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Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.

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Becoming art smart: How Mini Mia helps preschoolers discover the value of creativity—and museums

By Abigail Penders

On the first Wednesday morning of every month, an unlikely group of visitors gets to experience Mia’s collection up close. Some of these visitors can’t talk, walk, or even see very well, but they enjoy the art as much as anyone. And they will recall these mornings in various important ways,  ...

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Bohemian rhapsody: The surprising story behind Mia’s sublime new patio painting

By Tim Gihring

In June 1886, Santiago Rusiñol is on his honeymoon in Paris. He’s 25 years old, Spanish from Barcelona, and in love. In a letter to a friend, he writes that he has never felt so stimulated, so alive and full of pleasure. But he is not referring to his wife, or  ...

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Dog days: A brief, fur-filled history of canines in the collection

By Tim Gihring

The dog days of summer are upon us, officially the twenty days before and after the Dog Star, otherwise known as Sirius, rises and falls with the sun. Unofficially, of course, it’s that hot, humid time in Minnesota when all you want to do is laze around and hope someone else  ...

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When art was an Olympic “sport”

Since the inception of the Modern Olympic Games, over 130 sports have been contested. But did you know that between 1912 and 1952, several different types of art competitions were included as part of the Games?...

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Mia goes to Paris: Olympic sports (or things that should be) in art

By Tim Gihring

The 2024 Summer Olympics opens in Paris on July 26 with thirty-two sports, including some newish events like surfing, skateboarding, and breaking (aka breakdancing). The Games evolve. When Paris hosted in 1900, poodle clipping was a trial event (of course)—groom the most poodles in two hours. (It didn’t catch on, c’est  ...

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Mia seeks volunteers for revamped guide program

For many years, Mia’s volunteer guides—known as docents then—underwent two years of training, a kind of master’s in Mia’s collection and facilitating tours. Much has changed. For the next cohort of guides, starting in September, the training period will be thirteen weeks—a mix of online and in-person classes. And the volunteering options have been simplified  ...

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Pictures of health: Teen artists on how racism affects wellness

Ella Alden Pope moved a lot when she was younger, from one part of the Twin Cities to another. The housing varied along with the neighborhoods, from well-maintained to well-worn. And she could tell the difference, physically as well as mentally. “It’s hard to focus and do your best when you’re not feeling healthy day  ...

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Juneteenth at Mia unites BIPOC staff around joy and resilience

By Taylor Bye

On June 20, Mia not only threw a Juneteenth celebration for the community but for its own staff. During the day, the Mia BIPOC Employee Resource Group (ERG) coordinating team organized a panel discussion with members of Black Greek Letter Organizations, fraternities and sororities that emerged at both historically Black colleges  ...

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An exhilarating preview of Mia’s fall Toulouse-Lautrec show

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s images of Parisian nightlife in the 1880s and ’90s are as emblematic as they are engaging, windows into a vanished world that feels strangely familiar. You’ve seen them, even if you weren’t sure what you were looking at or who the artist was. This fall, you’ll have the chance to see and  ...

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Celebrating Pride Month with Zanele Muholi’s photography

Two photographs by self-described visual activist Zanele Muholi, taken in 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, are now on view in Mia’s lobby. The artist, whose use of they/them pronouns is intentionally pluralistic to acknowledge their ancestors, began this series of portraits in 2006, centered on the lives of Black trans and queer people in  ...

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