Minneapolis Foundation Centennial Street Painting

THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT TIME.  LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING STARTED NEXT MONDAY.  HERE IS THE INFORMATION FOR THE STREET PAINTING PROJECT AT THE IDS CRYSTAL COURT.  

Here is the press release for the EVent:
_______________________________________________________________

EVENT NAME: THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION KICKS OFF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION WITH MASSIVE STREET PAINTING IN CRYSTAL COURT

Date: Apr 6, 2015
Start Time: 12:30 pm
End Time: Tues, April 7, 2015 08:00 pm
Event Type: Arts & Entertainment
Cost: Free
Contact Person: Brendan Kearin
Contact Phone: (612) 598-7667
Address: IDS Center Crystal Court 80 S 8th St Minneapolis, MN
Contact Email: Brendan@mcfarlandcomm.net

Details:

The Minneapolis Foundation Kicks Off Centennial Celebration
with Massive Street Painting in Crystal Court 

Award-winning Artist to Spend Two Days Creating 3D Vision of City’s Future to Commemorate
Foundation’s 100th Anniversary
WHAT: In a live art marathon that will kick off The Minneapolis Foundation’s 100th anniversary, award-winning artist Shawn McCann will spend two days creating a large-scale, indoor street painting depicting his vision of the future of Minneapolis. McCann’s image will feature an optical illusion to create a 3D effect when it’s viewed from a certain vantage point. The piece will remain on display on the floor of the Crystal Court for just a few days, creating a temporary “must see” for Twin Cities residents.
WHERE: The Crystal Court of the IDS Center, 80 South Eighth Street, Minneapolis
WHEN: The Minneapolis Foundation will host a press conference at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 6, as McCann begins work on the street painting. Foundation President and CEO Sandra Vargas and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges will deliver remarks during the event. McCann will work on the piece throughout the day and evening on April 6 and complete it on April 7. The street art will remain on display in the Crystal Court until the end of business day on Friday, April 10.
WHY: The Minneapolis Foundation, which is housed in the IDS Center, commissioned the 3D street painting to kick off a season of community events celebrating its Centennial. The Foundation was established in 1915 to enable residents from across the community to pool their charitable giving for greater impact. One of the first community foundations in the world, The Minneapolis Foundation was a pioneer in a philanthropic movement that now includes more than 1,800 place-based foundations worldwide. By the end of 2015, the Foundation will have granted an estimated lifetime total of $850 million to improve the lives of Minnesotans and people around the world. Learn more about the Foundation’s history and upcoming Centennial events at www.mpls100.org and in the enclosed press release.
WHO: Shawn McCann is a Twin Cities-based artist whose work encompasses street painting, murals, fine art, children’s books, installation art and commercial illustration. Learn more about his work at www.shawnmccann.com.
###

Robbinsdale Mural is complete

It was an honor to have worked on the Robbinsdale mural over the course of September.  The fact that this is one that is my back yard is even better.  Special thanks to Lisa Botkin and Laurie Haycraft for the added help!  Here are the final pictures.  Also a huge thanks to Brett at the Robbinsdale Sherwin Williams who were kind enough to donate the paint for this project!  You guys rock!!!!!

Wahpeton, ND Mural

Well, I have officially worked on the largest mural I have completed to date!  This mammoth project was 2 years in the making and with partial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts "Our Town" grant and the remaining from the City of Wahpeton and their beautification fund, this 135ft long 35ft tall mural was completed a matter of 5 short weeks.  I couldn't have done it without Lise Erdrich and Circle of Nations School for helping secure the grant, the city and also my assistants, Elaine Klocke, Caleb Schmidt, Olivia Schmidt, Sam Klocke and even my mother Karen for helping create this lasting piece in my hometown.  It was such a great time creating the piece and really hope that the community enjoys it for years to come!

Eden Prairie 4th of July Street Painting

July 4th this year was a blast as it was celebrated creating a 3D street painting for the City of Eden Prairie celebration at Round Lake.  From July 2-4th, a 3D likeness of Nessi was created to give a fun photo op for kids and adults alike!

Worthington Mural for the 2014 International Windsurfing Championships

The start of the mural summer kicked off this year with a great project in Worthington, MN for the 2014 Windsurfing and Unvarnished Festival.  This year it was the National Championships and it was a great time throughout the entire 9 days I was there.  Thanks to Gail Holinka, the VFW, and a grant thru the SMAC Arts in Legacy grant, this is what was able to be created.  Also thanks to Jasmine for helping out!

Art in Bloom street painting 2014

Well, it is always better late than never, so I will be updating my blog here with some recent projects. This first one was a fun street painting I did for the Art in Bloom Friends kids day at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  This is a creation from the famed children's book "Mr. Bumble", original book by Kim and Doug Kennedy.    Had lots of fun creating this and the kids creating next to me was a blast as well.  Look forward to the next one next year!

Matisse Mural at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

After a busy last few months, it is good to get a post up finally.  I have been working on a number of different projects and am looking forward to sharing more about those soon.  In the meantime, here are the images from the completed Matisse Mural I did at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the new Matisse show that opened this last weekend.  It was a blast working on it and coming up with an image that was a mashup of some of his pieces.  Here is the completed mural which was 12ft tall by 25 ft in width.

Another fun element of the Matisse show was creating a fun photo opportunity featuring one of the paintings in the show.  Here is a detail of the photo booth!   Also here is a great writeup Tim Gihring  did.  Homage to Matisse: Shawn McCann channels the master to accent the exhibition

And this is how you have fun with the Matisse Photo Booth!  Love the poses Katie, Kim, Courtney and Emma!

Photo courtesy of Katie Hill

The Great Draw

Wanted to share with you some really fun street paintings that I recently created in Dubuque Iowa.  The Great Draw was an amazing day long celebration of community and street painting sponsored and created by Outside the Lines Gallery.  Stormy and Connie were great hosts and there was much fun to be had!  Here are the two street paintings I did for the event.  The chalk box image was a 15ft x 15ft piece done on Friday and "Botticello" was 15ft x 28ft long and created for the event on Saturday!  This was another fun Art for After Hours project.

Brookings Chalk Craze

Here is a fun little post on a quick 6 hour street painting demo I did for some kiddos in Brookings, SD a few weeks ago.  The piece ended up being 16ft wide by 20 ft long before the rain moved in.  Always working around the weather :)

Wilhelmshaven International street painting Fest

Here is the finished piece I did for the Wilhelmshaven International Street Art fest in Germany a couple of weeks ago.  It was such a great time being there with 40 other artists from 12 different countries.

Wet Paint street art demo

Here is a quick 3 hour street painting that I did over at Wet Paint in St. Paul for the launch of street stix pastels by richeson.  The first image is what was finished in between the rains.  The second image is what it looks like today after a month of being out in the weather.  They have held on pretty good so far.

3D outdoor wall mural at the Chahinkapa Zoo is done!

After 12 days working on the wall mural at the Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton, ND, I am happy to say the mural is complete!!!! Had a blast taking an ordinary wall into something that is fun and creative for all the visitors to enjoy! Here is the finished mural. The before image is below!

Street Painting Vine Commercial for Target

Had a blast creating this really fun Vine video for Target recently.  Gotta love them using street painting within it!!!!!  Hope you like

The title is "Mmmm, Summer!"

Street Painting fun in Carrollton, Georgia!

This month has been full of many wonderful excursions.  It started with working on a mural at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, worked its way to Georgia for a street painting, wound its way to Minot, ND to do a lecture and school visit and is going to be ending the month on a week long street painting event in Sarasota.  And that doesn't even count the other fun things that happened in between all of that!  Definitely am loving the creative energy that is being expelled currently.  Hopefully I can keep the energy and excitement going into November.

SO, back to the street painting in Georgia.  I had such a great time down in Carrollton, Georgia at MeccaFest and was really happy to have met so many wonderful people along the way.  As a project thru Art for After Hours, it was great to finally get a chance to get out of the Atlanta Airport that I so often am stuck at.  Thru the course of 2 days, I created this 12ft x 16ft 3D street painting of an Indonesian landscape.  Hope you like!

TerraCotta Mural at Minneapolis Institute of Arts

After a week and a half, I am pleased to see that the mural at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is done.  It was a great time working on it and definitely am glad that this one will be staying up a little longer than the Rembrandt mural that was done earlier this summer.  The mural itself is in the TerraCotta Warriors shop on 2 at the end of the exhibit, so if you happen to be down at the MIA before January, check it out and let me know what you think!

Here are a few pics of the mural

The finished mural

Progress on the leaves

This was about half way thru

Here the tree was looking a little bare

National Endowment for the Arts Grant!

Great news!!!!!  I am so honored to be apart of this great National Endowment for the Arts Grant that came in Friday.  I am really looking forward to heading back to my hometown of Wahpeton and creating some art!  Here is the Press release about the "Our Town Grant"!!!!!!!!!!








Contacts: [Lise Erdrich] [lise.erdrich@circleofnations.org] [701-642-3796 ext. 353]

Dave Keehn, CNS
Wayne Beyer, TRAC
Amy Schmidt, TRAC
Roger Jensen, TRAC



 National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2012 Our Town Grant Recipients


[Circle of Nations School/Three Rivers Arts Council] one of 80 grantees selected nationwide


[Wahpeton, ND]-- The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces 80 Our Town grant awards totaling $4.995 million and reaching 44 states and the District of Columbia. [Circle of Nations School is one of the grantees and will receive [$50,000] to [for innovative arts programming to foster community interaction and activate existing cultural and community assets]. Circle of Nations is the lead agency in partnership with Three Rivers Arts Council]


Through Our Town, the NEA supports creative placemaking projects that help transform communities into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core. The grantee projects will improve quality of life, encourage creative activity, create community identity and a sense of place,and help revitalize local economies. All Our Town grant awards were made to partnerships that consisted of a minimum of a not-for-profit organization and a local government entity.

[Description of your project] “The partnership will connect world-class art with our town. We will capitalize on existing local assets and bring diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired,” according to project writer Lise Erdrich. “For example, students can make a film or help create a mural about our town and its environmental, cultural and historical significance. The public can experience the Red River Jig via internationally-known musicians and dancers at a local festival.” CNS especially wants public art projects to engage school-agers with community to create the sense of place and belonging to a place.


Wahpeton native Shawn McCann, known for his large-scale 3D art, is one of the project artists. He stated, "I am honored and excited about this wonderful opportunity to come back to Wahpeton and create a lasting impression with the "Our Town Grant". Having spent my childhood and formative years in Wahpeton, it gave me the inspiration and drive to pursue the arts that I love. Being able to bring that inspiration back to Wahpeton on a grand scale will be a great opportunity to give back to my "hometown". I am also greatly appreciative of the Circle of Nations School and all the hard work Lise Erdrich has done in securing this grant, and the Three Rivers Arts Council(TRAC) and the National Endowment for the Arts for believing in the work that I do and making this mural a reality. "


"Cities and towns are transformed when you bring the arts – both literally and figuratively – into the center of them,” said NEA Chairman Landesman. "From Teller, Alaska to Miami, Florida, communities are pursuing creative placemaking, making their neighborhoods more vibrant and robust by investing in the performing, visual, and literary arts. I am proud to be partnering with these 80 communities and their respective arts, civic, and elected leaders."


Landesmann visited Wahpeton in December of 2011 to see the CNS birch bark art and film project previously funded by NEA. He also toured the Red Door gallery, met the public there, and wrote “WOW!” in the guest book. His NEA blog about the works in Wahpeton was very enthusiastic, “creative place-making at its finest.” He interacted with Laura Youngbird’s art classroom and a student drum/dance group led by world champion performers Jason and Winona Kingbird.


[Quote from leader of your organization] A support letter from Amy Schmidt, TRAC President, stated, “The state arts council believes in Wahpeton as a model for the region.” Wayne Beyer, TRAC Treasurer, is also a board member for North Dakota Council on the Arts. That organization has funded a creative asset-mapping project for the community to promote arts-related economic and civic development. The asset-mapping report from Morgan & Dean Development is expected in the next few weeks.


The NEA received 317 applications for Our Town that were assigned to one of three application review panels based on their project type; arts engagement, cultural planning and design, or non-metro and tribal communities. [CNS/TRAC] received an [Arts Engagement] grant award. NEA press office noted, “With only 80 grants emerging from the 317 applications, or a success rate of 25 percent, competition was strong, a testament to the artistic excellence and merit of [the Wahpeton project].


NEA Director of Design Jason Schupbach said, "It's an exciting time for evolution and exploration in the creative peacemaking field, and I'm certain this year’s Our Town grants will bear fruit for their communities and lessons for the field as a whole."


For a complete listing of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.


[Circle of Nations School was established in 1904. Its mission is “to build academic achievement and healthy development of the whole child in a culturally relevant living and learning environment.” CNS actively pursues arts opportunities and is a co-sponsor of Fine Arts Festival with Wahpeton High School. Three Rivers Arts Council was established in 1995 to increase awareness of, appreciation for and involvement with the arts and its potential to improve quality of life for the individual as well as the community. TRAC envisions a community that values art as an important and even integral part of a productive and happy society.] Its mission has evolved with a commitment to educate the public and honor the natural history, artistic possibility, geographic significance and cultural heritage of the Red River confluence area. ]

Minneapolis Institute of Arts Rembrandt Gala Mural-Dance Hall

I am finally back posting again.  After a whirlwind spring full of projects, I am happy to finally share some pictures of the latest and largest mural to date that I have worked on.  With a little over a week and 3980 square feet, I think it turned out pretty cool.  I will be posting a more in depth post about the process of creating such a large mural in another one soon, but wanted to get this up and running.  The theme behind this mural was one of back alley, graffiti laced amsterdam dance space.  It was created in the US Bank Gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and am pretty sure the walls haven't looked like this before :)  Stop back soon to see the process shots of the project! And to make the project even more cool, the piece was lit up in black lights for the Rembrandt gala Friday night.  I think you will be able to tell which one is the lit up one!!!!!

Playing with a new medium! UltraViolet black light paints and chalk!

I know what you are thinking.  Why would Shawn want to try even more types of art materials and why hasn't he tried this amazing stuff before?  Well, the answer to that is that up until this point, I had no reason to use UltraViolet black light Chalk and paints.  I am finding though that I am loving the material and the great effects you can get as you 'light' up the night.  Here are a few pictures of the materials.  These happen to be the black light chalk that Eternity Arts sells.  They are a a great resource for all of your street painting needs.  Though this time, I would not be using them in the street, they are none the less amazing and can't wait for my black light paints to show up tomorrow to start playing with those too!  As for the reason for my using them, I am hoping to share that with you very soon :)

The variety of colors to choose from Eternity arts Black Light Chalk

I might be off the radar a little bit over the next couple of months!

Having been enjoying this weather the last couple of weeks, it is hard to believe it is still only March!  How temps in the 70's and 80's make those last few weeks of winter so much more pleasurable.  But, I am so looking forward to what the next couple of months has in store and am anxiously awaiting all the fun to begin next week!  Between School Visits, street paintings, paintings, drawings, and other projects, the fun will be taking me to Arizona, South Carolina, North Dakota, Minnesota and beyond!  So, if you happen to be near any of these events and want to say hi, it would be great to see ya!  Ohh, and if that isn't enough of a crazy thing, I decided to start the process of moving to a new place soon!  More to come on that later.  If you are wondering why I have a picture of a violin on the top, that is my new canvas for a project for the Minnesota Orchestra.  Will definitely be posting images of the finished project when that is done!

So here are my Upcoming Events:

1.  "Technology for Artists" Workshop Wednesday March 28 from 6-9pm
     Simply Jane Studios in South Minneapolis
     Instructors:  Shawn McCann, Beth Rapatz, and Scott Spinks
     Details here

2.  Foley Children's Book Artist Residency.  April 2,3, and 4th
     Foley Elementary

3.  PopUp Park final viewing:  Make sure to swing by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the                                PopUp Park before I tear it down on Monday April 16!  Info about the park here

4.  Poston Butte High School Art Show:  Thursday April 19 in San Tan Valley, Arizona.  This will be a blast as they have entrusted me to judge their district wide art competition! The pressure is on to find that next big talent :)

5.  Florence High School visit:  Friday April 20th in Florence, Arizona!  This will be great working with the high schoolers and talking to them about the arts.  This will be my second stop in the little bit warmer Arizona

6.  "Art in Bloom" children's day street painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Saturday April 28.  Swing by from 1-3pm to help chalk up the sidewalks at the museums children's day event in conjunction with "Art in Bloom"  More info here

7.  "Wahpeton Elementary and Central School Children's Book Artist Residency", May 3 and 4th in Wahpeton North Dakota.  This will be a blast going back to my hometown for a couple of days to spend time with the kids!  Can't wait to show what we have created during my time there

8.  "Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Artist Retreat Workshop"  Saturday May 5th in New London, Minnesota on the shores of St. Andrew.   1-3pm.  Info here

9.   "Artisphere 2012" in Greenville, South Carolina.  May 11-13.  Come say hi as I will be doing another street painting for my 3rd year in a row!  Can't wait to be back with all that southern hospitality.  For festival information, click here

Whew, I think I got the next month and a half figured out, but might have missed something in there.  Again if you don't here from me, this is the reason why :)  Have a great start to your spring.

Cheers!

Willow Community Pre School Signing this Saturday!

If you happen to be near Long Lake, Minnesota this Saturday from 1-4pm, stop by the new Willow Community Pre School in Calvin Church!   I will be signing books and there will be many other activities going on for the kids to enjoy!


Information about the event is below:

Located 177 Glen Dale Drive, Long Lake MN...off Willow in Calvin Church 

A school committed to the Creative Arts and Healthy Living 

"We believe children learn in many different ways and through concrete exposure to a variety of learning styles and opportunities, children are free to find their best path for learning. Active classroom  engagement, cooperative learning and play, and an emphasis on social relationships and emotional development are practices at WCS that help to foster a life long love of learning in children." 

Please join us for a free, fun family afternoon. 

Music by State of Lakes  

Book signing by Minneapolis Illustrator, Shawn McCann 

Jen Edwards, a local acting talent will be hosting a dramatic play workshop

Local garden designer, Leslie Pinski  will be spring planting with the kids 

Naturalist, Shanna Hendrickson, will  explore bird’s habits and habitat 

Many wonderful craft and game activities for children of all ages. 

Refreshments Served too! 

Come support your community and have fun with your family! 

For more questions contact 

Pam Hendrickson 612-226 -1788