Update: Foot in the Door 4

Final count - just about 5,000 entrants for the exhibit. Hopefully they won't all come to the opening reception - or if they do, hopefully it won't be all at the same time.

I think we'll go early.

Installing the exhibit

And I still don't see Lake Smalti in any of these photographs.  

Foot in the Door 4

Update: Foot in the Door 4 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

Just look at all these "feet" in the door!

They are getting the show installed:



I don't see Lake Smalti in any of these photos... but this is only the tip of the iceberg. I've heard that they've filled two galleries at the institute and have requested another one... haven't seen any numbers on how many works were accepted.

Wish I could be there to help out.
Maybe next time - in 2020, for Foot in the Door 5.

The opening reception is on the 18th, 6-9pm. It should be amazing to see all this art in one spot. I'm definitely going to go. I have my artist pass hanging on the (broken) refrigerator just waiting to be snatched up as I head out the door next Thursday morning.

Ship Mosaic Progress

On Saturday Nova & I went up to the cities for the day. First we went to the MAEP meeting at the MIA. It was a meeting for electing the new panel members. Nova went browsing around the museum while the meeting went on since she's not a Minnesota artist, but rather a Nevada artist (and therefore not eligible to vote).

After the meeting we did a quick retracing of Nova's steps to see the exhibits she thought interesting. Then we went to lunch at a little cafe on Raymond street called Jay's Cafe. We originally were planning to have lunch at Key's - also on Raymond street, but they close at 2pm and it was just after 2 when we arrived. Jay's is just up the block, so we walked there and had a great lunch for under $20.

We got to J. Ring Glass at 2:55pm and started looking at beads first. The clerk came over to us at a few minutes after 3pm and told us they were closed, and that we would have to come back on another day. When I explained that I live 2 1/2 hours away she let me grab the stained glass that I needed. The blue piece that I got was exactly the color that I wanted - I had the sticker off of a previously purchased piece. The tan is too light, too butterscotchy, but perhaps the shop in La Crosse will have the tan that I need so that I don't have to go back to Saint Paul before I can finish this mosaic.

After J. Ring Glass, we went to Mosaic on a Stick where Nova selected a few special items for the mosaic she wants to make. I got tan and blue grout for the mosaic. I also mentioned that I was planning a mosaic made of glass scavenged from the Mississippi river. The owner of the shop said not to grout it, that grout will get into the scratches on the glass and ruin it. It was great to get that advice.

After Mosaic on a Stick we went to Wet Paint and selected some papers for making books. Nova wants to make a book or two. She's making one using a technique she's done before, and later I will teach her the long-stitch book method that I know.

On Sunday I worked on the ship mosaic using the blue and white swirled glass I got on Saturday. Here's how the mosaic looks right now:

There's a bit of glare on the glass, but for the most part this is a pretty good photo of the mosaic.

It's getting closer to being done... Now I need to set up a photo space and the lighting for photographing mosaics without glare on the glass.

Level Orange

We just spent 6 wonderful days with Daughter #1 and our 3-year old granddaughter. They flew in from Las Vegas (which Granddaughter calls Lost Vegas) last Friday morning and flew out yesterday.

Picking them up last week from the airport in Minneapolis, I noted that our Terrorism Threat level was Orange. How strange. Orange is the second highest level. If, in fact, we were in that much danger, how come no one was talking about it? Activity in side the airport looked normal to me - no goose-stepping guards, no strip searches, no public warning announcements over the loudspeakers, nothing unusual, nada.

Have we become fearless, or just complacent...? Either way, I do not think that a rational discourse could take place yet about 9/11, the subsequent wars, keeping uncharged people in prison for years, torture, or even what we should do now that we have totally screwed things up for so many, many people (including ourselves).

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More on the I-35W bridge collapse

I have been listening to the NPR and MNPR news broadcasts about the bridge collapse. So far, no one from SMU has been involved, although one of my co-worker's sons crossed the bridge just minutes before the collapse.

The NY Times has posted some articles and images of the collapse that convey the sadness without being intrusive. I so despise television news coverage with their reporters sticking microphones and cameras in the face of traumatized, grieving and lost people. Even more distasteful is providing a public venue for reality-show wannabees who show up at tragic events in order to get involved in other people's grief.

Not the most eloquent way to say this, I know...

NY Times articles
At Bridge Site, Search of River Moves Slowly
Last Words of Missing Echo as Relatives Wait for News
Survivor Recounts Terrifying Plunge
Stunned Victim Turns Hero

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Minneapolis bridge collapse

Some amazing photographs of a devastating event...

New York Times Photos

These photos are of the collapse of the highway 35 bridge that took place last night just after 6pm.

Scary.

We drive over this bridge almost every time we go to the twin cities.

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