Register for Spring 2011 classes!

With spring around the corner (really, it is, really), now is the time to shake yourself out of hibernation mode and head on down to CAFAC to learn how to use heat, spark, or flame to create those projects you've been thinking about all winter. Garden art season is right around the corner!

Most classes are starting in mid-April. Visit our website to see what we're offering so far in welding, blacksmithing, and Precious Metal Clay, and check back often as we add new classes in the coming weeks. You can register online or by calling us at 612.294.0400.

Scholarships available!
Thanks to funding from the Bancroft Neighborhood Association and from the MN State Arts Board (through funds from the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment), tuition assistance scholarships are available for CAFAC classes. Email info@cafac.org or call 612.294.0400 to request an application.

(Photo courtesy Courtney Conk, CAFAC neighbor and volunteer. Thanks Courtney!)

Artist Profile: Lonny McLaughlin

At the Nokomis Gallery, we are so fortunate to have such an amazing group of local artists currently exhibiting their work. One of these artists is Lonny McLaughlin.

Lonny's career as an artist began in 1970. It was then, while still a student, Lonny began to exhibit his paintings; art fairs, local art centers, and the like. During the years that followed, Lonny’s development as an artist grew as a private, independent, studio-based, self-generated activity that from time to time showed up as an obsession and would take all the skills he could master to pull out what he imagined.

Currently Lonny is working on a fused series called “Woven Work”. This is an attempt to represent glass as textile. Each piece is as though a piece of fabric were torn from a much larger whole and magnified several times to capture the color detail of each “thread”. In the process of finding color combinations, textures, opacity, transparency, reflection and refraction, making tableware and jewelry have become a practical way as well as a fine benefactor for his larger experimental and studio pieces. Several of these woven pieces are currently being exhibited in the gallery.

In Lonny’s words, “In the process of discovery, I am imagining a time when I have satisfied my attempt to marry the joy of mixing paint with the magical transparency and sparkle of glass. The outcome of this journey will be something, I can’t see it yet, but it will be something. Each piece, both painting and glass brings me a bit closer.”

Lonny resides in the Central neighborhood in Minneapolis and has been a strong supporter of CAFAC since it was just an idea. He is currently exhibiting a wide variety of work at the gallery; from affordable jewelry on up to a fabulous stained glass screen.

To see Lonny's work in person, stop by the Nokomis Gallery, open Thursdays from 6 to 8pm, and on Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. We're also available by appointment by calling 612.294.0400.

Your sweetie loves Precious Metal Clay

What? You think Valentine's Day isn't a real holiday? It's just a marketing ploy to sell more stuff? Well... you may have a point. But still, we're pretty sure there's someone in your life that would heart a class at CAFAC, and it just so happens we've got one starting on February 15: Metal Clay Exploration. Join instructor Laura Juul in this 6-week introductory course covering the basics of working with amazing Precious Metal Clay. It's deceptively simple, allowing you to make beautiful jewelry items and other small sculpture out of pure silver clay, using your hands and simple tools. Full details and online registration can be found here. It'll make a perfect gift for someone you love, and that includes yourself!

Nokomis Gallery Open Tomorrow: New 2011 Hours Set!

It's finally warming up outside!...time to get out of the house and heat things up even more by stopping in to the Chicago Avenue Fire Art Center's new Nokomis Gallery! We'll be open all day Saturday, February 5, from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Current Exhibition and Sale
Our current exhibition and sale features an array of gorgeous glass and metal works (from one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces to large sculptures, and everything in-between) by local artists Lonny McLaughlin, Jacob Honer, Jim Wadsworth, Emily Johnson, and Betty Jager. Check out our website for photos!

New 2011 Hours
Our new 2011 hours are set, so if you can't make it tomorrow, be sure and stop in anytime during our new open hours:

• Thursdays, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
• Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• By appointment. Call 612.294.0400

Interested in volunteering at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center or in the Nokomis Gallery?
Fill out our volunteer profile form.