Exhibitions

Upcoming Exhibitions

<h1>
 Foot in the Door 5:
 
 The Virtual Exhibition
 
 </h1>
 
 <h2>November 1, 2020 - January 10, 2021</h2>

America is haunted. Ghosts from our history are an inescapable and unsettled part of daily life. Not merely the realm of metaphor but present and tangible, urgently calling for contact, these otherworldly visitors have been central to our national identity. They populate our literature, our entertainment, and our art. Through times of mourning and trauma, artists have been integral to visualizing ghosts, whether national or personal, and in doing so have embraced the mysterious and the inexplicable. This exhibition explores the numerous ways that artists in the United States have made sense of their own experiences of the paranormal and the supernatural, developing a rich visual culture of the intangible.
Exhibition Tour:
June 12 &#8211; September 5, 2021: Toledo Museum of Art
October 7, 2021 &#8211; January 2, 2022: Speed Art Museum
February 19 &#8211; May 15, 2022: Minneapolis Institute of Art
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Lead Sponsors: Thomson Reuters, Terra Foundation for American Art, National Endowment for the Humanities
Major Supporters: Art Bridges, National Endowment for the Arts
Generous Supporter: Wyeth Foundation
This exhibition is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art

The son of Jewish immigrants in Argentina, Mauricio Lasansky (1914–2012) moved to the United States in 1943. He forged a flourishing career as a printmaker and draftsman, first in New York and then from studios in Iowa and Maine. His work often explored themes of war and violence. In 1961, coinciding with the televised trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, he began a series of drawings to grapple with the Holocaust. Confronted with the atrocities, he said, “I was full of hate, poison, and I wanted to spit it out.” The Nazi Drawings are his visceral response to the horrors committed in Nazi concentration camps.
Brutal, haunting, and raw, “Envisioning Evil: The Nazi Drawings by Mauricio Lasansky” features his series of 33 monumental drawings made with pencil, turpentine, and earth colors. The exhibition, over 50 years after the series’ original tour, is its first comprehensive presentation in a generation. At Mia, archival media of the Eichmann trial and a selection of artworks by Goya, Otto Dix, and Georg Grosz will also be shown. A catalogue examines Lasansky’s series, acquired in its entirety by Richard and Jeanne Levitt for their family foundation.
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“Envisioning Evil: The Nazi Drawings by Mauricio Lasansky” is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and lent by The Levitt Foundation.
Generous support provided by Margaret and Angus Wurtele, Beverly Grossman, John and Ruth Huss Fund, Erwin and Miriam Kelen, John and Nancy Lindahl, Sheila Morgan, Donna and James Pohlad, through the Eloise and Carl Pohlad Family Fund, the Lynne and Andrew Redleaf Foundation, Laurie and Ronald Eibensteiner, Stephen and Sheila Lieberman, Sheldon and Lili Chester, Andrew Grossman, Irving and Marjorie Weiser, and John and Marsha Soucheray.

Envisioning Evil: The Nazi Drawings by Mauricio Lasansky

The Japanese archipelago is home to extremely diverse cultures that made clothing and other textile objects in a kaleidoscope of materials and designs. This exhibition will focus on the resourcefulness of humans to create textiles from local materials like fish skin, paper, elm bark, nettle, banana leaf fiber, hemp, wisteria, deerskin, cotton, silk, and wool. It will showcase rare and exceptional examples of robes, coats, jackets, vests, banners, rugs, and mats, made between around 1750 and 1930, including the royal dress of subtropical Okinawa, ceremonial robes of the Ainu from northern Japan and the Russian Far East, and folk traditions from throughout Japan.
Lead Sponsor: Thomson Reuters 
Generous support provided by the Gale Family Endowment

Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan

Leslie Barlow’s MAEP exhibition &#8220;Within, Between, and Beyond&#8221; comprises paintings and video interviews that feature 16 subjects who identify as mixed race people or transracial adoptees. The project documents the historically marginalized narratives of mixed race, multiracial, or transracial adoptee identified individuals. By insightfully centering mixed race experiences, Barlow provides a platform for issues of race and identity.
Barlow lives and works in Minneapolis. Primarily an oil painter, she shares stories through figural relationships that explore the politics of representation, identity, otherness, and racial constructs. Barlow is a recipient of the 2019 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, the 20/20 Springboard Fellowship, MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant in 2016 and 2018, and was named artist of the year by City Pages in 2016. In 2018, she received the Minnesota Museum of American Art Purchase Award in the Minnesota State Fair Juried Exhibition. Barlow received her BFA in 2011 from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and her MFA in 2016 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Interviews were conducted and created in partnership with Lola Osunkoya, MA LPCC, and Ryan Stopera of Free Truth Media.
This exhibition is part of the <a href="http://new.artsmia.org/exhibitions/maep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program</a>, now located in the U.S. Bank Gallery.
Generous support for MAEP provided by: 
<img class="alignnone wp-image-69432 " src="http://staging.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1.png" alt="" width="300" height="54" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/01101456/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1.png 800w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/01101456/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1-768x138.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Additional support provided by RBC Wealth Management.

Leslie Barlow: Within, Between, and Beyond

This installation chronicles experiments in basketry, all created by American women artists exploring the boundaries between art and craft, utility and whimsy, weaving and sculpture. Featured works are drawn primarily from Mia’s permanent collection along with select loans, spanning the 1800s to the present day. While some of the artists sought to maintain proper relationships with materials and environments, and others prioritized strengthening bonds with ancestors and communities, all balance individual artistic expression with centuries-old traditions. Featured artists include Elizabeth Hickox (Karuk), Gail Tremblay (Mi’kmaq and Onondaga), Josie Robinson (Ojibwe), Mary Giles, Elaine Small, Ferne Jacobs, Carole Hetzel, Tracy Krumm, and Henrietta Snype (Gullah Geechee).

2020.1a,b

Unexpected Turns: Women Artists and the Making of American Basket-Weaving Traditions

Saul Steinberg (1914–1999) is widely known for his decades of drawings in The New Yorker magazine. He thought of himself as an author who drew—a conceptual artist. Whether studying the pulse of urban life, the limits of language, or the history of art, he had a knack for destabilizing his audience, gently reorienting them to his off-kilter point of view. His drawings cut so deeply to the essence of life that, decades later, many still make us smile.
 This installation celebrates The Saul Steinberg Foundation’s gift of eight works, giving Mia a representative selection from his mature career.

2018.122.3

Saul Steinberg: Visual Verse

Nicole Havekost will explore the simultaneous joy, sublime embarrassment, and disorderly beauty of the human body through her anthropomorphic sculptures.
Havekost lives and works in Rochester, Minnesota. She earned a BFA in printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the University of New Mexico, also in printmaking. Havekost has exhibited her work in Boston, Dallas; Eureka, California; and Tasmania. She is a 2013 and 2018 recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board&#8217;s Artist Initiative grant.
This exhibition is part of the <a href="http://new.artsmia.org/exhibitions/maep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program</a>, now located in U.S. Bank Gallery.
Generous support for MAEP provided by: 
<img class="alignnone wp-image-69432 " src="http://staging.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1.png" alt="" width="300" height="54" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/01101456/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1.png 800w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/01101456/McKnight_logo_whtonblk_rgb-1-768x138.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Additional support provided by RBC Wealth Management.
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Nicole Havekost: Chthonic

Engineered for Domestic Bliss

Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and the Islamic World

Abstract Prints by Hagiwara Hideo

The Enduring Soul

An antique gray and gold television with rounded corners and a red speaker.

Five hundred years ago, the Islamic world ruled much of North Africa, Persia, and Eastern Europe. Protestant Christian England, newly estranged from Catholic Europe, forged lucrative trade, diplomatic, and cultural relations with these Muslim global powers. By the late 1500s, few prosperous English homes lacked a Turkey carpet, silks, ceramics, or tapestries. These goods, as well as domestically produced versions of them, later found their way into English daily life. Yet, as much as the English admired the sumptuous wares, the tiny, isolated island nation wrestled over doing business with a people it deemed “heathen.” This exhibition examines that fundamental attraction and ambivalence.
This project is part of <a href="http://new.artsmia.org/living-rooms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living Rooms</a>, an initiative to present Mia’s historic interiors and decorative arts collections in new ways.
Generous support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and donors at the 2014 Mia Gala.
<img class="alignleft wp-image-42946 size-full" src="http://staging.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/nea-lockup-C-1webtransparent.png" alt="" width="216" height="48" />
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Additional support provided by The Chipstone Foundation.

Views of "Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and the Islamic World"

Originally a painter trained in oil, Hagiwara Hideo (1913–2007) became ill with tuberculosis and turned to printmaking in 1954. From the start his prints were of an abstract nature, and for 50 years he was a constant innovator in his choice of motifs, style, and technique. This first major U.S. retrospective exhibition of Hagiwara&#8217;s work showcases his enormous versatility. More than 30 prints span his early work of the 1950s to the Greek Mythology series in 1965, and from his celebrated series of novel views of Mount Fuji in the 1980s and 1990s to his enormously laborious prints of the Face, Memory, and Mandala series.
This exhibition will be presented in two rotations: Rotation 1: December 14, 2019 &#8211; October 25, 2020. Rotation 2: October 31, 2020 &#8211; April 18, 2021.
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L2018.109.8

A collaboration of Mia and the <a href="http://www.culturalwellnesscenter.org/">Cultural Wellness Center</a>, &#8220;The Enduring Soul&#8221; presents artwork by African and African American artists that honors the connection between ancestors and the living, and between what is seen and the invisible. The artworks on view hold historical, personal, and community memory.
Mia and the Cultural Wellness Center work to co-create methods for each organization to transform mainstream institutions. This includes widening interpretations of art, sharing authority, decolonizing collections in museums, and museum staff working in collaboration with cultural elders and subject experts. This partnership advances the work of both organizations as they work to establish museums as sites for social action.
<div id="attachment_80711" style="max-width: 813px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-80711" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08105903/191126_mia327_4191-e1586379569225.jpg" alt="" width="803" height="348" />&#8220;The Enduring Soul.&#8221; Saturday, October 26, 2019–Sunday, July 12, 2020. Gallery 375, Modern and Contemporary Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Organized by the Cultural Wellness Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.</div>
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">A Welcome from the Cultural Wellness Center</h2>
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We welcome you with the greetings of the Ancestors.  
<center><img class="wp-image-80717 alignnone" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113126/Hotep-2.jpg" alt="" width="151" height="87" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113126/Hotep-2.jpg 800w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113126/Hotep-2-768x442.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px" /></center>
Be at Peace. Be at Rest. Be Free. 
Africa and the Knowledge of the Ancestors: Spirituality Symbol Mythos Harmonium
At the Cultural Wellness Center, we stress the capacity of Africans to produce knowledge, to have authority over knowledge, and to place significant pressure on dominant societies, institutions, and communities to accurately credit the source and impact of this knowledge. 
To our Ancestors, the Metu Neturu 
<img class="wp-image-80718 aligncenter" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113253/EnduringSoul_Hieroglyphics_04082020MetuNeturu.jpg" alt="" width="164" height="67" />   is a unique form of symbolic writing and thinking. Symbolic thinking reflects and illustrates the dynamic process of divine thought. Each sign is a symbol that reveals its true meaning only to initiated readers by means of a divinely inspired process.  
After 500 years, the African is returning to our original ways of knowing and being in creation.  
<img class="wp-image-80720 aligncenter" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113630/EnduringSoul_Hieroglyphics_04082020abnsa-e1586381812968.jpg" alt="" width="213" height="87" />
Your experience in this gallery is a result of a collaboration between Mia and the Cultural Wellness Center. The perspective labels were authored by Cultural Wellness Center faculty: Seba Ahmad Azzahir, Elder Atum Azzahir, Sister SandjockLikinè, Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka, Brother Kemii Aptezzi, and Brother Minkara Tezet.
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">Highlighted Works</h2>
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<div style="margin-top: 45px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82851" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030917/mia_80195941.jpg" alt="Photography of Leonardo Benzants artwork haning in Mia's Cultural Wellness Center" width="322" height="551" /> 
Leonardo Benzant, American, born 1972, Radiations of the Midnight Walker, Victorious in Round Number 8, He Who Moves Inside of the Womb of Magik and Timelessness, He Who Moves Here, There, and Everywhere Chanting: I AM THE GREATEST! And Chanting: WITCHCRAFT WILL NEVER TOUCH ME!, 2016, mixed medium. Private collection; promised gift on long-term loan to Mia  L2019.164.1 
Long tubular structures, like tentacles, 
Larger than life, 
Speak of what is required for the African 
To emerge victorious 
No matter how many rounds it takes.It starts with long strands of multicolored Czech glass beads, wrapped around handstitched appendages crafted from bundled fabric, bits of soil, plant life, rum, bone, or even saliva.The artist says, “There is a prayer inside each of these forms, a prayer, coins, or other things that are symbolic.”Thus, the work delves into the collective unconscious, encodes and remembers African cultural memory, and offers it as an invitation to healing.Moving us outside of time 
Connecting us through strands of DNA, 
Quite literally, to the Ancestors—their knowledge-spirituality 
Their stature, their power.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82823" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015039/mia_8019610.jpg" alt="Image of Yoruba, Nigeria or Benin, Africa, Egungun ceremonial outfit, 1930–50, Cotton, velvet, silk, felt, synthetic fibers, wool, aluminum, wood, buttons, yarn, plastic, string. The Simmons Family Endowment for Textiles and gift of funds from Jim Harris, 2011.31 " width="551" height="412" /> 
Yoruba, Nigeria or Benin, Africa, Egungun ceremonial outfit, 1930–50, cotton, velvet, silk, felt, synthetic fibers, wool, aluminum, wood, buttons, yarn, plastic, string. The Simmons Family Endowment for Textiles and gift of funds from Jim Harris  2011.31<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82849" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1-514x800.jpg" alt="" width="514" height="800" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1-514x800.jpg 514w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1.jpg 719w" sizes="(max-width: 514px) 100vw, 514px" /></div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82826" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015043/PCD19980109_3814_IMG0005.jpg" alt="Kalabari, Nigeria, Africa, Funerary screen, 19th century, Wood, raffia, pigment. The John R. Van Derlip Fund, 74.22 " width="412" height="551" /> 
Kalabari, Nigeria, Africa, Funerary screen, 19th century, wood, raffia, pigment. The John R. Van Derlip Fund  74.22.Among the Kalabari people, Warriors Wives carved a funerary screen, like this one, to announce the end of their watch and perform the depth of their love to beat the drum of affection for the Drum Chief. On a funerary screen, the Drum Chief sits in an armchair, dressed in a piece of white cloth with an eagle feather attached to the forehead.The Drum Chief usually holds a sword in his left hand and a human skull in his right hand, though those sacred pieces are missing here. Like on this funerary screen, two protective spirits always sit beside the Drum Chief.
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Have you heard about The Seating of the Amaryanabo King? It’s a story from the Kelekeibari people, who live along the Niger River Delta. People could not pronounce their name so Kelekeibari commonly became Kalabari.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone wp-image-82820 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015035/mia_8019579.jpg" alt="Image of Richard Burnside's Work The Ancient King" width="551" height="412" /> 
Richard Burnside, American, 1944, The Ancient King, 1987, paint on wood. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.9  ©Richard Burnside / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Richard Burnside has painted a very black, very simple face.
A face devoid of any illusion of realism.
A face through which shines the truth of essence.
A face, perhaps, we do not want to meet.
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The artist titles his work The Ancient King.
What is the ancient part of us?
Is it present in our life?
Is it King in our life?
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The face, as it is painted, is the ancient hieroglyph, Heer.
In Kemet*, the face told the entire story of one’s life.
In Kemet, there is a homonym of the hieroglyph Heer
Which means “the perfected state.”
The ancient King is fulfilled and realized in the face.
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In this work, the face is surrounded by simple geometric shapes,
In repetition and patterns of 3s and 4s.
They are the basic building blocks;
The code of life.
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* Kemet: Ancient Egypt
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82822" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015038/mia_8019601.jpg" alt="Photography of Joe Minter's artwork haning in Mia's Cultural Wellness Center" width="412" height="551" /> 
Joe Minter, American, born 1943, Voyage in Chains, 2000, mixed media. Private collection; promised gift on long-term loan to Mia  L2019.154.2The secret force of a powerful primeval energy within the soul. Voyage in chains connects me to my birth in the Mississippi Delta in 1943: beautiful circular motion of objects used by sharecropping farmers to cultivate the hard rock dry lands in rural Mississippi.I remember my father’s daily motions, rhythms, and expressions of joy at sunrise.I remember my father’s cosmic spirituality and laborious meditation, a sacred tradition of hard work and unceasing effort. My father and ancestors of his generation came to a place of the sounds and rhythms of the souls’ wisdom.The pitchfork, the hoe, the shovel, the irons: a quadruple expression of symbols evoking the core consciousness of man’s soul. A visible manifestation of the hand of man. The will of man connected to the forces in creation. The serpents’ tongue probing the heavens in alignment with the soul of creator in creation.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82819" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015032/mia_5049980.jpg" alt="Image of Renee Stouts Work" width="551" height="412" /> 
Renée Stout, American, 1958, Crossroads Marker with Little Hand, Reaching, 2015, metal, glass, wood, pigments, other materials. The Blythe Brenden Endowment for Art Acquisition  2016.2  ©2015 Renée Stout 
The blessing at the crossroads
Tradition of Maat 
Of reciprocity, balance, truth, and harmony 
Sia, our Intelligence of the Heart 
The limitless keys to access
These words, I write, are African existence. 
From the Ancient King to Voyage in Chains, 
Feeling the burnt from the cross 
Passing the crosses to listen to 
The story of The Seating of the Amaryanabo King. 
Stop at the imprint of our DNA spread across the globe 
From Haiti to Virginia, 
Swimming in the Delta river on the way 
To pay respect to Egungun. 
These are the stories of our humanity.
The legacy of 1619 
From the sign of Kongo 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
We became acquisitions 
From water to land and other materials 
The Endowment of this Voyage in Chains 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
To heal our souls is to reconnect 
From the crossroad 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82818" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015030/190306_mia334_5370.jpg" alt="Image of Lonnie Holley's artwork" width="412" height="551" /> 
Lonnie Holley, American, 1950, Pressure from the Burn, 1995, found wood, fire hose, nails. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.11  ©Lonnie Holley / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Lonnie Holley takes discarded and wasted materials from our modern human experiences and transforms them into something enlivened with our present lived experience.Holley’s work transforms what would be trash into enduring expressions of the soul. He converts human debris into lessons of purpose and value. “Having to put out a fire inside yourself, no matter how bad the blaze you been in, you got to go on carrying your burden,” Holley states. His work forces the question: What is in your true nature that endures in spite of brutality and horror in this modern life, where everything will eventually become trash, garbage, or debris? The pressure from the internal burn can be unbearable. Yet it is this very pressure that creates the elemental that produces the catalyst for personal and social transformation.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82825" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015041/mia_8019625.jpg" alt="Image of Serge Jolimeau Work Haiti" width="412" height="551" /> 
Serge Jolimeau, Haitian, 1952, Crucifix, 1983, sheet metal, pigment. The Christina N. and Swan J. Turnblad Memorial Fund  97.3  ©The artist, artist&#8217;s estate, or assigneesInterwoven throughout Haitian history, a tumultuous crossroads plays out between African spirituality and official, socially acceptable, Haitian life. In the small crossroads town of Croix des Bouquets, on the outskirts of the capital city, four generations of men, mechanics or blacksmiths by day, have forged an art form imbued in the Principles of Fire and Metal at the crossroads of Vodun and Christianity. In Crucifix, the personified Principle of the Cross organically looms large and subsumes the iconic figure of Christ dying on the cross.There is a larger reality at play here—four birds bring further organicity while simultaneously depicting spirit’s enduring capacity to cycle through birth, death, and rebirth. Powerfully reclaiming the cross, this work brings to life African spirituality’s crossroads between mundane natural life and the truth of the Invisible.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82824" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015040/mia_8019624.jpg" alt="Image of Moss Tolliver's Art work" width="412" height="551" /> 
Mose Tolliver, American, 1921–2006, Cross of a White Jesus with a French Bird, a Mountain Bird, and Pinto Bird, 1987, Paint and masonite on paneling. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.33  ©Mose Tolliver / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York </div>
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Mose Tolliver painted a cross within a cross.
The images on the outer cross must be looked at symbolically. 
The diminutive “white Jesus” bears wings 
And is of the same size as the birds in the natural Creation, 
Who have been specifically named and identified.
Birds are about the spirit and travel within the inner world. 
The inner cross shows an array of dots and lines 
Reminiscent of an African transmission. 
This coded language is what our spirits need 
To fly free like the birds.
There is a sweetness emanating from this cross 
With a code rather than a body hanging on it. 
This cross invites us to life 
Rather than death.
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">Gallery Installation</h2>
<img class="alignnone wp-image-80712 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110033/191126_mia327_4192-e1586379654731.jpg" alt="" width="801" height="382" />
<img class="alignnone wp-image-80713 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110133/191126_mia327_4193-e1586379729980.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="480" />
<div id="attachment_80714" style="max-width: 811px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-80714" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110403/191126_mia327_4197-e1586379866738.jpg" alt="" width="801" height="426" />&#8220;The Enduring Soul,&#8221; Saturday, October 26, 2019–Sunday, July 12, 2020. Gallery 375, Modern and Contemporary Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Organized by the Cultural Wellness Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.</div>
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Current Exhibitions

Harriet Bart: Artist Books + Works on Paper

Wings of Hope 2020

Foot in the Door 5: The Virtual Exhibition

Mapping Black Identities

&#8220;I believe in the alchemy of the word, the iconography of the text, the labyrinth of the book.&#8221;—Harriet Bart
Visual artist Harriet Bart explores themes of commemoration, remembrance, and loss through her multidisciplinary work. Books and language lie at the heart of her practice, one informed by an abiding fascination with the personal and collective expression of memory. Bart describes herself as a cultural storyteller, drawing on historical events, literary sources, and other narratives to shape meaning and engender empathy for her subjects. Conceptually rich and aesthetically refined, her books and works on paper are highly original evocations of the human condition. This solo presentation includes examples of Bart’s artist’s books, drawings, collages, editioned prints, and related objects representing three decades of the artist’s career.  
“Harriet Bart: Artist Books + Works on Paper” was organized by Mia’s associate curator Dennis Michael Jon in collaboration with the artist. It is presented in conjunction with the Weisman Art Museum’s concurrent retrospective exhibition <a class="Hyperlink BCX2 SCXW130298871" href="https://wam.umn.edu/2020/01/15/harriet-bart-abracadabra-and-other-forms-of-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Harriet Bart: Abracadabra and Other Froms of Protection&#8221; </a>(February 1–May 24, 2020). 
<a href="https://collections.artsmia.org/exhibitions/2802/harriet-bart-artist-books-works-on-paper">Explore the art in this exhibition from home.</a>
 <img class="alignnone wp-image-80769 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/10042051/200210_mia335_5611-e1586528485751.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="446" />
<div id="attachment_80770" style="max-width: 811px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-80770 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/10042153/200210_mia335_5613-e1586528534675.jpg" alt="" width="801" height="375" />Installation views of the exhibition &#8220;Harriet Bart: Artist Books + Works on Paper&#8221;. Wednesday, February 1, 2020 &#8211; Sunday, September 20, 2020. Gallery 353, Prints and Drawings Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Organized by Minneapolis Institute of Art.</div>
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A gold bookcase next to an open book, on 1 page of the book there are 2 black ornaments.

As part of the Minneapolis Monarch Festival, organized by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association, visitors were invited to take a selfie in front of this new set of butterfly wings, created by Argentinian artist Claudia Valentino (Clau).
Claudia was born in Mexico. She is the daughter of parents exiled by the dictatorships in South America. She studied dance and photography for some years. Valentino arrived in Minneapolis in 2009, where she has added painting and mosaic to her creative skill set. Working with the community is one of the things she likes most about her profession.
Valentino was part of the 2019 Power of Vision mural project Defend, Grow, Nurture Phillips. Mia, in partnership with Hope Community, worked with Project for Pride in Living (PPL) and a cohort of 10 artists to create a 4,000-square-foot mural on Franklin Ave. To learn more, visit <a href="https://powerofvision.art/">powerofvision.art</a>
For the 2020 Power of Vision mural project, Claudia Valentino is one of three lead muralists guiding a cohort of tenants from Colectivo Cielo Sin Limites- Sky Without Limits Cooperative, also in collaboration with Mia, Hope Community, and Inquilinx Unidx Por Justicia- United Renters for Justice. The Power of Vision muralists and cohort are designing &amp; painting a mural that represents the stories of struggle, victory and growth of Colectivo Cielo Sin Limites- Sky Without Limits Cooperative.

Held once every 10 years, &#8220;Foot in the Door&#8221; is an open exhibition for all Minnesota artists. Now marking its fourth decade, this exhibition celebrates the talent, diversity, and enthusiasm of Minnesota&#8217;s visual artists. This is an important event for the arts community and a great opportunity for artists to display their work at Mia. The sole curatorial criteria? Each submission must fit within one cubic foot.
New this year, the exhibition is going virtual! In order to prioritize safety, this exhibition will be completely digital to accommodate the huge number of participating artists and visitors.
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Artwork submission requirements:
All artwork will be accepted as long as the work meets the following submission requirements.
The artist must reside in the state of Minnesota at the time of submission.
Each artist is invited to submit one work of art.
One submission form will need to be filled out per artist/artwork.
The artist can be any age as long as they consider themselves an artist. If the artist is under the age of 13, a parent or guardian will need to sign off on the form.
Each artwork is limited to one cubic foot. For example, a two-dimensional work (including frame) cannot extend beyond a 12 x 12-inch square; a three dimensional work (including the base) must fit within a 12-inch cube.
For ease of online exhibition experience, we will not be including and uploading time-based and video works this year.
All artworks must be photographed to be included in this digital exhibition. Artists will upload an image of the artwork into the submission form. Images must have a 1:1 aspect ratio, and we recommend at least 2000&#215;2000 pixels. Files must be jpg or png and may not exceed 10MB in size.
All submissions require the artist&#8217;s permission for digital display in Mia&#8217;s online exhibition platform.
Mia reserves the right to not accept any artworks that promote hate speech, or pose a threat to another person or persons.
Artworks will be accepted until the exhibition reaches max capacity of 5,000.
Artwork will be accepted for digital display only and will not be for sale.
Please contact <a href="mailto:footinthedoor@artsmia.org">footinthedoor@artsmia.org</a> with questions. 
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<h2>History of &#8220;Foot in the Door&#8221; Exhibitions</h2>
The first “Foot in the Door Show” was the brainchild of the Artist Panel of the Minneapolis Artist Exhibition Program (MAEP), a curatorial program of Mia dedicated to exhibiting and supporting artists living and working in Minnesota. Early MAEP critics had expressed concern that the artist-run program would &#8220;let anyone into the museum.&#8221; The panel&#8217;s response was to do just that—invite all Minnesota artists to join the “Foot in the Door Show,” as long as each work was no larger than one cubic foot.
In 1980, the first “Foot in the Door” featured work by 740 artists. It was a fantastic success—a whirlwind of images and ideas coalescing into one gallery. And so was born an arts community event. In 1990, “The Other Foot in the Door Show” grew to include works by nearly 900 artists. By 2000, the exhibition featured the work of over 1,700 artists. In 2010, “Foot in the Door 4” officially became the state&#8217;s largest art exhibition, presenting nearly 5,000 works; these included video and multimedia works.
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<a style="font-size: 16px;" href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en.html">Thomson Reuters</a>
<a style="font-size: 16px;" href="https://www.target.com/">Target</a>
<a style="font-size: 16px;" href="https://www.delta.com/">Delta Air Lines</a>
<a style="font-size: 16px;" href="http://www.arts.state.mn.us/">Minnesota State Arts Board</a>

Taking inspiration from Mia’s recent acquisition of Frank Bowling’s map painting False Start (1970), “Mapping Black Identities” challenges the notion of Black identity as monolithic. Championing the diverse experiences of artists from America, Africa, and the diaspora, this exhibition seeks to amplify underrepresented voices and create connections around the concept of Blackness in contemporary art across time and place.
Mapping is a colonial practice tied to painful histories of conquest and domination. Here, mapping functions as a powerful way to reclaim spaces—such as the museum—that have traditionally excluded or overlooked work by Black artists.
&#8220;Mapping Black Identities” is co-curated by Mia’s Contemporary Art Department, including Esther Callahan, Curatorial Affairs Fellow; Gabriel Ritter, Curator and Department Head; Nicole Soukup, Assistant Curator; and Keisha Williams, Curatorial Department Assistant and Artist Liaison, in collaboration with Mia’s Curatorial Advisory Committee. This Committee is composed of Mia staff who champion the prerogatives of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility by advising on Mia’s curation, labeling, and programming practices.
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<h3 class="first">Mia Voices: Staff and community perspectives on Mia’s collections</h3>
Mia Voices centers non-curatorial and lived experience to add richness to the presentation and understanding of Mia’s collections and humanity&#8217;s cultural heritage. In the video series, community members and museum staff use art as a catalyst to share personal stories and discuss contemporary social issues.
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Frank Bowling, England, 1934
False Start, 1970
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
Minneapolis Institute of Art, The John R. Van Derlip Fund, <a href="https://collections.artsmia.org/art/129704">2018.56</a>
© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art <a href="https://collections.artsmia.org/art/129704/false-start-frank-bowling">2018.56</a>