Exhibits move to street level at Kaddatz

By Rebecca Petersen | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, August 25, 2007

I’m afraid it’s true — sometimes the visual arts and artists get lost in the shuffle of this other arts world we live in filled with theater and music and dance. I wonder why sometimes.

I wonder if it’s because the visual arts are “more subtle.” They come up from behind you and surprise you with their color, their shape, their design, their composition. It’s all done so quietly.

There’s something peaceful and calming about that experience. It’s different from the more raucous nature of music and theater and dance.

Not to suggest that other art forms are of a more rowdy nature, but there is more social interaction between artist and audience when you go to the theater or a dance or music performance.

It’s different when you’re standing in a gallery appreciating the work of an individual visual artist. It’s more solitary — more personal.

Of course there are other opportunities to make the visual arts experience more social and interactive — there are art shows, gallery openings, exhibits, art festivals, art crawls, and art classes that encourage more interaction between the artist and their audience.

We are trying to do more, though it hasn’t been easy. The Gallery across the street in the lower level of The Kaddatz Hotel has not been as successful as we had hoped. People don’t see it, they can’t find it, it isn’t open enough because it isn’t busy enough — I think I’m starting to understand that expression a “catch 22.”

So we’ve insisted that we move a visual arts gallery upstairs to the street level. It’s going to happen. I know this because the build-out is underway. It will be nice to have street presence.

Meanwhile, across the street here at A Center for the Arts, Bert Whitcombe’s photography exhibit will be up through August into the first week of September. Please join us (and artist Bert Whitcombe) for an artist’s reception, Tuesday, Sept. 4, from 4 to 6 p.m. Immediately following Bert’s exhibit, Emily Williams Wheeler will be back for the rest of September and October.

She’ll also be a part of the Fergus Falls Area Art Crawl on Sept. 28 and 29.

This year includes 21 artists in their studios and other locations and several local galleries.

Here at A Center for the Arts, we try to continuously expose our other audiences (theater, music and dance) to the visual arts by having one art exhibit after the next in our “gallery” space. While it’s not a true gallery with white walls and that museum feel to it, it does serve us well by offering other audiences the opportunity to sit back and relax and enjoy the incredible work of some of our local artists.

So, this weekend, if you’re attending “Songs from the Tall Grass,” take a minute to explore the pictures on the walls.

Next time you’re here they’ll be different. Let them catch you by surprise.

Rebecca Petersen is the director of A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls.