Blog
Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.
The Latest
His portrait has been restored. Now to restore the memory of John S. Bradstreet: MIA founder, craftsman, and the Twin Cities' original tastemaker
Newspapers rarely, if ever, engage in hyperbole. They hardly ever make declarations, like where you should eat, what you should buy, or “Top 10 Things You Need to Know” about Beyonce or eggplant. So it’s surprising that the Minneapolis Journal, in 1914, declared, “If this section of the country is to furnish a name that ...
His portrait has been restored. Now to restore the memory of John S. Bradstreet: MIA founder, craftsman, and the Twin Cities’ original tastemaker
Newspapers rarely, if ever, engage in hyperbole. They hardly ever make declarations, like where you should eat, what you should buy, or “Top 10 Things You Need to Know” about Beyonce or eggplant. So it’s surprising that the Minneapolis Journal, in 1914, declared, “If this section of the country is to furnish a name that ...
“In the Stacks with Eric Hanson”—Bagatelle Painting
Eric Hanson, the Coffee House Press author/illustrator-in-residence at the MIA’s Art Research and Reference Library, is full of surprises. Just when I think I have him figured out, he gives us something delightfully unexpected—like this. And I can’t get enough. If you haven’t planned to check out his final residency presentation on June 19th as ...
"In the Stacks with Eric Hanson"—Appian Way on Endpapers
Drawing, scanning, layering—Eric Hanson has been busy as the MIA’s Coffee House Press author/illustrator-in-residence in the museum’s Art Research and Reference Library. Check out his presentation at 7 p.m. on June 19th during next week’s Third Thursday and follow all of his musings until then here on MIA Stories or over at CHP In the Stacks. ...
“In the Stacks with Eric Hanson”—Appian Way on Endpapers
Drawing, scanning, layering—Eric Hanson has been busy as the MIA’s Coffee House Press author/illustrator-in-residence in the museum’s Art Research and Reference Library. Check out his presentation at 7 p.m. on June 19th during next week’s Third Thursday and follow all of his musings until then here on MIA Stories or over at CHP In the Stacks. ...
“In the Stacks with Eric Hanson”—The Same Unusual Smile
Leave it to the quirky and creative Eric Hanson, our current author/illustrator-in-residence in the MIA’s Art Research and Reference Library thanks to Coffee House Press, to combine two fine examples of 3-D statuary into one intriguing 2-D conglomerate. Here’s his latest dispatch from the stacks. Follow all of Eric’s musings here on MIA Stories or ...
“In the Stacks with Eric Hanson”—Renaissance Mug Shot
The more work produced by the very talented Eric Hanson in his current Coffee House Press library residency in the MIA’s Art Research & Reference Library, the more excited I get for his culminating presentation during Third Thursday: Get Local (June 19th at 7 pm). Until then, we have this: Eric’s intriguing layering of line, ...
“The Sky Opens Twice”—why Abinadi Meza’s sound installation is the must-hear event of Northern Spark 2014
It was a cold winter morning when Abinadi Meza arrived at the MIA from his home in Austin, Texas. Meza, a sound artist, filmmaker, and professor at the University of Houston’s School of Art, received a prestigious Rome Prize this year, an award given to just 30 emerging artists and scholars, and he was in ...
When we asked local musicians to muse about masterpieces, they created one themselves. At the June Third Thursday, you can play with the sonic results.
It was an experiment: What happens when some of the top musicians in the Twin Cities examine 21 disparate artworks—then quickly record their responses? No agenda, no time to overthink. Just play. It’s called Listen!, part of the museum’s Evolvelle initiative to creatively interpret the art in our collection. (Evolvelle, funded by the Institute of ...
“In the Stacks with Eric Hanson” —Versailles
Eric Hanson, Coffee House Press‘s artist-in-residence at the Minneapolis Institute of Art’ Research and Reference Library, has been awfully busy lately. In his latest post, Eric explores Versailles and Louis XIV…or is it Louis XIV and Versailles? You be the judge, and be sure to follow all his musings (written and illustrated) here on MIA ...