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Minnesota Museum of American Art News and Update - February 2025

Arts and Entertainment

February 11, 2025

From: Minnesota Museum of American Art

MATTERS OF THE M

when you're in the mirror...

OPENING SOON!

when you're in the mirror...

February 13–April 27, 2025

Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery

Through every era, convention, and form, portraiture is built on the artist’s perception of both physical and emotional characteristics. To be perceived in this way is exceptionally vulnerable. The relationship between artist and subject influences the intimacy of seeing. A beloved matriarch, for example, might be depicted differently than a model for hire or a romantic interest. Through this relationship, the artist creates something tangible from something abstract.

Mimesis, or complete likeness, is not always the goal. The idea of someone (their spirit, their aura, their feel) is also desirable to impart. There is tension and ambiguity in this balance, but it is a necessary concoction.when you’re in the mirror… is an offering of portraits that considers the repercussions of perception through a relational emphasis. Who is depicting whom? And why does that matter?

The title when you’re in the mirror… comes from a song on Charli XCX’s album “Brat.” Charli sings “when you’re in the mirror, do you like what you see? When you’re in the mirror, you’re just looking at me.” The duality of the lyric allows the listener to come to their own conclusions around what and who is drawing attention in the metaphorical mirror of introspection and relays into the colloquial use of “brat” as more than just an album: it’s a way of being. With its multi-layered approach, it could be argued that “Brat,” as both an album and a movement, is Charli’s own self-portrait.

Featured artists:

Frances Cranmer Greenman, Leslie Barlow, Natia Lemay, Moises Salazar, Wanda Gág, Hal Phyfe, Clement Haupers, Clara Mairs, Maiya Lea Hartman, Beatrice Wood, Frances Cranmer Greenman, Wing Young Huie, Emma Amos, Frank Gaard, Raphael Soyer, Cristopher Harrison, Susan Hauptman, Patricia Olson, Kat Eng, Wes Winship, Judith Roode, SHOCK UC MSK, Nikol Schattenstein, Arturo Montaño, Louis Safer, Robert Henri, and Frances Cranmer Greenman.

GET INVOLVED AT THE M!

VOLUNTEER PROFILE: Todd Hannert

Dedicated and inquisitive volunteers are key to the M’s success! Volunteers consistently gain new knowledge, create an engaging environment, and have a positive impact on the community. If you'd like to know more about volunteering at the M, contact Kiaan Van Dusseldorp.

What do you enjoy the most about volunteering at the M?

The social contact aspect of helping and working with others while volunteering at the M has had a profound affect on my overall well-being. Being 71 years old and  “retired”  in the traditional sense, I have had to seek out meaningful connections with my time and stay active. To be able to fulfill these needs and to be around incredible art is just the best! 

Todd's website can be viewed here.

Do you have a favorite piece of art or exhibition that's inspired you?

I think that I can honestly say that everything at the M inspires me! I enjoy being inspired by the process of each work. I love musing on the individual artist’s motivations and intentions. I like to approach each work with questions like: what am I looking at? what am I feeling? where are my eyes going? 

I’ve learned that there are so many techniques and devices in great art as to where the artist is taking you and what they are conveying. How is the artist communicating with me in line, shape, or in color? Is it an abstract thought to be emotionally affected by, or a precise message and image. Is it experiential to the artist and the viewer? To simply experience the art here at the museum in this way is yet another way to make a meaningful connection in my everyday life. I have always felt a kindred connection to Louise Nevelson and George Morrison’s wood works. Just being around those pieces gives me a sense of being in the presence of something special!

Tell us something about your life/interests/experience/joys that you'd like to share with us.

I have often referred to myself as a multi-undisciplined artist. I have endured a lifetime of creative professional career pursuits (too many to list, really!), all of them very fulfilling and wonderful. At my age, I think that staying healthy is an important aspiration, and as such I walk quite a bit every day on the paths and trails of Como Park and Lake, of which I am fortunate to live across the street from. I also try to get over to the great facilities and weight room available to seniors at the University of Minnesota, and I have a sauna house in the backyard which I take regularly. And volunteering at the M twice a week is a particular highlight for me.  

Also the nice thing about being my age is that I’m free to dabble. So, when I finish my daily crossword puzzles and coffee, I can spend time with anything interesting that gets my attention. The important thing is to stay engaged, social, curious and active. And volunteering at the M ticks all those boxes for me. I would recommend it to anyone!

Make plans to visit M. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. To plan your visit, please review directions to the M.

SELECTIONS FROM THE M'S COLLECTION

BE HERE, NOW IN THE M's NEW WING!

With HERE, NOW the M celebrates the museum's New Wing—a series of galleries under the historic stained glass Endicott Arcade that tripled the M’s gallery space and finalizes a dream that’s been decades in the making.

HERE, NOW: Selections from the M's Collection, is the first major exhibition of permanent collection works in the M’s New Wing and brings together 150 artworks across media—paintings, works on paper, sculptures, ceramics, textiles, and jewelry—from historically significant and notable new artists alike. HERE, NOW explores kinship systems and interconnections between artists including George Morrison (Grand Portage, Ojibwe) and Louise Nevelson, Grant Wood and Elizabeth Catlett, Warren MacKenzie and Joan Mitchell.

DINNER @ THE M

DINNER @ THE M
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
Space is limited. Secure your tickets today.

Every dish, like every piece of art, tells a story. 

Be a part of the first ever Dinner @ the M, a special fundraising event featuring award-winning Chef Yia Vang and the team from Hmong Union Kitchen. Dine at a community table in the newly restored Cass Gilbert-designed stained glass arcade in the M's New Wing. This unique opportunity supports the M's vision to inspire understanding and our common humanity through art and community engagement, always aiming to make the museum a vital space for bold exhibitions, engaging programs, and a welcoming respite for all.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

QUEERING INDIGENEITY
June 5–September 14, 2025
Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery

Queering Indigeneity is an exhibition featuring 16 native artists from the Upper Midwest: Sharon Day, Ryan Young, Delia Touche, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Niibawi Ajijaak, Awanaabe Syverson, Zoe Allen, Lera Hephner, Noah Polk, Madeline Treuer, Chewie Mason, Asin-Gwiiwizens, Sav Jonsa, Giiwedin, Nick Metcalf, and Penny Kagigebi.

Beginning in 2023, the M has been in partnership with Penny Kagigebi (White Earth Ojibwe/direct descendant) to develop Queering Indigeneity, a multi-year, multi-generational project focusing on 2-Spirit, Native queer, gender expansive vision in great diversity and celebration. In seeking out and amplifying voices of Indigenous artists and culture bearers, the M, guided by Kagigebi, hopes to influence both the types of artists who are supported, seen, and centered at the museum, and to show non-Indigenous visitors a more comprehensive, complicated, and true story of Minnesotan art and artists.

WORK AT THE M!

Join the M team as Director of Operations and Organizational Culture!
Learn more about the position and how to apply by Friday, March 14, 2025 at mmaa.org/opportunities.