McKnight Discussion Series: Susan Cross, Tamsie Ringler, Piotr Szyhalski

The McKnight Visual Artist Fellowships are awarded annually to established Minnesota-based artists. In 2017, eight McKnight Visual Artist Fellows were selected to receive $25,000 each along with an opportunity to meet with arts professionals from across the country.

This discussion series pairs a nationally recognized art critic or curator with two McKnight Visual Artist Fellows. It offers attendees an opportunity to learn more about the fellowship recipients as well as how their work intersects with broader contemporary art ideas and concerns.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Susan Cross is the curator of visual arts at MASS MoCA, where she has organized exhibitions and new commissions by artists including Alex Da Corte, Liz Deschenes, Spencer Finch, Liz Glynn, Katharina Grosse, Steffani Jemison, Guillaume Leblon, Richard Nonas, and Simon Starling. Cross is also the editor and author of the first monographs on the work of Da Corte, Finch, and Glynn and co-editor of Sol LeWitt: 100 Views, published by MASS MoCA and Yale University Press. Formerly, she was a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY. She received an MA from Williams College graduate program in art history. Cross lives with her husband and daughter in Williamstown, Mass.

Tamsie Ringler’s artistic practice focuses on landscape sculpture and public art installations that engage environmental awareness. A resident of St. Paul, Ringler studied at the University of Wisconsin and received her MFA in sculpture from the University of Texas, Austin. She teaches foundry and sculpture at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Recent projects include the River Lee Project, a durational iron pour of the River Lee watershed held at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork, Ireland, and the MAEP exhibition “Still Life” at Mia, on view through February 24. Ringler is a recipient of the 2017 McKnight Fellowship and is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

Piotr Szyhalski is a Polish-born, U.S.-based multimedia artist whose works move across installation, performance, moving image, painting, photography, drawing, sound, and design to explore issues related to human ecology and extreme historical phenomena. His work has been exhibited at museums, festivals, and other events worldwide. Szyhalski’s ongoing Labor Camp project (1998–) celebrates the beauty and dignity of labor through visual art, music, posters, printed ephemera, performance, and public actions. Commissioned works include projects for Wim Mertens Quartet in Brussels, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, VocalEssence, Ingenuity Cleveland, Zero One San Jose, IN Light Indianapolis, Northern Spark Festival, and Eastern State Penitentiary (2017). Szyhalski is a previous recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Visual Artists (2009).

This series is co-presented by MCAD & Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). Fellowships are funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered by MCAD.

Free, tickets required