Altered Esthetics

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Paper (Ex) Change at Echo Arts

March 25, 2013 in Altered Esthetics, Exhibitions, Gamut Gallery, Kate Renee, Solo Exhibition Program | No comments

Paper (Ex) Change group exhibition at Echo Arts seeks to explore how we alter and use paper as a medium and as a tool to exchange ideas, communication and information between people. The participating artists, who work in a variety of media, are coming together to explore the way paper impacts their art work by using the theme of traditional anniversaries; the first anniversary theme being paper.

Julia Helen Rice, Sarah Theisen, Kristy Childress, Marnie Erpestad, Mark Elton, Mary Foot and Kate Renee mark their one year anniversary of working together by exploring paper as a media and tool to create, communicate and interact through art. The artists first met through the 2012 program cycle of Altered Esthetics’ Solo Exhibition Program, facilitated by board member and program developer, Kate Renee. This group of artists decided to continue to work together and collaborate by fostering creative work and creating a supportive atmosphere for one another. The artists plan to continue to work together by exhibiting in consecutive annual exhibitions based on the anniversary theme. Next year, the group will base their art on the second theme of anniversaries, cotton.

Many of the works exhibited in Paper (Ex) Change will have an interactive aspect to the piece. Viewers can come interact with these paper themed works on the opening night of the Saint Paul Art Crawl at Echo Arts Gallery. The reception begins at 5pm.

Marnie Erpestad will have large photographic works which explore the personality of letters. She invites the viewer to compose the proceeding lines of the letter by building off of the words on the person before them.

Mary Foote builds her piece on a framework which gives the viewer simple instructions to follow. The viewer will then be asked to post publicly what they have made on a website.

Kate Renee has exhibited her traveling installation The Bad Fortune Cookie in two prior exhibitions including Food Fight at Altered Esthetics and Imaginarium at Gamut Gallery. This exhibition allows the viewer to literally take the art off the wall and take home a wooden fortune cookie that has a funny, sarcastic, sassy, paper fortune. Kate also will be exploring the concept of capsulated dreams. She asks the viewer to consider and recognize their own goals and provides an opportunity for the viewer follow their own dreams.

Julia Helen Rice creates a game of visual art telephone. Using paper drawings as the medium she will be initiating a participatory art piece that highlights how human communications and relationships are colored and shaped by our individualities. This individuality often causes misunderstandings and misperceptions but these misunderstandings and misperceptions are exactly what lead to innovation and creativity. This piece demonstrates how all the misunderstandings led to new and interesting works.

Mark Elton will be exhibiting an oversized comic called Macrocomic. He explores how stories, ideas and messages can be told when the vessel is released from the need to be compact. Elton’s Macrocomic will be anything but a mini comic. Through his piece, Mark will explore the written and visual storytelling potential when we reconsider size.

Kristy Childress has mixed media drawings of landmasses and snowforms connected with threads. She explores the physical and the mental space between ourselves and others and the connections that we hold on to.

Work will also be featured by artist Sarah Theisen. The exhibition will be at Echo Arts during the 2013 Saint Paul Art Crawl. The gallery space will be open to the public during the Art Crawl April 26-28th 2013. There you can meet the artists and interact with their paper themed pieces. The exhibition will be up April 26th – May 17th 2013 and is located at Echo Arts Gallery 275 East 4th Street Suite B200 Saint Paul, MN. Gallery hours are on weekends during the exhibition: Fridays 4-8 PM Saturdays 10-8 PM Sundays 12-4 PM 

Extra Extra Read All About It: Beauties Behaving Badly Receives MN State Funding

January 21, 2013 in Accomplishing goals, Altered Esthetics, Bloomington Theatre and Art Center, Gamut Gallery, Imaginarium, Kate Renee, Local Artist Interview, Painting, Prairie Center of the Arts, Press and Promotions, Solo Exhibition Program | No comments

Below is the official press release announcing funding for Beauties Behaving Badly. Feel free to share, print or publish the material below as you wish.

Bloomington, Minnesota, January 9th 2013-The Minnesota State Arts Board posted their Artist Initiative Grant recipients and included emerging artist, Kate Renee. Kate plans to continue her acrylic series titled, “Beauties Behaving Badly,” which explores new views on the roles of traditional female characters.

These large graphic works interpret classic characters from childhood movies and literature in a misbehaving and non-conventional light. The paintings will challenge the comfortable views of classic youth and children’s media. While including a serious and feminist note, these works are large, bright and are also humorous in the visual manner they are created. One of Kate Renee’s finished works, created during her 2011 artist residency at the Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria, Illinois, demonstrates her humor through a large chested Ariel from the Little Mermaid. With her small shell swimsuit and silicone implanted breasts, the title simply states, “They Help Me Float.”

Kate Renee will begin creating eleven new “Beauties Behaving Badly” paintings to complete her series and will be exhibiting them in a solo exhibition in the Twin Cities. In addition, she will be printing an exhibition specific catalogue to accompany the show. The grant funded project will begin on March 1st 2013 and conclude February 28th 2014.

Kate Renee has been a professional artist since 2008 and has focused on acrylics. She creates lowbrow paintings that feature characters, people, pop icons, and animals with big eyes and bright colors. She adds touches of humor through her sarcastic and ironic titles. Through her work, Kate seeks to explore character development and storytelling through art. She was recently seen exhibiting in the metro alongside artist, Brett Early at Gamut Gallery in November 2012. Both illustrative painters, the pair showed a variety of characters and creatures in the show, Imaginarium. Gamut comments, “Renee [and Early] represents a bourgeoning esthetic that is transitioning from books, media, pop iconography into the realm of galleries. [She] remains true to the wonderment and jovial perspective drawn from childhood…as well as bold use of color and line, trading texture and detail for contemporary design and eye grabbing imagery.”

Currently, Kate Renee is a protégé in the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM) Mentor Program. She is working alongside artist and mentor Jill Waterhouse for two consecutive years to develop her arts career. Kate has worked with Altered Esthetics since 2010 and developed the Solo Exhibitions Program during her internship. For the following two years, she mentored and taught sixteen artists professional and business skills needed for the arts world. Kate has also worked for Michael McGraw’s blog, Local Artist Interviews. This blog site seeks to allow artists to promote their work through artist written interviews. Kate has worked alongside Local Artist Interviews to build gallery relationships. She has also written numerous blog articles on the site to further assist artists with promotional skills.

Kate Renee has been a volunteer for the American Swedish Institute, and has worked at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Larson Gallery and taught workshops at the Bloomington Theatre and Art Center.

Pictures include, “They Help Me Float,” and Kate’s recent exhibition, photographed by Marc James Imagery, at the Fine Line Music Café December 2012 for the Holiday RAWk! event. There she exhibited the six completed “Beauties Behaving Badly” works.

High resolution images available upon request. For more information, please contact Kate Renee at katerenee(at)katerenee.com

-END-

 

Kate Renee is a fiscal year 2013 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Meet AE: Group Exhibitions Guest Blog by Amber White

September 10, 2012 in Altered Esthetics, Guest Blogging, Kate Renee | No comments

Guest post written by Amber White. Read more about Amber on the August 2012 blog Amber White and Tangled Antlers.

Or check out her work at www.tangledantlers.com

Amber White: Currently, I am the Director of Group Exhibitions. My position involves creating and managing 14 group exhibitions each year, communicating with all exhibiting artists, selecting and installing artwork, and supervising a group of exhibition interns. I volunteer anywhere from 15 to 25 hours each week to achieve all of these tasks, partially on-site at Ae and partially from home.

I began as an Assistant Gallery Director intern for the year of 2010 and was encouraged to join the board of directors when my internship was nearing the end. I began training with the previous Group Exhibitions Director at the end of 2010 and have been in my current role since then.

Pictured AE Board: Jenna Theis, Kara Hendershot, Cassie Pupovac, Jamie Schumacher, Bjorn Rolvaag, Todd Peterson, Noelle Bakken,

Kari Schuster, Pati Hibbard, Summer Scharinghausen, Kristin Thompson, Amber White, Suzanne  Pfutzenreuter,

Kate Renee, Cris Halverson, Hanna Jungbauer, and Lupi McGinty

As with all of our board member positions, my role is a three-year volunteer (unpaid) commitment. 2013 is my last year of this board term, so we are currently searching for an applicant to train as my replacement! The ideal Group Exhibitions Director candidate should have a fairly open evening and weekend schedule, previous exhibition and installation experience, training or teaching experience, knowledge of Google Apps, frequent access to internet and email, and superb time-management skills. It is one of our most involved roles at Altered Esthetics, but it is also extremely rewarding to work directly with the hundreds of artists and artworks that we exhibit each year.

Altered Esthetics’ next opening reception will be for the Creative Property exhibition: “Can a person claim ownership of an intangible asset? Artists face the issues of copyright and trademark as they relate to originality and creativity.” Come hang out with us Friday, September 7th from 7 to 10pm! We also have some exciting workshop opportunities coming up this fall, and our 2013 Featured Artist Contest deadline is coming up on August 31st!

From the Fear Itself Exhibition: (front center installation): Kim Gillespie, (wall behind L to R): Lara Crombie, Light the Underground, Helene Henderson, Miriam Houg, Janelle Photo, and Sharon Farrah

I am afraid to say that Ae is probably stuck with me for a long time. While I will definitely be taking a much needed break to focus on my own artwork when my current position concludes, I plan to remain involved in some capacity whether it be in another board position or as a drop-in volunteer. The mission of the organization is one I completely believe in, and much of the staff has become like family to me.

If you would like to learn more about the Group Exhibitions Director position or work with me as an Exhibitions Assistant, check out our opportunities page and internship page of the Ae website:

http://www.alteredesthetics.com/documents/opportunities

http://www.alteredesthetics.com/documents/internships

From the Belles Lettres Exhibition: L to R: Kara Hendershot and Joe Hendershot (collaborative), Paige Tokarczyk, Emily Beck, Janelle Doyle, Jason Huntzinger, and (front left on the pedestal) Maryellen Murphy

If you are unsure whether or not a three year board position is right for you, we also provide Gallery Director and Exhibitions Director internships that take place over much smaller time frames (6 months or 1 year). You can also be added to our volunteer newsletter to stay in the loop on special opportunities and events where your help may be needed. Our street team and installation crews always love having extra help!

Contact joinae@alteredesthetics.org for more information on internships and volunteering.

 

 

Amber White and Tangled Antlers

August 20, 2012 in Altered Esthetics, Book Binding, Guest Blogging, Kate Renee | No comments

Amber White and I met at Altered Esthetics and have known and worked together since 2010 as Assistant Gallery Director Interns. She spent a lot of time helping me create the Solo Exhibitions Program which is heading towards its third year! Currently, she is the Group Exhibitions Director at Altered Esthetics and we are both members of the Exhibitions Committee. I had the chance to learn more about her and her artwork and wanted to feature her on The Suction Cup blog!


Kate: Tell me a little about yourself, who are you, what do you do and where are you from?

Amber: My early years were spent in central Minnesota, surrounded by nature and people who know how to live off the land. With a family history encompassing farming, hunting, fishing, trapping, and physical labor, I grew up with a healthy respect for the natural world and took to working with my hands. My first sort of creative training took place somewhere between the ages of 8 and 10 in my dad’s garage, where he and my uncle bravely allowed me to raid their tool chests for my experimental bird houses. This was around the same age I became adept at filleting fish, around the same age I encountered Jana Sterbak’s Meat Dress and Chuck Close’s cigarette-smoking Self Portrait at the Walker Art Center during an elementary school field trip.

Kate: The Walker Art Center featured a unique blog post where a photo of Chuck Close’s Self Portrait travels around the world with Abigail Sebaly. Check out the post here.

Amber: These experiences fueled a desire to learn more about art and to continue creating with my hands. Wanting more than fish fries and birdhouses (though I still love both), I left my hometown to attend the University of Minnesota Morris, where renewability and sustainability are core values. I completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Studio Art and Art History, with a focus in photography and book arts.

 

Now I live and work in the Twin Cities, though I still find time to escape and venture farther north. I am on the board of directors at a small, non-profit art gallery called Altered Esthetics that is community-focused and provides opportunities for artists of all economic and educational backgrounds.

 

Kate: What are you currently working on? Any specific projects or medias your utilizing?

Amber: My past projects have mostly been photography related, although right now I am focusing more on book binding. I’m in the process of dissecting over 3,000 pages of a 1934 Webster’s Dictionary and using the illustrations in various works. I also like to work with natural materials such as turtle shells, fur, antlers, and wasp hives. I collect items that would be thrown out or otherwise go to waste so that as much of the animal as possible is utilized.

Kate: I enjoyed the book you exhibited at Altered Esthetics which was created with a turtle shell as the book cover. I think its great that you are using natural materials and recycling parts of animals to create these pieces. The book below has tea and coyote fur in the paper.

Special projects have included a kitenge-covered Tanzanian travel journal, and various wedding guest books. I also do all my own design work and portfolio photography.

 

Kate: Where are you creating your work? What is your studio space like?

Amber: I work on my art at home in between the living room and utility/shop room. I have a second dining room table off to the side of our living room that is reserved only for super clean processes like paper tearing, folding and sewing. Our utility room is pretty large and serves as a storage space for framed works, but it also has a work bench with a pegboard wall, vice, and shelving units. In the shop I can make more of a mess and use other tools to drill and press my books overnight without the dog disturbing them.

Kate: What is Tangled Antlers?

Amber: Tangled Antlers is the name of my website and Etsy site, a studio name of sorts.

Kate: How did you come up with the name Tangled Antlers?

Amber: Haha. It honestly just began as my e-mail address when I made the switch to G-mail a few years ago. My family is huge into hunting and the outdoors, and I had heard stories of deer or elk found dead with their antlers interlocked from fighting. They got stuck and died that way. It’s an absurdity of nature and male competition.

Kate: That’s something I never knew before. Interesting!

 

Kate: Where can I find more of your work? 

Amber: 

Website: www.tangledantlers.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TangledAntlers

Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/TangledAntlers

 

Kate: Do you have any upcoming shows or exhibitions?

Amber: As far as shows in which I am exhibiting, there is nothing on my agenda right now. However, I will be curating an exhibition at HFA Gallery at the University of Minnesota Morris in August of 2013. I’m looking forward to visiting my alma mater and showcasing some of our awesome Twin Cities artists out on the prairie. It will be a great opportunity to connect the students there with the arts community of the TC.

Kate: Thanks for sharing your work with me Amber! Good luck with the HFA Gallery in Morris, hopefully we will hear more about the show you are curating in the future.

Altered Esthetics’ Solo Exhibitions Program

July 23, 2012 in Altered Esthetics, Kate Renee, Solo Exhibition Program | No comments

Its that time of the year again! Altered Esthetics is accepting applications for the third annual Solo Exhibitions Program. This program is designed for emerging artists seeking help and guidance through career development assistance and a guided solo exhibition. It is taught by me! I created this program in 2010 and designed it while I was an Assistant Gallery Intern at Altered Esthetics.

To date we have had 6 community partners including Spring Street Tavern, Maude Salon, Sweeney Todds, the Q.arma building, Bicycle Theory, and Northeast Community Chiropractic. They have been big supporters of Altered Esthetics, the Solo Exhibitions Program, our artists and the arts community in general.

Here is Jennifer Stano’s solo exhibition which was hosted in 2011 at Spring Street Tavern

We have also been very fortunate to have had two good group of artists graduate from the program as well. We had past intern Katie Parr and two of our resident artists Marnie Erpestad and Margie Gamache participate in the program. This year we are fortunate to have one of our 2013 artists participate through a grant supported project.

We are still accepting applications. The great thing about this year is that the application fee is waived! It is completely free to apply to the program. This program lasts one year. Artists receive an in depth look into the runnings of an arts non-profit gallery, board structure, participate on committees and learn valuable career skills along the way. This year the artist have learned about goal setting, exhibition planning, giving and receiving critiques and more. We also had the artists head on over the the St. Paul Art Crawl and Art A Whirl during April and May.

 

This program is a great combination of small group collaboration and discussion and a window of opportunity to jump head first into a more focused and fulfilling arts career. Interested in taking the next step in your art career? Deadline is July 31st 2012. Please head on over to the AE website to learn more information.

And a very very special thanks to Amber White (Janey) and Summer Scharringhausen who helped me with this program from the start. Amber spent her internship as Assistant Gallery Director focusing on building this program. She spent a lot of time and focus on writing a Jerome Foundation grant to fund the Solo Exhibitions Program. Summer was the Gallery Director who guided Amber and I through the AE internship program. She spent many hours helping us write grants and develop this program too. I would like these two women to know how thankful I am for their continued support and assistance with the Solo Exhibitions Program.

City Pages Slideshow

April 16, 2012 in Altered Esthetics, Kate Renee, Press and Promotions, Shoes | No comments

PHOTOS BY HILARY STEIN on April 6, 2012, Artwork by Kate Renee 2012

Published on April 9, 2012 on City Pages

Didn’t quite make it to AE for the Level_13: Cheat Codes exhibition? Well, there is still time. You have until April 26th to see the show. City Pages came and took a bunch of pictures as well and I have about 6 photos or so in their slideshow. Check it out here!

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