1. Artists of the Year - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) http://articles.citypages.com/2008-01-02/feature/ben-olson-emma-berg/
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2. Artists of the Year - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) http://articles.citypages.com/2008-01-02/feature/ben-olson-emma-berg/
FEATURE
Issue — January 2, 2008
Ben Olson and Emma Berg
Artists of the Year
by Taylor Carik
Ben Olson and Emma Berg
By Taylor Carik
It was another great year for the Twin Cities visual arts community. Anna Lee
made a triumphant return with Voltage: Fashion Amplified; GQ named Rogue
Buddha's Nicholas Harper an artist to watch; the Minneapoline beat out blogs
from much bigger cities like New York and Monaco to enter the online street
fashion finals; Gawker named 27 "the new king of New York street art"...the list
goes on.
At nearly all the gallery openings, the dance nights, and the fashion shows stood
Today's Hot Deals Tuesday, 4/29/08
husband-and-wife power duo Ben Olson and Emma Berg, two of the scene's
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This year Olson was featured in several local galleries, had a successful solo • $163 & up -- Roundtrip Flights from
show at Rogue Buddha, shared the "5" show at Gallery Co with four other Twin Minneapolis*
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Cities veteran visual artists, and just recently showed at the celebrity-fest Art
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• $56 & up -- Fare Sale from 50+ Cities through
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emotional paintings has also seen his wife, Emma, who's his accomplice,
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inspiration, and subject. Along with running the indispensable Mplsart.com, she's
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a ubiquitous socialite who often pops up in street fashion spreads for her creative JetBlue Airways
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While that kind of success can lead to bigger egos and moving on to bigger Listed by Travelzoo. *Some taxes, fees additional
ponds, Olson and Berg have kept their feet planted on local ground and are some
of the most cheerful and approachable people at local shows. At the 27 solo at Email to a Friend
the Soo Vac late last year, for example, as Berg and I chatted in the middle of a Print this Article
steady stream of art school kids trying to get a peek at the paintings, she took Write a letter
time to introduce a woman standing nearby: "Oh, by the way," she said, "this is to the Editor
the artist's grandma..."
That's about as grounded as it gets. More Features
Articles
Taylor Carik is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities, co-host of the Flak Radio
Artists of the Year
podcast, and author of the blog Mediation. We identify the most
interesting, influential
Home | Next Artist and inimitable artists of
2007. (Jan 2, 2008)
Artists of the Year
City Pages' 2007 Artists of the Year: Stephen Colbert (Jan 2,
2008)
Stephen Colbert
Artists of the Year
William E. Jones William E. Jones (Jan 2,
Diablo Cody 2008)
Matt Sciple Artists of the Year
Christine Boyka Kluge Diablo Cody (Jan 2,
Marjane Satrapi 2008)
Ernest A. Bryant III Artists of the Year
Sheletta Brundidge Matt Sciple (Jan 2,
The Writers Guild of America 2008)
Jim Denomie Artists of the Year
Myron Johnson Marjane Satrapi (Jan 2,
2008)
Alex Jones
Artists of the Year
Christopher Hitchens
Christine Boyka Kluge
Paul Dickinson (Jan 2, 2008)
Twin Cities playwrights
Artists of the Year
Philip Pullman Sheletta Brundidge (Jan
Craig Zobel 2, 2008)
Al Franken
2 of 4 4/29/2008 12:23 PM

3. Artists of the Year - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) http://articles.citypages.com/2008-01-02/feature/ben-olson-emma-berg/
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PERSONAL OF THE DAY
el_fishy
In my bedroom, you'll
find: "This
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4. Artists of the Year - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) http://articles.citypages.com/2008-01-02/feature/ben-olson-emma-berg/
avocado-green chair I
found at a thrift store
for five dollars."
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