Help Keep the Gallery Going Strong

Were you in the Edge Center in Bigfork during the end of December and early January? If so, you noticed how empty the Gallery was. That was the down time between the Holiday Gift Show and the Permanent Collection that is on view during other events from now until the EOW Art League exhibit in April. Seeing empty walls makes us all appreciate how much the exhibits add to the overall experience of going to the Edge Center.

Could you help keep the Gallery vibrant and available? There are lots of ways to do this.

Become a “Friend of the Gallery”. Your donations of $25 go a long ways toward allowing the Gallery to present diverse and fascinating exhibits. Send a check to Edge Center Gallery, Box 304, Bigfork, MN 56628, include a donation with your Edge Center membership. or easiest of all, use the GiveMN.org Donate button on the Edge website www.the-edge-center.org.

If you are an artist, you may want to enter Art on the Edge: Sixth Annual Juried Art Exhibit, which will be on view in July. The submissions are due in mid-May. A juried art show has a time-honored way of being organized. An independent juror is picked because of his or her involvement in the visual arts. The juror’s experience may be as a working artist, a gallery or museum curator, an art teacher or all of the above. He or she is paid to select from submitted artwork those pieces that they think are the strongest. Inevitably some pieces are rejected. The local Gallery committee has no input on this selection and the juror’s decisions are final. There will be more information in next month’s Watts News. Keep up to date by checking the website www.the-edge-center.org.

Do you have bookkeeping, carpentry, or computer skills? We could use you. Would you like to cook for one of the receptions? Would you like to help hang exhibits, or organize workshops, or use a printer? We could use you. Are you good at writing grants? We could really use you! Call Lynn at 743-6018.

This is the time of year when the Gallery committee organizes for the following season. It is a great time to get involved by volunteering or sharing ideas. We hope to hear from you.

Edge Center and Gallery Events for 2009

*July 3- August 1: Art on the Edge
Fifth Annual Juried Art Exhibit
Opening Reception: July 3, 5-7 pm

*August 6 to September 5: Threads of Art:
Explorations of Textiles
Opening Reception: August 7, 1-4 pm

August 7 (8 am) – Arts & Crafts Fair

August 15 (7 pm) – Piano Bar Event
Sit on stage for Piano Bar atmosphere. Music by Ron Olson Trio

August 21, 2009: Wine in the Wilderness Wine Tasting
Fundraiser at Richies Bar, Marcell, Minnesota
Tickets are $30

August 22 - John Perkins
Returning by popular demand with his folk music! Tickets will be $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students.

August 30 – Expressions Concert
Showcasing area youth with Piano, Vocals and Instrumentals. Tickets $5.00

September 8 & 10 (3-6 pm) – Auditions for Broadway at the Edge

*September 10- September 26: Nature’s Edge:
Acrylic Paintings by Angie Sievers
Opening Reception: September 11, 5-7 pm

September 13 (2pm) Pretenders & Friends
This popular band offers a wide variety and refreshing blend of Rock n' Roll, Country and Western, Love Songs and Easy Listening. After a busy summer of Concerts and performances they look forward to returning to one of their favorite places. This group will definitely offer you an afternoon of enjoyable music

September 19 - Pianist John McKay
Early October - The Piatigorsky Foundation Classical Concert.
Information available in late summer.

September 27 – Piano Concert
Featuring area students of local teachers. Tickets $5.00

*October 1- November 1: Elements:
Northern Printmakers Alliance exhibit
Reception: October 2, 5-7 pm

October 17 - Monroe Crossings
October 30, 31 (7 pm), November 1 (2 pm) - “Broadway on the Edge,”
staged show tunes

*November 5-December 12: Holiday Gift Show and Sale
20 Artists
Opening Reception: November 7, 5-7 pm

Mid-November - Wild Sound and Lights at the Edge
EdgeWild Players go nuts

December 14 – Blandin Male Choir

January 28-30, 2010 – The Laramie Project
Bigfork alum, Aaron Gabriel, directs 7pm & 2pm Sun.

*Edge Center Gallery Hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 1:00 to 4:00

Wine Tasting Benefits the Gallery

Wine in the Wilderness, the annual benefit for the Gallery, takes place on Friday, August 21 at Richie’s Inn in Marcell. Beginning at 7 pm, guests are seated and served 7 courses of wine accompanied by appropriate gourmet appetizers. Each wine will be introduced and briefly explained by Effie Neighborhood Tavern owner Marshall Olman. The committee for this event has spent the winter comparing wines in order to choose ones that are both great tasting and great buys, in case you want to purchase them for your own table in the future. This is a fun and delicious evening. Only 72 tickets are being sold and they go fast. To buy tickets, contact Nichole Baker at 218-832-3529 or email her, Marshall Olman at the Effie Neighborhood Tavern, 218-743-3286, or Richie’s Marcell Inn, 218-832-3906. Tickets are $30 each.

Art on the Edge: Fifth Annual Juried Exhibit

Twenty artists have been selected for Art on the Edge: Fifth Annual Juried Art Exhibit at the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork. The 39 artworks are in the Gallery from July 2 through August 1. The Opening Reception for this show is on Friday, July 3 from 5:00 to 7:00. The Awards ceremony is at 6:30.

Juror Cecilia Lieder chose Bigfork artists Joy Anderson, Jeff Argir, Char Bailey, Harold Dziuk, Karen Haberle, Owen Hagen, Gene Madsen, Lynn Nachbar, and David Richter. Donna Rae Anderson and Isaiah Hoppe are from Deer River, Helen Ahlbrecht and Tamara Bennett are both from Bovey while Staci Taylor is from Cohassett. Elizabeth Blair, St Paul, Catherine Hanson, Duluth, Ross Hilgers, Moorhead, Scott Rollenhagen, Big Falls, Dawn Rossbach, Menahga, and Peggy Selander, White Bear Lake, are all part of the exhibit.

The juror of this exhibit, Cecilia Lieder, has been an artist-printmaker for over 35 years. She is a native of Minneapolis who now lives in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood. Her work is well known in the region and in the Boston area. In 2007, she received the Arrowhead Regional Arts Commission George Morrison Arts Award for lifetime achievement in the arts. In 2006 she was awarded the Depot Foundation Artist Award for art and arts activism. Cecilia has received a McKnight/ARAC Artist Fellowship. Activism in the local arts community, directing a public arts project and helping to found and direct the Northern Printmakers Alliance (1999) and the Northern Prints Gallery are among her many accomplishments. She has also served on the Duluth Public Arts Commission and as the director of the Talley Gallery at Bemidji State University.

Meet the juror and artists at the Opening Reception on July 3. The Awards Ceremony will take place about 6:30. Northern Pines Orthopaedic Clinic is the underwriter of the exhibit. ACS Telephone, First State Bank of Bigfork, Edge of the Wilderness Realty, Northland Dental Clinic, and Kocian’s Family Grocery are sponsoring Awards for the top two entries in 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art. Bigfork Valley Hospital once again is sponsoring the People’s Choice Award where the viewers can vote for the art they think is best. The voting will take place on July 2, and on July 3, up until 6:15 at the Opening Reception.

The Gallery is closed on the 4^th of July. The Gallery is open from 1:00 to 4:00 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The Edge Center Gallery is next to the Bigfork School.

Student Music and Art Showcased at the Edge

On Wednesday, May 6, you have a great chance to hear, see and celebrate what the students at Bigfork School have been doing this year in art and music. The Opening Reception for the Fifth Annual Bigfork Student Art Show is from 5:00 to 7:00 in the Edge Center Gallery. Enjoy refreshments and the artwork at the same time. At 7:00, listen to the Bigfork High School Spring Concert in the Edge Center Theater.

The Student Art Show features work by all of Roberta Steinhart’s high school students in 2-D art, Ceramics, Photo, and Painting classes and students in 6th grade General Art. Students learn basic techniques and skills in each of these areas as well as composition and creativity.

Many of the older students in the show have been taking art classes since 7th grade and are developing their own interests. Char Westerman is inspired by the collaged paintings of Timothy Ray that she saw in the exhibit last fall in the Edge Center Gallery. She, Stacey Harnden and Jared Anselmo explored that method of painting (see their painting above), and Char has continued to develop the technique in a series of abstract paintings. Char says that,” Abstract art is like your own playground.” Stacey Harden enjoys both abstract and realistic art and she likes to “keep it fun and light.”

Many of the student artists have taken art classes because they have been making art since they were little, usually encouraged by parents, siblings, and other relatives. Ann Boessel’s grandfather, father, and uncle carve and draw and in her art classes she likes to try all the media. Annalise Klamm remembers her late sister, Amanda, mixing oil paints in their bedroom. Annalise likes to make art that is “creepy or bright and colorful, depending on my mood”. Robin Prather, whose father and brother have been examples to her, tries to make her art original, preferring abstract clay pieces and realistic drawings. Shawna Carlson creates fantasy figures in drawings and dragons in clay. Shelby Goble’s favorite art medium is photography, influenced by her mother, professional photographer Julie Goble. Shelby prefers outdoor photography, especially trees, perhaps because her future plans involve studying forestry.

Come and see the creative and personal work in the Student Art Show from the opening on May 6 through May 23 at the Edge Center Gallery. The Gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00.

The Bigfork High School Spring Concert on May 6 will present 7th through 12th graders in the Band and Choir. The students have been working with music teacher Alycia Hoff since December preparing the music for this concert. You will hear "Jupiter" from Gustav Holst's Suite from the Planets that the band played at Section Music Contest at Greenway High School and "Weep, O Mine Eyes" by John Bennet that the choir sang at that contest. For the first time in several years, the Choir continued on to State Music Contest and sang this piece on Thursday, April 23 in Virginia at Mesabi Community College. Marches, contemporary pieces and gospel songs will also be included in the Spring Concert.

Deadline for Juried Show Entry is May 11

Don’t forget that although the Juried Show isn’t until July, the entries are due in the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork on May 11. After receiving all the entries, the Gallery Committee sends them to Cecelia Leider, the juror, in Duluth. She makes the decisions of which work will be part of the exhibit, and sends the results back to the Gallery Committee. Around June 8, the results will be mailed to the artists.

“Art on the Edge: Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition” is open to all visual art media. The work must all be original, created in 2007, 2008 or 2009 and never shown before in the Edge Center Gallery. Entering artists send an entry form, up to 3 images on CD-Rom (jpeg), an artist’s statement (about 50 words) for the catalog, and a $15 entry fee to Edge Center Gallery, Box 304, Bigfork, MN 56628 by May 11, 2009. Artwork must be delivered to the Gallery by June 29, 2009 and picked up on August 1 or August 3.“Art on the Edge” will be July 2 through August 1, 2009 with the Artists Reception and Awards on Friday, July 3. For complete details go to the website. Entry forms are available by printing a form or contacting Lynn Nachbar - call 218-743-6018 or email.

Theatre Schedule for 2009

• April 30: Pat Surface,
  Spiritwood Music, Bluegrass, Acoustic, new country and Celtic
  
  
• May 6: Bigfork High School Band and Choir Concert
  Immediately following the Bigfork Student Art Show Opening Reception from 5-7 pm

• June 5: Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Award

• July 18-19 - 2 pm: Reza, The Illusionist. Families can watch "appearances and disappearances."

• August 22: John Perkins Returns by popular demand with his folk music!
  
  
• September 13 - 2pm: PRETENDERS AND FRIENDS
  ONE OF THE AREA'S HOTTEST SHOW BANDS BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND FOR THEIR FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW. This popular band offers a wide varity and refreshing blend of Rock n' Roll, Country and Western, Love Songs and Easy Listening. After a busy summer of Concerts and performances they look forward to returning to one of their favorite places. This group will definitely offer you an afternoon of enjoyable music

• October 17 - Monroe Crossing