Science Museum of Minnesota

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Art, diatoms, great blue heron, green heron, hand dyed silk, hand painted silk, Pine Needles, Science Museum of Minnesota, silk, St. Croix River Valley, St. Croix Watershed Research Station, St. Paul, walnut dyes

The Science Museum of Minnesota was directly across the street from the convention center and conference participants were able to visit for free. Again – a photo using the panoramic app. One of the things I especially like about taking pictures like this is the irregular shape of the image. It really bends the space.
There is a Pterodactyl(?) skeleton suspended from the ceiling and a world map in the floor of the entrance.

After leaving St. Paul, we drove to Marine-on-St. Croix to visit the St. Croix Watershed Research Station (SCWRS). I was an artist in residence there in 2008 and last year at this time delivered the piece I created as an interpretation of my stay at Pine Needles, the cabin designated as the “residence” for this program. I hadn’t had the chance to photograph the piece before delivering it to the station, so I took the opportunity on this visit. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
The pieces I create as interpretations of residencies tend to be more complex than my other work. Hopefully, the story of the two or three weeks I spend immersed in a new place become well integrated as a snapshot of that time. Once in a Blue Moon combines images I obtained from the research done in the river directly outside the door of Pine Needles – diatoms and discs used in Lead 210 testing of sediment core samples – with the plants and animals I observed during the three weeks I lived there – Great Blue and Little Green herons, the blue moon that occurred, and of course, the pine needles.  The SCWRS is part of the Science Museum of Minnesota.

The Other Side of the River

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Art, Ashleigh Still, blues, Bo Ramsey, country, jazz, JJ Hill Library, Minnesota Public Radio, music, poetry, Real-Phonic Radio Hour, St. Paul

I just returned from St. Paul, Minnesota (work related trip) and had a chance to attend the first in what will be a monthly Minnesota Public Radio Program called Real-Phonic Radio Hour. The show took place in an amazing space – the James J. Hill Reference Library in downtown St. Paul. I took lots of photos with my iPod using an app called Photosynth. This is a free panoramic photo stitching app from Microsoft that actually works pretty well!  Click on the images for a larger version.
This view was taken from one end of the room and ends pretty much where it began. In the real world, the columns are parallel to one another and the walls behind the columns are filled with books.
The Real-Phonic Band – Erik Koskinen, Paul Bergen Frankie Lee and JT Bates; Bo Ramsey and Ashleigh Still performed along with a wonderful poet.
A fun result of the way these frames are stitched together is the disappearance of portions of previous images – notice the bass player in the red shirt – or what’s left of him.

The scene after the performance from a perch atop the opposite end of the room – the walls of books were so high that narrow open walkways were constructed for access to the library. I was on a wider balcony which still seemed pretty scary! But this gives a more realistic  view of the room. Keep in mind that each of these images is composed of many frames – probably no fewer than 2 dozen for this one.