BNA  3-08-05

 

This week, we’ll focus on a local artist. Kristi Pederson is the owner of Adventures in Art, 6001 Maple.  She organizes art classes, bringing in a wide variety of teachers. There, in a bright, wide open gallery looking out over Beautiful Downtown Benson, a building that has recently been a pool hall and church, local artists now have their paintings hanging, colors everywhere, on consignment. This is a spacious gallery. You can circle the room seeing a dozen different styles. And  such a wide range of classes; Knitting, Drawing, Stained Glass, Cartooning, Watercolors, Oil and Acrylic painting, Garden Masterpieces, Glass Bead making, Jewelry making, Pottery, Glass Fusion, (beginning and advanced) Mosaics, Masks, Bamboo Garden Architecture, Improvisational Dance, PMC, (precious metal clay) Photography as Art, and Polymer Clay. She is a Renaissance woman.

    But, that’s not all.  Kristi has many other talents. She has a stage review called Vinyl Revival that plays there on the fine stage at Adventures in Art. They pack the place. This act is also featured in concert all around town. Go to Kristi’s website www.adventureinart.net for their next show date. Other local acts play there as well.

     I was glad to see this new vitality come to Benson, so one day at the lavish luncheon Kristi hosts every month for the Benson Business Association, (I like to get there early to browse)  I asked her how this came to be. “I grew up in Benson.” Kristi and I had a very dear mutual friend. We met through him, years ago. I knew she was going places, then. How nice to see what she had created.

       “I’m still in the neighborhood. It’s nice to give something back.”

       So, Benson parents- have a child with some creative ability? Benson women, have 1 night a week free, to create? Here is your place.

 

      Hello, I am Joe Watson, new board member, Benson Neighborhood Association. I grew up in Minne Lusa, on the boulevard. Graduated from what is now Roncalli High School. ( then, it was called Rummel)  I moved to Benson 5 years ago when I married Christine Wolfe-Watson and moved into her bungalow on North 58th Street. Folks who have lived in Benson for a while know that this is the longest continuous residential block in the city, starting at the Radial and Louis, 2900 block, and ending in a T at Pratt Street, 3700 block. It was once called Bankers Row, or the Miracle Mile. Our backyard is on a big hill and Christine who is a former member of the BNA board,  Yoga teacher

( Christine was teaching yoga when yoga wasn’t cool, one of the first certified B.K. Iyengar teachers in the Midwest, is also a master landscaper, the hill is terraced, and a favorite on the Benson Garden Walk. We have a Spring Luau and Picking Party back there and many of the artists and musicians in Benson come. Because, although I retired last year from the printing business,  I’ve always considered my true vocation to be a Singer Songwriter.

       That is part of what I bring to the board. I have a degree in the Graphic Arts, have experience in the intricacies of getting a printed piece completed and in people’s hands, have website design, article and short story experience, am a published poet, and just completed and published my first novel, Raincrow, available www.Amazon.com  So, I know production and design.

       It is as a musician that I have gotten to meet some of the wonderful people here in Benson, I’ve played, over the year’s at the Pizza Shoppe, Mick’s, Common Grounds, D Dub’s, and Louis.  My CD Fenceposts, is for sale in various places on Maple Street. Or on www.joewatson.org  When asked by Vince Egan, who provides the music on Benson Day to play a set, I have been able to play this event every year. I’ve watched it grow. I want to see it continue to grow. This is my gift to the Benson Community. Through music we can bring people to Benson and let them see what a live, vibrant place it is. (Look for some Friday night concerts this Summer on 61st street) When I got here 5 years ago I saw a dedicated core group of people, headed by Mark Goodall trying to change the image of Benson. I was inspired. I have worked at the neighborhood clean up, played music at the Christmas party, and helped with the fall garden walk. I was asked to be on the newsletter committee and I hope you are pleased with our new format. This January I was elected to the board, what an opportunity to get involved, give input, work for the neighborhood. From our home on 58th street, you will often see my wife and I walking in the Benson neighborhoods. (my new job is in Benson, groundskeeper at the Benson Park Golf Course, so I get to stay in the neighborhood and work,) we walk to the grocery, the library, the luthiers, the restaurant, the hardware. We see the buzz. We are moving in the right direction. I’m glad to be a part of it.

 

New Business alert, Mark Lund who grew up in Benson (He grew up on 58th street, moved away, and is now living back on 58th street) has announced the opening of a new Coffee Shop, and drive through.  It is about time we have a Starbucks style coffee place, this neighborhood has had an opening for a place like this. (When will a decent video store open?) He will serve breakfast, and lunch. Mark has a background in the restaurant business, and will name the new establishment, Mia’s Bongo Room. (Mia is his 2 year old daughter) The location is 61st and Binney, Mark will try to pull some coffee drinkers in off the Radial.