Tag Archives: jason ackman

MAS artists at the Farwell House

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The Midwest Artist Studios Project is pleased to announce its partnership with MAS artist, Jason Ackman and the Farwell House. The Farwell House created an artist in residency program. 

Its second segment of the AiR Program welcomes two MAS artists hail from Omaha, Nebraska. The Farwell House hosted an open studios event with Lori and Rachel on Sunday, June 25 from 2-4pm. 

We wish Jason a successful summer at the Farwell House and its artist in residency program.

Thank you for including us in this new initiative.

About the artists

Lori Elliott-Bartle is a painter and printmaker inspired by big skies and open landscapes, travel and daily life. She simplifies shapes, saturates them with color and highlights them with contrast. Much of her work focuses abstractly on the prairie. Each day she takes a look at the patch of big bluestem growing in her small, urban front yard. This graceful, resilient plant reminds her of the subtle changes in color, texture, and line that Nebraska’s native prairie landscapes provide.

Mixing oil paint and softened beeswax allows her to create paintings that hold depth, complexity and texture, some of the same qualities about the prairie that she appreciates. Her painting process is physically active using rollers, wide blades and brushes to apply paint, then blot, scrape and carve with knives and points to reveal underlying colors. These lines and colors convey motion and emotion. http://lorielliottbartle.com

Rachel Mindrup is a professional artist and Resident Assistant Professor at Creighton University. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska – Kearney and then continued with atelier studies at the Art Academy of Los Angeles. She received her MFA from the Art Institute of Boston. Her current painting practice is about the study of the figure and portraiture in contemporary art and its relation to medicine. http://www.rmindrup.com/

 

AiR Photos

Courtesy of Jason Ackman and the Farwell House. 

 

To learn more about the Farwell House click here

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A MAS Update: Jason Ackman

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The Midwest Artist Studios Project has spent the past three years traveling the Midwest interviewing 24 artists from 18 cities/towns. This project has been such a joy to create and to see how these artists have touched the lives of art students through online interactions, emails, and social media.

One of the areas we pride ourselves in is staying in touch with these artists and hearing what they are up to these days? For the next two-months the MAS Project will be spotlighting one of our 24 artists by sharing with you what they are doing in their studio as well as in their communities. 

All three of our MAS publications are now available online.

Click here to buy your copy today!

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Jason Ackman

2015 MAS artist from Illinois

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MAS: In what ways have you benefitted from your participation in MAS?

JA: I have personally benefited from my involvement with MAS in a variety of ways.  The project has introduced and connected me with a bunch of artists in my region of the US.  Artists that I would most likely not known about had I not been involved with the work of MAS (Thank you!).  

It has given me more opportunities to not only talk and share info about the work I do but the work of other outstanding and fascinating artists in the Midwest.  This is a welcomed change since often times it seems that “real artists” are located in the major cities in the US, specifically out west and east.  

I also believe it has given me a boost of confidence and encouragement knowing that a project like MAS is interested in telling some of my story as an artist.  Not only as an artist, but an artist from the part of our nation that is often times overlooked when it comes artists making meaningful, significant work. 

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MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

JA: My studio work has drastically changed over the past year.  Shortly after the MAS team visited my studio I held my first solo exhibit.  Once that exhibit closed my studio practice took a major shift.  My practice has now become more about the social and community interaction with the arts.  I have spent very little time making work or objects that would be seen in an exhibit.  Instead, I have been focusing my energies on developing a local arts and cultural center as well as renovating a historic brick mansion (in a rural town of 150 people) into a future artist residency program. Although I have not been making work in the traditional sense, this new “work” has evolved into a practice of sorts.  The communal aspect of creating has become more of a focus for me. 

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MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

JA: There are so many things I would have liked to have said 🙂  I don’t even know where to begin. 

Visit Jason’s website to see more of his work. 

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

Introducing the Midwest Artist Studios 2015 featured artists

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MAS2015_announcementThe Midwest Artist Studios Project is proud to announce its 2015 featured artists. They are Jason Ackman (IL), Jessica Anderson (IL), Ellie Honl (IN), Emmy Lingscheit (IL), Jenniffer Omaitz (OH), Mellissa Redman (MI), Kate Robertson (MI), and Krista Svalbonas. We were impressed with their perspective on art education today and the work that they are producing. The final interview took place via multiple Skype sessions. Although they were given time to make a decision whether or not they would be interested in participating in this project they all said, “Yes!”, immediately. 

The MAS Team will be traveling through the Midwest later this summer. 

We are looking forward to getting to know these artists better as the summer progresses as well as being invited into their studios. 

Some new additions to the MAS Project will be View from the Road by the MAS Team and a special studio visit with Emmy Lingscheit at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Program. 

Check out our featured artists’ work by clicking on their names listed above. 

This 2015 MAS Project is supported by a grant from the National Art Education Foundation, Kohler Foundation, Inc., and the Wisconsin Art Education Association.