September 11, 2019
Friday night, students traveled from east bank, west bank, yes, even from St. Paul campus, to ring in the new school year and celebrate at WAM-O-RAMA. Standing in a long line that wrapped around the outside of the building and jamming out with Radio K to pass the time, sophomore Bianca Vivas and junior Aidan…
September 9, 2019
Peng Wu and the Art of Sleep a reflection by Susan Armington Peng Wu had a problem with sleep. Night after night, the Chinese-born artist lay sleepless. At first it was the excitement of grad school in Minneapolis. Then it was the boredom of work and the desire to stay up late to make up for…
September 5, 2019
The start of the semester brings five new Collaboration Incubator residencies to the Target Studio. A platform that supports collaborations between artists and UMN researchers, the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration was created to allow time and space for relationships to grow and develop into professional networks. Designed as short-term projects intended to lay…
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…
August 20, 2019
Launched in 2018, the HOMEWORK Collection is the student-only art rental collection available to student members, with artwork selected by WAM Collective Officers. The below works were purchased at last year’s MCAD Art Sale. Meet the artists behind these works, and, if you’re a UMN student, come to WAM for Study Night on September 18…
August 20, 2019
To make Wood Collage: Landscape, George Morrison collected driftwood and fit the pieces together to form what he described as a “painting made of wood.” He assembled a loose grid structure, with the smaller fragments seeming to coalesce into squares, divided by beams that stretch across the composition. In places, the texture of the wood…
July 30, 2019
On May 15, community members gathered alongside the Target Studio cohort and their UMN collaborators to celebrate the very first year of the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration program. The evening began with studio activations and performances from 2018–2019 artist-fellows Terry Hempfling and Rachel Jendrzejewski, Marcus Young and students at HECUA’s Art for Social Change…
July 23, 2019
Affectionately known as “Weisguides,” WAM’s volunteer tour guides complete extensive training and lead hundreds of museum tours each year. Discovering new works of art, connecting with artists, researchers, curators, visitors, and each other, and engaging in critical conversations with people in the community (from school children to elders) are only some of the ways our…
June 13, 2019
I have personally always been interested in sex work. It is and has always been work. I think sex workers and erotic dancers specifically are very underappreciated. There are a lot of misconceptions about dancing that I would love to clarify for the public. One is the stereotypes about the kind of women who…
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…