The NEMAA blog is a platform for us to share our members work and their stories, and a hub for information about the NEMAA community.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

2016 Fall Fine Arts Show Award Winners

NEMAA hosted a vibrant and bustling opening reception for the Fall Fine Arts show, which showcased artwork from over 150 of our talent members. With over 950 people attending, the reception on September 16 at the Solar Arts Building included delicious bites from Chowgirls Killer Catering, Craft Beer from Indeed Brewing and cocktails provided by Tattersall Distilling

During the reception, our judges, presented four awards for first through third place and honorable mention:

First Place: 
“A teapot for Prince Darwin” by Marko Fields



Second Place: 
“Liberty” by Russ White




Third Place: 
“Insight parable #9-Desire is the trap” by Christopher Palbicki 



Honorable Mention: 
“Subterranean Homesick Teal” by Stephen Filla-Kim 



People’s Choice: A 3-way tie!






We would like to extend our biggest THANK YOU to our amazing sponsors, silent auction donors, and to all of our supporters for coming out to the show. 

Monday, September 12, 2016

Introducing the Judges for the 2016 Fall Fine Arts Show

Now in its 17th year, the NEMAA Fall Fine Arts Show has become a much anticipated annual tradition our artist members and the entire community look forward to. A harmonious and coordinated answer to the frenzy of Art-A-Whirl, Fall Fine Arts is an impressive look at the art of over 150 of our artists, all in one curated gallery show held at Solar Arts by Chowgirls in the Solar Arts Building in the heart of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.
Each year, the board and executive director are responsible for choosing judges for the show. For Fall Fine Arts Show, the committee look for judges with a reputable arts background in many disciplines. Judges are responsible for selecting four winners, including Honorable Mention, based on overall composition, artistic quality, originality, and other factors.
Judges for the 2016 Fall Fine Arts Show are:

John Schuerman
Artist and Curator, former director of Instinct Gallery
John Schuerman is a self-taught artist and independent curator. From 2013 to 2016 he was the Gallery Director for Instinct Art Gallery. Instinct was a contemporary gallery with an emphasis on art that honors the natural world. His deep interest in nature and human nature are visible in both his art and his curatorial work which consists of group exhibitions focused on sociological themes. His aesthetic style and social consciousness formed as he grew up on a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin, coming of age during the cultural revolution of the late 60’s and early 70’s.
He has produced exhibits on topics such as Money, Gender Perspectives, Identity, Environmentalism, Our Medicated Lives, and Human Overpopulation.

Susannah Magers
Director and Curator of Contemporary Art at Rochester Art Center
Magers earned a BA in History and a BA in Photography from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the California College of the Arts, in San Francisco, CA. Magers relocated from Oakland, CA, and joined Rochester Art Center on June 2, 2015. She has a background in independent curatorial practice, writing, exhibition interpretation and management, and public engagement with the arts. Her most recent experience includes working as the Interpretation Manager for the site-specific exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, the unprecedented contemporary public art collaboration between the FOR-SITE Foundation, The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the National Parks Service. Magers also co-directed the North Oakland, CA alternative arts and project space, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, which supports emerging and mid-career artists in the Bay Area with an emphasis on experiential and experimental programming. In 2012, she managed visitor engagement for the FOR-SITE Foundation’s International Orange, a site-specific group exhibition featuring artists such as Allison Smith, Stephanie Syjuco, Mark Dion, Doug Hall, and Courtney Lain at Fort Point National Park, in San Francisco, CA.

Sarah Balk McGrill
Owner, McGrill Art Associates - Art Consultation Services
McGrill is a photographer and owner, curator, consultant and designer at McGrill Art Associates, an art consultation group, where she produces creative environments for commercial and healthcare organizations through visual arts and exhibition programs. With over 25 years of experience working with the arts community, she brings the vision of clients to reality by collaborating with a network of hundreds of talented artists, craftspeople and creative contributors. Her clients include the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview Hospitals and Clinic, Amplatz Children’s Hospital, BWBR Architects, The Science Museum of Minnesota, and Carlson Companies. McGrill was a visual arts educator at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Golden Valley in 2004-06, and has helped coordinate exhibitions at the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR) in Crystal. Ms. McGrill holds a degree in art history and theatre arts from the University of Minnesota. McGrill Art Associates was founded in 2001 with the intent to promote local and regional artists to healthcare organizations, commercial facilities and the architectural & design industry.

More about Fall Fine Arts Show:

NEMAA will be hosting a Fall Fine Arts Show opening reception on Friday, September 16, 2016 from 6-10PM. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from 5-9PM and Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6PM through September 25, 2016. In addition to the artwork on display, guests are invited to enjoy a silent auction, live music, food by Chowgirls Killer Catering, craft beer from Indeed Brewing and special cocktails by Tattersall Distilling, open artist studios in the Solar Arts Building, and a chance to meet and mingle with Northeast artists and art enthusiasts alike. Overall winners selected by guest judges will be presented, and guests will be encouraged to vote for the “People’s Choice Award.” For more, visit https://nemaa.org/fall-fine-arts-show.