The first official Minneapolis Print & Drawing Fair was held at Mia in 1993, when Bill Clinton was president, the Internet was largely limited to college campuses, and, more to the point, there were no Twin Cities galleries dedicated to selling art prints. Much has changed—except for the last point. The only place in Minnesota  ...

Throughout his long career, encompassing most of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso tried his hand in almost all art media. Of these artistic pursuits, printmaking absorbed much of his attention: he produced 2,430 images. But apart from his prolific output, his standing as one of the greatest printmakers of all time—in a league with Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt,  ...

Rowan and Bly Pope live in a duplex they own on the east side of St. Paul, near Maplewood. Not separately, in each apartment, but together in side-by-side bedrooms, which also serve as their art studios. Their food in the refrigerator is neatly divided: Rowan on one side, Bly on the other. Special foods are  ...

For most of the 20th century, Chicago was the second-largest city in the United States, lagging only New York. The Windy City. The City of Big Shoulders. The Second City, as it’s still sometimes called, despite losing that title to Los Angeles in 1984. But of all the ways that Chicago was similar to New  ...

The epitome of the unappreciated artist, Vincent van Gogh is famous for missing out on the fame and fortune that followed his death. Except that isn’t true, according to new research that places 10 of his paintings in an exhibition so prominent it was visited by the French president in 1890, four months before van  ...

When I went to my first escape room, I was a little unclear about what exactly I was supposed to do. As two experienced puzzlers began to scour the room for clues, on bookshelves and in drawers, I looked around wondering when someone was going to tell me how to help. Had I been on  ...

Competing for jobs is tough, time-consuming, and an emotional rollercoaster. It can be difficult to maintain a positive attitude when you work hard at it but still run into barriers and rejections. I was recently in that position myself—once again—and now it’s what I think about every day as Mia’s first Diversity and Inclusion Manager.  ...

Last Thursday, a crowd gathered at Mia for a panel discussion called “Make Design Weird Again.” Moderated by Charles K. Youel of ARTCRANK, it was part of Design Night with AIGA Minnesota and featured five Twin Cities creatives. As people filed in, Youel gave a shout-out to his wife, who’d just returned from a synchronized  ...

I like to play basketball at the school near my house. There’s a soccer field, some baseball diamonds, a playground, and a basketball court. A lot of the time, I’ll go there after working at Mia. It gives me something to think about besides photographs and art history, since that’s mostly what I do, as  ...

By Nicole LaBouff, associate curator of textiles at Mia, and Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers, curator of African art at Mia and head of the Department of the Arts of Africa and the Americas ••• This past May, Mia welcomed Malian artist Aboubakar Fofana. He was at the museum to discuss a potential exhibition in Mia’s Charleston period rooms, in  ...