As part of the ceremonies leading up to the opening of the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: The Alice S. Kandell Collection on September 14, 2024, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will host several Buddhist nuns from the Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in India. During their visit, the nuns will create a  ...

In her chic apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, Alice Kandell likes to retreat to a room where flickering candles softly illuminate gilded sculptures inlaid with coral, turquoise, and other semiprecious stones. The walls are hung with exquisitely painted images of serene deities and ferocious guardians. A fine silk canopy floats above an altar  ...

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,  ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...