Studio Sessions: Judith Roode

I end this series of Studio Sessions, environmental photographic portraits of Twin Cities artists in their studios in the 1970s, with this photo of Judith Roode. Judith was one of the central figures in the Twin Cities art scene, on the faculty of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, an active member of WARM, the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota, and producing a distinctive body of work: large-scale, expressionistic nude figure drawings in charcoal. I had a special regard for her fierce devotion to her art, and to the role of women in art.

Studio Sessions: Virginia Randolph Bueide

I've always been fascinated by the paint left behind by artists who mount their canvases on the wall rather than on easels. To add to the fascination, the way Ginny Bueide, cleaning her airbrush, fits inside the circular shadow left by the canvas behind her gives the impression of a mirror - an optical illusion. She is an imaginative and productive painter.

Studio Sessions: Two Sculptors in Wood

Don Knudson and Dick Graham were two Twin Cities artists, both sculptors in wood, who did independent, imaginative work.

Don Knudson

Dick Graham

Studio Sessions: Two Elder Sculptors

Anthony Caponi and Chuck Huntington were two of the senior sculptors in the Twin Cities. Caponi was born in Italy,  taught at Macalester College in Saint Paul, and in later life established a 60-acre art park and learning center. Huntington, an Ojibwe, supported himself mainly, I believe, with major abstract metal sculptural commissions for businesses and universities, including a prominent large piece on the lawn of the General Mills campus. Both died recently after long, full lives.

Anthony Caponi

Chuck Huntington

Studio Sessions: Phyllis Wiener

Phyllis Wiener was one of the stalwarts in the Twin Cities art scene.

Studio Sessions: Artist in Neon

Cork Marcheschi was a pioneer in making sculpture out of glowing neon in glass, in a manner very different from Dan Flavin and others working in this medium in the 1970s.

Studio Sessions: University of Minnesota Faculty

Here are three artists that I photographed for my Studio Sessions project in the 1970s, who were on the Studio Arts faculty of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Tom Rose

Wayne Potratz

Bill Roode

Studio Sessions: Up and Coming

Here are five Twin Cities artists who were just beginning to be noticed in the 1970s, and who have gone on to distinguished careers.

Frank Gaard

Mary Griep

James Kielkopf

Stuart Nielson

Scott Stack

Studio Sessions: Potters and Sculptors

Three members of the vigorous ceramics community in the Twin Cities:

Curt Hoard

Jeff Oestreich

David Kenyon

Studio Sessions: Printmakers

These artists were stalwarts in the 1970s Twin Cities art scene.

Zig Priede at an opening

Nancy Randall giving a demonstration at the Walker Art Center

Char Zahn in her studio

Studio Sessions: Mike Norman

Mike Norman is a Twin Cities potter, whose creations  tend to have a whimsical touch. I photographed him at his home in St. Paul, which also was his studio and gallery.

Studio Sessions: Carole Fisher

Carole Fisher has been one of the stalwarts of the Twin Cities art scene for decades, a multi-media artist focusing on environmental and feminist issues. She was one of the founders of WARM, the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota. She taught for many years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, but also in the mid-1970s at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, where I photographed her installing an exhibit of her work.

Studio Sessions: Geometric Abstractionists

After our tour of Italy, I'm going to return for a while to my series of "Studio Sessions" of environmental portraits of Minnesota artists in their studios.

Peter Busa was one of the old-time abstract painters who migrated from New York City to Minneapolis in 1960. He taught at the University of Minnesota and designed the once-striking painted facade of the Valspar Paint Company.

Sandra Kraskin was one of his proteges, who painted in a similar geometric abstract style. She went on to a distinguished career as a painter and Director of the Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College of CUNY.

Ancient and Contemporary in Florence

To end this photo journey through Venice, Milan, and Florence, here is our grandson — whose bar mitzvah occasioned this trip — next to an ancient hero in the Pitti Palace.

Palazzo Vecchio Busts

Along the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio are some striking busts.

This bust, presumably of a Roman commander, is one of the most lifelike I've ever seen.

And this is Machiavelli! He doesn't look "cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous".

Palazzo Vecchio Museum

The Museum of the Palazzo Vecchio is rich with architectural adornments, painting, and sculpture.

Outside the Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio is another of Florence's great historic buildings and museums. The exterior is misleadingly tourist-kitsch.

Michelangelo's David

Perhaps the greatest single tourist attraction in Florence is Michelangelo's colossal statue of David, housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

The hallway is lined with Michelangelo's unfinished "Prisoners" statues.

An adjacent room houses the "Gipsoteca Bartolini", a collection of plaster casts made by a 19th C sculptor and professor at the Accademia.

Duomo Museum

The Museum of the Duomo holds many great treasures. A sampling:

Michaelangelo's Descent from the Cross

Donatello's Mary Magdalene

A panel from Ghiberti's Doors of the Duomo

Florence's Duomo

The Duomo (Cathedral) of Florence is one of the world's great buildings, historically and aesthetically.

Photos inside the Duomo are prohibited, but here's one anyhow, 

featuring one of the Medicis on horseback.