Open Field Drawing Club

Posted July 20th, 2010 by admin

Check out the Walker’s Open Field project this summer. One awesome project I have on my list is Drawing Club:

For more info on Open Field please visit: http://walkerart.org/openfield/

Upcoming Drawing Club dates include:

Thursday, July 22
*Friday, July 23 from 6 – 8 pm for Tpt’s MN Original Party and CSA
second pick up date in the Park at Mears Park in St. Paul
Thursday, July 29
Thursday, August 5
*Saturday, August 7 from 10 – 3 pm for Free First Saturday at the
Walker Art Center
Thursday, August 12
Thursday, August 19 also mnartists.org Field Day 2010
Thursday, August 26
Thursday, September 2 a special Drawing Club finale in part with our
closing exposition of the works created throughout this summer

Talking Image Connection – August

Posted July 17th, 2010 by admin

Here is the info for the next installment of Talking Image Connection at The Soap Factory:

Friday August 20th, 8pm at the Soap Factory,
TalkingImageConnection, The Soap Factory and H.O.T. present
“Press! A TalkingImageConnection Reading.”

Writers George and Heidi Farrah, David Lawrence Grant, Satish Jayaraj, Kate Kysar and Beth Mayer read stories and poems inspired by H.O.T., a pop up publishing house facilitated by Tiff Hockin and Ariel Pate of ARP!, who will set up shop at The Soap Factory in August.
Free Admission. The Soap Factory is located at 518 2nd Street SE Minneapolis.
For more information call The Soap Factory at 612.823.9176 or contact yackmor@talkimage.org
Writer Bios:
George and Heidi Farrah write poems, separately and together sometimes. George paints paintings, too. They both went to graduate school out East, but returned here together afterwards. George likes scotch, whereas Heidi prefers wine, but they both love to read and write in coffee shops. They also both love to teach. Heidi and George have been doing this — writing, teaching, publishing, having shows — for over twenty years now. They have found and continue to find it to be really, truly a lot of fun.
David Grant is a Twin Cities-based screenwriter and playwright. As a playwright and screenwriter, he has written for the Minnesota Science Museum, the Minnesota Historical Society, Mixed Blood Theater, VocalEssence, The Playwrights’ Center, The History Theatre, KTCA TV, Russell Simmons’ Def Pictures and HBO New York, and Davis Entertainment and the Showtime Network—among other places. Current projects include writing both a web-based dramatic series for children, and a book about the recent experience of finding, in Ghana, the African family from whom his father’s ancestors were separated during the transatlantic slave trade. He has fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation. His travel story, “I Hold High My Beautiful, Luminous Q’uran” appears in the book, Best Travel Writing, 2009, published by Travelers’ Tales, Palo Alto, 2009.
Satish Jayaraj primarily writes YA fantasy that is inspired by global mythology. He is always striving to find a balance between universal mythic symbolism and individuality, while also honoring the pure joy of storytelling. He has had a fairy tale published in the 2008 edition of Rock Paper Scissors and hosts diverse literary events. To satiate his supposed adult side he also writes within other genres, though after struggling to categorize some of his pieces has surrendered them to simply being genreless.
Kathryn Kysar is the author of two books of poetry, Dark Lake and Pretend the World, which will be published by Holy Cow! Press in 2011, and she edited the acclaimed Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers. She has received fellowships from Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Kysar serves on the board of directors for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and teaches at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Loft Literary Center. Her website is http://www.facebook.com/l/ecb0aiPeE96_DD6BjDohIfzzIww;www.kysar.com.
Beth Mayer’s fiction has appeared in The Threepenny Review and The Sun Magazine. Her story “The Way to Mercy” will be reprinted in New Stories from the Midwest, an anthology forthcoming from Ohio University Press; it also made the “Other Distinguished Stories” list featured in Best American Mystery Stories 2010. Her work has twice been selected for mnartists.org’s miniStories flash fiction competition and was first runner-up in Vita.mn’s Summer Story Contest. Beth holds an MFA from Hamline University and teaches English at Century College. www.bethmayer.com
TalkingImageConnection is an organization that brings together writers, contemporary visual artists and new audiences in art galleries around the Twin Cities. For more information contact yackmor@talkimage.org.
ARP! was a Twin Cities journal of art criticism, interviews with artists, conversations about art and much much more.

2500.00 hours! Hot Damn!

Posted July 7th, 2010 by admin

In five short months at The Soap Factory volunteers have contributed over 2500 hours of service. Those hours make our programs happen, keep our doors open and keep our building functioning. We are such a unique organization in that we are supported in the majority by volunteers. I am so proud to be part of an organization that values its volunteers so highly. You guys rock!

I would like to specially recognize a few volunteers who have gone above and beyond to make The Soap Factory great in 2010:

Michael Basler, Tim Carroll, Birdie Freitag, Will Grant, Eric Joas, Karrie Johnson, Jared Hensel, Liseli Polivka, and Shanda Nelson. Those 9 volunteers contributed almost 600 hours thus far in 2010 and have continually gone above and beyond to further The Soap Factory’s mission.

Ten Second Trophy Action

Posted July 5th, 2010 by admin

IMG_0606IMG_0608IMG_0613IMG_0619IMG_0625Check out the bad-ass trophies from The Ten Second Film Festival this year! I will have more photos from the event itself soon.

What Remains Photographs

Posted June 18th, 2010 by admin

Thanks to our amazing photographer Sarah for shooting What Remains with terrific skill!
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What Remains Installation (end)

Posted June 8th, 2010 by admin

Some final photos from the installation of What Remains. In 10 days volunteers at The Soap Factory spent over 400 hours assisting artists with install their pieces. I’m so full of pride I’m getting a little choked up!

Thank you everyone for your hard work and amazing energy during this installation! We couldn’t do it without you!!

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What Remains Installation (more middle)

Posted June 3rd, 2010 by admin

As the What Remains installation week continues all 8 aritsts have arrived and some amazing work is starting to take shape in the gallery. Thank you to all of the volunteers who have given their time this week to help with installation!

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What Remains Installation (middle)

Posted May 31st, 2010 by admin

We are half way to the completing the installation of What Remains. Our awesome interns Christina, Gina, Lisa, Brian and Jordan have been leading the charge with a fantastic team of volunteers.

Here are some photos of Gallery 2 and Project Room 2 in process. Please visit the main Soap Factory website to learn more about the exhibition.
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What Remains Installation (beginning)

Posted May 27th, 2010 by admin

As we prepare for the What Remains installation lots of progress is being made all around the gallery. This is a smattering of what we have been working on this week. They include our fantastic new blue doors, wall demolition from gallery 2, gratuitous alfalfa shots, and maze installation.100_0590100_0594100_0601100_0610IMG_0340IMG_0346IMG_0348IMG_3043IMG_3050IMG_3057IMG_3101IMG_3107

Basement Cleanup Glory!

Posted May 18th, 2010 by admin

One way to gain eternal glory is at The Haunted Basement. This is one of our biggest (and most fun) programs. We start with cleanup early in the spring and will begin construction in June!

Click the photos to enlarge:IMG_2992IMG_2996IMG_3009IMG_3010IMG_3019IMG_3023IMG_3026IMG_3029IMG_3033