This upcoming Saturday, WAM opens its "summer show", an annual seasonal focus on Minnesota artists represented in the museum's permanent collection.  The title of the exhibit, Tenuous, Though Real, is from a description of Minnesota artists written by art historian Rena Neumann Cohen in her 1976 book, Minnesota Painting and Sculpture from 1820 to 1914.  Cohen comments that the artists of our state have a "tenuous, though real sense of shared experience--an identification, however fleeting, with the Minnesota scene."

When I think of shared Minnesotan experiences, the jingle from the long-running commercial promoting Explore Minnesota, the state's tourism organization, pops into my head.  The quirky commercial portrays Minnesotans from all corners of the state joyfully participating in some of MN's quintessential activities.

Though I can't be certain if the exhibit contains specific reference to Aida or Zumbrota (as does the commercial jingle), I can assert that from a recent peek into Gallery A & B, where the exhibit is currently being installed, I found depictions of Minnehaha Falls and the North Shore of Lake Superior, reminding me that there is certainly much to be explored in Minnesota.  Other objects that I observed while standing behind the partition at the entrance to the gallery--a bed made of rocks, photographs of grain elevators, and a giant glittering fish sculpture--indicate that much is to be explored in this exhibit as well.

Members of WAM Collective will be attending WAM's Ultimate Wednesdays event on June 27 at 6:30 pm titled, Midsummer Night's Stroll--a walk through the exhibit with three of the artists represented in the "summer show."

Come and join us in a shared experience with the Minnesota scene!

* cameo by Joe Mauer not guaranteed.