Andy Sturdevant he/him/his citydesk@birchwoodpalace.com http://www.birchwoodpalace.com BIO I'm an artist and writer living in Minneapolis. I have written about art, history and culture for a variety of Twin Cities-based publications and websites, including ArchitectureMN, Mpls. St. Paul, MinnPost, Apology, The Smudge, The Growler and others. My most recent book, "Closing Time," was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. I'm also the proprietor of Birchwood Palace Industries, a small press that publishes art and design books, distributed in the United States and Europe. I've also had projects and art exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College, as well as in museums, galleries and spaces in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle and elsewhere. I was born in Ohio, raised in Kentucky and have lived in or near south Minneapolis since 2005. I hold a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Louisville and a graphic design certificate from Minneapolis Community and Technical College. TEACHING PHILOSOPHY & MENTORSHIP A lot of my work involves diving into archives, writing and editing, conducting research and thinking about how public spaces can be incorporated into how a piece of artwork is experienced. While I come from a fairly traditional visual arts background, in the years since my academic training I have slowly scraped together an artistic practice that moves through a lot of other disciplines and areas, but no longer actually involves much studio work in the way I would have understood it as an undergrad. I am particularly sensitive to working with mentees who are also trying to pursue their own idiosyncratic interests, and figure out how to a incorporate a wide range of experiences, skills and ideas into their work. Figuring out whether the end result of that work lives in a gallery, a public space, a book, online or in some other combination is where I enjoy working.