About
top of WAM exterior against cloudy blue sky

What is Weisman Art Museum?

Weisman Art Museum (WAM) is the realization of a dream first articulated by University President Lotus Coffman in 1934. Setting aside some unused rooms in the newly completed Northrop Auditorium, Coffman noted, “There is a need for new values to sustain the morale of individuals in the days ahead. The arts are a source for such values and I want this university to play a leading part in instilling them.”

The museum presents and interprets works of art, offering exhibitions that place art within relevant cultural, social and historical contexts. Several major exhibitions are offered each year, as well as organized letters, symposia, tours and special events focused upon educational themes. In its 90-year history, the museum has worked with more than fifty departments, presenting the ideas of a great university in multi-disciplinary and widely collaborative projects. The museum’s active touring program serves the cultural/educational needs of rural communities primarily in the Upper Midwest, as well as national and international audiences.

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Our Mission

Our mission as a university art museum is to create and advance inclusive arts experiences to broaden understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our world. We envision a deconstructed and reimagined space for creative expression and fearless inquiry, reflective of the people and land around us.

WAM is:

  • A vital node of cultural life on campus, connecting students and community. 
  • A dynamic actor in the co-creation of a more just world. 
  • A space for respite, joy, challenge, empathy, and self-care.
  • A haven for shared learning, creativity, and free exchange of ideas. 
  • A valued partner for the communities that we live and work in.

History and Architecture

Major milestones in the museum’s history include significant contributions from Frederick R. Weisman and Frank O. Gehry. Frederick R. Weisman, a Minneapolis native, entrepreneur, and noted philanthropist, provided generous financial gifts and other support to the museum. Internationally acclaimed architect Frank O. Gehry designed the museum’s glimmering residence along the Mississippi River. Home to the museum since 1993, this important architectural achievement has become a landmark for the University of Minnesota and the Twin Cities.

The construction of an 8,100 square-foot expansion, designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, was completed in 2011. Gehry is also responsible for the original design of this landmark facility. The museum reopened to the public on October 2, 2011, and nearly doubled the size of the galleries for collections and enhanced its role as a cultural resource for the University, students, Minnesota, and the state’s many visitors. The museum engaged Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers as the local architects for the project and JE Dunn Construction as contractors.

 

Who was Frederick R. Weisman?

Noted California philanthropist, art patron, and entrepreneur Frederick R. Weisman provided the pivotal gift of $3 million, which gave the University of Minnesota Art Museum a new home. The Frank Gehry-designed museum opened on November 21, 1993 and bears Weisman’s name.

The Minneapolis native, a son of the businessman William Weisman, moved to Los Angeles with his mother Mary at the age of six. Weisman returned to the University of Minnesota to study and later attended UCLA. Through a series of successful business ventures, Weisman became involved with a small canning company, Val-Vita, which later merged with Hunt Brothers Packing Company to become Hunt Foods. By the age of 31, Weisman had become the company president.

As Weisman’s business enterprise grew, so did his interest in art and philanthropy. Long recognized as one of America’s foremost collectors of contemporary art, Weisman was an ardent supporter of new and emerging artists. Through the Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Program, he provided valuable support to the field of visual arts, as well as to social services and health care. He was a trustee of a number of national and international art institutions, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the American Center in Paris.

Frederick R. Weisman died at his Los Angeles home on September 11, 1994 after a long illness.

Mimbres Cultural Materials at the University

University of Minnesota to repatriate Mimbres objects to descendent tribes

“Today’s repatriation determination is another milestone for our institution and our Tribal partners,” Board Chair Ken Powell said after the resolution was approved. “This is an opportunity to reaffirm the mission of the University of Minnesota. While the law maps out the decisions to be made, it is the moral and ethical calling of our land grant university that inspires and guides us, demanding that we act justly by repatriating that which was never ours. We cannot undo our past. We can accept responsibility for it. That means more than  acknowledgements and apologies. Today, the University is exhibiting the values of what it  means to be a land grant institution by authorizing the repatriation of the Mimbres objects to their rightful home with their Native peoples.”

Read the full text of Chair Powell’s statement

The Board’s action authorized University leadership to advance the ongoing consultation with the appropriate Tribal Nations of the Southwest and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) regarding repatriation. The University is committed to working to complete these necessary conversations with care and coordinate next steps with the Tribal Nations involved. Ultimately, the University will return the Mimbres objects it holds, consistent with the many Tribal consultations that have taken place, research into the ancestral lineage of the objects and any additional obligations the University may have under NAGPRA.

Watch the Board of Regents meeting in which the Mimbres materials were discussed

Consultations have been underway at the Weisman and University of Miinnesota with advisors from several Tribal Nations of the Southwest since October 2022. 

FAQ

Learn more about the Mimbres cultural materials and repatriation process, and find answers to frequently asked questions

Notice of NAGPRA Inventory completion >

Amendment to Notice of NAGPRA Inventory Completion >

UPDATE–January 2024: An amendment is being made to the Notice of NAGPRA Inventory Completion (published in 2/23), because physical inventory has identified additional items which were previously unreported, and because additional known items were subsequently identified to be associated funerary objects. See above to read that amendment document.

Media Contact

Press queries should be directed to Jake Ricker, Director of Public Relations, University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Reach him by phone  at 612-625-7134, or email him at rick0127@umn.edu.

UPDATE—MAY 2023: Community representatives from several Mimbres-descendent Tribes visited Weisman Art Museum and UMN in October 2022. This visit was the first of many such consultations planned for the coming year, through which the Tribes will determine the timeline and specific processes for transporting the Mimbres materials held at the University back to their homelands. The Weisman’s inventory of Mimbres materials was submitted in full in December 2022; the Notice of Inventory Completion was subsequently published by the National Park Service in February 2023. (See above.)

The path forward to completing the repatriation process is both sensitive and complex, involving many stakeholders and extensive ongoing conversations among Mimbres-descendent Tribes themselves to determine shared roles, wishes, and responsibilities. It is not a process that can be rushed. The University of Minnesota and Weisman Art Museum continue to take direction in navigating the next steps in repatriation, from beginning to end, at the pace and according to the wishes and needs of our Tribal partners. The timeline will be determined by the Mimbres-descendent Tribes, according to their express needs and capacities. Until such time as the Mimbres ancestral remains and belongings may return home, the University will hold them in trust, in steady consultation with and at the direction of Tribal partners, with the care and respect their ancestors and contemporary family members deserve.

UPDATE — SEPTEMBER 2023: Tribal advisors have requested that their privacy be respected while this consultation process for the repatriation is underway. At their request, no press interviews will be given by tribal representatives, University of Minnesota or Weisman Art Museum about the repatriation until this process is complete and a public statement is issued. All other press queries should be directed to JAKE RICKER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Reach him by phone  at 612-625-7134, or email him at rick0127@umn.edu.

Photography/video of the Mimbres belongings

Weisman Art Museum, at University of Minnesota (UMN), will not share or reproduce images or videorecordings of the Mimbres cultural materials currently housed at the museum for external or press use. The University has convened an advisory committee of University scholars, including a number of Native American scholars, which is currently engaged in consultations with related Native nations and other relevant parties to help guide University leaders as they navigate decisions about the culture affiliation as well as the disposition and future care of these materials. Given the sensitive nature of the Mimbres materials, WAM is taking care to reserve the use of related images and videorecordings for approved, internal documentation purposes only, as requested by the Mimbres-descendant Tribes to whom these materials belong.

Last update - September 2023

WAM Files

An Archival Project Of The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum

From October 2010 to October 2011, The Weisman Art Museum was closed to the public in order to complete a $14 million expansion project, to include four new galleries to showcase the permanent collection, and an additional gallery space, the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration. Behind closed doors, WAM has been working on another “building” project that doesn’t require hard hats, tool belts or the qualifications to operate heavy machinery, but that does require a keen eye to detail, patience for repetition, and an organizational fortitude – the construction of the WAM Archives. Read about the WAM Files project here

WAM Exhibition staff and archivists from the University Archives have collaborated to process over 200 boxes of archival material transferred to the Archives from WAM in a series of accessions that occurred between 1997 and 2011. The material, which begins in the 1930’s when WAM was first known as the University Gallery and guided by director, Ruth Lawrence, also covers the restructuring and adjustment to the title of University Art Museum, and additionally records the planning and correspondence related to the museum’s move from a few rooms in Northrup Auditorium, to the internationally known Frank Gehry designed Weisman, under the leadership of current director Lyndel King, in the 1990’s. Exhibits mounted, programs held, and activities pursued within this time span are represented within the boxes stored within the caverns of the University Archives in Andersen Library. This project will document, preserve, and make accessible the unique institutional history of the University of Minnesota’s art museum.

After completion of this first component, WAM will fine-tune administrative policies and develop a guide for records management practices to ensure that materials created in the production of exhibits and other programs, events, and administrative processes currently stored at WAM, are transferred regularly to the University Archives to be made accessible for all interested parties in the history of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota.

Read about the WAM Files project here