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Jamie Schumacher, our office
and accounting manager, is curating the Art of Tragedy, a
group show in which artists use their own way of dealing
with personal tragedies as a tool to help others who are
now going through a very severe time of need, specifically
those affected by the recent earthquake/tsunami tragedy.
Two of the 16 participating artists in the exhibit, which
opened March 12th at the Altered Esthetics Gallery in
Minneapolis, are Peace Coffee employees.
 Emily Snyder is currently finishing up her seasonal
position at Peace Coffee where she holds the title for
quickest bagger in the state of Minnesota. Emily attended
the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston/Tufts
University for two years, but her strong Minnesotan roots
pulled her back to this lovely state. Emily started her
art piece, "What in the Hell.....", in January
on a whim, beginning the piece as a self portrait. After
working ferociously on this beginning for half and hour
she stopped, stepped back and looked at what had just
emerged on the paper. An overwhelming sense of awe and
emotion overtook her when she realized that a gigantic
wave had thrown itself onto the paper from behind the red
figure. She believes that consciously or subconsciously,
all of us have felt grief over the tsunami and the vast
number of lives it took with it. This piece is a
reflection of that grief and the puzzle we have had to
ponder regarding where we place ourselves and our personal
tragedies in the larger scheme of things.
 The other artist on staff is Brad Wilson, our intrepid
bike deliverer. His painting presents relevant found
objects such as a poem by Maya Angelou which is where the
piece gets its title "Just Before the World
Ends". He tries to convey our tendency to carry out
our daily activities with a fervor that blinds us from the
needs of our fellow man and our planet. As we saw on 9-11
it takes a shockingly destructive act on our home turf to
snap us awake: and yet it was all too easy to blame
others. The actions of our country globally since then in
Brad's opinion have been even more arrogant. He believes
the world's nations feel pressure to passively accommodate
the policies of a man who lacks the support of a majority
even in his own country. And so, with half of our defenses
tied up in a crusade half a world away, Brad and others
plod disgracefully on.
The
Art of Tragedy
Artists Reception, March 12th, 6 to 8 pm
Altered Esthetics Gallery
1300 Quincy Street N.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Altered Esthetics is a community gallery run by
artists... for artists. They hold group-shows so that
multiple artists of all walks can display their
perspectives on a given theme. Altered Esthetics donates a
minimum of 10% of all show sales for each event to a
reputable charity working actively in an area relevant to
the message of the show.
For the art of tragedy tsunami relief show, all show
sales will be split between Save the Children's
Tsunami/Earthquake relief fund and the participating
artists.
The next group show, Animal Art, will open Friday May
20, 2005. Artist submissions are being accepted from now
until April 2nd. There are no gallery fees for
submissions, and 10% of all show sales for Animal Art will
be donated to farm sanctuary. For more information visit
the upcoming gallery section at www.alteredesthetics.com,
or contact Jamie, contact@alteredesthetics.com.
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