Read each individual story behind each individual painting at http://www.mnartists.org/kmax.
Jane’s work is grounded in pen and ink, moments of collage and layers of gouache. Her aesthetic and conceptual approach are largely influenced by the fragmentary nature of dreams and the interconnectedness of visions, neurology and migraine auras. She lives in the Mac/Grove neighborhood with her husband, three daughters, and two cats.
This group of work explores the two roles that the ceramic plate can play.
In the plate’s first role on the wall, it is primarily a carrier for an image. The trees, fields and roads of the Southern Minnesota landscape are filtered through the materials and process. They are at times abstracted, and at other times clearly represented. Some may seem isolated, yet resilient, others interconnected and complex. It is my hope that I am able to communicate some of the sense of wonder and love I have for this landscape.
The second role for the plate doesn’t happen in the gallery, but rather in the home. When taken down from the wall the plate transforms into an object of utility that is an active participant in our meals and can help to create a context for fellowship. The form, weight, texture and volume of the plate all become much more relevant and the image dissolves.
It is these multiple roles that first attracted me to working with functional pottery and it remains an integral part of my practice today.
My minimalist landscapes are simple and familiar. I've been photographing the Midwest landscape for 30 years. Taking pictures as I drive by. I love driving. I love that space in front of and beyond the horizon.
I've been working to capture that space through paintings for 20 years. And in one brush stroke two years ago it all changed.
Eight years ago I took a break from painting and started printmaking, running a stationery and art print company called Vandalia Street Press. Printmaking broke everything down for me. It slowed my process and created a method in my work. It created steps.
One night during an artist group that I attend I decided to try painting again, but this time on printmaking paper. I was there, my paints were there and Boom! The land I know so well. So I simply painted right there in front of me. The space, the texture, and the emotions. And I keep going.
BFA: University of Minnesota | Studio: Northrup King Building #375
www.vandaliastreetpress.com | Instagram @vandaliastreetpress
Forrest and Rick Love have been photographing Saint Paul with micro four thirds mirrorless digital cameras for the last few years. This show was inspired by images of 19th century photographs of Saint Paul found at the Minnesota Historical Society. The work in this exhibition is printed on fine art cotton paper and canvas, using a large format archival ink jet printer.
www.ricklove.com
www.instagram.com/loverinius
www.instagram.com/frugalbubbles
Megan Moore
June 18 - August 31
Artist Statement
My work is a study of form, color and composition. Painting primarily in oil, I create illustrative images with a sense of balance and calm. Nature and organic forms inspire my compositions. Using a personal style of magical realism, I present elements of beauty and intrigue from the natural world in arrangements that explore pattern and repetition.
