Art Brief: Waters of History and Race at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum
Arts Briefs is a weekly summary of Minnesota arts and culture news compiled by MPR News’ Arts and Culture team.
Waves of change
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona opened a new exhibition this week: “A Nation Takes Its Place: The Confrontation of Race and Water in Contemporary Art.”
Curated by local artist and educator Tia-Simone Gardner and New Orleans artist and researcher Shana M. Griffin, the exhibition examines the creation of the Americas and how seafaring is connected to “deadly technologies of enslavement, colonialism, genocide, dispossession and exploitation.”
Artworks by 38 local and international contemporary artists – including Dyani White Hawk, Dameun Strange, Sky Hopinka and Kara Walker – are juxtaposed with historical works.
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Frogtown’s festive flair
The 10th Annual Frogtown Arts Festival is Sunday in the Rondo-Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul. The festival includes live music from local artists, a Rondo Double Dutch workshop, a spring roll competition and 20 art and food stalls.
Also, 825 Arts, a community arts center formerly known as the Victoria Theater Arts Center, will be officially opened.
It is housed in a historic theater built in 1915. Over a decade ago, the Frogtown Neighborhood Association started an initiative to preserve the historic theater as a community space.
Remembrance in the Midwest
Forecast Public Art has announced a new grant to support diverse storytelling through monuments and memorials in rural communities across the Midwest.
The Midwest Memory Grant will award $100,000 each to eight communities, supported by the Mellon Foundation. Project focuses include the voices and experiences of people of color, as well as racial justice and Indigenous visibility.
The application period began August 20 and runs through October 1. Information is available on the Forecast Public Art website.
Art on the trails
The Art4Trails program at the Rochester Art Center offers the opportunity to meet artist Jon Kamrath.
The sculptor Mahtomedi created large-scale sculptures from metal, wood and clay. His sculpture Nidum stands along the bike path near the art center.
The free event will take place tomorrow at 1 p.m. and will begin in front of the Rochester Art Center.
