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CURRENT EXIBITIONS
August 14 – November 4, 2008
Effigies of Peace & Protest: The Art of Activism
John Steffl Gallery
Artist Dialogue, Thursday, Sept. 25, 6-7 PM
Prairie puppet created by Sandy Spieler HOBT (1981) originally for The Gathering, a national theatre conference in St. Peter. 2008 MayDay Ceremony Photo: Mary Plaster
Underwriting made possible by the generous donors of the Depot Foundation.
Guest Curator: Mary Plaster
Puppets and masks are the most ancient of multimedia art—incorporating sculpture, painting, movement, music, storytelling, performance and political commentary. Our guest curator is artist, Mary Plaster, who holds a MA in Studio Arts and has worked locally as well as with two major artistic directors: Peter Schumann of the Vermont based Bread and Puppet Theater (founded 1963) and Sandy Spieler of the Minneapolis In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (founded 1973).
Plaster’s theatrical puppet, props, and scenic painting internship began in Minneapolis in the early 1980s with the Children's Theatre Company and she has worked with several street and community theater groups, including intermittent May Day parades with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (HOBT) as a stilt walker and artist. Most of her cheap art magic was knowledge gleaned while living in Mexico and working with the experts of Teatro Libre of Guanajuato in the mid-1980s.
The puppets in this exhibition come from the collections of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis MN, Bread & Puppet Theater in Glover VT, and from The Duluth Giant Puppet Collection.
Plaster says: "At such pivotal times as these, we urgently need inspiration from holistic, sustainable, and imaginative work done with a sense of community. These papier-mâché beings breathe new life into tired reality and enchant us with playful expressions of cutting humor, poignancy, beauty, and magic. Such artful creations speak refreshing truth straight from deep origins of the mud and guts of existence.”
August 28 – November 16, 2008
Visible Means: Observations of Queer Experience
George Morrison Gallery
Dialogue with the Curator and Several of the Artists, Monday, Sept. 22, 6-7 PM
Sponsored by PFUND*
Celebrating the extraordinary contribution of the GLBT community to the visual arts, the DAI is proud to present this exhibition which will show the work of internationally acclaimed Gay and Lesbian artists along with the work of emerging GLBT artists in our own region.
Robert Repinski, Associate Professor of Visual Art at the University of Minnesota-Duluth is curator. An openly gay man, Repinski’s areas of research include the representation of gay sexuality, body and gender issues, contemporary culture and moralities, personal geographies, and notions of space and community.
“The work in this exhibition concerns itself with day-to-day existence within the GLBT community. Looking beyond a representation that is often left at differentiating one's sexual practice, ‘Visible Means’ is about the bigger picture. It starts by embracing sexual difference, but in addition, offers a wider range of contexts under which that difference might be considered—economics, family values, socio-political debate, marginalization and performative expressions of gender are all included,” says Repinski.
The show features work by nationally recognized artists, including Harmony Hammond, author of "Lesbian Art In America," Daniel Heyman, Philadelphia printmaker and painter; Sallie McCorkle, Nan Goldin and Kiki Smith. Regional artists in the exhibition include Jeffrey Dugan, photographer and installation artist: Topher McCulloch; Laura Migliarino; Chris Walla and others.
Repinski has exhibited his own work in group shows including NeoQueer, a 2004 exhibition held at the Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle; and Committed to Paper: 10x10, the 2005 members’ exhibition of the Queer Caucus for Art held at the Outwrite Gallery and Bookstore in Atlanta. This year, he won the Juror’s Award of Merit for his “Halliburton Flow Chart,” exhibited in Americas 2000, a national, juried competition held at the North West Arts Center in Minot, North Dakota.
* PFund (Philanthrofund) Foundation is a catalyst in building communities in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are celebrated and live free from discrimination, violence, invisibility and isolation.
November 13, 2008 – February 1, 2009
Arrowhead Biennial Exhibition 2008
John Steffl Gallery
Opening Reception, Thursday, November 13, 5-7 PM
This juried exhibition has existed in some form or another for 100 years with a mission to present the best artwork the region’s visual artists have to offer. Artists from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, and Ontario have been invited to submit their work.
This year we are pleased to have as our juror Kris Douglas, Chief Curator at the Rochester Art Center. During his tenure, Douglas has initiated an ongoing exhibition series devoted to emerging artists, as well as a number of group exhibitions such as Something More than Feelings, featuring artists Bas Jan Ader, David Claerbout, and Jesper Just. He organized a major solo exhibition with artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle titled Blinking out of Existence (2006), and has recently completed a key survey of Swiss artist Roman Signer titled Works (2008). He is a member of the Art21—Art in the Twenty-First Century Curatorial Advisory Council, and serves on the Board of Directors at Midway Contemporary Art in Minneapolis, MN.
Please mark your calendars and join us in this ongoing part of Northland art history.
December 4, 2008 – March 1, 2009
Eun-Kyung Suh: New Work
George Morrison Gallery
Opening Reception, Thursday, December 11, 5-7 PM
Artist Dialogue, Thursday, December 18, 6-7 PM
Eun-Kyung Suh comes from a jewelry-making background and the idea of jewelry is often present in her conceptually based work. Suh’s work is delicate and often minimal—using materials such as paper and high-tech fabric to make her conceptual statements. Often her work has a dangerous element to it such as her use of thorns or sharp metal edges. Suh teaches sculpture and 3D design at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
In the present exhibition, Suh will present installation works that rely as much on the use of the gallery space as they do on the objects themselves. This artist’s work is wonderfully simple on the one hand, yet complex in its detail and in the way she can make simple materials like paper have a strong, solid impact.
Call for Entries:
Annual Membership Exhibition 2009
Opening Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009
Sponsored by Charter Communications
The Annual Membership Exhibition is here once again. This exhibition is a fantastic opportunity to get exposure for your work and is one of the most compelling reasons to become a member of the Duluth Art Institute:
Current members are eligible to show one piece of original artwork created since Jan. 1, 2008 (no reproductions) in the Annual Membership Exhibition in the Great Hall of the Depot January 21 – March 22 (work entered must be available for the entire time period).
Memberships to the Duluth Art Institute are $30 students, $40 individuals and $60 for households.
Artwork by members will be accepted from 10 am – 5 pm January 6-9 at the Art Institute offices on the 4th floor of the Depot. Two-dimensional work must be limited to 30”or less per side, including matt and or frame; 3 – dimensional work must be 42” or less in diameter including stand or base. Wall-mounted works must not exceed 25 pounds. Other restrictions do apply. Call David Hodges, Curator at 733-7562 or email dhodges@duluthartinstitute.org for information.
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