Weisman Art Museum

The Weisman Art Museum presents SEEKING FOR THE LOST featuring portraiture by contemporary artist Christopher E. Harrison.

Organized by the African American Interpretive Center of Minnesota () and curated by JoJo Bell (), the exhibition elucidates the eponymous “Seeking for the Lost” column from THE APPEAL, a Black-owned and operated St. Paul newspaper. Each painting by Christopher Harrison () in the exhibition imagines what a missing subject described in the “Seeking for the Lost” column might have looked like. By visualizing and portraying each missing family member with a distinct perspective and personality, Harrison’s art emphasizes kinship as a unifying power and literacy as a means of endurance.

🔗 Located in the Edith Carlson Gallery, the exhibition is FREE and runs August 3, 2024 — February 16, 2025. Tap the link in bio to learn more.

Thanks to Minnesota Transform: A Just University for Just Futures for their support of this exhibition.

Riley Stern, reporter for the Minnesota Daily spoke with WAM's Public Engagement and Learning Director, Katie Covey Spanier about this "special and unique place on campus for all different types of students".

Opinion: Museums should be accessible to all Very few people have Renaissance art, fossils, historic documents or famous sculptures in their homes. With museums, you can see these things whenever you want. Museums allow people to have access to such artifacts without owning them. Not only do museums hold knowledge, culture and history, but the...

Here are a few pieces from our collection to honor the soft dads, immigrant dads, silly dads, the serious dads with the biggest hearts, dads who have passed on, and those who stepped in to fill an empty spot at the dinner table. Happy Father's Day from WAM!

Image credits: (1) Joseph Hirsch, "Father and Son", 1945. Lithograph on paper, 9 3/4 × 11 1/2 in. 1973.3.6. Not on view. (2) Leslie Barlow, "Real Dad", 2016. Oil pastel, charcoal, and acrylic. 60 × 48 × 3 1/4 in. Gift of Lyndel and Blaine King. 2018.20. On view. (3) Lewis Hine, “Girl and Dying Father”, 1907-1915. Photograph, 10 1/4 × 13 1/2 in. Museum purchase. 1963.3.24. Not on view. (4) Harry Sternberg, “My Father Telling Stories”, 1928. Etching, 3 7/8 × 4 5/8 in. Gift of Ione and Hudson D. Walker, in tribute to Mrs. J. C. Lawrence. 1957.80. Not on view. (5) Larry Clark, “Billy with Baby”, 1963. Photograph, 14 × 11 in. Gift of Kate Butler Peterson. 2010.2.2. Not on view. (6) David L. Parker, “Shoe Shine Boy, Guatemala”, 2003. Selenium-toned gelatin silver print, 11 × 14 in. Gift of Dr. John and Kay Dunne. 2009.7.25. Not on view.

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Are you a seasoned nonprofit leader with a keen sense for how the philanthropic landscape is shifting for cultural organizations? Do you love the work of relationship-building that connects diverse communities of support with creative projects and big-picture institutional vision? ⁠
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Reporting to the Director of the Weisman Art Museum (WAM) and the Vice President for Development, College and Campus Programs at the University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF), the Director of Development serves as the chief fundraising officer for all aspects of WAM. The person in this position is responsible for establishing an overall development strategy and implementing a fundraising and membership plan. ⁠
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The successful candidate will be prepared to travel on occasion outside the Twin Cities area to advance the development program, in addition to attendance at some evening and weekend events. This position is hybrid with working on site Wednesdays and Thursdays and one other day of your choice.⁠
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🔗 To learn more and apply, visit our website: wam.umn.edu/opportunities

Image credit: Ken Steinbach, "I Love Only You", 2023. Metal coins, mechanical coin dropping device. Lent by the artist. Photo by Jayme Halbritter courtesy of the Weisman Art Museum.⁠
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Update: WAM will remain closed today but plans to resume normal open hours tomorrow (Friday, May 3). ⁠
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Please see the University of Minnesota's FAQ page on freedom of expression and protests for more information, via the link in bio.

In light of student protests on the University of Minnesota campus, the Weisman Art Museum, along with a number of other East Bank buildings, is closed today. Events planned for today, including Study Night and Misfit Coffee, are canceled. Please stand by for updates about museum open hours for the remainder of this week.

The WAM SHOP SPRING SALE is May 8-12! Shop small this graduation season. We have handmade watercolor paint sets, unique jewelry, delightfully sensorial self-care items, and many other magical tokens of appreciation and affection in stock. ⁠
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🧑‍🎨 WAM Members, and University of Minnesota Faculty, Staff, & Students get 20% off during the WAM SHOP Sale.⁠
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🗓️ The sale runs Wednesday, May 8 until Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12)⁠
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🌸 Tap the link in bio for more information and to become a WAM member!

Consider stopping by the Health Sciences Education Center tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, between 4PM and 7PM to celebrate the work of undergraduate students who have participated in the Imagination Studio Project! Student workers at WAM will be represented in this exhibition.

At 5:30PM, researchers on the team will share preliminary findings. Light refreshments available.

*A University ID is required to enter the building but you can ask for a chaperone if you register in advance via the link below!

Imagination Studio is a study that aims to understand how engaging in creative arts activities can improve mental health and wellbeing in undergraduate students. The 6-week program, which took place in Fall Semester 2023 at the University of Minnesota and at the Weisman Art Museum, was designed to help students tap into their own imagination through a series of art projects that explored their inner and outer worlds. This exhibition celebrates the inspirational work created by twenty-eight brave and curious students who joined the Imagination Studio program to help the researchers on this journey.

Flyer design: Peng Wu and Charlie Cullen

https://hscommunityarts.umn.edu/imagination-studio-art-exhibition

📓 Need a break from studying? Hang out at WAM on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 from 5 – 8 P.M.! This month’s Study Night will feature seasonal art-making activities and chill vibes for catching up on your work, cram for finals, or just to socialize with friends.⁠
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☕ As always, the first 100 students who arrive to enjoy a FREE MISFIT COFFEE. Free and open to all students.⁠
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This event is Student Services Fee funded.⁠
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Image credit: 1) "Birth of a Book", Gloria Adrian, 1995. Book and wood, 9 1/2 x 13 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. Gift of Margareta Löhr in memory of her beloved son Helmut, 2012.1.2. Not on view.

On Wednesday (March 20 at 4PM), Justis Brokenrope will play a set in the Riverview gallery before the "Perspectives on Water" conversation between ceramic artist Courtney M. Leonard, Dr. Kate Beane (Executive Director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and serves as adjunct faculty in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota), and Dr. Roxanne Biidabinokwe Gould (professor emerita at the University of Minnesota).

"Brokenrope’s collection reflects years of digging for rare vinyl recordings. In his set, A. Paul Ortega’s powerful singing on “Chicago,” Arliene Nofchissey Williams & Carnes Burson performing the bridge on “Go My Son,” and Morris Belknap’s “On That Dusty Road To San Carlos,” give listeners a sense of the themes important to Native musicians over decades.

While connecting the tunes during his DJ sets, Brokenrope adds another act of translation.

As an educator, Brokenrope has been a part of a growing language movement to revitalize the Dakota language. He often DJs his sets in the Dakota language.

Sharing music of from his collection in Dakota is an invitation to Indigenous people to be in conversation with one another in a digital world.

"To be able to use my tribe’s language and be able to create more content in it,” he said. “And have that represented more, just felt really in line with the kind of music we’re playing.” "

Lakota vinyl collector revitalizes Indigenous music, language one record at a time Justis Brokenrope’s vinyl collection of Native artists is bringing generations of music to new audiences on social media. The collection he’s built over the last decade includes about 300 records by Indigenous artists from various genres — mostly country, folk, rock from the 1960s through the ...

Weisman Art Museum presents The Other Four - a Multi-sensory Show - Minneapolis Riverfront News - Minneapolis Riverfront Neighborhoods. Article and photos by Becky Fillinger Wendy Fernstrum, Common Scents Are you ready for somet...

Complexity of Black history through James Baldwin The Weisman Art Museum recently engaged with celebrated Black novelist James Baldwin’s legacy with a thought-provoking documentary and subsequent talk.

https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/weisman-art-museum-unveils-new-multisensory-art-exhibit/

"I’d seen a couple of shows where visual art was augmented with other sensory opportunities, but I hadn’t seen anything where the art was primarily meant to be experienced through the other senses. Fifty percent of our frontal cortex is mapped to vision, and the other four senses get the rest. Our sense of vision and the way in which we organize the world around us is really heavily weighted,” Schuerman said." — Joey Erickson for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Weisman Art Museum Unveils Multi-Sensory Exhibition The new collection, called The Other Four, puts the other four senses excluding vision at the forefront, offering a different way to consume art—figuratively and literally.

We've had some excellent press for THE OTHER FOUR. If you haven't had a chance to experience it, the show ends May 19, admission is free (as always!).

"Whichever of the 16 multimedia works by 21 regional artists in the exhibition THE OTHER FOUR at the Weisman Art Museum that draw you in, know that none of them is trying to get you to look. Rather, they want you to touch, taste, smell or hear.

This smart show is the brainchild of curator John Schuerman. It's been in the works for more than a decade, first debuted at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo in 2019.

'I was starting to think about the sort of one-dimensionality of museums' experiences…we call it visual art for a reason,' he said. 'I thought it'd be interesting to do something more expansive.' " —Alicia Eler for Star Tribune

https://www.startribune.com/dont-look-at-the-art-taste-it-touch-it-smell-it-or-just-listen-at-the-weisman-art-museum/600343677/

THE OTHER FOUR made it on a Star Tribune list of things to do in the Twin Cities, this week, that includes Madonna and Peppa Pig. Now, if that's not a triumph...

"Is there such a thing as an art show that appeals not to the eyes, but to the ears, mouth, nose and hands? In THE OTHER FOUR, curated by John Schuerman, 16 artworks by 21 contemporary artists offer nonvisual peeks into the possibility of art without a focus on sight. What if we were more present with something more tactile, smelly, tasty or noisy?" — ALICIA ELER

Madonna, the Kills and other fun things to do Feb. 7-13 Madonna, the Kills, Bob Marley Remembered and the Sweethearts Show are in the Twin Cities this week, and there's also Roy Wood Jr. and Kaleena Miller. Our critics pick the best entertainment in the coming week.

"Have you ever come across a tactile-looking piece of art at a gallery and wished you could reach out and touch it? Well, you can at the Weisman’s new group exhibition. “The Other Four” asks guests to rely less on sight and more on smell, taste, touch, and sound." — Jessica Armbruster for Racket

Street Snowboarding, 'Safe Word' S*x Party, Berlin Opens: This Week's Best Events - Racket We're getting started early on V-Day this year.

It's the first day of Black History Month and what better way to honor this than revisiting the illustrious work of James Baldwin. WAM will be hosting a series of James Baldwin film screenings (free & open to all) in the Target Gallery throughout the month of February. And, on Feb. 28, we will host Dr. Megan Finch, an expert in American literature and representations of "madness" in 20th century Black women's novels, for a discussion about Baldwin's legacy and various bodies of work. ⁠
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🔗 Find the first screening showtime listed at wam.umn.edu/visit
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Image description: An isolated image of James Baldwin's likeness is overlaid on a bright orange background. Underneath is written: "Invoking Baldwin in 2024 is very different from that invocation made at any other time. If you want to think beyond a single quotation and engage, then the thing you can do is read Baldwin. At the very least, if you find a quote you think is brilliant, find the essay it came from and read that. Thinking with Baldwin means reading the text and trying to get a sense of historical context." — Dr. Megan Finch, Assistant Professor, UMN English Department. ⁠
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THE OTHER FOUR holds the No. 3 spot in New City's Top 5 Art shows to see this February.

Art Top 5: February 2024 A perfect month for challenging art or perhaps a road trip north, where it is really cold.

Welcome back to Study Night! ❄️ Meet up with your people, make a button, catch up on studying, make art in the Target Gallery, and drink coffee. 💙⁠
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🕔 Wednesday, Jan. 24, 5—8PM⁠
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The first 100 students who arrive enjoy FREE !⁠
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Did you catch Director of Communications, Susannah Schouweiler give a little tour of WAM on Minnesota Live yesterday morning? If you do drive by and see our funky building, we hope you come on in!⁠
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Watch the special coverage via the link below.

Must See Museums: Weisman Art Museum Photojournalist Bill Middeke took us inside the Weisman Art Museum.

This morning, MPR News spoke with Kat Hayes about how museums are handling Native American Grave Protection Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) regulations, which go into effect today. Specifically, the Weisman Art Museum is involved in a long process of repatriation with regards to objects from a collection of Mimbres-affiliated cultural artifacts.

Listen to the interview here:

Minnesota institutions look to return Native remains under new federal rule An amendment to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act looks to make the process smoother for returning stolen remains.