It is in my nature to gather people around issues I am passionate about. I don’t plan to do this–it just happens. There have been four distinct periods when I found myself leading groups of people toward a constructive goal. I’d like to start telling these stories in an clear and meaningful way, maybe in some kind of blog format.
ARTPAPER
Lynn Ball and I co-founded ARTPAPER in 1981 with the support of many artists and arts administrators. The story of how ARTPAPER came into existence, the impact it had on the Twin Cities and how we became the fourth largest art market in the US, needs to be told. In doing so I hope to draw a road map for others to create a new print publication for the arts that serves artists equitable. Hopefully it will start here.
ARTNETWEB
In 1991 Rob Murphy and I co-founded ArtNetBBS, which soon turned into one of the first arts websites on the brand new World Wide Wide. By 1992 we had a small storefront in Soho, NYC, where we lead the digital art movement, which culminated in the historic PORT exhibition in 1994 at the List Gallery at MIT. This another fascinating story that needs to be told.
Robotic Art Club
In 2000 I found myself back in the area where I was born and raise, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I started a Robotics Art Club with 10, 11, & 12-year-old’s and their dads. We created lots of fun projects, two of which became large public art performances, Dance of the WaterSpiders and the 50-foot Robotic Serpent. I hope to tell this story sometime as well.
Community Development Now
Since I returned to the Twin Cities in 2012, I have been slowly re-entering the art community with help from my old and new friends. I started the XYZ Club, joined the NE-CDC board and am a founding member of HATCH committee to create a NE Arts Center. As this is on-going I hope to put updates here.