The Hub

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome to the Hub, Mia’s editorial home. Dive deeper into the people, communities, and collaborations that comprise Mia and our collection of more than 100,000 artworks. Find out how we’re inspiring wonder through the power of art across different areas of our work. </span></p>


<p>The Moulin Rouge opened in Paris on October 6, 1889, the same year as the Eiffel Tower. This month, as the iconic cabaret marks its 135th anniversary, Mia has opened “At The Moulin Rouge,” an exhibition built around Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s painting of the same name.</p>
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The Magic of the Moulin Rouge: A Q&A with Galina Olmsted

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/magic-of-moulin-rouge

<p>The year 1989 is remembered for many things—the birth of the World Wide Web and Taylor Swift, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the uprising in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Often overlooked is the shift in South Korea from dictatorship to democracy, which has propelled the country’s remarkable rise in economic and cultural power.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/shape-of-time-reveals-creative-spirit-behind-south-koreas-rapid-rise"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


“The Shape of Time” Reveals the Creative Spirit Behind South Korea’s Rapid Rise

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/shape-of-time-reveals-creative-spirit-behind-south-koreas-rapid-rise

<p>In an essay excerpted from the exhibition catalogue for In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now, Jaida Grey Eagle talks about her work and impact of Native photographers.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/jaida-grey-eagle-co-curator-of-in-our-hands-reflects-on-the-future-of-indigenous-photography"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Jaida Grey Eagle, Co-Curator of “In Our Hands,” Reflects on the Future of Indigenous Photography

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/jaida-grey-eagle-co-curator-of-in-our-hands-reflects-on-the-future-of-indigenous-photography

<p>In the fall of 2020, a group of 14 mostly Native artists and writers met online to discuss a potential exhibition of Native photography, and they agreed on some basic guidelines. Honor the work of elder artists, while including contemporary photographers.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/in-our-hands-turns-camera-around-puts-native-photographers-in-control"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


“In Our Hands” Turns the Camera Around, Puts Native Photographers in Control

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/in-our-hands-turns-camera-around-puts-native-photographers-in-control

<p>In 1854, the word “Pre-Columbian” first came into use, according to Merriam-Webster, bifurcating the history of the Americas into a time before Columbus arrived and a time after. Mia&#8217;s exhibition “ReVisión: Art in the Americas” bridged the divide with a simple but liberating concept: no boundaries.</p>
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How “ReVisión” Challenges the Narrative of American History, and Looks Great Doing It

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/collection-exhibitions/how-revision-challenges-narrative-of-american-history

Photo of an artwork in a glass case with blurred images of people walking around

"In Our Hands" preview party at Mia.

Collection &#038; Exhibitions

<p>The new year brings resolutions and an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months. Whether through our programming, partnerships, educational efforts, or events, we love getting out into the community as much as we love welcoming folks in.</p>
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Mia in the Community: A Look Back at 2024

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/mia-community-look-back-2024

<p>Hózhǫ́ is a foundational concept in the Navajo world, encompassing ideas of beauty, harmony, balance, order, grace, health, and happiness. It is a state of being, thinking, and acting. Navajo artists embody hózhǫ́ as they weave, and textiles are imbued with and become works of hózhǫ́.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/exploring-concept-of-hozh%C7%AB-during-native-american-heritage-month"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Exploring the Concept of Hózhǫ́ During Native American Heritage Month

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/exploring-concept-of-hozh%C7%AB-during-native-american-heritage-month

<p>Two photographs by self-described visual activist Zanele Muholi, taken in 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, appeared in Mia’s lobby to celebrate Pride Month.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/celebrating-pride-month-with-zanele-muholis-photography"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Celebrating Pride Month with Zanele Muholi’s Photography

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/celebrating-pride-month-with-zanele-muholis-photography

<p>Mia’s collection goes far beyond what you see in the galleries. Of the pieces in storage, the majority are prints and drawings, but these works don’t languish behind the scenes: You can make an appointment to view up to 15 prints and drawings in the Herschel V. Jones Print Study Room.</p>
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Queerness in the Collection: Rarely Seen Portraiture for Pride Month

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/queerness-in-the-collection

<p>For National Hmong Heritage Month, Mia displayed two Paj Ntaub, or Flower Cloth, tapestries in the lobby. As the first Hmong who arrived in the United States during the Vietnam War are beginning to pass away, there has never been a more urgent time to contribute to the preservation of Hmong culture.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/young-conservator-helping-preserve-hmong-heritage"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


How a Young Conservator Is Helping Preserve Her Hmong Heritage

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/young-conservator-helping-preserve-hmong-heritage

<p>For years, Mia had a booth in the cavernous Education Building at the Minnesota State Fair, giving away things like cardboard fans, dubbed “Art on a Stick.” With the flick of a wrist, the eye-catching freebies kept fairgoers cool.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/mias-long-unlikely-history-with-minnesota-state-fair"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Mia’s Long, Unlikely History with the Minnesota State Fair

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/mias-long-unlikely-history-with-minnesota-state-fair

<p>Casey Riley, Mia’s curator of photography and new media, and Alec Soth, a Minnesota photograph, author, and educator, discuss photo books for kids and Mia’s “Just Kids” exhibition of photographs of, by, and for kids.</p>
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 Picturing Childhood: Alec Soth on the Quirky Delights of Photo Books for Kids

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/community-partnerships/picturing-childhood

Photograph of a young man in a gray T-shirt and a young woman in a green dress at the opening reception for an exhibition. Other people are captured in the background.

Teen Perspectives Opening Reception at Mia.

Community &#038; Partnerships

<p>Since it began in 2006, the Mia staff art show has grown and developed into an exhibition in its own right. In 2025, the show received over 60 submissions from nearly every department in the museum, showcasing an incredible array of talent and creativity.</p>
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From Back-of-House to Front and Center: Mia Staff Artists Reflect

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/mia-staff-artists-reflect

<p>In 2024, Mia threw a Juneteenth celebration for the community as well as staff. The Mia BIPOC Employee Resource Group organized a panel discussion with members of Black Greek Letter Organizations, fraternities, and sororities.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/juneteenth-at-mia-unites-bipoc-staff-around-joy-resilience/"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Juneteenth at Mia Unites BIPOC Staff Around Joy and Resilience

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/juneteenth-at-mia-unites-bipoc-staff-around-joy-resilience

<p>Mia&#8217;s Latin America art collection had accreted haphazardly, shaped by trends—like the midcentury enthusiasm for pre-Columbian art—and pieces inherited by donors. Then Mia hired Valéria Piccoli, the museum&#8217;s first curator of Latin American art.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/curator-valeria-piccoli-tells-story-mias-collection-latin-american-art"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Curator Valéria Piccoli Tells a Story with Mia’s Collection of Latin American Art

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/curator-valeria-piccoli-tells-story-mias-collection-latin-american-art

<p>Discover a round-up of staff favorites showcases a wide range of art and artists that resonate with Pride Month.</p>
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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/staff-art-picks-for-pride-month

<p>Meet Valéria Piccoli, Mia’s First Curator of Latin American Art. As the Ken and Linda Cutler Chair of the Art of the Americas and curator of Latin American art, she oversees a collection of objects and the museum’s relationship with the growing Latino communities of Minnesota.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/valeria-piccoli-qa-mia-curator-latin-american-art"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Q&A with Valéria Piccoli, Mia’s First Curator of Latin American Art

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/valeria-piccoli-qa-mia-curator-latin-american-art

<p>Many Mia events rely on volunteers to make them a success. Learn how partnerships with volunteers and community businesses and organizations benefit the museum, volunteers, and visitors.</p>
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How Volunteers Help Mia Reach New Audiences

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/people-culture/how-volunteers-help-mia-reach-new-audiences

People sitting on the lawn in Target Park at Mia

People &#038; Culture

<p>On the first Wednesday morning of every month, an unlikely group of visitors gets to experience Mia’s collection up close. Some can’t talk, walk, or even see very well, but they enjoy the art as much as anyone.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/how-mini-mia-helps-preschoolers-discover-value-of-creativity-museums"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


How Mini Mia Helps Preschoolers Discover the Value of Creativity—and Museums

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/how-mini-mia-helps-preschoolers-discover-value-of-creativity-museums

<p>The global spread of South Korean pop culture is as intentional as it is relentless. From <em>Gangnam Style</em> to <em>Squid Game</em> to the sudden spike in kimchi consumption, the push to export K-everything has been a soft-power play by a young democracy trying to assert itself in the world order, and the hits keep coming. The latest: gyubang, a form of traditional Korean craftwork.</p>
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Gyubang! The Korean Crafting Craze at Mia

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/gyubang-korean-crafting-craze-mia

<p>For the past year, several different groups of older adults from across the Twin Cities have gotten together to make art with Mia. Drawings, paintings, assemblages, one quilt and a video—56 works altogether.</p>
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Vitality Arts Exhibition Reveals Latent Talents and Lasting Friendships

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/vitality-arts-exhibition-reveals-latent-talents-lasting-friendships

<p>At a talk hosted by Mia, Robin Wall Kimmerer explored the difference between subject and object, which Kimmerer contends make all the difference in how many of us understand and interact with the environment.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/7-takeaways-from-robin-wall-kimmerers-talk-on-the-animacy-of-nature"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


7 Takeaways from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Talk on the Animacy of Nature

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/7-takeaways-from-robin-wall-kimmerers-talk-on-the-animacy-of-nature

<p>At a virtual talk hosted by Mia, Jose Antonio Vargas expanded on his story and asked us to consider the complexities of immigration—including the motivation for moving on in the first place.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/5-quotes-jose-antonio-vargas-reveal-power-storytelling"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


5 Quotes from Jose Antonio Vargas that Reveal the Power of Storytelling

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/5-quotes-jose-antonio-vargas-reveal-power-storytelling

<p>The first official Minneapolis Print &#038; Drawing Fair was held at Mia in 1993. While much has changed in the intervening years, one thing hasn&#8217;t. The only place in Minnesota to find such a vast range of quality prints and drawings for sale is the fair.</p>
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Why the Print and Drawing Fair Is Still a Draw

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/programming-events/print-drawing-fair-still-draw

Man and young child making art together in a Mia studio

Programming &#038; Events

<h1>Sustainability &amp; Preservation</h1>


<p>In 1921, the collector Herschel V. Jones gave Mia an antiphonary, a manuscript of sung portions of the Christian Mass and the Divine Office, known as antiphons, created in 1439. By 2020, it had become almost too fragile to open or move. Mia engaged St. Paul-based conservator Sherelyn Ogden, who made enhancements to ensure the antiphonary remains a viable object of display and study.</p>
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100 Years After Receiving It, Mia Conserves a Late Gothic Manuscript

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/mia-conserves-late-gothic-manuscript

<p>A swan bust, about 10 feet tall, was once atop a much larger structure, an effigy of the Hindu goddess Kali that was carried during the annual Pooram Padayani festival. It was constructed in the 1800s from some rather delicate materials—paper, tiny mirrors, the wings of a coconut rhinoceros beetle—and was in rough shape when it was acquired by Mia in 2019. Before it could be displayed, the piece needed conservation.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/conservation-connection-minnesota-couple-brings-art-back-to-life"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Conservation Connection: Minnesota Couple Brings Art Back to Life

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/conservation-connection-minnesota-couple-brings-art-back-to-life

<p>In the 1800s, the portraits of the Marquis de Castelnau and Catherine Coustard were split apart. Catherine&#8217;s portrait has been at Mia for decades. When the portrait of the Marquis came to Mia in 2018, it seemed they would finally be reunited. But they weren’t quite ready.</p>
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Reunited in Gold: How Two Master Portraits Finally Came Together

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/how-two-master-portraits-came-together

<p>What do you notice when you look at a painting? You may ask yourself, is this frame the one the painting is supposed to be in? The Douglas and Mary Olson Frame Acquisition Fund, started in 1997, began as an effort to replace frames in Mia&#8217;s collection with historically accurate ones.</p>
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Monet’s Grainstack Gets a Fresh Look in a New Frame

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/monet-grainstack-gets-new-frame

<p>From 2013 to 2022, Mia hosted several colonies of European honeybees on its roof. When it became clear that merely hosting the bees was not enough, Mia planted bee-friendly flowers to continue its support of the health of all bees.</p>
<p><a style="color: black;" href="https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/supporting-celebrating-bees-through-art"><button class="background-black">Read more</button></a></p>


Supporting Bees—and Celebrating Them Through Art

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/supporting-celebrating-bees-through-art

<p>Back in 2008, a group of staffers at Mia, calling themselves the Green Team, began meeting to discuss potential reforms, ways that the museum could reduce its impact on the environment.</p>
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Mia Is Greening the Museum—That’s Good for Art, Too

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https://new.artsmia.org/hub/sustainability-preservation/mia-greening-museum-good-for-art

Photo of the 3rd Avenue entrance facade of the Minneapolis Institute of Art building with Mia brand signage and blurred people walking by

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