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Mark your calendars for this Saturday, June 2nd, as the annual Art in the Hollow event brings together over 50 artists, performers, and local vendors for a fun neighborhood art extravaganza. Located in the ever-charming Swede Hollow Park, nestled on the edge of St. Paul’s East Side and mere blocks away from the Lowertown Art District, Art in the Hollow will be fun for art seekers and families alike. Check out (and buy) work from local artists including glass mosaics, murals, sculpture, painted furniture, jewelry, and much more, then watch as plein air (open air) painters create works before your eyes, inspired by the lushness of the park. But that’s not all: Live performances will be happening all day! Enjoy Latin, Mexica regional, and Spanish pop music, traditional hula dancers, dance and drum performances of the Mexica (Aztec) tradition, American Indian drummers, Hmong and Korean dancers, a Cambodian orchestra,and to top things all off, an original opera by East Side composer Ann Millikan entitled (what else!) Swede Hollow. All signs point EAST this Saturday, so put on your walking shoes and explore Art in the Hollow.

We chatted with Art in the Hollow vendor and St. Paul artist and photographer, Madeline Crew, about the event and her work. Be sure to stop by Madeline’s booth this Saturday to check out her jewelry!

Art in the Hollow looks like a lot of fun, what can people expect? What are you looking forward to the most?

The Art in the Hollow is going to be a day filled with art, crafts, performance and even singing! People can expect about 50 artists who are working in mediums from painting to recycled mosaics. The Swede Hollow Park has a great paved path which will bring visitors to all the artists. I am looking forward to the performers and the booth next to me who will have parrots painting!

You’ll have a booth with Ashley Moren and Marie Pasch who also make jewelry, among other things. What can people find at your combined booth?

Yes, Ashley Moren, Marie Pasch and myself make polymer clay jewelry on hand tied hemp; bracelets, earrings, necklaces. We also each make hand made books and journals in many different sizes, hard and soft covers. I will have my handmade glass beads and Marie Pasch creates crocheted little creatures and art made from animal bones. Finally, each of us are graduated photography majors from the College of Visual Arts, so we will all be displaying our photographs as well. Although we do similar crafts, we each have a distinct style that is different from one another.

Hemp and Clay Necklaces by Madeline Crew

Your main art form is photography. Can you tell us a little about your work?

The work I am currently working on and showing is under the title, PTSD; Coping with the Past Self. This body of work explores the traumas experienced by young girls and women, such as sexual assault and abduction, and the long lasting effects these traumas have on these lives. It is my goal to bring awareness to these traumas that take place every single minute alone in the U.S, and bring awareness to the life shattering disorder that comes from this, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Along with the many symptoms that come along with PTSD, the splitting of self and the splitting of the psyche is unique to sexually induced trauma.

To create the images for this series, I worked closely with a woman who has suffered from PTSD for over 30 years, and whose experience with the disorder revolves around this splitting of self. I encourage her to express to me her experience through metaphor and similes, and the back and forth negotiation with her past self. From these metaphors and phrases she expressed, I created imagery that illustrated them; using two female figures, in a timeless context to represent these two selves with in her conscious and unconscious. I also have a 20 piece, silk installation that encompasses the viewer as they approach the image on the wall. I work in large format 4×5, traditional black and white photography.

Photography by Madeline Crew

Aside from Art in the Hollow, what else do you have coming up?

Other than the Art in the Hollow, I just finished hanging work at Salon Ori on Selby Ave, and have been accepted in a show at Northern Michigan’s Devos Art Museum. In between hanging these two shows, I am currently a semi-finalist for a solo show in Minneapolis, and waiting on that final letter; along with waiting for multiple other letters letting me know if I’ve been accepted to a show I’ve applied for or not. I also have created and direct a summer children’s art program at the Saint Paul University Club, so Im looking forward to teaching some rug-rats art all summer!

Photography by Madeline Crew

What are some of your favorite people/places/things in St. Paul?

Some of my favorite people in Saint Paul would be John Marshall, Christina Schmid, and Julie L’Enfant, all three instructors that have shaped the way I think and the way I create art. I love visiting the parks along the river, the Northern Warehouse, Golden’s Deli, W. A Frost, the History Center, Wet Paint, Grand Ole Creamery, Nina’s, and although I do not visit the Cathedral, I never get sick of admiring it towering of downtown Saint Paul. The history here is all over and hard to miss! Needless to say I love Saint Paul!!

For more info on Madeline Crew’s work check out her website HERE and her Etsy site HERE.

Art in the Hollow happens Saturday, June 2nd from 10am to 5pm and is free and open to the public. For directions and more info visit the Art in the Hollow website HERE.