between two continents:
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On View In Our Charles Beck Gallery
September 1 - October 24, 2026
Opening Reception
Opening reception: Thursday, September 10, 5-7PM
Artist Talk - 6PM
These exhibitions are generously sponsored by Naomi RaMona Schliesman Artistry & Consulting.
Exhibition Statement
There is a particular kind of seeing that only comes from living — not passing through, but staying long enough for a place to leave its mark on you. For Kar-Keat Chong, that mark has been made twice, in two worlds separated by hemisphere, climate, and culture: the tropical, monsoon-drenched island city of George Town, Penang, where he was born and raised, and North America, where he has lived and worked for the past 27 years. To move between two continents is to understand that home is not a single place — it is an accumulation of places, each one shaping how you see the next.
Chong has spent a lifetime moving through both worlds with sketchbook and camera as his most faithful companions — gathering, observing, absorbing — before returning to the studio to translate lived experience into ink and watercolor. Between Two Continents gathers the accumulated vision of that life into a single, sweeping exhibition — a conversation across continents and climates, rendered in the luminous, unforgiving medium of water and pigment on paper.
George Town speaks first. Its five-footways and clan jetties, its Peranakan tiles and crumbling colonial facades — places where history has not been polished for consumption but simply persists, beautiful in its weathering. These are the streets that first taught Chong how to see: how a shadow pools beneath a zinc awning, how ochre and rust exist in the same wall, how a city can hold centuries in its surface. That early education in seeing — unhurried, tactile, intimate — is the foundation upon which every painting in this exhibition is built.
From Penang, the vision travels north and east. Minneapolis, his adopted home for nearly three decades, appears not as a postcard but as a place genuinely known: winter light on brick, the particular geometry of a Midwestern street in all four seasons, the unglamorous and quietly beautiful rhythms of a city intimately known. The gaze extends outward from there — to the quiet, unhurried character of small Minnesota towns like Fergus Falls and Winona, where Main Street architecture and river bluffs reward the patient eye as generously as any metropolis. Then further still — to the vertical drama of New York, the broad-shouldered grandeur of Chicago, the shimmering reflections and mountain-backed waterfront of Vancouver's False Creek — urban landscapes where Chong's eye meets density, scale, and an entirely different quality of light with the same patient curiosity he cultivated back in George Town.
Beyond the cities, America's natural landscape — its prairies, its waters, its enormous open skies — offers Chong a different register entirely: space without human architecture to organize it and light without buildings to interrupt it.
What distinguishes Chong's work is the distance — not geographic, but temporal — between the experience of a place and its rendering. The studio becomes a space of distillation, where memory and observation merge on paper, where the noise of a moment settles and what remains is only what truly mattered: the quality of light, the weight of a façade, the feeling of standing in a particular street in a particular city at a particular hour. Then watercolor flows freely across the surface as if the medium and the subject have finally agreed to speak the same language.
Between Two Continents is not a travelogue. It is the portrait of a life, drawn in the places that shaped it.
Chong has spent a lifetime moving through both worlds with sketchbook and camera as his most faithful companions — gathering, observing, absorbing — before returning to the studio to translate lived experience into ink and watercolor. Between Two Continents gathers the accumulated vision of that life into a single, sweeping exhibition — a conversation across continents and climates, rendered in the luminous, unforgiving medium of water and pigment on paper.
George Town speaks first. Its five-footways and clan jetties, its Peranakan tiles and crumbling colonial facades — places where history has not been polished for consumption but simply persists, beautiful in its weathering. These are the streets that first taught Chong how to see: how a shadow pools beneath a zinc awning, how ochre and rust exist in the same wall, how a city can hold centuries in its surface. That early education in seeing — unhurried, tactile, intimate — is the foundation upon which every painting in this exhibition is built.
From Penang, the vision travels north and east. Minneapolis, his adopted home for nearly three decades, appears not as a postcard but as a place genuinely known: winter light on brick, the particular geometry of a Midwestern street in all four seasons, the unglamorous and quietly beautiful rhythms of a city intimately known. The gaze extends outward from there — to the quiet, unhurried character of small Minnesota towns like Fergus Falls and Winona, where Main Street architecture and river bluffs reward the patient eye as generously as any metropolis. Then further still — to the vertical drama of New York, the broad-shouldered grandeur of Chicago, the shimmering reflections and mountain-backed waterfront of Vancouver's False Creek — urban landscapes where Chong's eye meets density, scale, and an entirely different quality of light with the same patient curiosity he cultivated back in George Town.
Beyond the cities, America's natural landscape — its prairies, its waters, its enormous open skies — offers Chong a different register entirely: space without human architecture to organize it and light without buildings to interrupt it.
What distinguishes Chong's work is the distance — not geographic, but temporal — between the experience of a place and its rendering. The studio becomes a space of distillation, where memory and observation merge on paper, where the noise of a moment settles and what remains is only what truly mattered: the quality of light, the weight of a façade, the feeling of standing in a particular street in a particular city at a particular hour. Then watercolor flows freely across the surface as if the medium and the subject have finally agreed to speak the same language.
Between Two Continents is not a travelogue. It is the portrait of a life, drawn in the places that shaped it.
About the Artist: Kar-Keat Chong
Kar-Keat Chong is a Minneapolis-based architect and watercolorist whose work bridges two disciplines built on the same foundation: observation, structure, and light.
Born and raised in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, Kar-Keat began studying under local artists at the age of fourteen, absorbing the fundamentals of watercolor in a city renowned for its own painterly quality of light and layered architectural history. Though his path led him into architecture as a profession, painting remained a quiet undercurrent until 2017, when he returned to the medium in earnest — this time under the mentorship of his father-in-law, the internationally celebrated watercolorist Cheng-Khee Chee. That reunion with the brush marked the beginning of a prolific second chapter in his artistic life.
In the years since, Kar-Keat's paintings have been selected for national and international juried exhibitions, and he holds signature membership in both the National Watercolor Society and the Minnesota Watercolor Society — distinctions awarded to artists who have demonstrated sustained excellence and peer recognition within the medium.
Kar-Keat's architectural eye and painter's sensibility inform one another directly in his practice. He runs his own art and architecture studio in Minneapolis, and shares his approach to watercolor as an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota's College of Design – School of Architecture. Beyond the classroom, he leads in-studio workshops out of his own studio and has taught sketching seminars at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, and Urban Sketchers Chicago's Summer Seminar. An active member of the Urban Sketchers community since 2017 and a former chapter administrator for Urban Sketchers Twin Cities, Kar-Keat has helped plan and lead sketch walks throughout Minneapolis and in Winona, Minnesota — bringing the same spirit of place-based observation that defines his studio work out into the streets, together with fellow artists.
Born and raised in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, Kar-Keat began studying under local artists at the age of fourteen, absorbing the fundamentals of watercolor in a city renowned for its own painterly quality of light and layered architectural history. Though his path led him into architecture as a profession, painting remained a quiet undercurrent until 2017, when he returned to the medium in earnest — this time under the mentorship of his father-in-law, the internationally celebrated watercolorist Cheng-Khee Chee. That reunion with the brush marked the beginning of a prolific second chapter in his artistic life.
In the years since, Kar-Keat's paintings have been selected for national and international juried exhibitions, and he holds signature membership in both the National Watercolor Society and the Minnesota Watercolor Society — distinctions awarded to artists who have demonstrated sustained excellence and peer recognition within the medium.
Kar-Keat's architectural eye and painter's sensibility inform one another directly in his practice. He runs his own art and architecture studio in Minneapolis, and shares his approach to watercolor as an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota's College of Design – School of Architecture. Beyond the classroom, he leads in-studio workshops out of his own studio and has taught sketching seminars at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, and Urban Sketchers Chicago's Summer Seminar. An active member of the Urban Sketchers community since 2017 and a former chapter administrator for Urban Sketchers Twin Cities, Kar-Keat has helped plan and lead sketch walks throughout Minneapolis and in Winona, Minnesota — bringing the same spirit of place-based observation that defines his studio work out into the streets, together with fellow artists.
night shift
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On View In Our Studio K Gallery
September 1 - October 24, 2026
Opening Reception
5-7PM Thursday, September 10, 2026
Artist Talk - 6PM
These exhibitions are generously sponsored by Naomi RaMona Schliesman Artistry & Consulting.
September 1 - October 24, 2026
Opening Reception
5-7PM Thursday, September 10, 2026
Artist Talk - 6PM
These exhibitions are generously sponsored by Naomi RaMona Schliesman Artistry & Consulting.
Exhibition statement
Pieces of this exhibition have been in production for nearly two years. As the work developed and as the world around us continued to change--the parallels and meaning of the bat within it evolved as well. What began as the consideration of a creature navigating the liminal space between light and dark became an examination of a creature able to thrive in the darkness-quietly existing and doing important, though often misunderstood, work.
Bats emerge at dusk, moving through a world we often cannot see and doing essential work while much of the world sleeps. Often misunderstood and associated with danger and fear, they are unique and important members of our ecosystems-pollinators, seed dispersers, insect eaters, and indicators of environmental health. Through echolocation, many bats navigate the darkness by listening to what comes back to them, continually shifting their path as they move through the night.
The works in this exhibition portray these transitory and dark places, depicting local landscapes at twilight, dusk, and night, shifting the focus upward toward expansive skies. The horizon grounds us in the places we know, while the sky suggests possibility, beauty, wonder, and a world extending beyond what we can immediately see.
The two-dimensional works incorporate remnant paint from the A Beautiful Dream mural located on the back of the Springboard for the Arts building, applied to pieces of subfloor through layers of underpainting and screen printing. Materials left behind from one project become a key component of another, reflecting the possibilities of renewal, reuse, and creation.
A bat constructed entirely from discarded and repurposed materials extends this idea of transformation. A discarded golf bag and remnants of corrugated plastic rescued from the OTC Landfill form the base of the sculpture, giving new form and purpose to materials that were being thrown away.
Night Shift asks us to reconsider the dark and perhaps take some inspiration from the bat. We can listen. We can shift and adapt. We can make use of what is available and transform what we have. We can keep moving, even when we cannot see exactly what lies ahead-doing what is necessary, simply existing, and finding our way through a world that may not always understand us.
Bats emerge at dusk, moving through a world we often cannot see and doing essential work while much of the world sleeps. Often misunderstood and associated with danger and fear, they are unique and important members of our ecosystems-pollinators, seed dispersers, insect eaters, and indicators of environmental health. Through echolocation, many bats navigate the darkness by listening to what comes back to them, continually shifting their path as they move through the night.
The works in this exhibition portray these transitory and dark places, depicting local landscapes at twilight, dusk, and night, shifting the focus upward toward expansive skies. The horizon grounds us in the places we know, while the sky suggests possibility, beauty, wonder, and a world extending beyond what we can immediately see.
The two-dimensional works incorporate remnant paint from the A Beautiful Dream mural located on the back of the Springboard for the Arts building, applied to pieces of subfloor through layers of underpainting and screen printing. Materials left behind from one project become a key component of another, reflecting the possibilities of renewal, reuse, and creation.
A bat constructed entirely from discarded and repurposed materials extends this idea of transformation. A discarded golf bag and remnants of corrugated plastic rescued from the OTC Landfill form the base of the sculpture, giving new form and purpose to materials that were being thrown away.
Night Shift asks us to reconsider the dark and perhaps take some inspiration from the bat. We can listen. We can shift and adapt. We can make use of what is available and transform what we have. We can keep moving, even when we cannot see exactly what lies ahead-doing what is necessary, simply existing, and finding our way through a world that may not always understand us.
About the Artists: Erika Frikken + Jess Torgerson
Erika Frikken
Erika Frikken is an artist, mother, and designer. Born in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, Frikken received her Associate degree in Communication Art & Design from Alexandria Technical College and has been an artist for as long as she can remember. Manifesting and yoga are part of her daily practice, informing an approach rooted in mindfulness and creativity. She is passionate about creating art from what others throw away, as well as painting and drawing. Frikken believes that through compassion, mindfulness, and creativity, we can make our world a better place.
Jess Torgerson
Jess Torgerson is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, curator, and community arts coordinator from West Central Minnesota. A lifelong artist, Torgerson received a BS in Apparel & Textiles and Art/Printmaking from North Dakota State University. Her creative practice moves between studio work, public art, exhibition development, and collaborative community projects, often exploring connections between art, place, environmental stewardship, and rural identity. She is an advocate for rural artists and believes in the arts as a means to build connection, strengthen communities, and engage with social and environmental issues.
Collaborative Practice
Jess Torgerson and Erika Frikken began working together in 2022 through the Lakes Area Precious Plastic Collective, where a shared interest in reuse, resourcefulness, and environmental responsibility quickly became the foundation of an ongoing creative partnership. While their individual creative styles and approaches are distinct, together they create a unique and effective balance-each bringing different perspectives, instincts, and strengths to the work. Their collaborative practice often begins with what is already available: discarded materials, remnants, overlooked objects, and the possibilities they contain. Through sculpture, installation, public art, and participatory projects, they explore transformation not only as a material process, but as a way of reconsidering value, consumption, and our relationship to the natural world. At the heart of their work is a shared belief in creativity as a means of connection, resourcefulness, and caring for the only home we have-Mother Earth.
Erika Frikken is an artist, mother, and designer. Born in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, Frikken received her Associate degree in Communication Art & Design from Alexandria Technical College and has been an artist for as long as she can remember. Manifesting and yoga are part of her daily practice, informing an approach rooted in mindfulness and creativity. She is passionate about creating art from what others throw away, as well as painting and drawing. Frikken believes that through compassion, mindfulness, and creativity, we can make our world a better place.
Jess Torgerson
Jess Torgerson is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, curator, and community arts coordinator from West Central Minnesota. A lifelong artist, Torgerson received a BS in Apparel & Textiles and Art/Printmaking from North Dakota State University. Her creative practice moves between studio work, public art, exhibition development, and collaborative community projects, often exploring connections between art, place, environmental stewardship, and rural identity. She is an advocate for rural artists and believes in the arts as a means to build connection, strengthen communities, and engage with social and environmental issues.
Collaborative Practice
Jess Torgerson and Erika Frikken began working together in 2022 through the Lakes Area Precious Plastic Collective, where a shared interest in reuse, resourcefulness, and environmental responsibility quickly became the foundation of an ongoing creative partnership. While their individual creative styles and approaches are distinct, together they create a unique and effective balance-each bringing different perspectives, instincts, and strengths to the work. Their collaborative practice often begins with what is already available: discarded materials, remnants, overlooked objects, and the possibilities they contain. Through sculpture, installation, public art, and participatory projects, they explore transformation not only as a material process, but as a way of reconsidering value, consumption, and our relationship to the natural world. At the heart of their work is a shared belief in creativity as a means of connection, resourcefulness, and caring for the only home we have-Mother Earth.