Look’s employees put on ‘visual feast’ of art, entertainment

John Hult

August 29, 2022

Look’s Marketplace turned its patio and front lawn into a pop-up art market Sunday, and all it took was inviting the inside employees out. 

Every piece of art on sale and nearly all the performances came courtesy of Look’s employees. 

The brewmaster serenaded patio revelers as the walk-up kitchen manager sold framed prints of his 35 mm photography.

A bartender spun flames on hula hoops and fire sticks as the Look’s brand manager scribbled illustrations to order. 

A hand-drawn crayon rendering of a prep cook’s cat stood sentry over a table of knickknacks, painted logs and hand-embroidered dish towels, many of which were crafted as the real “Chee Chunk” purred idly by.

The feline’s portrait typically hangs in the prep kitchen, but it made a special appearance for the event, dubbed “A Visual Feast.”

The brewmaster finished a batch of Visual Feast ale shortly before the event’s kickoff, with each can bearing the graphic designer’s latest custom label. 

“Pretty much everyone here has been creative forever,” said Andy Neuberger, who picked up his 35 mm photography habit three years ago. He has worked at Look’s for nine.

There is creativity in every job at Look’s, Neuberger explained. Every employee at every level of the sprawling culinary enclave on 69th Street is encouraged to contribute to its success. Special menu items or promotions often bear the fingerprints of the people who make, serve or stock the food, and no one is too green to offer ideas.

“A Visual Feast” took that support for creativity a step further, acting as a celebration of the staff’s artistic endeavors that doubled as a special event to draw diners and shoppers who might not otherwise make the drive on a Sunday afternoon.

The encouragement hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“It’s so validating,” said Cassia McLoone, the grocery manager and the show’s primary organizer. “We work in the service industry, but it makes you feel like more than a service industry person. On a day-by-day basis, there’s a balance between service and self-expression.”

McLoone returned home to Sioux Falls two years ago after a stint studying photography in Portland, Oregon. About a year ago, when her boss at Look’s learned about her work outside of work, he suggested a pop-up showcase for the staff. Two months ago, McLoone took to the task of making it happen, and she didn’t have any trouble finding artists. Every department has a few.

Not all have studied art in the traditional sense, though. McLoone did, and she has had shows in Sioux Falls before, but some of the artists were showing and selling their work for the first time.

Sheila Coyle, for example, draws stylized characters on her laptop with an illustration pen. Francis Ong, a deli employee who hopes to be a tattoo artist one day, was selling both his designs and his homemade seasoned chili oil.

Bonnie Kuchta, the prep cook and roommate of Chee Chunk, is a consummate crafter. Her weaving, embroidery and painting were on offer Sunday, as were hand-painted bird feeders and a sparkly painted walking stick with cut quartzite at the top.

“I just kind of pick things up as I go,” she said.

Coyle and Ong each made sales Sunday. 

Bartender Jennifer Gilpatrick filled her tip jar without pouring a single drink. Her afternoon was spent dancing and spinning flaming objects like a street performer in a roped-off safely circle between the bouncy house and the patio seating.

Her co-workers enlisted the Minneapolis transplant for the show shortly after her arrival in May. The hidden talent was revealed in the weekly Look’s employee newsletter.

“I told them I spin fire, so they asked if I would come out to do that,” Gilpatrick said.

Gilpatrick occasionally earns money performing, but she mostly just enjoys the meditative feelings of freedom and flow that come from fire dancing. 

The only performers Sunday who don’t draw a Look’s paycheck came from Cirka Performance Arts, the professional circus troupe that has become a staple of Sioux Falls gatherings since its formation last fall.

Cirka’s Katie Herrmann reached out to Look’s when she heard about “A Visual Feast.”

The group aims to cultivate a culture of circus arts in Sioux Falls, and the show represented another opportunity to bring its message to the city.

The gymnasts of suspended silk started to learn their craft through a circus school-trained teacher from Kentucky who spent two years in Sioux Falls. They’ve continued to hone their skills through training workshops around the country and a steadily rising list of appearances in the region. 

On Sunday, Chris Coughlin and Kayla Mathieu revealed a partner routine months in the making as part of Coughlin’s public debut. 

He started in January. By March, he was able to pull himself up the silk. It was the first time in his 37 years he’d been strong enough to pull that off.

“I could never climb a rope or anything like that when I was a kid in gym class,” Coughlin said. 

With the Cirka crew on the south end of the parking lot, Gilpatrick’s fire dancing on the north end and the music of brewmaster Chad McKinney’s alter ego Doctor Barkey wafting through the speakers for all those in-between, brand manager Les Cotton felt grateful for his four years and counting alongside talented co-workers at one of the oldest businesses in Sioux Falls.

Cotton appreciates creating visuals for artisans whose work he respects, from the beer in the cans to the colors on the canvas created between shifts.

The creative instinct that drives the latter at Look’s, he said, is evident in the quality of the former.

“It’s such a unique place” Cotton said. “With every aspect that we touch on here, we have people who are the best at what they do.”

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