Collect Call: All About Kim Witczak

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.
 

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Kim Witczak.

Kim Witczak, freelance art buyer/producer, is responsible for negotiating, securing and producing all illustrative and photographic needs for commercial advertising clients such as United Airlines, Starbucks, Target, Best Buy, Dell, Wagner, JCP, St. Paul Companies, Dove Chocolate, American Red Cross, and Del Webb.  Advertising agencies include:  Barrie D'Rozario Murphy, Mono, Fallon, BBDO New York, BBDO Minneapolis, PMH, Black Design, Brew, Duffy Design.

Prior to going freelance in 2006, Kim was Senior Art Producer at Fallon Worldwide working on accounts like BMW of North America, Citibank, Nordstrom,Timex, and Lee Jeans.  Kim started her advertising career in 1989 in Chicago.

Kim has been invited to speak at ICON (International Illustration conference) to present the United Airlines illustration/animation ad campaign as well as recent Minneapolis Institute of Arts MAEP panel on the Convergence of commercial and fine art worlds.  She frequently talks to illustration, advertising, and photography classes at MCAD about her professional experience.

In addition to her professional experience, Kim was one of the founders of Free Arts for Abused Children (www.freeartsmn.org <http://www.freeartsmn.org/> ) in 1996, a non-profit dedicated to bringing the healing power of the arts to abused and neglected children in Minnesota.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors including past Board President.  Plus, she founded Woodymatters, an advocacy organization dedicated to promoting drug safety and FDA reform issues after the death of her husband in 2003.

 
When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

1995 -- I purchased my first piece of art from a gallery in Chicago called George Art.   George Colin was an outsider artist that was homeless and started out painting on cardboard.  He lived by the cardboard factory and would take it out of the dumpster.  He was discovered by gallery owners in Chicago.  I met George and was inspired by his story and life as artist.    Inspiration for collection is based on philosophy that creativityy is something that everyone comes into the world.  It's their story, their form of self-expression. It takes shape in many ways.

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

50 + pieces (and several still unframed)

Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

Personal connection to the artists or piece of art.  It's the intersection of commercial and fine art.  Maybe its because my life is a blend of both and also intersects with my passion of working with the kids of Free Arts Minnesota.  

A huge thanks to Kim Witczak for participating in this exhibition!

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All About Cherie Shoquist

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Cherie Shoquist.

 Cherie Shoquist is Principal Project Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis
Community Planning and Economic Development Department and responsible for
the development of strategies, policies and programs to advance the recovery
of the city's housing market hardest hit by foreclosures including the
innovative Green Homes North program. She also worked in policy for the
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and as an attorney for the Legal Aid
Society of Minneapolis.  She graduated from William Mitchell College of Law
and the University of Minnesota and was a policy fellow at the Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs.

 
She has served as a volunteer for Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Free
Arts Minnesota, Walker Art Center's Education and Community Programs, and is
an Advisory Board Member for Soo Visual Arts Center.

I began to collect art in the early 1990's.  Art makes me happy and I love
to share that. 

A huge thanks to Cherie Shoquist for participating in this exhibition!

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All About Jim Rustad

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.
 

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Jim Rustad.

Jim Rustad is a life-long twin cities resident, and a former or current board member of Park Square Theatre, COMPAS, The Weisman Art Museum and The Minnesota Museum of American Art.  Several years ago he retired from a career which included practicing law, being a financial services advisor, and a college teaching.  Jim and his significant other, Kay Thomas, live in lower town St. Paul.
 

When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

Since others began to refer to our paintings, prints, glass and wooden objects, pottery and other odds and ends as an “art collection”, I have slowly gotten used to that term, but I don’t use it often.  For a much longer time I have appreciated having a home where living with art is an everyday experience in all of its spaces (even the laundry room).  The initial inspiration was simply the recognition of how good it feels to do so. Other inspiration has come from many visits to art museums, galleries and studios, and to the homes of artists and collectors.

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

To know that, I would need to know better what “art” includes.  It seems like you can find almost anything in an art museum somewhere.  How about objects of glass, fabric, clay, wood which are pleasing to the eye, but are also utilitarian?  Which photographic images?
. . . So, somewhere in the low hundreds, I guess.

 Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

Much of our art was produced by people whom we have met, even if only briefly.  So that tends to boil down to artists who live or have lived within a few hundred miles from home. We are attracted to art which may help produce a smile.

A huge thanks to Jim Rustad for participating in this exhibition!

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All About John Ollmann

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.
 

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting John Ollmann.

John Ollmann is a lifelong Minneapolis resident who gets nice tables in restaurants because people think he’s Jon Oulman, the better-known gallery/salon/bar owner.  His career has been in the retail industry as a buyer/merchant and he serves on the Advisory Board of the Goldstein Museum of Design at the U of M. 

 

When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

As far back as I can remember I had a collection of one sort or another. Serious collecting began with an interest in Vintage Posters 25 years ago.

I love History and arcane trivia, with a special affinity for the decades around 1900. Author Walter Lord described them as “The Good Years”; after Indoor Plumbing but before the Income Tax and World War I.

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

Dozens: from works of art to odd bits of ephemera. 

 Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

Most everything dates from 1890-1940 and most everything has a back story that interests me.

I’m compelled by objects that have passed through other people’s hands and homes.  I have this weird need to keep, document, and preserve things that have survived, and be their caretaker for the next collector.

A huge thanks to John Ollmann for participating in this exhibition!

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All About Drs. Herman J. Milligan, Jr., & Constance Osterbaan-Milligan

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Drs. Herman J. Milligan, Jr., & Constance Osterbaan-Milligan

Dr. Milligan is currently a Managing Partner with The Fulton Group, LLC, an independent consultant firm specializing in marketing research, competitive intelligence, non-profit organizational development, and culturally-specific initiatives. He has over twenty-five years of experience working in the financial services industry. He retired in 2010 as a Vice-President of Marketing Research/Competitive Intelligence within the Enterprise Marketing/Marketing Insights and Measurement division for Wells Fargo and Company. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and his B.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Milligan was as a Ford Foundation Fellow in Music at the Center For Contemporary Music at Mills College (Oakland, CA) and performed with the Cecil Taylor Black Music Ensemble at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971 (Tenor Saxophone) and also served as a music reviewer for the schools’ newspaper, the Daily Cardinal. As a photographer, he has participated in and organized several exhibitions and taught Visual Sociology at Macalester College (St. Paul, MN).

He currently serves on the Board of Directors/Advisory Boards for Artspace Projects, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN); IFP Center for Media Arts (St. Paul, MN); The Center for Cuban Studies (New York, NY); The Givens Foundation For African American Literature (Minneapolis, MN); The Soap Factory (Minneapolis, MN); Juxtaposition Arts (Minneapolis, MN); Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN); Seattle 911 Media Center (Seattle, WA); SOO Visual Arts Center (Minneapolis, MN); Town/Craft Advisory Board for Iowa State University, University Extension, Community and Economic Development/College of Design (Perry, IA); TuckUnder Projects (Minneapolis, MN); I Do My Part (Tallahassee, FL) ; Ananya Dance Theatre (Minneapolis, MN); Contempo Physical Dance (St. Paul, MN).

When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

"Actually for me the inspiration to collect started in high school by collecting 45’s and LPS and continued into college and beyond. My first art-related pieces were a poster by Romare Bearden announcing his The Prevalence of Ritual: Painting and Collages exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1971. It was given to me by a poet/writer friend of mine named James W. Thompson (The Yellow Bird and You Are Alms) who I met through Cecil Taylor, the jazz musician/composer. I played with Cecil’s Black Music Ensemble at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that year. We had travelled to New York to perform at Hunter College. At that same time, James also gave me a mailing designed by Bearden to promote the Arthur A. Schomberg Collection located in Harlem. The Collection is now part of the New York City Public Library system. James was working there helping to promote the Collection and the Bearden show.

My interest in collecting grew as I learned photography in Cambridge, MA and I began to understand the art of preserving images for historical purposes. I began collecting books at this time as well. This continued when I started graduate school at the University of MN-Twin Cities.  

When in graduate school I began to purchase more photography and art. After meeting my wife in graduate school we began collecting together and separately. In those days, we would visit galleries and get to know the owners. Our favorite Gallery Owners would call us back and let us know what they had to offer. They were very knowledgeable and were eager to showcase the work and their knowledge about the work. You really got to know them, the work itself and its provenance.  As I began to volunteer with nonprofit arts organization, I felt it was important to support the work of emerging artists and began collecting their work locally, nationally and internationally when I traveled for work or on vacation."
-Herman Milligan

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

 "Many…."
-H.M.

Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

"Emerging contemporary; photography; Cuban contemporary artists; African sculpture; established modern/contemporary artists who are local, national, or international in location."
-H.M.

Have some questions for Herman or Constance? 

Please join us for a talk with some of the collectors this Thursday, November 14 from 6-8 pm at SooVAC.

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All About Jason Howard and Chad Keast

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Jason Howard and Chad Keast.

Jason & Chad make their home in Southwest Minneapolis.  Jason spends his days as a salesperson for Print Craft, a local commercial printing company.  Chad is a consultant, educator and stylist for Intelligent Nutrients in Minneapolis.  They share their home with lots of inspiring art and two rambunctious Boston Terriers, Butch and Pnut.   Free time for them is spent traveling, roaming galleries and cooking.  Jason serves on the Boards of the Soo Visual Art Center and Philanthrofund – two local non-profits serving the arts and the GLBT communities.

When did you start your collection? What was the inspiration?

Our collection started in the late 90’s when Jason started buying art at auctions and antique shows.  It evolved into a more local and modern art collection after Jason and Chad met, and more importantly after the Soo Visual Art center opened in 2001.   Jason is simply addicted to good art, thanks to Suzy Greenberg’s & Carolyn Payne’s guidance.  The inspiration is a simple love of artistic talent, and the simple wonder of loving something so much you can sit and stare at it for hours.

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?Our collection consists of about 200+ pieces scattered between our home and our extended families' homes.

Is there a theme or focus in your collection?
We buy what strikes us…Sometimes irreverent (mostly Chad’s pieces) and sometimes very calm (Jason’s landscapes).  More recently one can see a graffiti edge to the work we are drawn to.  We appreciate fine drawing, unique materials and bright colors.  You can also see our sense of dark humor and our love of having the eye tricked in many of our pieces.

Have some questions for Jason and Chad? 

Please join us for a talk with some of the collectors this Thursday, November 14 from 6-8 pm at SooVAC.

More Information Here.

Collect Call: All about Tom Arneson

Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage offers us a view into 8 collections in the Twin Cities. We're spotlighting a collector a day during the week of the exhibition.

Today we have the pleasure of spotlighting Tom Arneson.

Tom Arneson:

"I grew up in Fairmont, MN and went to school for a very long time, receiving a BA from Harvard, MD from Mayo Medical School, and MPH from the University of MN School of Public Health.  I have lived in Minneapolis since 1988 and have worked in health care quality improvement and population health research.  I’m a member of Hennepin Ave. United Methodist Church, which has an amazing collection of 16^th-19^th century European religious paintings, given by T. B. Walker; a set of the 240-plus “Roberts Lithographs” from the mid-19^th century, documenting travels by English artist David Roberts in the Holy Land and Egypt; a fine collection of sculpture by local artists; and more.  I serve on the church’s Fine Arts Committee.  I am also a Trustee of the MN Museum of American Art, which has a terrific collection, but for the past several years has had no home.  That is about to change, however, as plans proceed for the creation of the “Art Block” in downtown St. Paul, centering on the Pioneer and Endicott buildings at 4^th and Robert.  The MMAA will occupy a large portion of the ground floor, including the corner where the MMAA “Project Space” is now located."

When did you start your collection?  What was the inspiration?

"My great-grandmother was an accomplished amateur potter and my grandmother worked with ceramics as a hobby.  She was interested in design (studied with the Goldstein sisters at the U of MN) and encouraged creativity in me.  Perhaps she inspired my early interest in ceramics and my first passion for created things: artisan-made goods.  For several years during the 1990s I travelled around the state meeting artists across the state who made beautiful, useful things and I created and published The North Country Artisan Directory (i.e. a “Yellow Pages” for artisans).  For several years I had a booth at the Minnesota State Fair displaying pieces I had bought (my first “collection” I guess!) and selling copies of the book.  In the late 1990s I started paying more attention to fine art, and I was particularly interested in vintage pieces.  My adventures in buying vintage art  by Minnesota artists and learning about the artists and their times started in earnest around 2000."

Roughly how many pieces of art do you own?

"576 pieces as of October 11, 2013: 344 vintage and 232 contemporary.

By medium:

114 paintings on canvas/board

120 works on paper (drawings, watercolor or other painting on paper, collage)

223 prints

103 ceramic pieces (functional and sculptural)

  13 metal or wood sculpture/other

    3 photographs"

Is there a theme or focus in your collection?

"I collect work by Minnesota artists from 1900 to present.  When I started collecting fine art my focus was on work from the 1920’s through the 1950s.  My interest was both in the created object and in the life of the artist and the social context of their work as an artist: where art students studied, where they showed and sold their work, how national trends in art expressed themselves in Minnesota, etc.  I bought fairly voraciously for a while, as I learned about many artists.  Over time, the collection had work by many of the artists who have been part of the Minnesota art community, generally with one piece per artist or, if they had multiple distinct periods, one from each.  Or, if I really like an artist’s work, I have several pieces (no hard and fast rules!).  In more recent years I have increasingly bought work by contemporary local artists.  For a collector, this is a rather different enterprise than buying vintage art.  Through the passage of time, certain artists of the past become fairly well known with work available to be seen and bought (with market-tested prices) and, generally, robust information to be found about them.  Others, whether fair or not, recede into obscurity and it is unusual to be aware of them or find information about them.  So there is a relatively small range of artists for the emerging collector to focus on, at least at first (for more advanced collectors, vintage artists that history has slighted are an enticing focus!).  Contemporary local artists are legion – and many are very good.  For me, galleries end up being very important, as that is usually my first contact with an artist’s work and I appreciate the great value good gallery directors provide to the artist, to the local art scene – and to me!  My strategy on the contemporary artist front is still emerging, but in general I’d say I tend to buy one piece of most artist’s work, and for a small number of artists who particularly interest me, I follow the development of their work over time and buy pieces periodically.  Over the past several years my historic interest in ceramics has re-emerged as I have come to realize what a rich area for ceramics Minnesota has become.  I am now an avid fan, buyer, and user of functional and sculptural pieces by Minnesota clay-workers."

Have some questions for Tom? 

Please join us for a talk with some of the collectors this Thursday, November 14 from 6-8 pm at SooVAC.

More Information Here.