Molly Keenan Creates Storybook Collages

By Sharon Parker

Molly Keenan is a collage artist working under the moniker Retro Futures Designs. Her compositions often begin with images from vintage children’s books and convey messages with thought-provoking overtones. In her Etsy shop, she describes her work as: “Vintage storybook collage. Speculative cultural commentary. Feminist. Geeky. One of a kind.”

Returning for her second LoLa art crawl, Molly will be showing at Blue Moon Coffee Cafe, 39th Avenue and East Lake Street, where she is the featured artist for the month of August. “We'll take over the back third of the cafe for the two days of the LoLa Art Crawl,” she says. 

Sharing the space with Molly is stained-glass mosaic artist Lisa Arnold, aka Xola Arts, who was profiled earlier on this blog. Lisa’s work will be showing in the windows, and she’ll also be set up on the sidewalk outside the cafe. “It's a great symbiotic relationship,” says Molly. “We're excited to be sharing the experience with Lisa."

What media do you work in?

I am a collage artist. Most of the material I collage with comes from vintage books. My work ranges from very small-scale (micro-collaged jewelry, often with vintage or repurposed beadwork) to large-scale (on large artboard, wood panels, and upcycled furniture). Many collages are mixed-media, with collage on top of a painted background.

A year ago I started experimenting with micro-collaged earrings and pendants, in metal bezels and covered with jeweler's-grade resin. With the micro-collages, I'm still trying to tell stories, like I do in larger-format work, so that people's jewelry will engage them in a certain mood, or connect them to a sense of something, or ground them in some part of their identity because they choose to wear these micro-collaged earrings about writing today, or this pendant that's part of a map of a place they've traveled.

I made one pair of earrings where one said "Yes" and the other said "No," and it became clear that that both/and feeling needed to be represented in jewelry. That pair of earrings spawned a whole subsection of the earrings I make now: Yes/No, On/Off, Awake/Asleep, Formal/Informal, and so on.

What inspires/informs your art?

I'm inspired a lot by the interplay between wildlife and human life, and by the relationship between the city and the natural world.

I have a very visceral, almost mythic reaction to certain scientists and writers and other kinds of heroes, which I think—I hope—comes across in the collages that I make about people like Rachel Carson and Rosalind Franklin.

I'm inspired by childhood—both my own and childhood in general—which goes a long way to explain why so much of my source material comes from vintage children's books.

A new series called "The Memory Keys" is the outcome of many years of therapy, recovering memories of early childhood and adolescent sexual trauma. It tells the story of recovery from trauma, not the story of the experience of trauma, so the intent is for the work to convey optimism, even if it's not as easy to take in as my work about birds and books and biologists.

What do you like about the Longfellow neighborhood?

I live in Cooper, just up the block from El Norteño, with my partner, Aaron, our kid, two dogs, and two cats. We love living on the cusp of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I grew up just a few miles due east of our home, so Ezra gets to grow up really close to her grandparents. And we're just a block from the Blue Moon, where Aaron and I first met. We love the proximity to the river, and all of the great walkable/bikeable resources in our neighborhood.

We have a special affinity for the Little Free Libraries that are thick on the ground in Longfellow. We regularly go on family bike rides that are specifically about hitting as many "LFLs" as we can find, donating books we no longer want, and collecting books for Ezra or for me to collage with. Sometimes we have to flip a coin to decide who gets a particular book, and for what purpose. Ezra has been known more than once to say, "No, Mama, don't cut that book up! I want to read it!"

photo by Julia Merle-Smith

Our favorite LFL, though, is the Little PoetryLibrary  right outside the Blue Moon. I was commissioned last fall to collage the exterior of the library. Seeing art that I created, right outside the cafe, makes me feel even more connected to my neighborhood.

Are you doing anything special for LoLa?

I will be offering Virtually Instantaneous, Personalized (VIP) Mini-Collages: You pick a word out of the dictionary, talk to me for a few minutes about your choice, then look around at the art and jewelry, or have a coffee, while I snip and glue.  Fifteen minutes and ten bucks later, you get to take home a piece of personalized art.

The Blue Moon will be providing sweet, sweet air conditioning as well as beverages and nosh.

Northwest Graphic Supply of South Minneapolis, a LoLa Art Crawl Site, Fetes their Restored Classic Marquee Sign Tuesday Night

By Sharon Parker

LoLa host site Northwest Graphic Supply, on Lake Street at 42nd in South Minneapolis, wants to get your attention. So much so, in fact, that they had their classic blue-and-white sign restored and are making a big deal of lighting it up on National Night Out, this Tuesday, August 5, with a party from 8 to 9 p.m.

That should be just about when your block party is winding down, right? 

If you stroll on over, perhaps with a few of your neighbors, you’ll be invited to share your history in the neighborhood and hear a little bit about theirs before they “flip the switch” on their newly restored sign with its festive border of movie-marquee lights.

And there will be treats.

This purveyor of screen printing and art supplies wants everyone to know that they are part of the neighborhood, too, and more connected to you and your neighbors than you may realize.

"Stories" by Megan Moore, who will be at NW Graphic Supply during LoL

As they describe it, their customer base is the local community of “entrepreneurs, artists, sales reps, construction workers, wood workers, youth workers, musicians, luthiers, students, professors, mechanics, brewers, designers, athletes, and textile decorators.” 

“These individuals have one very specific thing in common: screen printing.”  And they’ve been turning to Northwest Graphic Supply for not only supplies but also assistance and expertise for 50 years.

           

And this year, the store is also hosting two Longfellow artists as part of the LoLa art crawl, August 23–24. So, naturally, LoLa had to ask them a few questions.

Please tell us about your business—do you carry art supplies, too?

We are a full service screen print supplier. Most of our business comes from the textile industry and T-shirt printers. We're also an art supplier. We deal mostly to the Longfellow community and schools throughout the midwest.

"Lazienki Park" by Megan Moore

Why did you sign up to be a LoLa site? What do you like about LoLa?

To support our customers. We pride ourselves on the quality of our services and get goosebumps when customers find success in their ventures with product from our store. LoLa is a good way to stay connected with the community of which we are a part.

Will you have anything special going on during the art crawl?

We are very excited to host two local artists, Kim Gordon and Megan Moore. They'll be on site repping their work and holding down nerdy conversations about their particular artistic processes. There'll also be live screen printing demos, so if you've ever wanted to learn the art ... it'd be a good time!

And, obviously we'll be open for business as usual with special LoLa discounts on our art supplies.

"Storm Breaks Over Mississippi River Gorge," by Kim Gordon, who will be at Northwest Graphic Supply for LoLa

(Note that business hours “as usual” for NW Graphic Supply are 8–5 Monday through Friday, but they will also be open on LoLa weekend, August 23–24. from 10 to 5.)

Kim Gordon’s Cards and Paintings Reflect the Longfellow Neighborhood’s Architectural and Natural Beauty

By Sharon Parker

Kim Gordon is a designer and illustrator under the name Open Cupboard Designs, and has been painting with oils her "entire life." She has a line of greeting cards inspired by the Longfellow neighborhood—its arts and crafts architecture, the closeness of the river, and the presence of nature everywhere.

This is her first time participating in the LoLa art crawl; she’ll be showing at Northwest Graphic Supply, 4200 E. Lake St., along with painter Megan Moore. 

River Gorge, by Kim Gordon

What inspires/informs your art?

My quest is to feel connected to the natural world around me, and my interest in landscape painting springs from that desire. I am by nature an observer, and am fascinated by light and its play on form, of capturing a sense of place, the vitality and movement of the natural world. 

My greeting cards incorporate my interest in the natural world as well, and my interest in animals, both companion and wild, especially the bird life that the river and the surrounding woods support.

What do you like about LoLa?

It is a great way for artists in the community to show their work and for the community to embrace the incredible amount of art making that goes on within it.

Last Snow, by Kim Gordon

What’s new with you this summer?

My greeting cards were just chosen by Stationery Trends magazine for their summer 2014 "Fresh Picks"! 

I currently have work in the Horizontal Grandeur show (the show premise is a Bill Holm essay about the prairie) at the Stevens County Historical Museum in Morris, Minnesota, from July to October. And I will have a solo show (painting) at the Northfield Arts Guild, in the Up Gallery, October to December. 

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, by Kim Gordon

See more of Kim’s artwork on her website and in her Etsy shop.

Hello! Here Comes LoLa!

In the early summer of 2009, artists Bob Schmitt, Anita White and Shirley Neilson got together in the Longfellow community of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and said, "Let's put on an art crawl!"

Illustration by Anita White

Thus the League of Longfellow Artists (LoLa) was born. It was Shirley who thought of the name with its lilting acronym, and she and Anita set out to recruit artists and promote the event while Bob set up the infrastructure, designed the logo and brochure, and functioned as art crawl administrator. In subsequent years, several LoLa artists have served on a steering committee to help plan, promote and run each year's art crawl and to act as an advisory board to Bob, who continued to serve as art crawl administrator.

In that first summer, there were 42 participating artists at 20 sites. By 2013, it had grown to 155 artists at 89 sites.

In 2011, LoLa partnered with the Longfellow Community Council and the City of Minneapolis Great Streets Project on Art in All Directions, which featured 56 "I'm a LoLa artist" posters displayed in the windows of shops along East Lake Street. The following year, 20 of those posters were adapted to cover 10 utility boxes along the street.

At the end of the 2013 crawl, Bob Schmitt stepped down as administrator, having fulfilled a commitment to serve in that role for five years. Anita White and Sharon Parker then acted as interim coordinators until early 2014, after which four members of the steering committee took on the task of planning and administering the 2014 crawl.

LoLa has continued to operate as an all-volunteer group committed to raising the visibility of artists who live and/or work in the greater Longfellow community, and to fostering community among these artists. There is no LoLa office or paid staff.

If you would like to be a sponsor of the 2014 art crawl, or wish to contact LoLa for any other reason, please send a message to longfellowartists-at-gmail.com or leave a voice mail message at 612-399-6546. A LoLa volunteer will get back to you as soon as they are able.

(To see more "I'm a LoLa artist" posters, go here.)