We visited the Art Shanty Projects at Medicine Lake this afternoon with Hailey. Despite the rain and perhaps because today is the WARMEST DAY OF THE YEAR at thirty-six degrees, we enjoyed our first visit to the shanties. Having come prepared (thanks to Mel) with art to share, all three of us exchanged art at the Ice Art Swap Shanty. Tom took home an antler-themed picture frame, I found a set of notecards, and Hailey traded for a piece of pottery.

Our favorite was Tiny Shanty, the smallest three story mansion on the ice where visitors can create tiny art and enjoy tiny tea time courtesy of the tiny wood stove’s tiny log fire.

Thanks to Scott and Caly for welcoming us to their tiny home. Check out Tiny Shanty’s gallery for more pictures or the Projects’ flickr page.

My cousin Toño is an amazing paper folding artist. Here’s just one example of his work. To see more, check out his origami photo set.

Image: The Squirrel Family, Toño Garcés.

Do It Green! Annual Green Gifts Fair

• Saturday, November 21st, 2009
• 10am to 5pm
• Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis on Lake St. & Chicago. Ave.
• FREE entrance (vendors accepting cash or check only, though, so come prepared!)

Do It Green! Minnesota’s Green Gifts Fair takes place this Saturday, conveniently before the crazed post-Thanksgiving shopping. Organizers envision the event as an introduction to green giving and low impact ideas to celebrate the holidays with over 70 vendors to explore. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags and coffee mugs. If you plan to eat at Midtown while you shop, consider bringing silverware and a reusable napkin as well. Those who bike, bus, or carpool will receive a free gift at the event. More information doitgreen.org.

Gastro Non Grata: A Salute to Comfort Food and Cans

• Sunday, November 22, 2009
• Doors at 6pm
• 21+
• At the TRIPLE ROCK, 629 Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis
• $5 at the door, additional donations help Craig & Jeff break even.

Beer, food, and music! What more could you want? Northern Brewer will start the night with a Lambic tasting and chef Landon Schoenfeld will present three sample courses as the night goes on. The beer guest for the night is 21st Amendment Brewery. Music by Falcon Crest, Arctic Universe, School of Rock, Cadillac Kolstad, Cornbread Harris, and The Annandale Cardinals. As before, Clancey’s Meat and Fish will provide meat door prizes as only they can. More info at Gastro Non Grata’s blog.

Midtown Farmers’ Market‘s Thanksgiving Market

• Wednesday, November 25, 2009
• 1pm to 4pm
• Lake Street and 22nd Ave S near the Light Rail in Minneapolis

Meat, vegetables, apples, bread, chocolates, and canned goods will all be available. Weather permitting there may be crafts as well. Real Bread bread will be available by advanced order: contact Brett at brettlaidlaw (at) eckmeier (dot) com for options. Hilltop Pastures will be at the market as well. According to the market website, they have a waiting list for turkeys, but they’ll be dropping off orders and selling other products on Wednesday. Thanks to midtownfarmersmarket.org for the details!

No exclamation points were harmed in the writing of this post!

Get ‘em while they’re cheeeeeeeeeep. I’m working from 10–7pm on Friday so I’ll probably miss this, but I thought I’d share. Note that the sale is NOT available at Aesthetic Apparatus’ online store, only on Snelling.

Image: theapparatus

Couldn’t resist re-blogging this (via Oh Joy! by Dominic Episcopo). I’m just sorry the U.P. is missing… and that isn’t the best depiction of the L.P. either. But hey, when’s the last time you sculpted a steak?

See two more at Oh Joy! and check out Episcopo’s amazing food photography by navigating to the portfolio’s food section on the aforelinked site.

Just when I thought I’d shown you all available bikes… a day later Adam added more. Here’s a quick roundup for your Friday morning. The third is a poster Adam designed for the Minneapolis Bike Tour. More on that later… but you can sign up here for now.

Just like last time, images are links to larger, properly-proportioned versions of the prints. To buy, visit Adam’s site or join Tom and me (and Tom’s parents!) as we visit the Uptown Market this Sunday.

Uptown Market
Sunday, August 16 (Rain or shine)
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
29th St. between Lyndale Ave. S. and Dupont Ave. S., Minneapolis

Images, Adam Turman

I just got a new bike. I am enjoying riding all over Minneapolis. I’m enjoying it so much I even folded up the bike to take it home to Michigan for a ride or two. Related to that enthusiasm, I’ve thinking about purchasing one of the many bicycle related prints of Adam Turman, a Minneapolis illustrator, designer, and screenprinter.

When we first arrived in Minneapolis in February of 2008, one of our welcome presents from Marcela was a postcard of this print, of which Julia owns a screen printed poster. Like this one, much of his work highlights Minneapolis the city. Evidenced above, this is clearly a man who loves bikes and Minneapolis. While not a native, I love Minneapolis. I love my bike and enjoy prints. It all makes sense…. now which one?

Adam uses PayPal on his site and sells his work at shows around Minneapolis. These prints (though the last is sold out) range from $10 to $30. We discovered on a recent trip to the Four Firkins that he makes an exclusive print for them, too.

See more of Adam’s work at AdamTurman.com or check out Adam’s blog. Images, Adam Turman

After following a link in a tweet from SimpleScott to the Post Family’s home page, I found a link to the website of Kennedy Prints, self titled “A Letterpress Printery.” Here are a few of my favorites. In explanation of the first which bears the quotation, “It is the duty of children to wait on elders, and not the elders on children,” Kennedy says, “…by know you should know that we have a thing for proverbs.” I like. As for the third pictured below, I might just have to try and buy one as a means of motivation.

The following series is best seen all at once. I’m missing the last two (they were on a different page) that say “Buy Art,” appropriately with black text on a green square, and “Art Saves Lives!”

If you’re interested in buying, see the note about purchases on their site. Happy browsing!

About 10 minutes ago I was going to write about my first adventure in laying out a gallery wall (I suppose this handful of sentences somewhat counts). I bought a number of Ribba frames from IKEA to go with one I already had and used the papers inside to test possible layouts on our bedroom wall. This seemed like a novel idea. It’s not. West Elm apparently had it before, so I learned from Abbey while poking around (to echo Abbey, “God bless IKEA.” West Elm’s gallery frames are waaaaaaay too expen$ive). The important bit is, I had fun putting our wall together and learned something in the process. Great minds think alike, right? Once the print I ordered from bigcartel.com arrives I’ll be sure to share pictures. Check out this post for more on how to make your own picture/frame/gallery wall.

Update: Check out this article on the New York Times for more details on how to hang artwork.

On Monday I ordered another PosterHänger, a product that makes for a great cheap (!) frame for just about any sized work on paper. Designed by Jørgen Møller, they range from 12 to 72″ in length. I just ordered a 72″ for Tom’s world map (which is about 69″ wide) that I’ll soon be hanging in our bedroom (Yes. We moved in a year ago and I’m just now hanging it… no big deal). I’ve shared photos of our dining room before, but never specifically to highlight the frame with awesome orange arrows.

If you haven’t heard of PosterHänger before, you’ve almost certainly seen them. They’re used a lot in retail shop windows to hang posters or advertisements. Look around the next time you’re at the mall if you’d like to check out a PosterHänger in person. There’s also a nice breakdown of the parts of a PosterHänger on their site. Just “Clip, Slide, Häng” and you’re done.

I placed my most recent order directly from posterhanger.com, but in the past I’ve found them for less at Fulcrum Gallery’s website where there is a more limited selection. FG’s prices are actually higher; they have an ongoing 15% off promotion that can sometimes make up the difference. Thanks to Julia ordering one as well, however, we are both enjoying the “buy two, get free shipping” offer from posterhanger.com. Assuming I can get a decent photo, I’ll be sure to share the results of the map hanging when it’s all finished.