Painting the Place Between, is a feature-length documentary by Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, Kristen Lowe, will be premiering at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota on Dec. 6,  2013. There will be a reception to meet the artists showcased in the film at 6:45 p.m. before the screening at 7:30 p.m.

“My hope for the film is that the audience will take away a much greater understanding of abstract painting,” Lowe said.

The film takes viewers behind the scenes of the artistic process, following four Minnesota artists, Betsy Byers, Jil Evans, Holly Swift, and Andrew Wykes, as they aim to render on canvas the distinctive regional landscapes in Minnesota.

Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, Betsy Byers, was the final artist picked to be showcased in the film.

“I hadn’t found the fourth painter and then the year right before I started, this the department hired her. I was amazed how perfectly she fit the project,” Lowe said. “She’s the youngest of the four, but she has so much potential as a painter. She’s in it for the long run and that’s usually really hard to find in painters.”

Byers’ curiosity is part of the reason she maintains her drive for painting.

“I am driven  to paint by my curiosity for understanding the world,” Byers said. “For me, painting demands looking at and responding to our immediate environment with intention.”

For Lowe, aiming to capture this creative process on film isn’t about documentation so much as it is bringing light to all the things the audience doesn’t see in a finished exhibition.

“I wanted to open a broader and public conversation around abstract painting,” Lowe said.

Featured artists, like Byers, hope the audience picks up on the transparency of the their experiences showcased in the film.

“I hope viewers will gain an intimacy with the practice of the artists in the film,” Byers said. “In a way, the documentary seeks to make the experience of being a painter in the Midwest more transparent and to encourage conversation about painting and our landscape.”

Tickets for the film will go on sale this week, and Lowe insisted on making sure there would be good tickets but cheap rates for students.

“Our students are the next generation to shape opinions for decades. It was important to me that I make sure they are able to attend as well,” Lowe said.

Another way she’s making sure of this is through a writing contest that begins Oct. 15, 2013 where any student from Gustavus, St. Olaf, Hamline and Macalester Colleges are eligible to participate in a writing contest on contemporary art for a chance to win 100 dollars in cash and two tickets to the premier for the documentary. The contest does not require students to be an art major, so any student has the potential to win.

“The contest is a great opportunity for student involvement,” First-Year Steph Callaghan said. “It’s great that the contest is open to so many students.”

As Lowe’s excitement for the premiere continues to grow, so does another project. The focus for Lowe’s next piece is on clandestine and sanctioned art made in the ghettos and camps during the Holocaust. Emmy award winning writer and producer, Matt Goldman, has agreed to produce this next film.

“I’m excited about this next one, too, because it’s mostly going to be about drawings that were made in the camps and ghettos during the Holocaust. I love drawings and what they can do,” Lowe said. “But dates for the film aren’t really known yet because I have to get through the excitement for the premiere of ‘Painting the Place Between.”