333 E River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States
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Pigments and dyes color almost everything we see in our world, and our relationships to those colors shape both our personal experience and global history. Minneapolis-based artist Nell Pierce presents “Nell Pierce: Color Stories.” In this hands-on Open Studio activity, Nell presents their interpretations of vibrant historical pigments and dyes and invites you to engage with the colors using all five senses to create a collage about what they evoke for you. Then, you can read stories from the perspective of the colors themselves to learn about their diverse origins and cultural functions across time.
Continue your exploration of personal narrative and color in WAM’s Davis Gallery with JooYoung Choi’s collaged painting Journey to the Cosmic Womb, which depicts an interstellar journey in vivid colors drawn from comic books and the artist’s life.
Drop-in, Self-Guided Art Activity
Throughout the year, WAM presents self-guided art-making activities inspired by an art piece, exhibition, or artist from the museum's collection. Everything you need to make your own masterpiece is provided and the activity is designed to be accessible and open to all. Drop-in during open hours and get creative!
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Additional general operating support is generously provided by Ameriprise Financial.
Nell Pierce is a collage artist, acrylic painter, muralist and teaching artist who sees art as a powerful tool for telling both individual and collective stories. They were raised in California and Maine and fell in love with the artist and organizing community in Minneapolis in 2014. They’ve since resided on this beautiful and occupied Dakota homeland, Mni Sota Makoce, surrounded by people who teach them to live in questions about how to be in right relationship with this place as a European-American.
They’ve been a facilitator and teacher for over 15 years, working with organizations like Telling My Story and the Speaking Out Collective to support people of all ages in schools, community centers, prisons, and other settings to connect to themselves and feel agency in creating their own narratives through visual art and theater. In 2024, they started teaching art classes for adults out of their studio.
In their personal practice, they create paintings and collages (primarily portraits) on commission. They are currently working on a multi-year series, Q’llage, that explores how the strategies that support them and their queer community to stay true to themselves are mirrored in the natural world — drawing from their own experience and interviews with people in their LGBTQ2IA+ community.
Photo by Drew Arrieta, courtesy of the artist
Minnesota State Arts Board Legacy Grant logos
Ameriprise Financial
