Weekend Showcase: State Fair Fine Art

The 2019 Minnesota State Fair is here again and the Fine Arts Building does not disappoint.

Here’s a challenge: Walk around the building, look at all the works, and see how many you can find from artists in your home city.

“In the building, we have 355 pieces on display,” explains Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Director, Jim Clark. “The majority of the gallery is used to display the work that is the result of a jury competition open to every Minnesota artist. That show has 334 works that the jurors chose for display from a record 2727 entries.”

All of the works are unique.

Maple Grove master watercolor artist Kris Fretheim made the grade again this year with her entry “Circle Game.”

Carl Johnson from Crystal was judged worthy with his entry “Swamp’s Edge #4.”

“The final piece that was in the State Fair was actually two pieces of art. I started one and put it aside, and I started one and I put it aside. I could never figure out how to finish either one of them,” says Carl Johnson. “And one day I was out in the studio looking at the one piece and I looked at the other piece, and a light went on. And I went and got that littler section, which is actually parts of a old humidifier wick. I put that over there and I put it up there and it fit like a glove.”

Ava Lambert from Maple Grove used acrylic on paper to create “Rock Bed” which you would swear was a photograph or maybe even actual rocks arranged under glass.

You Can Participate.

“We have a ‘peoples choice’ going on as well throughout the fair,” explains Clark. “The last Sunday of the fair voting closes. We tally them up and we announce the winner on Labor Day, the last day of the Fair.”

Many of the works you’ll see are for sale. And if you see a little red dot on the title card, that’s an indication that someone has purchased that particular piece.

To learn more about Fine Art at the State Fair, click here.

Crystal | Maple Grove

Arts Showcase