Foot in the Door Show 4 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Wall at the Foot in the Door Show 

Went to visit an old friend in St Paul last weekend.  The visit was refreshing and it was good to get away from home for a little while.  

Heard some great music by the St Paul Chamber Orchestra (which has archives of shows on Minnesota Public Radio.  MPR also has an awesome classical music stream which is great for me since there is no classical radio here anymore.)

On Saturday my friend and I went exploring - I love the Twin Cities, but don't get there too often anymore.  Usually I'm just passing through.  

One of the stops we made (besides Bobby Bead - my friend is a muscian, not a beader and beaders know that any visit to a bead store can be overwhelming) was to see the Foot in the Door 4 Show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  

Elizabethan Rabbit

I love the premise behind the show.  I stumbled across it ten years ago and was amazed.  

It's a show that ANY Minnesotan can submit art to, as long as it is 12" x 12" x 12".  (Hence a FOOT in the Door)  I think it's a great idea - but in practice it is a little overwhelming - as you can see there are pieces on top of pieces and the juxtaposition of pieces may make people miss some of them.

Chicken-headed baby.

Hand made of bent keys.

Marilyn Monroe pastel.

I'm so sorry that I don't know the names of the artists - this is but a small representation of what was exhibited and there were no tags with the titles and artist name. (no room!)

My camera kept using face recognition software when I was taking photos of pieces.  I thought that was odd.

Pandamonium.

Troll 

I loved this meticulous hilarious piece.

I think some of the pieces were just submitted to see if they'd get in - they obviously hadn't had any thought or real attempt at being artistic behind the piece.  Some were done by young children - nothing wrong with that.

Sure didn't see all of the pieces - some were at 10 feet high and even if I liked a piece at that height, I couldn't photograph it.  

It was interesting to listen to what people said or how they reacted to specific pieces.  There was quite a bit of laughter, but I don't know if it was funny- ha ha laughter or the nervous laughter that one does when they don't know how to react to something.

There were a lot of "I kinda like that" comments as if the person wasn't sure if they should like something or not.  

Brick Stitch medallions

A whole piece could be done just on people's reactions to things.  What is shown here is but a teeny portion of the pieces exhibited.  I think there were about 400 in total, not counting the video pieces which are available online.  

In addition, Google has changed their blogging interface and now I can do more with formatting, but I'm not quite sure how to do what I want to.

I have been writing Morning Pages since January 20th.  I have been doing them on the computer, so I am able to add photos and other bits of articles, etc.  It has been very successful - helped me through some stressful times at work and at home.  I also journaled for many many years and this replaces both of them.

I have a wedding to attend in a month and I'm making a piece to wear - so I'll post that once I get going on it.

I also want to make a piece for my hostess last weekend.  I've gone through about 4 different bracelets - started them and they haven't worked out as I hoped they would.  But then, that's the creative process.  Try, try and try again until it works out the way you want it to.

I've been working on a large piece that has been years in the making.  I've also cleaned up my studio (which still needs more work.)  I want to do 15 to 30 minutes of creative work each day.

Today's quote comes from Aristotle:  We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.