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This Wednesday, things are going to get a lot more colorful at the Historic Minnesota Building in Downtown St. Paul. Beloved local artists Jennifer Davis and Amy Rice have teamed up to present Delightful: A Pop-Up Gallery, a four-day exhibit featuring works in a variety of mediums and sizes, framed and unframed, on wood and paper. The temporary gallery will be open today through Sunday, with a reception on Friday night. We caught up with Jen Davis, who filled us in on all the details…

What can people expect to see at Delightful?

We are planning to show a ton of works of all shapes and sizes. The space is really big so we are bringing paintings large and small, framed and unframed, on wood and paper. Tons of drawings, prints and posters- screen prints, giclees, gocco’s and letterpress.

How did you settle on this location?

We recently learned that The Creative Connection ( a conference for women entrepreneurs) will be held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in St Paul this year. We thought it would fun to have an art show somewhere in St Paul during the conference and it quickly snowballed into this Pop-Up Gallery idea. We found a vacant space just blocks from the conference and worked with Rob Clapp/Summit Realty/The Historic Minnesota Building to make it happen. The space is big and sunny- we fell in love at first sight.

Both your work has quirky yet girlish sensibilities that are obvious to the naked eye. What do you think your major differences as artists are and in turn, why do you compliment each other so well?

We share many interests and sensibilities but our processes couldn’t be more different. Amy’s work is often based on her own memories/experiences and she uses great care in selecting her (often vintage) materials, setting up her printers, hand cutting stencils, etc. My work is spontaneous and intuitive. I just sit down and paint whatever bubbles up. I think our work pairs well because we often arrive at similar places: colorful and whimsical narratives. We inspire and motivate each other and really enjoy working on projects together.

Art by Jennifer Davis

Aside from the pop-up gallery, what do you have on your plates for the rest of the year?

Amy has TWO solo galley shows this year and they are both in October. One is called “Growing a Sense of Direction” and is at View Art Gallery in Victoria, BC and the other; “Rooted” is at Art Star Gallery in Philadelphia. I’ll be showing in two shows in CA – at Royal/t in Culver City and at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. I am also participating in a benefit show for Movember at Pink Hobo in Minneapolis.

Art by Amy Rice

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

Our pals at Springboard for the Arts are pretty amazing. Mears Park, the farmers market, Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar… Oh, and of course, the Food Truck Court! Looking forward to checking out the brand new Amsterdam Hall this week too.

HOURS:

Wednesday, September 14, 4-9pm
Thursday, September 15, 8am-6pm
Friday, September 16, 8am- 9pm, RECEPTION 6-9pm
Saturday, September 17, 8am-6pm

The Historic Minnesota Building
46 4th Street East, Street level
Downtown St. Paul, MN

For more info, visit the Facebook event page HERE.