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It’s hard to imagine that Summer is almost over, but the silver lining is always the Minnesota State Fair! Enjoy the tail end of August with a few hundred thousand of your closest personal friends at the great Minnesota Get Together this year. The 651 will be bringing you our favorite tidbits previewing this year’s fair throughout the week, so stay tuned for entertainment picks, food picks, and more. The Fair starts on Thursday, August 26th and runs through Labor Day. Today’s bit will talk about the Fine Arts Building, one of my personal favorites!

Each year, thousands of Minnesota artists submit their work to the State Fair Fine Arts Competition, and only a little under 400 make the cut. The sprawling building on the corner of Randall & Cosgrove houses these fantastic works for the duration of the Fair, inviting all to take in the talent of our creative community. What’s different and more exciting about the annual competition, is that the works are selected from all over the state – from small towners to city slickers. Next to a modern, abstract work by a Northeast Minneapolis artist you may find a detailed country landscape created by someone from Owattona — the possibilities are pretty much endless. The Fine Arts Building is a mixed bag, and that’s just how we like it! See sculpture, painting, textiles, photography, drawing and oh-so much more in this unconventional, yet highly respected annual exhibit.

2010 State Fair commemorative art by Deborah Voyda Rogers

One of our favorite things? Watching all the pronto pup-eating looky-lous experiencing and talking about art. It’s a very rare thing to get so many eyes on such a plethora of local work, and we expect a number of those people end up being inspired to create or seek out more art on their own, away from the Fair. And that’s a wonderful thing! Bring your family, friends, and significant others to check it out — a little visual stimulation never hurt anyone (especially when you can bring your cheese curds into the gallery!).

BONUS:  Attention artists: The Fair hasn’t even kicked off yet, but the organization is already putting out a submission call for the 2011 Commemorative Art piece (the art that will rep the Fair throughout all the land next year!). The final piece should be the artist’s visual interpretation of the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Attend this year’s State Fair for inspiration. Application deadline is Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 by 3:30pm.