Art of Edina launched in 2015 as an initiative aimed at giving rising and established Edina artists public space to display their art. Curated Art of Edina pop-up style galleries can be found every few months at varying community locations including Braemar Arena, which displayed an “Enjoy Your Parks” themed exhibition last November. Among the featured works was this photograph by Mary Vandervelde titled Blue Bike in Snow.
Vandervelde credits Edina Magazine’s March 2015 story about local photographer Jill Emmer for her inspiration. “I read [Emmer’s] story and how she started. I thought her photographs were beautiful,” Vandervelde says. Like Emmer, Vandervelde decided to open a public Instagram account in order to feature her photography. The creative outlet of photography is “so different from my day job,” says Vandervelde who’s worked for Health Partners for 20 years as a director of human resource technology.
Although she has other cameras, Vandervelde shoots exclusively with her iPhone. “The best camera is the one you have with you,” she says.
Vandervelde generally takes pictures of still life or nature shots. “I also like to embarrass my dog who is sometimes a willing subject,” she says.
For this particular photo, Vandervelde says, “My daughter, who has pretty awesome taste and sense of style, asked for this bike for her birthday. One weekend, probably after one of the last snowstorms, I got up and set the bike outside the garage, and then went around to the other side to take pictures.”
We think it captures March in Minnesota perfectly.
Art of Edina is sponsored by Tradition Companies as part of its Pass it On initiative. traditioncompanies.com
tradition-pass-it-on.com. For more information about Art of Edina, please visit artofedina.com.
