Minnesota Funk Kicks-Off Regis Center's 10th Anniversary Year ...

Artist Biographies
Kent Aldrich
Kent Aldrich was born in 1964 and has lived most of his life in the Twin Cities area.
Although he attended school at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, his real passion
for the arts was ignited while working on a solid oak lever press at the Minnesota
Renaissance Festival and as production manager at Coffee House press, then in residence
at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. For 24 years he has run his letterpress print shop, The
Nomadic Press from the West Side in St. Paul. Though primarily a relief printmaker,
Kent regularly creates artistic constructions in many mediums.
Kate Casanova
Kate Casanova is a visual artist who lives and works in Minneapolis. Her work has been
shown at such galleries as Le Poisson Rouge (New York, NY), Soo Visual Arts Center
(Minneapolis, MN), and the Anita Sue Kolman Gallery (Minneapolis, MN). She received
a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and is currently pursuing an
MFA at the University of Minnesota.
Perci Chester
Perci Chester’s sculpture and prints have been featured in museum and gallery
exhibitions nationally and internationally. Chester’s art is represented in public and
private collections. She is the recipient of public art commissions for large scale works
and won several awards. The nature of her work stretches itself over a variety of
mediums, as it is seen as a constant development, often expressing multiple forms in a
single work. Chester trained in studio art at Washington University in St. Louis, earning
her BFA degree in painting & printmaking & Rhode Island School of Design achieving
her MFA & MAT. Since graduation she has been an exhibiting artist & educator. Her
involvement includes colleges & schools as well as community based arts programs
around the country. She is a founding member of Traffic Zone Center For the Visual
Arts, a prominent artist cooperative located in the historic Minneapolis Warehouse
District, where she maintains her principal studio.
Kelly Connole
Kelly Connole has an MFA from San Francisco State University, 1996 and a BFA from
the University of Montana, 1991. Connole combines the tactile nature of clay with
images of memories and emotions addressing relationships within environments: natural
and constructed, human and animal. Her work has been exhibited at the NCECA Biennial
at the Kentucky Art Museum, Flaten Art Museum at St Olaf College, Contemporary
Crafts Museum, and numerous galleries across the country. She has received a McKnight
Residency Grant, a Jerome Project Grant, a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and the
SeaCast Residency Fellowship. She is an associate professor at Carleton College in
Northfield, Minnesota.
Jim Dryden
Jim Dryden, a native of North Dakota, is a painter and printmaker. His work frequently
deals with themes of partnership, connectedness and intimacy. Jim is a graduate of the
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