ArtMatters Newsletter November 2022

Tickets on Sale for The Brueske’s Holiday Concert

Until November 18th, SAVE $2 per ticket with promo code: EARLYBIRD

Renowned professional singers, Jeff Brueske and his sister Tara join forces for a night of beloved Christmas classics! This is the perfect event for families and audience members of all ages! Presented by ACCC and Chaska Parks & Recreation.

December 17, 2022 @ 4:00 PM. Chaska Community Center Theatre.

Ticket Prices:
$15 Adults
$10 Students & Seniors

Get Tickets Now

Artist Conversations

New idea to create a community with artists!

We are excited to host Artist Conversations, a monthly gathering of artists to share and discuss their work with each other. Any artistic medium is welcome – bring your writing to share or to get inspiration; show-and-tell your latest creations, work on a piece in the company of others, share marketing strategies or show opportunities and most of all: BUILD COMMUNITY!

Gatherings are held every 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6 – 8:00 PM in the ACCC Gift Shop and we invite you to bring noshes to share if you are able.

The next Artist Conversations will be on November 9th.

Visual Art News

Classes

Music News

Songwriters of Carver County: CD Release Concert & Art in the Park Festival

The Songwriters and Musicians of Carver County Vol. 8 features 20 songwriters! Support local musicians and the Arts Consortium by ordering your album today.

If you have any questions about upcoming Music Events, please contact Steve Kelzer at music@artsofcarvercounty.org

Buy the Digital Album

Buy the Physical Album

Newsletter Part 2!

Human Rights Commission of the City of Chaska –  Logo Competition!

The City of Chaska Human Rights Commission is calling for submissions of a logo design that reflects the goals of the organization. This competition for logo creation is open from October 1 – November 30, 2022.

The artwork must be original.

The final Selection and award of the honorarium in the amount of $500.00 will be made on December 22, 2022. Submission is open to all. Designs submitted become the property of the Chaska Human Rights Commission and the City of Chaska.

The logo design preferred will reflect the mission of the Human Rights Commission:

•  Promotes inclusion and tolerance
• Serves as a bridge between community and City
• Embraces and cultivates cultural diversity
• Builds partnerships
• Welcoming

Requirements:
Submission should be in both color and black-and-white versions in a Vector file format.
Colors selection choices or combinations of Green, Yellow, Blue, White, and Black are preferred to keep in step with the City of Chaska. Montserrat font style is also preferred but not absolutely required.

Logo designs should be submitted to:
Human Rights Commission
City of Chaska
Email: HRC@chaskamn.com
1 City Hall Plaza
Chaska, MN 55318

Website: www.chaskamn.com/HRC

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2023 Exhibition Season

Visit the Exhibitions tab on our website for more information about upcoming gallery shows.

We are so excited to be announcing our new season in the Chaska Community Center Gallery! This is going to be a spectacular year for artwork in Carver County. All media is welcome. Members will be able to submit up to three pieces to the following shows: Larger Than Life Exhibit, Over the Rainbow Exhibition, Capturing the Moment Exhibit, Life in Abstraction, Members’ Show, and ACCC Annual Holiday Gift Show. We will also be presenting the ACCC Annual Awards Exhibit this year, where we will be collecting registration to enter and we will be awarding cash prizes.

Designed by Barb Cobb. Thank you, Barb!

Literary Info

NaNoWriMo 2022
Starting November 1st, writers all over the country will be celebrating NaNoWriMo! Not sure what NaNoWriMo is? It’s short for National Novel Writing Month, a yearly adventure for writers of all levels to challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in 30 days. If you are interested in learning more about this exciting writing event, please check out www.nanowrimo.org for more details and to register your writing project. Speaking of NaNoWriMo… there are many options around Carver county for taking part in NaNoWriMo, here are just a couple:

• The Waconia Writers Group is hosting a series of write-ins on Monday evenings in November, in honor of National Novel Writing Month. WWG members will be gathering to work on their writing projects, share resources/advice/camaraderie, and some of them might even immerse themselves in the challenge of writing a novel in 30 days! Bring a project! Write! Enjoy some snacks and the company of your writing peers. Come when you can, and stay as long as you want. You don’t have to be participating in NaNoWriMo (or writing a novel) to join in on the fun! The Waconia Writers Group Write-Ins are every Monday in November, 6:30 pm-8 pm at the Waconia Library near the magazine area. For more information, contact Jen Anderson at waconiawriters@gmail.com.

• Starting Monday, November 7th, the Chanhassen Library will be hosting NaNoWriMo Meetups. These Meetups will take place weekly on Mondays in November, from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm in the Longfellow Room in the Chan library. For more information, go to www.carverlib.org and go to the Events & Registrations tab.

Special Spotlight on the Waconia Writers Group

We are writers of all genres and experience continually learning from each other as we grow as writers. We have members who are just beginning their writing journeys, members who are actively pursuing publication…. and everyone in between! Our tools range from notebooks to laptops, to cocktail napkins, to our ability to tell a story from memory.

WWG MISSION: To offer an open and encouraging environment in which to share, read, discuss and celebrate our work.

WWG VALUES: We are serious about our work but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re respectful, curious, supportive and – most of all – have fun with our writing. 

Looking Ahead to 2023 and Call to Action!

The Literary Committee is busy working on scheduling a jam-packed year of open readings, contests, art festival appearances, classes, and more! If there are certain events you’d like to see the Literary Committee sponsor or an event/class you’d like to run, please let us know! Contact the Literary Committee at literary@artsofcarvercounty.org, using “Event Ideas” in the subject line.

Putting together a fantastic schedule of events also takes manpower. The Literary Committee is looking for those literary-minded folks to step up and help ensure our events run smoothly. We’d love to see fresh faces on our committee with exciting new ideas! If you are interested in becoming more active in the ACCC Literary Committee, send an email to Literary Committee Head Amy Gregg at literary@artsofcarvercounty.org, with “Committee Interest” in the subject line.

New Barn Quilt – Members Project

Anne Krocak, Cologne, received a grant from the MN State Arts Board and the Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment to create a barn quilt depicting connections between disabled people and the importance of celebrating diversity in our community.  The barn quilt will be installed in Carver County and a photograph of the barn quilt will be displayed on the digital billboard in St. Boni as a conversation starter with linked social media. An artist-led community forum creating a more inclusive community will happen later this year.

Anne included Artist and friend Kristin Lebben, Victoria, along with other women with disabilities, worked together to design the quilt.  It was a labor of love that brought to the forefront the importance of everyone in the community.  This barn quilt is dedicated to raising the visibility and voices of women who are vulnerable and those that feel they need to hide their disabilities. The quilt includes women that have been excluded from vitally important conversations that directly impact them and their communities.

The project frames the conversations around women with disabilities in a visually accessible format that is celebrated in our local community, the barn quilt. Quilts in this country have a very long history of being women’s work and an art form for the women creating them. What began as an art of necessity began to flourish into a full-blown medium that included deep symbolism and over time, slowly eroded the demarcation between craft and art. Beyond their utilitarian importance, quilts were a place to tell a visual story, create meaningful patterns, and even convey messages like for the Underground Railroad. Quilting history is one of the voiced opinions, that raised awareness, and indeed, social reform.

The Women with Disabilities Barn Quilt embraces the deep history of this art form and contributes to this tradition, using symbolism to bridge the conversation around inclusion and equity in our community. 

Krocak, who has lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years, understands the importance and power of moving beyond any perceived limitations and works to bring this awareness and accessibility to all of her public art pieces.  Anne deeply believes that art can spur social change. Using art to bring marginalized people into the center of their community is one of my passions. She is dedicated to visually depicting the unheard voice, bringing “what matters” into public view by creating accessible interactive art pieces such as concrete sculptures/benches, mosaics, barn quilts, murals, mobiles, photographs, and interactive temporary installations. Anne has won numerous awards and created public art throughout Minnesota and the US, including the Kennedy Center in DC,  Public Arts St. Paul, and ArtSage, Children’s Hospital Minneapolis/Campus, Minnesota Creative Artists and Aging Network, ArtsAge, Senior Living Communities throughout MN. In 2009 she received the Jahney-Arts Access Award from VSA Minnesota, recognizing her as an outstanding artist educator of the Year. In 2011 received a National Fellowship from VSA National and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.    

Kristin Lebben, Victoria, who has lived with chronic pain and other disabilities her whole life, knows that when everyone contributes solutions are better. When Kristin is not creating metal sculptures or selling her photographs she is raising awareness of critical environmental issues.  Kristin is an award-winning multi-modal artist who likes to ask her viewers to look deeper at her works. She knows that art has the ability to help people view things from perspectives; perspectives they otherwise may not be able to access.  Lebben strives to harness this power in both her private and public pieces. Kristin has worked on many public art pieces including a stained glass project in Chicago for Habitat for Humanity, filming at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the “We All Belong Project” in Chaska. She has worked in photojournalism, as a photographer for an environmental group and has shown her work in the upper midwest for over 30 years.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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ArtMatters Newsletter November 2022