Andy and Angel Saur - Coffee Art

It seems almost scandalous sitting across from Coffee Art's Andy and Angel Saur, watching them sip on steamy cups of hot chocolate piled with caps of whipped cream. The remnants of a sloppy spring blizzard slap and spray amidst the traffic outside, as the cocoa chuggers and I recline in our seats at Beaner's coffee shop, discussing the Saurs' unique artistic medium of choice: coffee.
As it turns out, Andy doesn't even drink the stuff.

Angel and Andy are life-long northern Minnesotans. Angel grew up in Gilbert and Andy in Two Harbors. They met at UMD in their "Intro to Music" class. 

"I didn't have a [text]book yet," said Angel, and Andy was all too happy to share his.

After college the two found jobs and settled in Duluth, an area that offered proximity to both of their families and an abundance of outdoor activities- something the Saurs relish. Married for five years, Andy and Angel welcomed a contagiously gleeful, apple-cheeked daughter, Annika, in 2008. 

You can't help but wonder what initially inspired the couple, both graphic artists by trade, to decide to paint with coffee. 

"We wanted to do a show together," Angel explains. 

The two young artists signed up for a showing at Beaner's, and with months to prepare work, decided to do something appropriate to the setting.

"We tried a lot of different methods," Angel chuckled. The artists attempted to color with coffee beans, and to suspend coffee in a mixture they likened to an oil pastel.

"We eventually started mixing coffee and painting with it," Andy concluded.

Uncertain how their first pieces would fare for sale, the Saurs created about thirty paintings for their first showing, and priced them reasonably. 

They sold out in the first week.

"We bought a fondue pot and a puppy," Angel grinned.

In the years since their first coffee art show in 2000, word has spread about the duo's unique form of artistry. Their work has been featured on the Food Network show "Unwrapped," and the two presently have pieces on loan to the American Embassy in Malawi. 

Working from their home studio in their spare time, the couple have created and sold "hundreds" of coffee art pieces over the last decade.

"Do you have a favorite brand of coffee to work with?" I asked the couple.

"We like Alakef," says Angel, "but we often use whatever is on sale."

With the added dynamic of a new family member, the couple find having an established creative process is essential.

"We try to brainstorm ideas for pieces during the week, and paint on the weekends."

Expanding their reach, the coffee artists partnered with beverage behemoth Starbucks. When Starbucks and Hersheys launched a new line of chocolate products, the company flew the Sauers to New York.

"We did painting demonstrations on the street, right on Broadway. " Andy shares.

The two also did a coffee portrait of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, which hangs in his office, and delivered a piece to the staff of David Letterman. A head writer for the Late Show contacted the Saurs, requesting that they create a "Portrait of Biff" for a regular feature on Letterman's show.

As if all that weren't enough, as designers of the FinnFest logo (and some corresponding coffee art),  Angel and Andy- Finns, themselves- met the visiting president of Finland in 2008.

"She patted Angel's [then-pregnant] belly," said Andy.

"And I went into labor later that day!" Angel added.

"Have you ever considered using any other beverages to paint with?" I asked the couple.

"We thought about tea," said Angel, but they Saurs confess to being coffee art purists. They prefer the challenge of finding new ways to work with their personally-traditional medium.

"Will you have Annika painting, too?" I asked the proud parents of the cooing, smiling, paintbrush-wielding infant sitting in her car seat.

Apparently, the young artist is already an accomplished scribbler, and created some hand-print works for family members.

A happy family, a creative business, and a fulfilling life: the Saurs of Coffee Art have brewed up their own local masterpiece.

Added on April 13, 2009