Coffee Art® | Announcements

May 27, 2007
Today we were featured in Canada's Windoreats.com out of Windsor, Ontario. This is what they had to say about our artwork:

Andrew and Angel have discovered a unique and creative way of using coffee as their medium. Coffee Art is a collection of their works that vary from portraits to nature to scandanavian themes. I love this site. Not only because I’m obsessed with anything coffee related, but because they took an everyday commodity and turned into works of art.

Although they are in Minnesota, you can browse their gallery and order paintings online To learn more about Andrew and Angel, check out their site!

Thanks WindsorEats.com!

May 21, 2007
Today is Andy's Dad's birthday and we created a customized gift for him. He has recently taken up Texas Hold-Em as a hobby. So, we decided to create a 'Lucky Larry' poker set for him. All other players will have to watch out when he brings his new set to the table!

May 19, 2007
We were asked to help organize a music event for our FinnFest Music Committee. This evening, Finn Hall played traditional Finnish dance music. The turnout was fairly decent and we were very much in the younger demographic, by about thirty years or so. Click to watch a short movie clip of the Finn Hall dance:

May 15, 2007
Our Coffee Art® was recently featured on the site OKfuture.net:

Artists Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur have been utilizing coffee as their watercolor-style medium for the past several years. This unique choice for painting developed one summer when they planned their first art show in a coffee house in Duluth, Minnesota. Wanting to be creative, and since their show was going to take place in a coffee house, they thought :Coffee. Why not?
“They tried several techniques, such as using the coffee bean to sketch with and making pastels out of coffee grounds. These techniques were not successful. So they finally decided to use the coffee as a watercolor. The watercolor technique was the most effective way the artists found to use.”

Very clever work.

Thanks OKFuture!

May 12, 2007
Today is opening fishing and it is tradition to head up to the Sarkela cabin for the weekend. We have been preparing all week for this event. Angel received a new rod & reel at Christmas and she was getting that ready.

Soon we pack the car up and make the drive up to the cabin. Anticipation was setting in on the whole family and everyone was eager to catch some fish.

As for the weather on opening day, we always prepare for the worst conditions possible. Usually it is 33° and raining; we are chilled to the bone by nine o'clock. This year, however, was a different story. It was the best opening fishing weather that we have ever experienced. It was calm, sunny and the temperatures rose close to 80° by lunch time.

The morning provided great fishing. Angel caught two larger Northern Pikes and had kept a couple of walleyes. Andy was able to keep a couple of walleyes as well!

The afternoon was very relaxful and sun-filled. We soaked up some rays while listening to the iPod. For some exercise, we took the paddle boat out for a two hour excursion where we saw ducks, loons, and an eagle.

Back to the island, the sauna was heating up. It is also tradition to take a sauna and jump into the icy water. We were looking forward to it, and yes, it was quite cold. But after coming out of the water, the sensation of being really hot then instantly jump into a flash freeze, is really exhilarating.

Then it was time for evening fishing. We went out and caught some more fish. It was a nice evening with the sunset and our limit was met.

Be sure to watch the short film.

May 10, 2007
Last night we went along with Angel's brother on a geocache adventure.

For those who do not know what geocaching is:

"Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache."
From geocaching.com

It was much better than when we went out searching for geocache this past Sunday. We spent a couple of hours looking at three different site and came up empty. So, last night we thought that we would give it another try in a different location.

This time it was much more successful and a lot more fun! We found the two caches that we plugged into the GPS. We signed the log book in each and we left Icelandic krónur in each and taking a bird sculpture from one and a little cowboy from the other.

It is very much a modern day treasure hunt!

May 9, 2007
This is a fun little Coffee Art® painting. Some people swear that they are non-functional before they have their first cup of coffee. This painting is dedicated to these sleepy-heads. Much like oil in a car engine, coffee is the lifeforce for some people. It is what revs them up in the morning. This painting is entitled "Gets the Gears Grinding" and it shows the coffee working through the gears.

This painting was on display at our Coffee Art® exhibition in New York City this past March.

A stop/action animation of this painting can be seen here.

May 8 ,2007
Today, we were featured in another Italian magazine, Mania Magazine. The article reads:

“A che bell’ò cafè”: così cantava Fabrizio De Andrè nella sua “Don Raffè”. Per averne la riprova basta collegarsi a justcoffeeart.com e ammirare le opere che Andrew e Angel realizzano dalla materia prima della colazione italiana. Una tazza di caffè forte e scuro, diluita in acqua per ottenere tutte le sfumature e i due artisti compongono ritratti e quadri di rara intensità, con un’innovazione unica nel campo dell’arte. Per ovviare alla deperibilità, alla fine basta un velo di vernice acrilica. Sul sito potete ammirare le opere dei due giovani artisti ed eventualmente acquistarle: il buongiorno dell’arte si vede online.

I am working on a translation and will update when I receive it. This is the second publication that we have been featured in Italy within the past three weeks.

¡Viva Italia!

May 7, 2007
Gidget shows off her talents!
She loves the camera and performing for everyone. In this video you will see Gidget's masterful performance in which she pretends to be dead. Then, suddenly, she springs to life!

May 6, 2007
Ever since Angel was a little girl, she has been creative. She would love to go to the only Italian restaurant in her hometown because they had paper tablecloths. While everyone was chatting and waiting for the meal to arrive, Angel would be entranced, pen in hand, working on her masterpiece. She would just draw, draw, draw! When they were finished with the meal, the waitress would have her hang her artwork in the entrance lobby of the restaurant for all to see. This was what would lie ahead in the life of little Angel. Even to this day, when we go to an upscale Italian restaurant that has paper tablecloths, she takes out her pen and draws and draws. It is fun to watch the waiter refresh our glasses of water after only a few sips. (We think that he just wanted to see what she was drawing and watching her art progress.)

So, I knew how much she enjoyed this and I thought I could bring it home for her.

I had an idea. I found some 17" paper on a roll. With a pair of adjustable endcaps and a wooden dowel, I put together a simple solution for Angel. The paper fits snuggly under our coffee table and Angel just reaches under and grabs a length of paper for each drawing session. It is out of the way, but easily accessible and I think a perfect solution!

Now Angel can draw to her little heart's content! I hope that it brings inspiration for paintings or whatever she decides to do next. Art attack!!! Draw! Draw! Draw!

May 5, 2007
Since we are lovers of all things Iceland, we couldn't pass up this online broadcast of Björk in NYC. She is fantastic and we have been a big fan of her for many years. Björk is on tour promoting her latest album, Volta, which arrives this Tuesday.

This broadcast was excellent! It was live from the United Palace in New York. She started off with first single off Volta, Earth Intruders. The driving beat and the high energy rhythms made it a great way to kick off the concert.

The setlist covered songs from previous albums as well as her latest work. We would have loved to been in the crowd. Hopefully one day we will be able to see her live.

Listening on NPR was a nice treat and the concert can be heard in its entirety at NPR.org.

May 4 , 2007
Here is an update on a family heirloom that T received on my birthday. It was once held by my great-grandfather, whom I was named after, Andrew Saur. The Norwegian text reads:

Minne på 69 Årsdagen i Norge fra Svigerinner og Svogre

and I received a translation of the text today. It translates to::

Happy 69th Birthday from your brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law

This information was given to me by a coworker of my sister, who is fluent in Norwegian. Thank you very much for the information!

My great-grandfather was born in Kolvereid, Norway in 1882. So, if this gift was given to him on his 69th birthday, this box is 56 years old. At least the inscription is 56 years old, I am not sure how old the actual box is.

It is a fun historical treasure and I hope that future generations of Saur's will be excited with this gift as well.

May 2, 2007
This was a fun blog post about our Coffee Art® featured on needcoffee.com It reads:

Coffee Art:
Now You're Painting With Caffeine

Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur paint with coffee, using it as a basis for watercolors. It's pretty cool stuff and definitely a medium that we can get behind. That's part of a self-portrait of Andrew there, which sort of reminds me of me before my caffeine tolerance level became ridiculous.

I admire their restraint. Around here, we'd have finished off the pot before you could even get a brush ready.

Thanks needcoffee.com!

This information was given to me by a coworker of my sister, who is fluent in Norwegian. Thank you very much for the information!

My great-grandfather was born in Kolvereid, Norway in 1882. So, if this gift was given to him on his 69th birthday, this box is 56 years old. At least the inscription is 56 years old, I am not sure how old the actual box is.

It is a fun historical treasure and I hope that future generations of Saur's will be excited with this gift as well.

May 2, 2007 This was a fun blog post about our Coffee Art® featured on needcoffee.com It reads:

May 2, 2007
This was a fun blog post about our Coffee Art® featured on needcoffee.com It reads: