Thursday, December 31, 2009

Ae awarded MRAC management grant!

Behind the Scenes

In addition to hosting awesome exhibits, we try to keep the infrastructure of our organization running smoothly. Altered Esthetics was recently awarded an MRAC Management and Consulting Grant to update our accounting system and review our accounting procedures. Yay!

Over the next few months we'll be working with MAP for Nonprofits to install Quickbooks for Nonprofits, look over our accounting manual and establish additional guidelines for solid and transparent accounting procedures. As soon as we can, we'll be making our budgets available online for those that are interested.

Wish us luck!

_______________________________________________________

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Solo Exhibitions Director - Board Member opening at Ae

Altered Esthetics will be adding another program to our services: solo artist exhibitions! To help facilitate this process and make sure it is a smooth and productive implementation, we'll be adding another board member to our motley crew. If you or anybody you know is interested, please pass this information along.

Solo Exhibitions Director
The function of the Solo Exhibitions Director will be to develop and maintain a schedule of solo-artist exhibitions for the organization, partnering with other organizations and artists in the community.


A complete description can be found by clicking here (pdf):


To apply

Please email your completed application (pdf) along with a resume and cover letter to contact@alteredesthetics.org

or mail a hard copy to:

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis MN 55413

Position open until filled.

any questions? email contact@alteredesthetics.org.
_______________________________________

Monday, November 16, 2009

Altered Esthetics is participating in Give to the Max day!

Hello Ae friends and family,

Tomorrow (November 17th) is Give to the Max Day!

The goal is to raise as much money as possible for Minnesota charities in 24 hours. The Saint Paul Foundation, Minneapolis Foundation and Bush Foundation have committed $500,000 in matching contributions to support community needs in Minnesota and to cover transaction fees so that 100% of all donations go to the nonprofit organizations.

If you were planning to make a donation to Altered Esthetics (or any other nonprofit in Minnesota, for that matter) tomorrow would be the best day to do it! We won’t have to incur any transaction fees and at least a portion of your donation will be matched. (For an organization like ours with a small operating budget, that can be HUGE!)

Give To The Max day starts at 8am tomorrow morning. You can donate here: http://www.razoo.com/story/Altered-Esthetics or go to razoo.com to look up your favorite MN charity.

Folks, nonprofits across the board are struggling this year. Every little bit helps, and some of the big guys are stepping in to make sure this day really makes a difference. You can too.

Thanks!

-Jamie

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

New board positions open at Altered Esthetics!

Board Positions

Do you have a passion for the arts? Are you interested in serving on the board of a community based arts organization? Altered Esthetics is actively seeking and accepting applications for new board members with variety of experiences in arts, fundraising, nonprofit governance, finance and more.

Board members at Ae serve 3-year terms and as a working board, have a direct hand in shaping the way the organization affects and works with the arts community.

Ae is currently accepting applications for the following board positions:

Volunteer and Intern Coordinator

The function of the Volunteer and Intern Coordinator is to recruit and place new Volunteers and Interns, facilitate their orientation and training, and schedule and/or coordinate their participation.

Download complete description.(pdf)


Education Director


The function of the Education Director will be to develop and maintain a workshops schedule for
the organization.

Download complete description. (pdf)


IT/New Media Director

The function of the Information Technology / New Media Director is to continue the functionality, usability and relevance of any new media or computer-based tools of the organization. The IT/New Media director also coordinates the organization Wiki as well as the website and e-mail services.

Download complete description. (pdf)


To apply
Please email your completed application (pdf) along with a resume and cover letter to contact@alteredesthetics.org

or mail a hard copy to:

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis MN 55413

Applications must be received by December 15, 2009.

any questions? email contact@alteredesthetics.org.
_______________________________________

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Now accepting applications for 2010 internships

Altered Esthetics' active programs and annual exhibition schedule provides many opportunities for active learning in a dynamic environment.

Assistant Gallery Director Internship

Current trends in the Gallery and Museum Exhibitions job market show that new directors are expected to have not only a background in the arts, but also a background in business, fundraising, and marketing. To provide opportunities for learning and experience in this area, Altered Esthetics has developed a new internship program. Our Assistant Gallery Director internship program offers interns training, mentorship, and hands-on experience in fundraising, grant writing, and nonprofit management as well as curating high-quality multiple-medium group shows.

Now Accepting Applications for 2010 terms.

Information and Application Form (pdf)

Deadline for Applications: October 31, 2009

_________________


Curatorial Internship

Altered Esthetics curatorial internship program offers interns training, mentorship, and hands-on experience in curating high-quality multiple medium group shows.

Curatorial Internships follow the course of four or five consecutive shows over approximately a 6 month period.

Now Accepting Applications for 2010 terms.

Information and Application Form (pdf)

Deadline for Applications: October 31, 2009
_________________

1 week left for Featured Artist Submissions!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Big Funny: Things You Should Know



About Big Funny
(Things about the project you may not know that we think are cool.)

  • Big Funny, at 48 ginormous pages, features the work of 47 contributing artists.
  • Only 2,000 copies were printed!
  • The project was coordinated entirely by volunteers, who have contributed 1,000 hours to the project to date.
  • Big Funny was printed locally in Minnesota.
  • The newspaper size, (16" wide by 22-3/4" tall with an image area of 15" wide by 21-1/2"), is true to an original newspaper from the 1910-30's eras.
  • Proceeds earned from Big Funny benefit two affiliated groups: Altered Esthetics, a nonprofit arts organization that works to support artists and The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, a community of comic artists.
  • Artist submissions were open to all and chosen democratically by the editorial review panel.
  • The original Big Funny Logo was designed by editor Steven Stwalley. The Big Funny Logo featured on the cover of the paper was hand drawn by editor Zander Cannon, and features all the characters from inside the paper itself.
  • Even the ads in Big Funny are cool! The ads for sponsors on the back of the paper were hand-drawn by editor Kevin Cannon, with the words for "the Source" ad penned by editor Steven Stwalley. The classifieds feature a mix of original limericks, artist bios, vintage ads from old comics and more.
  • Big Funny arrived to the gallery on two ginormous pallets and copies were hand-loaded by the editors to a super secret location to be stored until the day of the opening. Copies of Big Funny narrowly avert both floods and theft while they wait to be released this Friday, August 7th.

Big Funny: A celebration of the Newspaper Comic Strip!

The 48-page oversized newspaper will premiere at Altered Esthetics this Friday featuring poster-sized comic artwork from 47 artists.

In addition to having copies of BIG FUNNY for sale ($5 each), the opening reception will include:
  • Original artwork from the publication,
  • examples of historic comics pages (some over a century old),
  • a retrospective of unseen comic artwork by William Ede,
  • live music from The Roe Family Singers and
  • the little funny sideshow- a vintage cigarette machine repurposed to vend mini-comics and comic art!
Opening Reception
Friday August 7, 2009 7pm-11pm

Show runs August 7-29, 2009

Gallery Hours
Saturdays 1pm-5pm
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1pm-7pm

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413.
612.378.8888

cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Call for Art - 2010 Featured Artist Contest

Altered Esthetics 2010 Featured Artist Contest

Altered Esthetics is now accepting submissions for artists to be featured in our 2010 Exhibition Season. Artists can submit with any of the below exhibition themes using the online submission system, email, or through the mail.

Full contest guidelines can be viewed here: 2010 Featured Artist guidelines (pdf)


2010 Exhibition Season Themes

Adverti$ing
Artistic perspectives on consumerism, branding, and advertising.

Bike Art V
The fifth annual Bicycle Art exhibit will feature photography, sculpture, spoke-card art and more.

Burning Books
Artwork using the words, letters and altered pages of burned, banned, and censored books.

Cities vs. Suburbs
Peaceful pastorals or raw energetic street scenes? Artists duke it out in Suburbs vs. Cities.

Comic Art
Need we say more?

Gender
An artistic exploration on how creative manifestations, gender,
and how gender may or may not affect an artists' creative vision.

HITCHCOCK
Artwork inspired by the movies of director Alfred Hitchcock.

Just So Stories
From creation to the afterlife, evolution to the flood, artists explore the stories of how things were, have been and will be.

Level_13: Classic Video Game Art
Celebrate an epic era with the fourth installment of Altered Esthetics classic video game art exhibit. Artwork about classic video games and anything 80's/nostalgia themed is welcome.

O.C.D.
How artists have creatively responded to and dealt with the struggles associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Resident Artists VI: Creative Collaboration
This show will be open to ALL past artists of Altered Esthetics.
Works must be a collaborative project between two or more artists.

Street Art
Guerrilla art, post-graffiti, spoken word, hip-hop, muralism and more, the Street Art show will take a look at modern Street Art as it occurs in music, method and form beyond the gallery walls.

Día de los Muertos
Day of the Dead - a 1 day celebration. Entries for the Día show are free.

Coloring Outside the Lines III: Children's Art
A 1- day celebration. Entries for children are free.

Monday, June 29, 2009

EXTRA! EXTRA!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

Unique comic publication set to premiere at gallery exhibition August 7th.




The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, Big Time Attic, and Altered Esthetics gallery have collaborated to produce an oversized newspaper comics section like they would do it today if they still did it like they did it in the old days.

It is called BIG FUNNY, and it is both.

The 48-page oversized newspaper will premiere at Altered Esthetics this August featuring poster-sized comic artwork from 45 artists. Please join us as we celebrate!

In addition to having copies of BIG FUNNY for sale, the opening reception will include: Original artwork from the publication, examples of historic comics pages (some over a century old), a retrospective of unseen comic artwork by William Ede, live music from The Roe Family Singers and the little funny sideshow - a vintage cigarette machine re-purposed to vend mini-comics and comic art!

A celebration of the Newspaper Comic Strip!

Opening Reception
Friday August 7, 2009 7:00pm-11:00pm

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
612.378.8888

Website: cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny

About the organizers

Altered Esthetics is a community-based art gallery and arts advocacy organization located in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. We believe artists represent a true voice of society and our mission is to support and expand a vibrant arts community. alteredesthetics.com.

The International Cartoonist Conspiracy is a loose international organization of professional and amateur cartoonists, united by a passion for cartooning. Any cartoonist anywhere can join simply by declaring themselves a member, and can start their own local cell if inclined. Our feats have been many; we have been responsible for numerous publications, a variety of gallery shows and other events, and have organized open comic jams every month since December 2002. CartoonistConspiracy.com

Big Time Attic is the cartooning studio of Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon (no relation). The Cannon Brothers specialize in nonfiction graphic novels like the recently published T-Minus: The Race to the Moon. bigtimeattic.com

Join Big Funny on any of the following online communities:





Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Write a Classified Ad in Big Funny!



BIG FUNNY is an oversized, color comics newspaper coming out in August (read more about the project below). To raise funds for this project, we are now accepting classified advertisements in the following categories:

HELP WANTED
PERSONALS
MISSED CONNECTIONS
ESCORTS
ITEMS FOR SALE
GARAGE SALES
LOST AND FOUND
RECIPES
ADVICE
FILTHY LIMERICKS
OBITUARIES
MISC

You can place a 1-50 word ad for a mere $20... you may be able to get more words in if you're really funny, or if we don't bother to count them. Truth should not be a concern, although it is an option... humor is encouraged, although not a requirement. Note that advertisements making true or serious statements will very likely not be believed anyhow.

Why would you want to place an ad of dubious value that won't be taken seriously in a one-shot newspaper of comic strips? Perhaps you always wanted to see your name in newsprint? You have an irrational hatred of $20 bills? You thought you were ordering a pizza?

A more probable motivation would be that your ad supports a unique publication, and, unlike a regular newspaper, it will be read for many years to come. Also, these ads will actually get read, as people will be reading them for their own amusement.

Do you or your business want a larger ad in Big Funny? Please email jamie@alteredesthetics.org to discuss the possibilities.

PLEASE NOTE: We reserve the right to refuse an ad for any old arbitrary reason that may suit our whimsy. Any rejected ads will be refunded in full.

BIG FUNNY

The newspaper industry is coughing blood and gasping on its deathbed. Newspapers lost their relevance a long time ago, and with internet media blossoming they can no longer compete. Readers and advertisers have moved on.

Unfortunately, newspapers are taking their beautiful bastard child, the newspaper comic strip, with them.

Today's newspaper comics are much-maligned and deservedly so. Today's small strips, with mostly predictable, safe themes and bland characters are a pale shadow of what newspaper comics were in their wild and colorful youth.

110-or-so years from their birth, it's been a good run. Let us not mourn the death of the newspaper comics rather, let us have a wake to celebrate what they once were, and to build something new.

The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, Big Time Attic, and Altered Esthetics gallery are collaborating to produce an oversized newspaper comics section like they would do it today if they still did it like they did it in the old days.

It will be called BIG FUNNY, and it will be both.

The paper will premiere at a show at Altered Esthetics in August featuring some of the original art from the paper, along with historical comics pages from the dawn of the last century.


For more info or to place your add, go here:
cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny/advertise.html

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Celebrate with us on Friday April 17th!



Celebrate Ae!

Altered Esthetics celebrates five years of serving artists with a giant bash at our home in the Q'arma building in Northeast Minneapolis in conjunction with our annual spring fundraiser.

Friday April 17, 2009 - 5pm-11pm

Everybody that joins us this Friday will receive a special super-awesome commemorative ______ to take home! (Shhh, it's a surprise.)

Please join us for a celebration and fundraiser featuring
- A wood-themed art exhibition and silent auction
- A raffle with awesome prizes and goods from local businesses
- Live music
- Refreshments
- Wood themed games
- Awesome company
- And more!

Schedule of Awesomeness
5pm: Raffle, Silent Auction, Games, DJ
9pm: Silent Auction and Raffle ends, winners announced
9:30pm: Live Music Begins, Festivities continue, the people rejoice.

About the Exhibit
This wood-themed celebratory exhibit will include everything from oil painting on wood panel to beautiful wood-fired ceramic pottery. Over 30 artists come together to support Ae in this year's silent auction exhibit. Why wood-themed? Because wood is the traditional symbol for a five year anniversary.

View images from the wood-themed exhibition as well as awesome raffle items from local businesses at alteredesthetics.org/fiveyears

About the Band
"Jason Shannon plays American soul music. He has a big ol' band and they make a big ol' sound and that makes him smiley and happy. Soon enough, he will be playing all over the whole wide world..." Join Jason and his band at Ae on April 17th for one of their last shows before their first national tour! visit them online at jasonshanonmusic.com

________

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy St. NE
Minneapolis. MN 55413
alteredesthetics.org
612.378.8888
(get directions via google maps)


________________________________________

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Altered Esthetics - Outreach Project

Ae Logo

Altered Esthetics (Ae) is dedicated to serving the arts community, and we're working hard to get the word out about our organization.
We're currently conducting an electronic outreach project and you can help us by passing the following information along, posting it to your profile, or simply sending an email about Ae to the artist or arts aficionado in your life. Feel free to use the image above or text below as you share. Thank you!

_____________

Hello Arts Advocate!

If we may, we'd like to introduce you to Altered Esthetics.

Altered Esthetics (Ae) is a community-based art gallery and arts advocacy organization located in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.
Our mission is to support and expand a vibrant arts community because we believe artists represent an important voice of society.

Altered Esthetics works hard to sustain a welcoming space for artists and the public.
Entirely volunteer driven, we rely heavily on the participatin of our friends in the community.

We'd like to invite YOU to get involved with our organization, participating in our services or helping us as we make them available to new areas of the community.

Do you know there are lots of ways to get involved and support the arts, many of which can be done without even spending any money?

Some simple ways you can become involved are:

* Participating in a show as an artist
* Participating as an audience member (our shows are FREE to the public!)
* Volunteering at an event
* Sponsoring an event
* Promoting a show, activity, or event through your organization
* Posting open calls in your business’ newsletter or on your message board

Another way you can help is by spreading the word!

Simply pass along this electronic message by forwarding it to a friend or posting the article to your profile.
Altered Esthetics is working hard to get the word out about our organization and we'll need the help of our friends to get the word out.
Send this email to the artist or arts aficionado in your life, and let them know about an organization that works to serve them!

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and allowing us to introduce ourselves.
We hope that you will help us continue our mission by becoming involved and telling others about who we are and what we do.

Artistically yours,

Ae.

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis MN 55413
612.378.8888
contact-at-alteredesthetics.org (replace -at- with @)
Visit us online at www.alteredesthetics.org/hello.

You can also follow us on Twitter, read our blog, meet us on Myspace, befan us on Facebook or support the Facebook cause.

__________________________________________

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Request for Wood-Themed Art











In April 2009 Altered Esthetics will be FIVE!


To celebrate the event and pave the way for another five years, we're having a big party and fundraiser. The silent auction will be wood-themed, and we need artwork!

Will you help?

You can participate by:
- Sending artwork created on wood
- Sending artwork created with wood
- Sending artwork about wood
- Creating art-blocks for our Art vending machine

What you get out of it:
- an in-kind donation receipt for tax purposes
- your work featured on the Ae website as part of the online gallery
- your Artist name and website listed
- the warm fuzzy feeling of helping an organization that exists to help ALL artists!
- extra warm fuzzy feelings (while supplies last, though Jamie claims to have an endless supply and is more than willing to share warm fuzzy feelings - and hugs too.)
- Artists can decide if either 50% or 100% of the final auction price goes to Ae.


If submitting your own work, please send us:
- A digital image of the work
- The title, media used and date completed as well as how you would like your name presented
- Any artist statement you want to have associated with the work
- A link to your website
- The value of the work

Artist information will be added to the site as soon as a commitment is made to participate and digital images are sent. The artwork itself will need to be received by Tuesday April 14, 2009.

Send information via email to:
contact-at-alteredesthetics.org

Send artwork to:
Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis MN 55413
http://alteredesthetics.org/fiveyears
____________________________

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Creative Blood - Video and Photos

The Creative Blood show highlights the work of creative family pairs or groups.

March 5-28, 2009

Artists' Discussion - Saturday March 14, 2009 – 1:00pm-4:00pm



Saturday, February 14, 2009

Bike Art 2009

Bicycle Race- Andy Singer

Dear Altered Esthetics friends and cycling enthusiasts,


Are you ready for the best Bicycle Art show yet? Altered Esthetics' 2009 Bicycle Art Exhibit will feature a variety of awesome ways to get engaged with other artists and cyclists in communities from here to Patagonia. To read more about our plans for the upcoming exhibition and find out how you can get involved, check out the updates below.

Looking forward to another awesome year!

J-me



New Website

Last year Ae received an awesome new website! You should give it a whirl if you haven't done so already. The Bike Art shows are all online as well:
Bike Art I
Bike Art II
Bike Art III
Bike Art IV

Open Call for Artists

For this year's show, we'll be featuring Bicycle themed art, sculpture and video - but we'll also be featuring an interactive Spoke Card Art installation as part of the exhibit!

You can submit artwork or spoke card art one of three ways.

Submit online:
Not only does the website have all our exhibits up, it also has a fancypants online submission system. Artists who submit this way will be our BFFs because this process makes everything a LOT easier on Ae volunteers. You can submit online at: Bike Art IV/Open calls page.

Submit via email:
If you don't like the thought of submitting through the system, you can still submit electronically by emailing your name, contact information, an image of the artwork, title and media to opencalls@alteredesthetics.org

Submit via mail:
If your (or a friend you have) is anti e-anything, you (or they) can call us to request a submission form via the mail. We do not accept telegraphs or mail carrier pigeons, though we will accept ponies via the pony express.



Ae Bike Team - MS 150

Each June, Altered Esthetics hosts this Bicycle Art exhibit, bringing together the awesome arts and cycling communities of the Twin Cities and beyond. Last year, we invited our friends to join us as we supported another awesome cause also taking place every June - the MS 150.

The MS 150 is the biggest two-day ride in Minnesota, and is a fundraiser for National Multiple Sclerosis Society. JOIN US, and take on the 150 mile trek from Duluth to the Twin Cities, featuring the scenic William Munger Trail. Not only is the ride beautiful, but is a lot of fun while supporting a great cause.

Arts, advocates, and friends are all invited to join the Ae team as we support the MS 150 for a second year, and the event's 30th anniversary.

Friends riding as a part of the Altered Esthetics team will receive a free Bicycle Art/MS 150 team t-shirt, a free Altered Esthetics poster, and the intangible feeling of awesomeness that comes with joining the Ae team.

Join the Ae Team


Bike Art in the Northeast Parade

As part of the 2009 Bike Art festivities, Altered Esthetics will be participating in the 80th Annual Northeast Parade with a rolling Art Exhibit and Bicycle caravan.


Supporters

Interested in sponsoring, supporting, or volunteering to help make this year's Bike Art exhibit a success? Contact us at: contact@alteredesthetics.org or 612.378.8888 for more information.



Facebook

Facebook

We'll admit it - we're internet dorks. But we can all be in this together - join the Bicycle Art group on Facebook!


Post features "Bicycle Race" by Andy Singer
_____________________________________________

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Calling all Comic Artists to Big Funny!

Altered Esthetics, in partnership with the Minneapolis Cell of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy and Big Time Attic, celebrate the 110th anniversary of the American Comic Strip with “Big Funny” - an all-comic newspaper full of artwork from local, national and international comic artists.

August 6-29, 2009


Opening Reception Friday August 7, 2009 – 7:00pm-10pm


Join Big Funny on any of the following online communities:

Facebook

Myspace

Twitter


Attention Artists!

*This show has specific requirements for all artwork submitted and accepted. Read below for specific guidelines. *

BIG FUNNY

The newspaper industry is coughing blood and gasping on its deathbed. Newspapers lost their relevance a long time ago, and with internet media blossoming they can no longer compete. Readers and advertisers have moved on.

Unfortunately, newspapers are taking their beautiful bastard child, the newspaper comic strip, with them.

Today's newspaper comics are much-maligned... and deservedly so. Today's small strips, with mostly predictable, safe themes and bland characters are a pale shadow of what newspaper comics were in their wild and colorful youth.

110-or-so years from their birth, it's been a good run. Let us not mourn the death of the newspaper comics... rather, let us have a wake to celebrate what they once were, and to build something new.

The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, Big Time Attic, and Altered Esthetics gallery are collaborating to produce an oversized newspaper comics section like they would do it today if they still did it like they did it in the old days.

It will be called BIG FUNNY, and it will be both.

The paper will premiere at a show at Altered Esthetics in August featuring some of the original art from the paper, along with historical comics pages from the dawn of the last century.

Submissions are open to all... no prior cartooning experience is necessary. While we expect to have a lot of cartoonists participate, we are hoping to also have poster artists, printmakers and artists from other disciplines represented.

DEADLINE IS MAY FIRST.
We have a tight deadline... no entries will be accepted after May first. Keep in mind... newspaper cartoonists used to do this every week, plus six dailies! You have it easy!

SPECS:

All submissions must be funny. We are no prudes, but potty or shock-based humor is too easy... while this sort of thing won't exclude you from consideration, please do challenge yourselves.

You can make your entry in color or black and white. If providing a color version, you must also provide a version of it in black and white. It has not been determined at this point if the entire paper will be in color or not, so the final call on whether a particular strip will run in color or black and white will be determined by the editors.

Submitted artwork should be 15.5" (w) x 20" (h).

Color or greyscale pages should be 300dpi. Black and white images should be a minumum of 600 and maximum of 1200 dpi.

Submit images in BMP or PSD format. Also include a 72 dpi JPG of your files at full dimensions for reading purposes.

All submissions must be submitted digitally.

While you may submit more than one page, all pages should be self-contained. A single page is certainly welcome to have multiple strips on it... however, please keep the design of the page as a whole unit in mind if you go this route.


SOME THINGS TO NOTE:


Submitting a strip does not guarantee it will be included. Space is limited... so the sooner you get your submission in the better.


If submitting a color comic, keep in mind that color on newsprint is considerably duller than on printer paper. Thus, you will want your colors to be exceedingly bright.

In addition to comic storytelling and humor, design of the page as a whole unit will be a strong factor in what will be chosen for inclusion. Ideally, every page should be something that someone might like having framed like a poster on their wall.

Participants are encouraged to find inspiration from old newspaper comics. The newspaper comics were the primordial soup that modern comics grew out of... many of them were thematically wild, crazily inventive and beautifully drawn. Do yourself a favor and read some.

Good resources for old newspaper comics, and many examples of them, can be found here:
stwallskull.com/blog/?page_id=630


Note that we are not recommending aping styles or themes from the old comics, necessarily... just breathing in some of the comics that modern comics grew from and reacting to them.

Here is a resource on scanning large images:
misskittyoooo.deviantart.com/art/Scanning-Large-images-66872892

Note that it is easier to scan large pages that are broken into panels.


SUBMITTING:


Register on the Altered Esthetics website: (at the Big Funny Page.)

Send your submissions via mail to:

BIG TIME ATTIC
1618 Central Ave. NE Suite 216
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Or, email kevin at bigtimeattic.com (replace the word at with @) to arrange how you want to transfer files. Please write BIG FUNNY in the subject heading of all emails to Kevin.

Obviously, by submitting work, you are offering us the right to put it in BIG FUNNY on acceptance, and we make no claims on it otherwise. Artists retain all rights to their artwork.

If accepted for publication, you will be invited to send your artwork to Altered Esthetics to display at the August exhibit. Further details will be provided.

Note that it is not required that you sell your original art, although it is strongly encouraged. The gallery will get a 30% cut of any original artwork sold, so you will want to price it appropriately.

Altered Esthetics is a good cause... we are a non-profit, non-traditional, artist-run gallery. In the event there are any profits, they will go toward our continued service to the arts community.

There is no fee to submit artwork. Accepted artists will be asked to contribute a $30 exhibition fee to the project, plus an additional $10 if you are out-of-state to cover shipping costs of your comp copies. This exhibition fee goes towards the cost of printing the publication and promotional postcards for the event, as well as the gallery itself during the brick-and-mortar exhibition. No artist will be turned away due to lack of funds - a limited number of waivers are available to artists in extreme financial circumstance.

There is no additional fee in the event multiple pages are selected for publication.

We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged artwork.

If you have further questions about any aspects of the BIG FUNNY project, contact danno-at-staplegenius.com (replace -at- with @)


REASONS TO PARTICIPATE:

-It is going to be a whole lot of fun.

-This is a very rare opportunity for artists to work in a large, color, poster-size format publication. As newspapers disappear, it is likely that the presses to print them will disappear or become prohibitively expensive... this could make this sort of project very hard to repeat.

-Accepted artists will receive multiple copies of BIG FUNNY. The number of copies received will be based on participants' submission fees divided by the cover price of copies, minus shipping, if shipping is required. There may be additional copies available for artists at the gallery for the show opening event and closing.

-You can sell your artwork in the gallery.

-Keep in mind your participation supports a great non-profit gallery, us! If this is your first time hearing about Ae, you can read more about who we are and what we do here: alteredesthetics.com/documents/about


WEBSITES:


BIG FUNNY (coming soon!)

The International Cartoonist Conspiracy (cartoonistconspiracy.com)

Altered Esthetics (alteredesthetics.org.)

Big Time Attic (bigtimeattic.com/)

________________________________________________________

MN Arts Advocacy Day - February 24!!!

ARTS ADVOCACY DAY IS FEBRUARY 24th!!!!
If you're going please rsvp at www.mncitizensforthearts.org


Artists and Friends!

Please pay attention to what is going in YOUR arts community. For more info, please read the following.

Best,
Jamie



Gov. Pawlenty Proposes Cutting Arts by Nearly 50%!

Gov. Pawlenty today announced a nearly 50 percent cut to the arts as part of a package of budget changes intended to balance the state's budget. A cut of this size would be devastating to an already reduced state arts budget. In 2003, the Governor proposed cutting 40% of arts funding, and we spent all that session fighting to reduce the cut to 32%. In subsequent sessions, we had managed to restore a small part of that funding. With this cut, the Governor is proposing to slash funding even lower than the arts had after losing a third of the funding in 2003.

The state currently appropriates $10.2 million to the State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, which go out in grants and services to all 87 Minnesota counties. The cuts would reduce that to $6.9M for 2010, and then only $3.4M for 2011. Another confusing angle in his budget recommendation is to turn the Minnesota State Arts Board, a state agency, into a "private non-profit," showing no state dollars going to the board after 2011. We can't tell what the point of that is, as it seems that the MSAB would still be largely spending public dollars. Such an action may conflict with the accountability and transparancy of the use of tax dollars.

In addition, while he shows revenue to the Amendment Arts and Culture Fund, he does not spend it. The Governor needs to explain how cutting this much funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils is NOT replacing one with the other. The Amendment says, "the dedicated money ... must supplement traditional sources of funding for these purposes and may not be used as a substitute." It may be that his intention is to replace current General Fund spending on the arts with Amendment dollars, but the budget does not seem to show that, except that the Arts Board is the only entity listed on the spending side of the Arts and Culture Fund budget, and there are zeroes in that column. It doesn't really make sense. We will continue to analyze the budget and get out more information as it becomes available.

The mood at the Capitol is dark. The deficit is huge, at $5B and rising, we don't know yet if and when federal stimulus dollars might arrive. The Governor is looking exclusively at cuts and shifts (pushing off paying bills by a year or two) to balance the budget. It is expected that eventually someone will propose tax increases of some kind to help balance the budget and reduce the size of cuts across the system, but that may be months away.

We thought last year was going to be the biggest year for arts advocacy in Minnesota history. Apparently, we were wrong! This year is even tougher. The Governor's budget proposal flies in the face of the clear message sent by voters in the passage of the Amendment: that we want MORE investment in the arts and culture, not less. To then additionally propose privatizing the State Arts Board is the opposite of the intent of voters. The state must spend the Amendment Arts and Culture fund on the arts and culture. The Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, which make sure arts funding reaches all 87 counties through their grants and services, is a natural and accountable conduit for much of that funding.

It is expected that this will be a very tough fight, and we need everyone's help to make sure that arts funding for the next two years isn't slashed. That is why it's important for YOU to attend Arts Advocacy Day on Feb. 24. We've shown by passage of the Amendment that by working together we can do great things. See below for more details.

Sheila Smith
Executive Director
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts



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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Secretary of the Arts position

Friends,

You may already have received this but I'm passing it along just in case.

Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, the United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever.

Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.

http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

If the link does not work just copy and paste it to your browser

~J-me


P.S. Sorry for the delay in posting. I need to update the Ae blog more and will hopefully have some help with that soon. We'll be updating it with Ae and arts-related news. Lots of exciting structural stuffs happening at Ae. :) More info on that will be coming.

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