Exhibitions

Upcoming Exhibitions

<p>From the dragon’s first appearance in art some eight to nine thousand years ago, during the early Neolithic period, these ferocious beasts have occupied an honored place in Chinese culture. Their majestic power has inspired art in nearly every medium—jade to bronze, ceramics to paintings. Originating in mythology as scaly water beasts who controlled the rain and wind, they have evolved in form and symbolism, taking to the skies to become the auspicious creatures we know today: four-legged, horned, snakelike beings who breathe clouds (not fire) and represent not only heavenly power and prosperity but Chinese culture itself.</p>
<p>To celebrate the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar, this exhibition features objects from Mia’s own Chinese art collection that represent the evolution of dragon imagery and symbolism, from the ancient world to today.</p>


200.87.2.1; 20087.2.2

Year of the Dragon: Mystical Creatures of the Sky

<p>Acts of care can unfold in surprising ways, in surprising places. At work, where colleagues care for their collaborations. At bars, where strangers care for an impromptu community. At home, where artists may care for children and the muse in joyful, if precarious, balance. This exhibition of photography, paintings, and other media suggests the many networks of care all around us, all the time, forming and reforming around shared labor, shared histories, personal relationships, and yearning.</p>


In a dim room, two women are comforting a woman who looks distressed. While another woman is looking outside whilst standing in between the threshold.

2022.82

Networks of Care

<p>In the summer of 1942, during a yearlong fellowship in Washington, D.C., Gordon Parks photographed government worker Ella Watson across the varied landscape of her daily life. The resulting picture story presents Watson—a custodian, the head of a household, a deaconess at her church—as a vital figure within the civic sphere. At the same time, this intimate series reveals Parks’s experiences in coming to terms with the segregated city he once embraced as “the seat of democracy.”</p>
<p>This exhibition brings together nearly sixty photographs from their partnership and draws its title from one of the most celebrated photographs of the 20th century—an iconic portrait of Watson that Parks later titled “American Gothic.” Most importantly, it proposes new grounds for understanding Parks as an artist and activist, highlighting a unique professional collaboration between two Black federal employees at a crucial juncture in United States history.</p>
<p>Organized by Mia and the Gordon Parks Foundation.</p>


This is a black and white photo of a person holding a broom and mop in each hand. Behind the person is the American flag.

American Gothic: Gordon Parks and Ella Watson

<p style="font-weight: 400">Many Dutch artists of the 1600s left their studios to wander the world around them. They roamed their local streets, passed through the city gates, and walked down to the sea or out into the countryside. They saw laborers and animals, ships and dwellings, festivals and fellow travelers. They took their sketchbooks with them to record what they saw, and the etchings inspired by these drawings created a boom in armchair tourism—an experience akin to watching travel and nature on television today. Some artists kept right on walking, arriving in distant lands such as Italy or Norway. Their work invites us to slow down, join in their journeys, and contemplate our own.</p>


Wandering With Dutch Artists

The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie

In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now

Azechi Umetarō: Call of the Mountains

Another Look

<p>This exhibition surveys the artist’s singular vision and signature style over the second half of the artist’s career, from 2007 to 2022. Jim Denomie (Ojibwe, Lac Courte Oreilles Band, 1955–2022) drew inspiration from lived experiences, pop culture, Anishinaabe traditions, and American histories to tell compelling narratives that depict his experiences of being Native in America. Despite the emotional weight of his subject matter, the artist&#8217;s dry wit opened space for necessary conversations about the legacies of colonization and the nature of humanity. The exhibition examines Denomie’s creative process, tracing his ability to transform inspiration into monumental artworks.</p>
<div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/846716098?h=c111ccb184&#038;color=ffffff&#038;byline=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p><script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script></p>
<h3>Jim Denomie: Biography and Selected CV</h3>
<p>Jim Denomie (Ojibwa, Lac Courte Oreilles Band, 1955&#8211;2022) has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo; El Colegio del San Ildefonso, Mexico City; Kusthalle Wien, Vienna; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Projek Traum, Friedrichshafen, Germany; St. Patrick Centre, Downpatrick, Ireland; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. During his lifetime, the artist received numerous awards, including the Bush Artist Fellowship (2008); the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award (2018); and the National Artist Fellowship, Native Arts &#038; Cultures Foundation (2018). Denomie was awarded a Painters and Sculptors Grant (2015) and selected for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist-In-Residence Program (2017) by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. </p>
<p>Denomie’s work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Denver Art Museum; Forge Project Collection, Hudson Valley, NY; Heard Museum, Phoenix; Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Eugene, OR; LWL Museum für Naturkunde, Münster; the Minneapolis Institute of Art; the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Tia Collection, Santa Fe; the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, among others.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-104498" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/24134028/ADV231923_Denomie_Sponsor_Lockup_Web_V2.png" width="478" height="262" /></p>


Human figures with animal masks sit on their horses.

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<p>Enter into the vivid worlds of Native photography, as framed by generations of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American photographers themselves. Presenting over 150 photographs of, by, and for Indigenous people, “In Our Hands” welcomes all to see through the lens held by Native photographers. </p>
<p>Organized by a council of primarily Native artists, scholars, and knowledge sharers, in partnership with Mia curators, this sweeping exhibition traces the intersecting histories of photography and diverse Indigenous cultures from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle. Beautiful, complex, and surprising, these artworks celebrate the legacy of groundbreaking photographers and their influence on the medium today.</p>


<p>Hear from artists, curators, and exhibition organizers as they guide you through the exhibition and discuss the context and themes surrounding the artworks. Bring your own device and headphones to listen along in the galleries. We will have a limited number of devices available to borrow.</p>
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https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/11111238/06.-Nadya-Kwandibens_web-scaled.jpg

https://mobile.mia.yourcultureconnect.com/e/in-our-hands

<p>Use this guide to facilitate conversations in your classroom before a museum tour or between chaperones and students on self-guided visits.</p>
<p><a href="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20115830/In-Our-Hands-Teachers-Guide.pdf"><button class="background-black" style="margin-bottom: 1rem;">Download PDF</button></a></p>


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https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20115830/In-Our-Hands-Teachers-Guide.pdf

Related Events

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In a vast valley is a Native family dressed in their traditional clothing. A mountain of old TV's are behind them, showing stills of "TV Indians."

<p>Azechi Umetarō (1902–1999) loved the mountains. His earliest memory of climbing was as a child, when he hiked a large hill near his house; upon reaching the top, he was astounded by even taller landmasses looming in the distance. As he grew older, he often hiked mid-sized mountains alone; they gave him an opportunity to meditate on life. The simplified figures of the bearded mountain men (yama-otoko), who reappear throughout his work, embody his love and appreciation for the environment. This exhibition features prints given to Mia from the extensive collection of Sue Y. S. Kimm and Seymour Grufferman.</p>


An older man is dressed in a white scarf and a blue coat, in his hand is a smoking pipe.

2019.78.62

<p>Mirrors and photographs, individually and combined, offer us glimpses of ourselves and the world around us. &#8220;Another Look&#8221; examines the use of reflective surfaces as sites of photographic experimentation and discovery. Much about the medium hinges on reflections; the early photographic process of the daguerreotype itself is mirrorlike, and the silver in gelatin silver prints sometimes emerges on the surface, producing a mirroring effect. Compositionally and conceptually, photographers have also employed reflections to dramatic effect. The featured artworks invite visitors to consider the many ways in which mirrored surfaces help define our perceptions, prompting moments of reflection. </p>
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In this white and black photo is a couple laying down on the ground. The woman has a tanning reflector in her hands with her eyes closed.

Current Exhibitions

Reflections on Reality: Drawings and Paintings from the Weisberg Collection

Gifts Beyond Measure from Harriet and Walter Pratt

Marcantonio Raimondi: Thief · Collaborator · Communicator

55 and Better: Vitality Arts at Mia

<p>In the mid-1800s, many French and Belgian artists rejected grandiose images of mythology and history to focus on everyday lives, especially those of rural folk, laborers, and the disaffected—people most vulnerable to the whims of the powerful. These artists called themselves Realists. Their social concerns, artistic talent, and frequently journalistic approach resonated with University of Minnesota Professor Gabriel P. Weisberg and his wife, Yvonne. Fifty years ago, they engaged in deep, original research into the Realists, often rediscovering significant but neglected artists. They began to collect drawings and small paintings by these Realists, later adding examples of Symbolism and Art Nouveau. The result is a fascinating, irreplaceable collection that the Weisbergs have designated as a promised gift to Mia. Come celebrate their generosity and explore these intimate works of art.</p>
<p>This exhibition will be presented in two rotations:</p>
<p>Rotation 1, Works 1830–1900: May 14, 2022 – March 26, 2023</p>
<p>Rotation 2, Works 1900–1930: April 1 &#8211; December 10, 2023</p>


This is a drawing of three men linking their arms to use all their strengths to pull a boat onto land.

L2022.35.40

<p>Harriet and Walter Pratt, of Minneapolis, focused their collecting on the German, Austrian, Belgian, and Russian artists who broke with convention in the early 1900s, eschewing realism in favor of emotion. The artists’ exuberant use of color and line became known as Expressionism, the defining art movement of the early 20th century. In 2021, the Pratts bequeathed the 19 works in this exhibition to Mia, including paintings and drawings by Vassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, and Lyonel Feininger, as well as a marble bust of a young woman by Erastus Dow Palmer, a prominent 19th-century sculptor and Harriet’s great-grandfather.</p>


This is a watercolor painting of a woman in a orange and red dress, sitting on a green bed.

2022.64.7

<p>Marcantonio Raimondi occupies a prominent, if awkward, place in the history of printmaking. Notorious for ripping off the designs of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and famous as Raphael’s personal engraver, Marcantonio is sometimes seen as a human Xerox machine. He was, however, a gifted interpreter who could transform drawings and paintings into clear, elegant, reproducible printed images. He democratized Renaissance art, making the ideas of great artists available to a public that had no access to elite palaces or distant churches. This exhibition offers a direct comparison between Dürer’s woodcuts and Marcantonio’s engravings and shows highlights of Marcantonio’s collaborations with Raphael.</p>


L2023.4

<p>This exhibition celebrates the creativity of the older adults, 55 and better, who participated in seven Vitality Arts workshops from September 2022 through August 2023. The programs recognize the social, physical, and emotional benefits of engaging older adults in artmaking.</p>
<p>Major Supporter:</p>
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Stories

This is a painting of an ocean with different shades of blue. To mimic the waves, swirls of purple, gray and black are painted.