About FASEM
The FASEM mission is to foster the exhibition of, and create an audience for, the visual arts in the Winona, Minnesota area.
In fall of 2008 a group consisting of professional artists and an art historian living in Winona formed Fine Artists of Southeast Minnesota, Inc., a non-profit corporation, solely for this purpose.
In June of 2009, within 9 months of incorporating, FASEM held its first exhibition.
The Exhibition
The first Southeast Minnesota Regional Juried Art Exhibition
The FASEM exhibition was designed to promote the visual arts in southeastern Minnesota and the nearby region.
The mission of the Southeastern Minnesota Fine Artists, Inc. (FASEM) is to foster the exhibition of, and create an audience for, the visual arts in the Winona, Minnesota area. FASEM's objective in the first Southeast Minnesota Regional Juried Art Exhibition, was to reach out to artists within the larger region, while at the same time presenting Winonans with art they might not have seen otherwise. Scheduling the show to coincide with Winona's major summer events, The Great River Shakespeare Festival and the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, was intended to attract the audiences for the plays and musical events of the festivals to the exhibition, and at the same time add a fine art component to them. The effect was to create a kind of art “triumvirate”—the theatrical, the musical, and the visual.
The exhibition reflected a wide range of media and stylistic approaches: paintings, drawings, photographs, print works, sculpture, ceramics and crafts, each represented by a variety of subject matter, techniques, and materials. Styles ranged from the traditional to modernist explorations with all manner of gradations between. Yet whatever the idiom, highly personalized images abounded. See Artists Gallery for the prize winners and other works selected for the 2009 show.
The 2nd Annual Southeast Minnesota Regional Juried Art Exhibition, 2010
FASEM's 2010 project is identical with the 2009 show, again a juried art competition (juror: Elizabeth Armstrong, Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Programs/Curator of Contemporary Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts) reaching out to artists living in both urban and rural areas within the larger southeastern Minnesota region. Rural artists are a special target, for they, unlike their urban counterparts, do not always have opportunities to exhibit their work in a professional setting, which the project is intended to remedy. The show is meant to enhance the experience of contemporary art in Winona and the region.
FASEM expects to surpass its 2009 success this year. Set for June 18 through July 29, the 2010 exhibition again runs concurrently with Winona's Shakespeare and Beethoven festivals, shown in the Lillian Davis Hogan Galleries on the campus of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and in the Paul Watkins Gallery on the Winona State University campus. This season's plays – Othello and the Comedy of Errors – will be performed on the WSU campus, near the Paul Watkins Gallery. Many of the concerts as well are played on or near the campus; a recital by the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will take place in Somsen Hall at WSU.
It is FASEM's supreme desire to continue to make the exhibition an annual event and that it will become a staple of Winona culture. FASEM is confident the reputation of the exhibition will increase with each passing year. The high quality of the artwork on view will ensure that the cultural experiences of those living in Winona and surrounding communities will be expanded and enriched.
More Information
Regional Arts Organizations
Great River Shakespear Festival
Contact FASEM
Dennis Jennings
823 E 5th ST
Winona, MN 55987
507-454-8804
dennisj@hbci.com
© 2010 • Fine Artists of Southeast Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota