Continued: Family portraits: Father-son art

In his south Minneapolis work space, a small barn tucked behind his house, artist John Schuerman helped his son build a rocket ship last week.

But Max Folina, 9, wasn't dreaming of taking his handiwork to the moon. Instead, he'll be taking the spacecraft -- in reality, a rocket-shaped collage twice his height and covered with his drawings -- to an art gallery in Wayzata. It's part of an exhibition featuring art done by four fathers, who also happen to be professional artists, and their young sons.

The show, which opens Thursday in time for Father's Day weekend, runs through July 23 at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. In addition to showcasing the raw imagination of the children's art and the professional work of their fathers, it's meant to celebrate the relationship between creative dads and their kids, said Schuerman, who last year came up with the original idea to do the show.

He called a friend, who called two friends, and the group began working toward a Father's Day exhibition highlighting fatherhood, childhood and shared creativity.

Often, he said, fathers are too narrowly defined through tough-guy stereotypes of men.

"I think maleness in our society is associated with a lot of things. It's associated with industry, with auto repair, with war and domination and sports," he said. "But it's perhaps not so aligned with creativity and parenting and those softer sides of the human experience."

For the dads, the show is about sharing their craft with their young sons, who range in age from 5 to 9. Each father-son team worked separately and cooperatively, showcasing their individual talents as well as inspiring each other.

Folina is quick to remind his dad that one of the professional pencil drawings that will go in the show will be on display because of his input. Folina thought that if the picture were rotated, it would look better -- more like a fish, he said. Schuerman spun the drawing and liked the new perspective. He decided to put it in the show.

"We're doing this so we can combine our imaginations and create something new," Folina said.

The children's work has been carefully vetted by their fathers, with items included in the exhibit selected based on artistic merit.

"This show is not going to be refrigerator art," Schuerman said. "The fathers are all very serious artists, they take their craft very seriously, and they've worked hard to master their own aesthetic style and their own messages they want to send through the art. And we've also spent some good time and some good thinking to help move the art of the kids."

Artist-father Irve Dell said the kids see the show as simply another fun thing to do, sparing themselves the seasoned artists' anxiety of unveiling their work to the public.

"The thing that all of us have been pretty conscious about is this is not about making our sons artists, or even declaring our sons artists," he said. "It's really about fathers who are artists engaging in these activities with our sons."

Dell, a sculptor and associate art professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., arranged a bronze pour for the fathers and sons. All 29 pieces created at that time by the group will be displayed at the show, which includes a variety of art types. At the opening, the artists also plan to have a large, cardboard fort that their kids and gallery-goers can play in and draw on. Such interactive offerings are aimed at families, the target audience for the show.

Family has been the primary focus while putting the show together in many respects.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Dell began reflecting on his relationship with his father, who died last year. Several of Dell's pieces in the exhibition are directly related to his father.

"I hadn't thought about that when we first conceived of the show," he said. "It was much more thinking of me as the father and my son, and I didn't think that I'd start factoring in my own father, who encouraged me to do art in some ways."

Robert Bowman, exhibits director at the arts center, said he was taken with Schuerman's father-son concept when he first heard about it last year.

"I like that we're going to be looking at work of children, not in a separate children's show, but in a show alongside adults," he said. "I hope both parents and children will walk into that gallery and feel that they own the place and the show is about them."

But the show isn't just about other families coming to see the work. For the artists, it's also been about creating the art with their own families.

"We hope to create a good experience and have a good memory in terms of the relationship-building that happened with our kids," Schuerman said. "That's pretty simple, and that doesn't speak to the outer audience at all, but it is at the heart of the matter."

Karlee Weinmann • 612-673-7278