January 15, 2020
On View February 1 – May 24 On the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, WAM is proud to open the career survey exhibition Harriet Bart: Abracadabra and Other Forms of Protection. A cofounding member of WARM (the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota, one of the first feminist art collectives in the…
January 4, 2020
Amoke Kubat is an artist, weaver, sacred doll maker, and occasional stand-up comedian, and has been in-residence at the Target Studio since fall 2019. She uses her art to speak truth to power and to maintain a position of wellness in an America sick with inequalities and inequities. In 2010, Amoke founded Yo Mama and…
September 30, 2019
This fall, WAM is proud to present Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle. Organized by the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) in Michigan, the exhibition features an ambitious suite of paintings and works on paper by New York–based artist Alexis Rockman. In a state bound by Lake Superior and part of a region contiguous to…
September 23, 2019
What does it mean to be in conversation with your body? Many social, cultural, and political conventions we live by today discipline how we experience our bodies. They are often defined by their productivity, utility, fitness, and so on, but rarely through vulnerability and reflection. Through this series of collaborations between artists and researchers…
August 22, 2019
Remembering Rondo is a landmark retrospective of Rose and Melvin Smith’s expansive careers in the arts. Currently living in Eagan, MN, Melvin R. and Rose J. Smith were residents of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood for many years. The works in this exhibition are drawn from the artists’ Rondo series—a sprawling body of work that stands as…
June 7, 2019
In expanding the permanent collection, WAM aims to accession new works wisely and with the utmost intention. To our Senior Curator Diane Mullin, this means attentively developing our collections of work by Black and women–identifying contemporary artists, and works considered international art, Minnesota art, and video and other moving-image art. Opening in mid-July, a number of…
May 23, 2019
Melvin R. and Rose J. Smith are proud Minnesota artists. Currently living in Eagan, Minnesota, they were residents of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood for many years—Rose for most of her life and Melvin from 1963 to 1968. The Smiths’ art consists of urban scenes and portraits that present realist, expressionist, and at times allegorical…
May 20, 2019
This July in the Edith Carlson Gallery, WAM opens State Your Intentions: New Works in the WAM Collection. The exhibition showcases not only notable recent additions to the collection but also the intentionality of WAM’s collecting practice. In 1981 when Lyndel King became the director and chief curator, she openly asserted her resolve to…
January 22, 2019
Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota professor emeritus of German and comparative literature, returned to campus Wednesday night to deliver a lecture in conjunction with WAM’s exhibition, The Wonderful World Before Disney. An acclaimed scholar of myth, folk, and fairy-tales, Zipes discussed the past and contemporary social and political roles of these stories, turning to his…
January 18, 2019
In March 2019, we expect an invasion—an invasion of a beautiful sort. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) will hold its annual conference, Claytopia, in Minneapolis from March 27 through 30. Several thousand ceramic artists will descend on us during that time, and at WAM we will be ready. Ceramic artist…