The Mill Yard presents a new show, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, showcasing local artists. Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is an upbeat, humorous and inspirational ode to life and the places it takes us. For many, these ‘places’ are geographical locations. For some, these ‘places’ are not physical at all. Rather, they may be social, emotional, spiritual ‘rooms’ to which we retreat to rest and relax, ponder, ask questions or be inspired. You’re invited to come, be inspired, prodded, reminded, and encouraged just as Dr. Seuss encourages and inspires us in his book.
At The Mill Yard opening reception, local chef Jessi Peine’s food truck, Peeps Hot Box, will be parked out front selling world street foods inspired by seasonal ingredients. Andrew Zimmern of Food Network said, “Peeps Hot Box is one of the best food trucks I’ve ever eaten at anywhere in the country.” All attendees will receive an Izzy Buck to help satisfy your sweet tooth. Plus, the Misfits Coffee truck will be here too!
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GALLERY AND ARTIST DETAILS:
Jim Dryden
The New House
Jim Dryden, a native of North Dakota, is a painter and sculptor. His work frequently deals with themes of partnership, connectedness and intimacy. He is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, a founding member of Form + Content Gallery, and a member artist of Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art. The pieces Jim has selected for The Mill Yard are specifically about time and place.
“From the autobiographical series Love|Hate, these paintings represent a timeline of the places I come from, have been to, and hope to go. A farm in North Dakota, a white, clapboard, country church, a pink sand beach on Lake Superior, a secluded fish pond, a new home still in the dream stages. These are the times and places that connect me to my past, future, family, and community.”
Jim’s art is represented in numerous collections including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the University of Minnesota Tretter Collection, Walker Art Center, the Weisman Art Museum. Web site: https://www.jimdryden.net/
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Margaret Grill
The Old Neighborhood Thanked Her
Margaret Grill is a visual artist inspired by place, a sense of home, and landscape. She has worked as a visual artist for more than 10 years and exhibited with a diverse group of galleries and venues. In her own words she is “inspired by process, specifically the fluid, flexible, and messy process of painting. My initial inspiration is worked out through a repetitive progression of drawing, collage, and washes using water-soluble oils. Layering media allows me to illustrate complex ideas into a visual language. This process is then evident in my finished work, as the layers of paint appear in varying degrees of transparency, an effect that speaks to passing time, flux, and my hand as an artist. As a painter, I capture the change I see in the landscape, as I feel it allows me to better understand my place in the world. Change can be beautiful, exciting, unexpected and disconcerting.”
She has selected art for The Mill Yard with the hope it inspires viewers to observe their own landscapes and ask questions about the changes they see. Web site: mgrillpainting.com
Kevin Peters
Spring Bloom
Kevin Peters Fine Art was born out of the conclusion that adding beauty to this world is indeed a worthwhile, venerable pursuit. Kevin began as a hobbyist landscape painter while living in southern Cambodia, but capturing what the eye sees and putting it on canvas quickly began to lose his interest. He wanted to begin “painting things not of this world…deeper things…things of the heart, soul, and, mind”. This desire, along with months of self-study, gave birth to Kevin’s signature abstract painting style. The Minneapolis-based artist has selected pieces for The Mill Yard that are created to represent the essence of the innermost “happy place,” sometimes called the soul.
“My hope is that each of these pieces fills you with a sense of tranquility and happiness, reminding you to take the time to go to your happy place… which may not be a literal place at all!”
Email: kevinpeters.fineart@gmail.com
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Jane Weis
Valley Farm
Jane Weis began her 25-year painting career with watercolor, then acrylic, and now oil and pastel. She has engaged in a range of artistic mediums including woodcut printing, designing and building furniture, cabinet making and museum archival framing. She considers herself a Midwestern regional artist and says, “much of my art is born from my affection for the rolling hills and deciduous trees of the Midwest.” Jane loves to travel for the excitement of new food, people, enormous cities, small towns, landscapes, vineyards and nature. And, “I love to come home. To feel the peace and familiarity of coming home brings a unique joy to me.” The pieces she has selected for The Mill Yard are paintings and pastels of her rural landscapes, farmscapes, and sky paintings from Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and Maine. “All beautiful places.” Web site: janeweispaintings.com
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Sara Zhang
In Kitchen #1
‘By day,’ Sara Zhang is a NASA scientist in Washington, DC; however, she has been drawing and painting since she was a teenager in Shanghai, China, where she was born and raised. Sara is primarily a self-taught artist, but travels the world for business and pleasure to study the work of ‘masters.’ With a trained mind and eye she analyzes what makes a work of art truly great, and then launches into the hard work of honing her creative skills. Soft pastel is Sara’s preferred medium because it gives her the flexibility to express the fleeting moments she finds in everyday life. The pieces specifically painted for The Mill Yard “Oh the Places You’ll Go” exhibit are of everyday kitchen scenes.
“I don’t think I am alone in feeling the kitchen is a favored room at home… In these little vignettes, I hope to evoke memories of tastes, smells, sounds, conversations and more; memories of when we connected with each other; memories of laughter and love.” Email: saraqzhang@gmail.com
Tia Keo
Tia Keo has spent much of her life exploring the intersections of art, craft, design and architecture. Growing-up with architect father, David Salmela, meant she developed an artistic approach to engaging with the world from a young age. After graduating with a degree in architecture, she and her husband co-founded Silvercocoon as a means to work on creative projects across disciplines. Several years later she launched her laser cut jewelry collection under the Silvercocoon label with a solo-trunk show in the Walker Art Center shop. In 2017 she received a MN State Arts Board Grant to help her expand her jewelry practice into metal. The grant became a catalyst for creating new metal jewelry, expanding into metal sculpture, and for developing a daily watercolor practice that has exceeded 400 days. A solo exhibition “Three Sixty Five” will feature all the work she generated across disciplines in the span of a year at the American Swedish Institute from June 30 to August 5, 2018. Web sites: silvercocoon.com & tiakeoart.com
The Mill Yard at Stonebridge Lofts
The Mill City. Residents celebrate our area’s industrial heritage of the mighty Mississippi River and the mills. Today, what we see are the most recognizable Minneapolis landmarks. However, this is only part of the story. Rail lines were key to Minneapolis’ growth, and were particularly integral to the Mill District, bringing in wheat and timber and shipping out flour and lumber. We also honor the history of the mills, the reason for the rail yard’s existence. The Mill Yard aims to be both a gathering place for art and artists and a conduit by which art can be shared with and disseminated into the wider community.
The Mill Yard at Stonebridge Lofts thanks Luke Kleckner, Condo Development and Sales, for his generous sponsorship.
