Painted Pigs Honoring the Minnesota State Fair

Painted Pigs for the State Fair
Spotted Pig
3D Pig
Salted Pig

With no animal husbandry in my family, my entry into the Swine category in the Minnesota State Fair would have to be painted. You won't find them at the Fair, though, as they were completed much too late (yesterday) to be proper entries in any category.

These and other tiny original painted pigs will be available at the Hopkins Farmers' Market (Saturday August 23 from 7:30-noon), and at the Art Shoppe at Midtown Global Market beginning Monday August 25.

They all different. Each is matted and ready-to-frame in a 5x7 frame, and packaged with an envelope in a Clearbag. $15/each.

The J.V. Bailey House Pig

If you want to see a cousin of these pigs, stop by the J.V. Bailey House, home of the Minnesota State Fair Foundation.  While you're there, become a Friend of the Fair.

Vulcan's Victory: An inspiration from a great collaboration

Clement Haupers (1900-1982)
Vulcan’s Victory, 1960’s,
Collection of Minnesota Museum of American Art
Gift of Mrs. Benjamin Grey, 1976.

By the end of the 2011 Minnesota State Fair, I will have served as a State Fair Foundation Volunteer for 6 of the Fair's 12 days. I was lucky to have been assigned to the J.V. Bailey House and to the tiny exhibit, Fairs, Circuses, and All Things Fun, which is a collaboration between the Foundation and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. As the MMAA is currently looking for a home and its collections are in storage, it is a special treat to be able to see these paintings and sculptures.

My favorite piece, Vulcan’s Victory by Minnesota artist Clement Haupers, is an inspiration on many levels. It celebrates one of my favorite events, the St. Paul Winter Carnival (ice palace, bouncing girls, and fireworks), and it has a secret linked to Minnesota’s great agricultural tradition imbedded in its frame. Really? When Haupers made the frame, he used egg flats to echo the shapes and bursts of the fireworks. 

Egg Flat Frame

Many visitors have been intrigued by this painting, and there was much speculation about how Haupers achieved the look of stucco on this three-dimensional frame. Was it plaster? Plaster-of-Paris? Very thick paint? Stucco?

Having gone directly to a grocery store after seeing this frame, I learned that egg flats are not the egg cartons in grocery stores; they are made to hold 30 eggs. Nonetheless, I am inspired once again to create my own frames, and to look for unusual materials to do that. What inspires you?