Eyeteeth: A journal of incisive ideas

Twin Cities resident Paul Schmelzer is a busy guy. He is the editor of the Minnesota Independent, managing editor of the American Independent News Network, former editor of the Walker Art Center blogs, creator of Signifier, signed, a former editor at Adbusters, and contributor to Artforum.com, Cabinet, Raw Vision, Utne and others. And he still manages to run his own blog, Eyeteeth: A journal of incisive ideas. Though the blog started in 2003 as a way of establishing a practice of daily writing and research, it has since evolved into a forum where he to explores the place where politics and art, activism and media intersect.

What specifically drew you to blogging?

I started blogging in January of 2003 simply because I wanted a more regular writing practice, and one not tied to a job. By exploring my own interests and voice, without a paycheck tied to it or an editor to look it over, was liberating. Also, I was pretty pissed off at George W. Bush, so I did a lot of venting in the early days.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to creating new content? How do you overcome it?

My schedule’s my biggest barrier. With a day job that runs 50 hours a week or more, it’s hard finding time to explore my interests and do the kind of thoughtful posts I’d like. Lately I’ve been working to overcome it simply by doing content of any kind — my “Bits” linkdump posts of art- and activism-related items I find in the course of a day.

You have a page that shows what other people have said about Eyeteeth. How would YOU describe Eyeteeth to someone who has never read it?

A quirky yet smart look at the intersection of art and social change. Rather than a dour scholarly or art historical art blog, I like being an evangelist to bring politically minded people deeper into art or art people into civic engagement and politics. Eyeteeth is the gateway drug between art and social change! To that end, I like to throw in humorous or slightly out-of-left field content as well as smart writing about aesthetics, critical theory or art exhibitions. But be prepared for some deadly earnest material as well. While I love some of the posts I’ve done — a video of Broken Crow doing a huge mural on the side of Shuga Records in Northeast Minneapolis or my account of the Miss Rockaway Armada launching its flotilla of found-object rafts on the Minneapolis riverfront — I also like when art can help us confront some grim realities of modern life. In this category: an interview I did awhile back with Izabella Demavlys, a former fashion photographer who started doing portraits of Pakistani women whose faces had been burned with acid by men. Grisly, hard to look at, and for me, utterly important.

What is one thing you hope your readers learn/understand from reading Eyeteeth?

We have options. Philippe Vergne, who used to be the chief curator at the Walker Art Center when I worked there, once told me that (I’m paraphrasing) art is the production of endless alternatives. I’d like people to take that away: that we have creative autonomy to live engaged, interested, interesting lives of our choosing, instead of conforming to some version that hinges on what we buy or what our parents, churches or politicians suggest for us. I got my start writing when I was studying abroad in college. I started interviewing residents of houseboats in Little Venice, an area on the canals in West London, and realized later that I really enjoyed bearing witness to all the ways we can live in this worlds — in houseboats, as vagabonds, as artists, as firmly rooted midwesterners who have a hell of a lot of fun living our lives.

Bloggers often draw inspiration from each other. What other blogs do you enjoy reading? Who are your favorite local Twin Cities bloggers?

Probably my favorite Twin Cities blog is that of ROLU, Rosenlof/Lucas, a landscape architecture firm. Matt Olson has a very specific interest — radical architecture, contemporary art and design — but his blog is always intriguing and has a lot of depth; I think it’s as good as most of the national art blogs I read. I was founding editor of the Walker Art Center blogs, so they still have a place in my heart, especially Off-Center, where some of the more interesting content has appeared. (I just wish they’d post more!) And I like my friend Ed Kohler’s site The Deets and Taylor Carik’s eclectic enterprises, Mediation, Flak Radio and Secrets of the City.  In addition, there are tons of local Tumblr blogs that I read: Utne, The Opie, Urban Foodie, Stuff About Minneapolis…. Too many to list, really.

What do you love the most about living here in the Twin Cities Metro Area and why?

I love biking in Minneapolis. We suffer through these godawful winters, but the promise of biking under the Hennepin Avenue bridge or down to the Hexagon or around that big loop down Kennilworth to the Greenway across the Sabo bridge and back up to the riverfront by the Guthrie… amazing. I also like the fantastic beer, the great bike makers (Surly, Salsa, Handsome),  the Stone Arch Bridge, the amazing art and music venues (big and small), the occasional weird impromptu art finds (this guerrilla “Struggle” sign on the bridge between Boom Island and Nicollet Island is the perfect example), and the good, interesting, creative, relatively no-nonsense people I seem to encounter every day. Finally, I love the hearty stock here: Events like the Powderhorn Art Sled Rally, the Art Shanty Project, and the Blizzard Pub Crawls (the one in Northeast during the December blizzard ended up at the 1029 on Marshall, where an older African American guy in snowblowing coveralls was singing a Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow duet with a young white woman in sweats and mukluks), remind me that there’s a unique breed that calls this place home.

2011 is still young yet. Do you have any big plans for your blog in the New Year?

Nothing all that special, but so much that I’m looking forward to: A huge garden in the back yard, biking to Sea Salt and Summer Music & Movies, more cooking, music, writing, etc. I also want to figure out how to build or find a bike trailer for hauling my new dog, Finn, on my sojourns. Blog-wise, I’m hoping to do more local content, more multimedia (videos) and more critical writing about art. I tend to feel like we’re in an Age of Enthusiasm: everybody wants to share the great stuff they find — which is partly how I got started — but few want to do the tough work of calling out the not-so-awesome. Maybe that’s the next step for me.