History
Taken from our intro newsletter
I've been writing these newsletters for several years now and I realize that many of you might not know the full "Ae Story." You know that we're "a community organization run by artists for artists that works to sustain historical role of artists as a true voice of society" but where does our mission come from? Why is Ae here? Why do what we do? Well without any further hesitation, I'm happy to give all of you a little introduction to Altered Esthetics.
Fertility gods, votives, cave drawings: originally, art was a language for the people. It was a way for a community without a written language to communicate and revere the things that were important to them. 5000 year-old Hoyuk fertility goddess
Over time, art became something a bit more elitist. Artisans were no longer crafting votives and prayer gods. Rather, they found their living sculpting portraits and busts for rich merchants. Though this brought certain evolutions with style, light and form, it had other consequences: No longer was the creative language of the people defined as "Art," and a community voice was quieted.
Skip ahead a few hundred years and here we are. Though we have much to be grateful for in our modern era, times are still tough for artists. The gallery "scene" in many communities is often cliquey and hard to break into. Artists with a strong "voice" often struggle to make ends meet as abrasive art isn't always commercially viable. Contemporary success stories for offbeat artists such as those of Shepherd Fairey and Banksy are few and far between. A lack of resources for arts in schools and the saddening devaluation of art by society has created a dire need for artists' resources in the community.
That's why we're here!
Altered Esthetics is a cumulative idea born from many inspirational sources. Human history as well as the current state of the arts community has created the need. The cumulative work of artists and volunteers has created the resource.
Altered Esthetics provides a venue where artists can create "art for art's sake" - not because it will match somebody's couch. We provide are a gallery where community members can view and experience art that has an importance to them because it deals with a subject matter that interests them, art that is engaging, art that is thought provoking, and art can be understood.
Altered Esthetics opened in April 2004 with "The Art of War," featuring the work of about 15 artists. With the help of over 100 volunteers in the past 4 years we've hosted over 35 more group exhibitions, bringing the work of over 800 local, national, and international artists to public view.
We are still entirely volunteer driven and currently have no paid staff. We have a fantastic board of 5 active members that help steer and encourage the organization and the artists we serve.
Growing steadily, we moved to a new home at the Q'arma building in late 2006. We were awarded our nonprofit status in May of 2007. That same year, a community need led us to open our curatorial internship program. Since inception, our internship program has become an integrated part of Ae's activities and has provided students, artists and community members hands-on experience in the arts.
In addition to our brick-and-mortar gallery, we also have an online web presence for our friends and artists not in the Minneapolis area.
Over the years I've had the opportunity to meet and work with many artists and community members. I'm not only grateful for the generous help of our volunteers and donors, but I'm also grateful for the support and patience of our artists and friends as we have grown.
I hope I get a chance to meet most of you, either at the gallery as participating artists, as volunteers, guests, or even online as visitors to our website forum.
Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this letter! - J-me