Art: A sign of the times

Anyone driving in the Twin Cities has seen them standing by the freeway ramps, clutching their hand-lettered cardboard signs. Men mostly, but a few women, too, stand for long hours, hunched now against the bitter winds. Emotionless and stoic, they offer their lined faces and battered lives to the casual scrutiny of strangers in warm cars. "HOMELESS please help if U can. Thank U -n- God bless."

"STRANDED homeless ... "

"TOTAL DESPERATION"

The messages are simple, direct, familiar and easy to ignore. Just hang up your conscience, toss out some coins and drive on.

Now, three Minneapolis artists -- portrait painter Kristie Bretzke, watercolorist Pat Bratnober Saunders and documentary photographer Michael J. Allen -- have broken that defensive habit and put their time and talent to work for the benefit of Minnesota's homeless.

PORTRAITS Bretzke, whose portraits of homeless individuals are at Premier Gallery in downtown Minneapolis through December, became interested in the homeless after moving from south Minneapolis to an apartment near Loring Park about 18 months ago. Homeless people, who often sleep under the nearby freeway overpasses, would make their signs on cardboard from her apartment's recycling bins. Intrigued, she overcame her own nervousness, introduced herself to one of the men and asked to take his photo for a portrait.

Buoyed by his enthusiasm and friendliness, she became comfortable asking others to pose and soon had a studio full of street-people portraits. Then, with the assistance of the gallery and Lutheran Social Service staff, she met what she calls the "hidden, or invisible homeless." These are the families, children and teens who hold jobs and go to school, but still have no place to live. They, too, became her subjects.

Painting prices range from $250 to $1,500, and Bretzke is giving all proceeds from the show to Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota to support programs for homeless youths and families.

(Show ends Dec. 31. Free. Premier Gallery, 141 S. 7th St., Mpls. 612-338-4541 or www.premiergallery.com.)

WATERCOLORS A longtime community activist and educator, Bratnober Saunders, 83, has taught watercolor seminars throughout Europe and the United States, raised four children, been widowed and remarried. For years, she sold her sunny, elegantly designed, slightly cubistic still lifes, landscapes and studio scenes from the gallery of her south Minneapolis home. Now she's decided to downsize her inventory by donating more than 150 paintings to raise money for the Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation.

Although founded by a socially active Minneapolis church, the foundation is an independent nonprofit that develops housing for homeless teens, refugees, the disabled and other struggling people. Bratnober Saunder's paintings will sell for between $50 and $4,500 with most under $1,000. She hopes to raise $50,000 for the homeless project.

"There are about 1,700 children sleeping in automobiles in Minneapolis on any given night," Bratnober Saunders said. "You can't solve all the world's problems ever, but I thought that at my age, if I can make even a small dent in this tragedy in our city, this is the issue I want to address."

PHOTOS Installed in six display cases at Minneapolis' Central Library, Allen's show is a consciousness-raising effort that includes photos of homeless individuals, brief biographies, examples of their panhandling signs and alternative signs designed by Twin Cities graphic designers.

The stories are touching, especially that of Michelle, a pretty woman with a gentle, ironic smile whose panhandling sign notes that she is pregnant and "always" hungry. When she and her husband, David, lost their St. Paul home, they left their three children with her retired parents and took to the streets. Her sign says that "this baby will be adopted by a loving couple."

(Ends Jan. 4. Free. Minneapolis Public Library, 300 Nicollet Mall. 612-630-6020 or www.mpls.lib.mn.us/index.asp or www.medagliadorostudio.com.)