March 11, 2025 Tuesday
Andy Sturvegent, How to Start Your Own Business
New Brighton Community Center 7 – 9 pm

Allison Ecklund was not able to make it, so Andy was able to step forward and do the presentation. Andy works with Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul. He is also the Artist Resource Manager and Coordinator for the Minnesota Lawyers for the Arts.

Andy Sturdevant (he/him) is a writer, artist, and designer living in Minneapolis. He is the author of four full-length nonfiction books, including the Minnesota Book Award-nominated book Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities (with Bill Lindeke). He graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art in painting in 2004 from the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville. Andy has written about art, history and culture for a variety of Twin Cities-based publications and websites. He is the recipient of grants from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and Forecast Public Arts, awards from the Minnesota Media & Publishing Association and the Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

His presentation will cover the basic tasks needed to start your own art business. He will talk about naming your business, setting up the structure, how to create a business plan and the taxes associated with the business. Mostly the focus will be on creating an LLC.

May 15, THURSDAY – Lorenzo Chavez Live Demo
New Brighton Community Center Community Room on first floor, 7pm – 9pm

Lorenzo, our workshop artist, will be giving a live demo of his work and technique. Please note that this is Thursday, not our usual Tuesday meeting day.

Board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every other month, beginning with January, from 5:30-7:00 via zoom.

Member meetings are the second Tuesday of the same month as the board meeting, from 7-9pm.

At our member meetings we feature guest speakers, demonstrations, materials and equipment information, critiques and exchanges of information and insight to further members' artistic development and our sense of community as a society.

Our meetings are held at the New Brighton Community Center, 400 10th St. NW, New Brighton, MN 55112, in Room 224.

Recap of the November 12 Presentation by Mandy Madsen

After her introduction, Mandy Madsen gave a brief description of her background and experience in the art of framing. She began her presentation by outlining the basic framing process. She noted that when she frames pastel works of art, she never turns the painting upside down in any of her steps involved. Mandy first described the Matt and how they are mounted inside the frame itself. The frame must have enough space for the matting and backboard of the painting. The Matt can be separated from the glass by spacers. Sometimes the painting is glued directly to the glass, which is called the French style of framing. This technique is used a lot in Museums to minimize the loss of pastel dust over the years. Otherwise, sometimes the bevel is reversed for a pastel painting, so that when dust does fall, it will be caught inside the Matt itself. The frame core is placed up against the Matt and then held in place by a shim. Not all artists want to use a Matt for their paintings. In this case, the spacers are attached to the glass prior to inserting the painting.

It is advisable to do some work on the frame before you begin to place the Matted painting into it. So Mandy always places her screw holes 1/3 of the way down from the top of the painting and drills them ahead of time. She will also measure the wire length ahead of time. Once the painting is secured in the frame, she will place the frame onto her brown backing paper, trace it, and cut the paper slightly larger than her sketched frame. Double stick tape is applied directly to the paper, inside the frame sketch lines. She uses acid-free tape. The frame is attached and the paper edges trimmed from the frame. Now the screws go in and the wire strung through the two hooks. There are three types of glass used, regular, museum glass (which is 95% no glare) and a third type, that is only 77% non-glare, but cheaper, just as effective. for the most part, and used by many artists.

Throughout the presentation she answered all questions, with some of the following comments:

• As a practice, she recommends using a Matt, though it was noted that the trend today was for people to not place a Matt around their large paintings
• The Matt and frame should contrast
• She never frames the painting upside down
• She does have a special glass cutter
• She resorts to Plexiglas once the frame sizes are 40" x 60" or larger

After the formal presentation she gave a demo at the back of the room on how to place the wire and wrap it onto the frame itself properly. Previously cut 8" x 10" double Matts were available for anyone who wanted them. Sample Matts, spacers, tools and frame corners were accessible to view and experiment with in the back of the room as well.

Recap of the October 1 Demo by Lyn Asselta

Lyn began by describing the image she was going to paint in her demo. It was called Kresge Point, along the shores of the Atlantic. It is one of her favorite and isolated points she enjoys going to for contemplation. She wanted to highlight the path that leads one out to Kresge point. The format she chose was to use the vertical position for highlighting the path and the point it leads one to. In the foreground was a lot of grass, but in her drawing, she chose to change that area into more rock formation, and explained how to make the path slightly different to reinforce her intent. As she did her under painting, she explained her process and why she chose the value she did. Then, on a whim, she decided to make the painting a nocturne scene. As she was working, she did answer people’s questions as they came up. It is important to know when to stop. For her, it is recognizing when you are slowing down and taking longer to make a decision. Some of the questions she answered were about the double film sticky paper she uses to set her paper onto a backing. (She uses mostly gator board and a sheet called grafhix.) If she makes small mistakes, she removes them by painting over them. For larger mistakes, there are several options: one can erase it altogether; or possibly turn it into gray by using a complimentary value; or re-balance it somehow so it does not stand out. Her demo was astounding and the final product was very different from the original image. Of course, the painting sold immediately when she was done. Afterwards, many people wandered around to look at the many samples of art work that were either in progress or completed by the workshop attendees.

Recap of the September 10 Presentation With Art Weeks

Art began by talking of his personal history and how he started with line drawing. This was mostly due to the fact that he was an architect and that was the practice he knew. Using a slide presentation he was able to show examples of his work. The structural integrity was important. In the beginning he began with portraits, taking many of his subjects from MAD Magazine. It takes some good hand/eye coordination to do a good portrait. Now he started to study the work of other fine artists who did line drawings. Again, giving examples of these works through his slide show and books he brought along for the evening. Attendees each got a list of his favorite artists and some of their written books.

Later he wondered if he could apply his line drawing technique to landscapes. And whether the line technique could be applied to pastels, so more experimenting was done. Sometimes he uses value from water color paintings, or even other media, that used only one pigment, as studies for his paintings. Combining lines with shapes, he felt good about the paintings he was doing. More samples of his pastel works were presented, some just line drawing and some using lines and shapes. Following this, he gave a demo of his technique, using several pens. He showed how he handles the pens when he is drawing, from the side and mentioned that it is all about the pressure and angle of the pen to create the effect you want. He prefers using hard pastels for the most part. They are good for making lines, blending the colors and maintaining the edges of the painting better. Following the program attendees were able to practice some of these techniques with various pens that were provided for them in the back of the room.

Recap of July 9 Paint Out in Bryant Lake Regional Park

It was another beautiful day, very similar to last summer. The sun and clouds danced in the sky, challenging all of us painters with when we had light to work with. Nine people total showed up as the event progressed. (Some had actually come earlier than our designated 4 pm start time!) Not all of us actually painted, nor stayed for the entire event, but most importantly, we all enjoyed each other’s company and support. Some were able to complete a draft, with lighting, before the sun disappeared again. Then, due to the shadowy skies, most of us started a second painting (or sketch, as was my case). The clouds burst forth a short rainfall in the middle of our time, but we were prepared with our umbrellas. It only lasted about 15 minutes, so we were able to continue our love for painting. Following are some images we captured during the whole event. Most stayed right up to the end time of 7 pm. Next year, my hope is we will have a farm to work on for our inviting imagery. Hope to see you there!