Book Reading: Feb. 6, 7pm Marine on St. Croix Historic Village Hall "Gallery Days" Reading and Book Talk All welcome Sponsored by the Marine Community Library
Before we say goodbye to 2024, here’s a look at some of this year’s prettiest and informational coffee table books by local authors:
“Gallery Days: Memories from the Artists’ Quarter in Historic Downtown Minneapolis”: by Judith C. Stern (PJ Penguin Publishing, no price listed) This interesting book, packed with illustrations, tells part of the story of the life of the author, owner of the Judith Stern Gallery.
“This is the story about one woman’s failures and triumphs during an exciting, brief window of time when the Warehouse District in downtown Minneapolis woke up after a long slumber and became a vibrant artists quarter drawing visitors from afar and artists from the country,” beginning in 1977, the author writes. She places the center of the mecca that drew artists, galleries, filmmakers, tourist and coffee lovers within the area from First Avenue to Second Avenue South and Third Street to Sixth Street North, with the New French Cafe being the center. The demise began about 1983 with the building of the Metrodome.
Stern opened her first art gallery in the Kickernick Building in 1978. A believer in honoring the old, she undertook eight building-renovation projects, plus saving an antique horse-drawn fire pumper. Her book is divided geographically, discussing artists who inhabited the Renaissance space, including Meridel LeSueur, Fred Manfred, Waring Jones and Garrison Keillor, along with many more. A native of Robbinsdale, Minn., Stern has been a fashion designer and a storyteller with Maren Hinderlie at the Guthrie Theater. She taught American Indian Spirituality through the Science Museum of Minnesota and American Indian Art at the University of St. Thomas, and owned JvonStern Store in Marine on St. Croix, selling her clothing and furniture she designed. She has independently published eight books.
“Gallery Days” is packed with lively anecdotes and artwork ranging from paintings to newspaper stories. It’s an important contribution to the history of the Twin Cities literary community. (For information, contact jsternmotherearth@aol.com)
Karin Winegar, former staff writer at The Minneapolis Star Tribune said, "Congratulations! Your book absolutely deserves the Minnesota Book Award for its range and understanding, its insider perspective --You Were There-- and how it preserves that semi-enchanted time and place.
Welcome to Teachings From Mother Earth. I write and publish books reflecting wisdom gained by studying and living with Native Americans. They have much to teach us! Click on BOOKS above.
Now available: Gallery Days, my new 200 page 12 X12 hardcover book telling the whole story! Also new: Artist David Bradley, Northern Roots. Click on BOOKS above.
My Native American Judith Stern Art Gallery flourished in the 1970s and 80s. See examples of the artists and art that were featured in the gallery: Click on FINE ART above.
A short visual story-telling journey details some of my Gallery Days in the Minneapolis Artist's Quarter. Click on HISTORY above.
A story telling history of my JvonStern store in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota is on the BLOG.
Thank you for visiting Teachings From Mother Earth, Miigwech, Judy Stern
