May, 2008
April showers bring May flowers, right? So it's May and I'm looking for things that are growing and blooming. I miss my garden in Richfield. I spent 14 years grooming the perennial gardens there, and now I drive slowly past when I bring my kids to their friends house and its all I can do to stop myself from jumping out and wandering down those familiar paths to see what's coming up. I don't though. Really I have enough things coming up around HERE to keep me good and busy.

Deb Johnson has been here the last few days putting up her show in the gallery. In the postcards and newsletters, I used several adjectives to describe the beauty of her work, but of course, I left out "breathtaking," which it certainly is. Deb just returned from Japan on a workshop/studio tour trip that she went on with, among other people, Judy Saye-Willis. They both have lots of fascinating stories about their trip, and you can see the influences of the orient on Deb's work. Her reception is May 9th from 5:30 - 7:30, and I hope people come out to talk to her about it and see the demonstration. I've never tried my hand at textile work, so I'm really intrigued and want to see it happening in person.

Ticket sales for "Always, Patsy Cline" are brisk, and Marilyn is busier than a one legged man at a butt kicking contest. But she is, as ALWAYS, calm, cool, collected, and funnier than heck. I'm very fortunate to have her here!

So what else is going on? Well, we've had some pretty cool donations that we're trying to press into work. Mill End Textile in Rochester donated a bunch of tapestry fabric for us to hang in the auditorium as sound deadening fabric. All of my best intentions have not been enough to get it hung up though, so if there's someone who has more time, skill and energy than myself, please come down! Western Graphics in St. Paul donated over 3,000 POUNDS of paper! Which reminds me of a story: Last Sunday I took my Dad's trailer Maude (he has two trailers - Harold and Maude) to my storage unit in Lonsdale. We filled it up with stuff and tied it all down, only to find that Maude's A frame broke! Drat! So we unloaded it all back into storage. So much for my dream to get all my stuff out of storage in April. So we took the trailer to my brother in law's house and dropped it off. Then Tuesday, I went and got Matt's trailer and attached it to my van and took Abdul (a very nice kid who's got some community service hours to work off) and we went down to Western Graphics. It was about an hour to get there (after we packed up boxes, picked up the trailer, went to Subway and headed down.) There was a BAD accident on hwy 69 going South, but of course, WE were going North. So anyway, we go there, and they loaded some paper onto the trailer right before there was a CRACK! That would be my van breaking. The whole hitch assembly bent. So we unloaded the paper, and put some into my van, and headed back with the trailer attached to the bent (but still there!) hitch. And we headed back home. Of course, then we ran into the nasty accident that we though would SURELY be cleared. It wasn't. We got very stuck before we had the opportunity to make a U-turn and head back to Elko, go down 46, back to 69, go left to Northfield and home. (Passing yet another accident on Hwy 3.)

Abdul's analysis was that the bald eagle that flew over our car on the way down was NOT, after all, a good luck omen, and further, that the bad luck was me. LOL So Tom Kunz of Western Graphics is going to bring his pickup truck with paper down next Tuesday May 6th, and I'll have to get down there to get some, too before then. My poor van.

Mel Sanborn is upstairs as we speak putting up ceiling tiles in the pottery area (yay!) and Leroy Rockman is going to tile the second floor. Stuff is happening!!!

In the spirit of May we are growing and blooming.

Don't forget that our 2008 Fundraising campaign has kicked off and we need YOU! The price of your daily cup of coffee maybe...that jar of change next to your bed...it all adds up and we appreciate it! Please donate today to help up whittle away our debt and grow even more over the coming years!

THANKS TO EVERYONE for their ongoing support!
April, 2008

I’m going to take a rainy April moment to get up on my soap box and do a little lecturing:

Right now in the gallery, we have an INCREDIBLE oil painting show. And I’m sad that so few people took advantage of the artist’s reception and lecture to learn more about the cause and effects of racism in our culture. I think that they were truly pivotal experiences for me, and I know that the others who attended felt the same way.  This coming week, April 13 – 19 is National Crime Victims Rights week – week to reflect on how crime impacts individuals and communities and how we can not just react, but proactively change OUR thinking to make the world a better place. The show is up through the end of April, and I hope that people will come in, play the game and really think about what it means to be a global citizen. I saw a really nasty bumper sticker on a truck out on 1st Ave the night of the artist’s reception – racist and cruel. And I was sick and angry and I realized once again how important that exhibits like the one in the gallery now really are. 

Okay, off my soap box. That’s my social justice crusader coming out in me. Probably you weren’t aware I had that side… =P 

We have some great kid’s movies coming up and I hope that we’ll see lots of families out for that. The great thing about DVD movies is that you can turn on subtitling…what does that mean? Well, it means that if we have Deaf audience members, we can turn on the English subtitles. If we have Spanish, then we can turn those on. It means that we are accessible like a “regular” theater never will be. I’m interested in the prospect of doing shows that are especially of interest to those groups, and would love to hear from the Deaf, Hispanic, Somali and other communities about how we can work together to find movies, concerts and other entertainment that will appeal to them. We ARE a global community, and all we need to do is find each other! Incidentally, while I’m a little rusty, I can warm up to some pretty decent ASL, so if people in the Deaf community are interested in coming in a chatting about art, I would love the opportunity to have that conversation.

Anyway, come to a movie, have some popcorn, and hang out with us. Learn more about classes, plays and showing and selling your artwork. That’s why we’re here, so take advantage!
March 21, 2008
While I set a goal for myself of a blog a month, I feel that this week deserves a blog of it's own. I was so fortunate today to get to see Matt Drevlow receive Citizen of the Year from the Faribault Daily News' Profile Magazine awards today. I've been an admirer of Matt's since I first met him in February of 2006. He is a true visionary, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to know him for the past two years. (I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS!) I hope everyone picks up the Profile and browses through to see not only the article on Matt, but also the info on all the other cool people and happenings in Faribault.

As I'm writing this, the River Community Church is wrapping up their Good Friday services. There are tons of people milling around in the lobby, and there were three middle school kids who were interested in the new abstract painting that we have in the gift shop (painted by Nicole Herzog), so I turned on the lights and chatted with them for a bit.  It was fun to listen to the music while I worked!

I'm working hard on putting together the 2008 campaign. I'm excited about the things we have coming up, the design ideas, the new brochure, secret cool things...all of it. There's SO MUCH that needs to be done though. Sometimes I wonder HOW will it happen? But I know that it will. One thing at a time, right?

Tomorrow we have three showings of Jesus Christ Superstar. I've never seen it, and I'm interested to do so. I hope that I have time. So often I have the intentions of doing things like that (fun things), but something else comes up that seems so much more imperative at that moment. But I got to see Amelie, and it was an AWESOME movie. Sad that there weren't more people to get to experience it. I've also become a rather expert popcorn maker. I admit that I burned the first batch...and yes, I sort of forgot to put the lid down the second time...but third time's the charm, and I've got it now! Unfortunately, I do have the attention span of a gnat sometimes, so more often than not the volunteers come to the rescue and tip the pan before it burns again.

We want the building to have even more events than it has now, and I'm hopeful that more events and more revenue will allow us to hire more people who will allow me to occasionally visit my kids and pets! (I'm half kidding...) In the meantime, every weekend has an event or two and the staff and volunteers here are busier than ever!

Well, HAPPY EASTER everyone. I'm heading out now to go snuggle with the dogs and cats.
March 2008
I woke up this morning, let the dogs out, and was surprised to see that it had snowed overnight. I'm not sure WHY I was surprised, but I was. Then imagine the richness of my chagrin when I could barely get out of the driveway because it resembled a blanket covered skating rink. However, I'm not easily deterred, so I managed to slide around in the van until I hit a patch of something grippy, and I maneuvered out of the drive and onto the road. Whew! Not surprising that the rest of my day seems to have gone surprisingly smoothly. 

But of course, not everything is so easy to steer around, and I find that there are about two million obstacles to overcome in the planning and upkeep of the art center. My natural persistence and my complete inability to accept that anything can NOT be done serve me well in this capacity. For instance, we are now in a position to start revving up the auditorium, booking shows and increases class offerings. So how to get everyone who doesn't know that we're even HERE to notice us?

Well, of course, we have the marquee coming. It's currently being made.  And we have the newspaper, and the radio, and the member mailing list…

But it's not enough. I talk to people all the time when I'm out and about who don't know that the Paradise is open and/or have never been here. That's just not right. The way I figure it, we need to get the businesses, citizens and schools involved in our little endeavor. We need to be loud, be proud and be…something else that sounds like "oud."

To that end, we are strategizing for the launch of something…something that we'll announce to our members April 3rd at 7pm at the Annual Meeting. Something that will kick off with the Over and Back concert April 26th.

So what does this mean to YOU? It means that you need to get in here. Take classes, come to the events, buy great art pieces, donate. Get involved and share your ideas and time with us. Because we can't do this without you! So get inspired! Get jazzed! Get involved! And tell people. When you're out and about – TELL people that we're here. Bring your friends. Bring your enemies and they'll become your friends. Bring your family and your neighbors.

Yes indeed. We are going to MOVE people. Because we have bills to pay and art to discover.

WOO HOOOOOO! (Yes, folks, she's only had one cup of chai ALL day and NO coffee!)
February 2008

Blog One. Let me just start by saying that it's an extremely cold and windy day, and there's a decidedly icy breeze slicing across the lower two feet of the lobby today. My basement office (or Slave Cave, as I like to call it) is the extreme opposite, wanting only for some rocks for me to dash scented water upon to make it a finished sauna. I'm splitting my time between the upstairs office (BRRR) and the downstairs office (HOT!) Somewhere there seems to be a happy medium.

I just tapped the ice floes on the top of my freshly brewed coffee and thought I would take a little break from plotting and planning to share a little of what is going on around here.

Most importantly, Marilyn, our beloved receptionist, is not feeling well, and I would ask for everyone's prayers that she hurry up and feel better.

Now, in an effort to organize the chaos, I'll go genre to genre:

Movies! I'll start here since it's the uppermost on my mind right now. We are trying hard to find movies that are a) interesting, b) affordable, and c) "gettable." (not to be confused with "Forgettable.") Licensing agreements are painful things if you've not had several years of graduate school to understand them. I'm currently working with several companies to try to understand how we can most easily facilitate getting movies in here on a regular basis. It's just not as easy as they make it look at the big theaters.

However, I just found a really cool place today that has a wonderful selection of indie filmes, American Theatre Films, and more, so my hope is renewed. And frankly, the fact that they have someone who's willing to actually answer my emails is a real thrill in an of itself!

Live Performances! It's like putting together a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle to get everything together in the theatre. It'll be wonderful when every piece is in place, but putting them there is a challenge and sometimes gives me a rather pounding headache. I should have prefaced this whole blog by saying that I'm a worrier. I have several advanced degrees in worrying. Which worries me. So I worry that no one will show up for performances, and then, when people show up, I am able to very quickly change the worry to one where "What if too many people come?" Then when then leave, I worry about the next show. As anyone who has seen me chew my fingers to the bone can attest, watching Tami worry is not a pretty sight. Occasionally, typing hurts as a result, too. That said, we have some amazing musical performances coming up. I'm particularly happy about my friend Andrea Stern coming on Valentine's Day. Andrea, in addition to being one of the most amazing women I know, used to be the principal harpist for the Minnesota Opera. I love to listen to her play, and can't wait to see her Valentine's Day. So that's my personal bias. Like everyone else, I am anticipating wonderful shows, but of course, it's my friendships that get me through, and hers is especially important to me.

Classes! As with everything else, I have ideas and excitement about the educational programming. I'm VERY excited about the education committee that we've gotten together. What a group of dynamos! They bring such energy, ideas, and (most important) ability to implement those ideas. What's NOT to love? I'm really truly looking forward to their contributions. It's going to make a world of difference! YAY!

Well, I'm going to close this particular entry today with the following quote: "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt.
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