Northern Minnesota is under a new alert until Friday at 7 p.m.

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above.

The M’s new wing triples its exhibit space in downtown St. Paul 

Architectural historian Marjorie Pearson of St. Paul wants people to know that 

 in the historic arcade of the Endicott building in downtown St. Paul. 

The major renovation triples the available exhibit space for Minnesota’s oldest art museum. The exhibit in the new wing, entitled “Here, Now,” features 150 works from the M’s permanent collection, ranging across centuries and styles. The museum is open Thursdays through Sundays and admission is free. 

When you visit, Marjorie recommends you take time to admire the architecture in addition to the art.

 This is a premier office building that was designed by Cass Gilbert in the early 1890s and the arcade with its wonderful arch stained-glass ceiling, beautifully restored by 

 in Avon, Minn., really enhances the whole gallery space.  

The Endicott building was constructed around the historic Pioneer building … the two buildings were combined. The galleries now are in the historic arcade, which was a shopping arcade for people in the offices downtown — a precursor to a shopping mall.

 (1859-1934) was a prominent architect who lived and worked in Minnesota for portions of his life; he designed many important buildings, including the Minnesota State Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court Building.]

Artist created, student-curated Black joy 

Billy Nduwimana Siyomvo got an early view of 

The exhibit features five Minneapolis artists — Leslie Barlow, Alexandra Beaumont, Eyenga Bokamba, Cameron Patricia Downey and seangarrison — whose selected works celebrate Black joy and identity. Billy loved the work, and he recommends taking your time to take it in from all angles. 

He was also struck by the exhibit’s backstory: the show was curated by University of Minnesota students enrolled in ARTH 3940: Black Art in Minneapolis, taught by Dr. Daniel M. Greenberg and Dr. Dwight K. Lewis, Jr.

 When you walk in, the first thing that embraces you is colors —different textures, colors, different stories. Each art piece I felt like was made with love. 

What I love about this [exhibit] is that this class is basically giving these artists a platform. I don’t think it’s every day that you hear about curating art; people need to understand that, yes, these artists are very important, but without the right curated spaces, their art is not put on a platform that it deserves to be on.

Rebecca Montpetit of Rochester is a lifelong fan of the Rochester Art Center, and she’s already making plans to go back again with her family to see 

The interactive exhibit consists of 20 chairs from the private college of an Owatonna family, which artist then used as inspiration to create five mini golf holes. You can’t sit on the chairs, but you can play the golf holes. Clubs of all sizes, including adaptive clubs, are part of the exhibit, and there is a par for each hole. The exhibit runs through May 4, 2025.

Rebecca describes what it was like to visit the exhibit with her kids, aged 8 and 10:

 The beginning of the exhibit leads you through this hall of chairs. And it was a really fascinating discussion with our kids to talk about. 

We said, all of these have the same purpose: to sit! But look at all of the materials and ways that you can create ways to sit. They’re everything from corrugated cardboard to molded plastic to, a kind of a shag material. 

So we had all sorts of different ways to explore, ways to sit. So it gave the artist creative license as well to really be inspired by the materials or the shape or even the thought process as they created the mini golf elements. 

Author

Art Hounds discuss the expanded Minnesota Museum of Art’s new wing, a show curated by students at the University of Minnesota about Black joy and a new exhibit with 20 chairs and five mini golf holes.

Art Hounds: The M gets bigger, student-curated Black joy and fancy chairs you can’t sit on

Go Deeper.

Like this?