This week we decided to host our first major exhibit at our new location. It is an exhibit of original art from the Cream of Wheat advertising campaign from the period of 1913-1925. It begins on October 10, 2008, which doesn't leave much runway for a show of this magnitude, but it was a fairly spontaneous decision on the part of all the players involved.

The worst thing an art gallery can do is be boring, and this exhibit is anything but.

This exhibit is fascinating on many levels. To begin with, the art is amazing. The campaign director was very insistent on using the best available illustration artists and the art reflects that. The imagery is very wholesome and comforting and humor is a common element in many of the illustrations.

The exhibit also presents and discusses the use of racial stereotypes in the media. Times change and so do acceptable standards. The Cream of Wheat campaign usually used an African-American chef as a welcoming and reassuring icon. Was this naive, demeaning or enlightened on the part of Cream of Wheat?

And finally, Cream of Wheat went from a minor grain mill in North Dakota to a major worldwide cereal company in ten years because of their effective use of advertising and image branding. This alone is worthy of a Harvard business case study.

Cream of Wheat was located in Northeast Minneapolis from 1897 to 2002. The company has changed hands several times and is no longer independent. These paintings were in storage in the archives of the headquarters until the building was converted to condominiums in 2005. This might be the last opportunity to see a body of work this complete.

The best part of this exhibit is the chance to work with Dan and Sarah again. We first worked with them last year for The Dream Girl exhibit and they are a class act. Maybe next year we can do a pulp fiction or science fiction theme?

As is my want when the weather is nice, I like to sit outside and watch the traffic go by. It is a terrific opportunity to meet people, discuss stuff of the daily sort and watch the seasons change.

This past week I am outside reading an advance copy of my brother's book The Wakota Incident (shameless plug) and suddenly a piece of wood falls to the ground. I look up and this gray squirrel is busy chewing away at the apex of my building roof. He is trying to get behind the spokes and knobs to create a winter nest. There is heavy-duty screening behind the woodwork, but that is not slowing him down from damaging the woodwork.

I had hoped to repaint the spokes, knobs and balls with a Queen Anne painted lady effect, but if I am going to have to deal with a determined nest of squirrels every year, I am going to have to get pre-emptive. Forget any earlier implications I may have made about how mischievous and cute squirrels behave. The squirrels must go.