ArtMatters Newsletter February 2021
ArtMatters Newsletter February 2021 Volume 11, Issue 2
Save the Date – Arts Consortium of Carver County Annual Meeting – Open to All
You are invited to attend the Arts Consortium of Carver County Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 16th at 6:30pm to celebrate all we have accomplished! As our 11th year comes to a close, we are thankful to have had such diligent board members, volunteers, class instructors, donors, sponsors, members, business and organization advocates.
We serve the communities of Carver County and beyond and we continue to make a difference by bringing the arts to the people and people to the arts. We look forward to telling you about our year and welcome you to be a part of our event. Due to CoVid restrictions, the ACCC will host our meeting virtually, via Zoom. More details to come…
Community Art Kit Project
The Arts Consortium of Carver County and the Chaska Parks and Rec Department have teamed up together to co-sponsor Kandinsky Circles and Squares Art and Bake Kit. joint promotion we are doing together with more projects like this to come! Art kits include 4 canvas wraps, acrylic paint, paint brushes, artist bio and art instructions, recipes and produce to create your Circles and Square meal. Everything your family will need to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece!
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist who lived in the 1800’s. Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art. You’ll learn more about him in your kit.
Kits are $30 each. Limited quantities available, so order your kit today!
Kit Pick-up date: February 18th, Register on the Chaska Parks and Rec website.
Locations: 9:30-11am at Carver City Hall or 4:30-6pm at the Chaska Community Center main lobby. If you come to the CCC, be sure to stop in to see us at the Arts Center!
More info on our website: Kandinsky Circle and Squares Art and Bake Kit.
Literary News
We are excited to present a limited-run virtual course in February. Register for a 5 day exploration of The Opalescent World of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, presented by Walter Cannon. Registration information and specific class dates/times can be found on the ACCC website under Classes. Deadline for registration is Feb 7, course starts Feb 9th.
Next on deck is the April Poetry Contest, with the announced theme as “Change” — an open-ended theme given the last year or so, certainly! The deadline for poetry submissions is March 1, 2021. See the Poetry Contest details on our website and watch for reminders via Facebook. If you have any questions or ideas for events, please contact the Literary Committee at literary@
Music News
We are pleased to announce the musical lineup for July 10th and 11th, 2021 ArtStock Art, Wine and Music Festival. Tara B, Matt and Holly, Traveled Ground, Ted Hajnasiewicz, Lehto and Wright and the Blue Skies Band are performing during the event. We are also having a Fundraiser for the ACCC at Parley Lake Winery featuring an evening performance (7-10pm) on July 10th by Monroe Crossing, an internationally known bluegrass band. Mark your calendars now!
Music opportunity
Looking for Songwriters and Musicians to be a part of an original music CD compilation. Please contact Steve for more info. 952-465-2384. music@
Education
Exciting New Class offering by Walter W. Cannon Professor of English Emeritus at Central College in Pella, Iowa where he taught early modern literature including Shakespeare and his contemporaries and a variety of writing courses. His reviews and essays have appeared in The Upstart Crow, Theater History Studies, Cahiers Elisabethains, and Inside Shakespeare: Essays on the Blackfriar’s Stage. He is co-editor with Laury Magnus of Who Hears in Shakespeare?: Auditory Worlds on Stage and Screen, (Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2012) and Shakespeare’s Auditory Worlds: Hearing and Staging Practices, Then and Now (Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2020). Please sign up for this exciting opportunity! See Classes on our website for details.
Fresh Art – A community based Art Opportunity for ACCC Members
Fresh Art – A community based Art Opportunity for ACCC MembersWe are looking for Carver County artists willing to share their new and old work and artist story. Each month we are inviting an artist in Carver County to share their current work and how they became an artist. Offer a chance for a dialogue based on this work and get to know one another. Please let us know if you are interested in this opportunity and what month you would like to present. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Visual Art News
We invite the public to attend our Family Connections Exhibit, Artists’ Reception to meet and talk with artists about their work. The Artists’ Reception is Thursday, Feb 11, 2021, 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the ACCC Arts Center Gallery in the Chaska Community Center.
The Family Connections Exhibit started January 27 and runs through February 27, 2021 in the ACCC Arts Center Gallery, come see! We are CoVid prepared, state mandates at the time will apply to all guests.
ArtStock is Now Open for Applications
We just published the applications for ArtStock Art, Wine and Music Festival 2021, to be held on Saturday July 10th and Sunday July 11th. Find detailed information on how to apply on the ACCC website. We are seeking talented artists representing diverse mediums such as photography, sculpture, wearable arts, glass, fibers, painting, and more. ArtStock is an outdoor event featuring regional and local art, curated wine, and live music throughout both days of the Festival. In it’s 10th year, our Anniversary celebration will be big! ACCC Members get a 10% discount. See our website for details.
If you’d like to be on our Festivals Committee, please let us know! Contact Barb Hone, Festivals Committee Chairperson, festivals@artsofcarvercounty.org
Art Tourism News
The Art Tourism Committee of the Arts Consortium of Carver County is extending its deadline to February 28th to receive Ag Art images. The call is for agriculturalists/farmers to photograph their works of art and submit to arttourism@artsofcarvercounty.
Barn Quilts of Carver County Catches Geocachers’ Interest
The Barn Quilts of Carver County, MN, a public art project, started in 2011, in conjunction with the Arts Consortium of Carver County, has recently caught the attention of a group of geocachers.
Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure-hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. Many people use their smart phones to find geocaches. Others use a GPS to find them. There are more than 3 million active geocaches worldwide. Geocaches are hidden in 191 different countries on all seven continents (even Antarctica)! More than 642 million “Found it” and “Event Attended” logs have been recorded since the game started in 2000.There are many different types of geocaches. There is also a Minnesota Geocaching Association (MnGCA).
Last Fall, a Barn Quilt Geocaching “Adventure Lab” was started by Mary Purdham and her husband David of Eden Prairie. A Geocaching Adventure Lab is a new app and platform from the team at Geocaching HQ that allows an individual to create, play and share location-based experiences and games. The Geocaching Adventure Lab app guides players through the process of finding clues, solving puzzles, and completing Adventures one location at a time. This type of geocaching exploded in 2020 as a great past-time during the pandemic. Not everyone in the geocaching community can “create” an Adventure Lab (“AL”). You must be awarded the opportunity to create one.
The Purdham’s were looking for something fun that was different from historical tours across the various metro cities that were becoming widely popular. They created the Barn Quilts of Carver County Adventure Lab and showcased five different barn quilts. Approximately 40 groups have visited the Carver County barn quilts since the Adventure Lab was created last September 2020.
Participants found their “cache”, took pictures, shared them with families, reminisced about farming and quilting and enjoyed visits with the farmers. They learned about the history of the farm, the barn quilts and readily enjoyed the outdoor gallery of art. To learn more about the Barn Quilts of Carver County Geocaching Adventure Lab, please visit https://labs.geocaching.
The Barn Quilts of Carver County, MN continues to promote tourism bringing state-wide individuals to the County to enjoy and see what all is offered. Watch for the Barn Quilt Tours this summer, where Community, Countryside and Culture meet! https://
For more information regarding the Barn Quilts of Carver County, MN, please contact Janet Fahey, Tour Director at 612-382-4512 or Barb Hone, Author, at 612-799-8208.
Board of Directors Application
We are thankful for the talent and expertise of our ACCC Board of Directors. These dedicated Volunteers work together to ensure the viability and success of the Arts Consortium of Carver County. If you’d like to submit an application to be on the Arts Consortium Board of Directors, please use our online submission form and we will contact you. See you at our virtual ACCC Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 6:30pm. You can direct your questions to Cindy Anderson, ACCC President, info@artsofcarvercounty.org, or any current Board Member.
Volunteer Opportunities
Help us kick off the new year on the best foot possible. We are seeking volunteers for the following roles/positions. If you are interested in learning more, please fill out our Volunteer Form so we can match your skills and talents with various needs for the ACCC. Thank you!
- Treasurer
- Arts Center Volunteer Coordinator
- Membership Coordinator
- Arts Center Gallery & Gift Shop Volunteers
Join the ACCC
OUR MISSION: The Arts Consortium of Carver County strengthens our community through the arts – and cultivates the arts through the community. Show your support by becoming a valued Member of the ACCC. View our Member Benefits on our Membership page. Send your questions to: membership@
The Songwriters and Musicians of Carver County Vol.VI is now available for download on Bandcamp along with the other 5 volumes. 
A second barn quilt book has been released, Barn Quilts and Carver County, MN. It documents the expansion of the Barn Quilt Trail in Carver County. Now, 21 more Barn Quilts, all commissioned art, have been added to this “free, open-air art gallery.”
Anne Krocak: As an artist and teacher, Anne has won numerous awards and conducted public art residencies through VSA Minnesota, The Kennedy Center in DC, COMPAS, Public Arts St. Paul, ArtSage, Children’s Hospital Minneapolis/St. Paul Campus, Minnesota Creative Artists and Aging Network (MnCAAN). 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. Anne is a Lifetime Arts teaching artist. She frequently teaches and prepares others to work with people who have special needs and older adults. She has led workshops and designed and taught classes around the U.S. and in over 60 senior living communities, museums, schools, homeless shelters, libraries, and hospitals. Anne looks forward to bringing her skills and knowledge to the ACCC community as a board member. View Anne’s Artist Profile on the 
Linda McNulty: Linda has been a volunteer all of her life. Transplanted from California then again from Arizona, Linda retired from the City of Victoria and State Farm and has become an advocate for the arts, both in Wickenburg, AZ and now in Carver County. Previous volunteer activities included Community Education Advisory Council for Eastern Carver County School District and campaign worker for two referendums, chair of the Victoria for a Lifetime Committee for eleven years. A founding member of the WeCAB transportation program since its inception in 2014, Linda continues to play an active role as dispatcher for the organization. She was a member of the Victoria Volksfest committee for three years and chair for two years. She also wrote a monthly column for the Chanhassen Villager for nine years, was a member of the City of Victoria Centennial Committee, and worked with the Sheriff’s Office, bringing law enforcement and seniors together.
We want to thank Susan Coultrap-McQuin for her unmeasurable contributions to the ACCC while serving on the board. Her term as board member included roles as Secretary, serving as the Literary Liaison and being on the Operations Committee. While this may seem like a lot, it does not even come close to accounting for her dogged determination to ensure the highest standards were always met in everything she did, her unflagging energy at moving the ACCC forward and upward and her wise counsel in guiding the arts in Carver County. Susan, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.
Hello, I’m Mary Williamson, a new ACCC Board Member. As we are navigating the new ways of doing things in the ACCC, one area remains the same. Membership and who that is made of? As I was accepted onto the Board a few months ago, I was simultaneously working on an Art Membership for my own Studio, with a strong focus on young adults. A passion of mine is teaching, especially youth. In the ACCC the focus on new members, art enthusiasts and artists alike, are geared more towards adults. The young adults have not had a seat at the table, yet.
The annual ArtStock Art, Wine & Music Festival at Parley Lake Winery was held on July 13 & 14. This popular event featured opportunities to purchase great art and to enjoy fine wine, food and music. In honor of the Woodstock 50th anniversary, a 60’s theme featured artists and guests embracing their groovy-ness! This year we had a hot, sunny day to get together and celebrate art in the community, and we are so grateful to our amazing volunteers who made the day especially enjoyable. Thank you to all the artists and booth sponsors – everyone had a wonderful day and we can’t wait to start planning for next year. Special thanks to Steve Zeller and our host Parley Lake Winery.
We are starting to get entries for the ACCC Photo Contest 2019. This year’s theme is “Agriculture” and photographs can include any aspect of agriculture and rural life. Ribbons will be awarded in the following categories: K-4th grade, 5-8th grade, 9-12th grade, Adult (18+ years of age) resident of Carver County, Adult (18+ years of age) non-resident of Carver County. The application deadline is midnight November 5. Check our 
Arts Center Volunteers: We always welcome new volunteers to help us in the Arts Center for a few hours every month. We will provide training by experienced volunteers before you will be asked to work on your own. You can always choose to work with others. It is fun and supports the arts in our county. Shifts are 2 or 3 hours. If you are interested, please fill out the 
