My time as Community Manager for mnartists.org comes to an end September 15. I've had a fantastic three years working on the project, watching it grow from 1900 to 6800 artists, seeing the number of art works increase from 7000 to 40,000, and experiencing a ten-fold increase in monthly user-sessions. The site now regularly welcomes over 100,000 visitors per month. A few memorable moments were watching Five Minutes of Fame, all twenty-eight and a half hours of it, and the final day of each year's State Fair. Thank you all for sharing your generous, passionate work and the enthusiasm that makes mnartists.org such a success.

For those of you who are curious, I am working with the National Association of Artists' Organizations to produce their first national conference in five years. It will take place in Minneapolis this October 20-23. NAAO recently relocated to Minneapolis and provides vital services convening, networking, and advocating for artists nationally. For complete information, visit thttp://www.naao.net. Also, I will be moving to New York City to try my hand in the securities industry.

This collection employs a familiar method, using the Advanced Search function to identify work. In a fit of literalism, I searched for the terms: Goodbye; Farewell; Three Years; Transition; and Moving On. Art works were selected on the basis of whether or not they made me smile.

Wishing you all the best in your pursuits.

Colin Rusch
Minneapolis
September 12, 2005

http://www.naao.net
National Association of Artists' Organizations

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