Art Gallery Exhibition & Visiting Artist Colloquium Lecture Series
The gallery is currently open.
Exhibition receptions will be held via Zoom and photographs and videos of the exhibitions will be featured on @MSUMGallery and @MSUM_gallery.
Seven McKnight Artists
Seven McKnight Artists is an annual travelling exhibition on loan from the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. This exhibition will provide the unique opportunity to view works by the 2022 recipients of the McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists, Tony Kukich (St. Paul, MN) and Ginny Sims (Minneapolis, MN), as well as the 2021 recipients of the McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists: Claudia Alvarez (New York, NY), Eliza Au (Lake Dallas, TX), Edith Garcia (2020 Recipient, Half Moon Bay, CA), Lynne Hobaica (Bakersville, NC), and Janina Myronova (Wrocław, Poland). This exhibition, supported by the McKnight Foundation, showcases the success of each artist’s fellowship or residency.
August 24-September 14
Thursday, August 31: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarks at 5:00 pm)
For A Limited Time Only
For A Limited Time Only is a visiting artist exhibition featuring pieces in a variety of media by adjunct instructors who have taught studio classes in MSUM’s School of Art. This exhibition showcases work by Laura Youngbird, Carlos Pacheco, Brett Lysne, Megan Johnson, and Danielle Gravon, The exhibition title refers to the precarious, short-term nature of adjunct employment in higher education.
August 24-September 14
Thursday, August 31: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarkds at 5:00 pm)
Decades
Decades is a retrospective selection of artworks spanning 30 years of work by Sherry Lee Short, Professor of Drawing and Illustration at Minnesota State University. It encompasses several bodies of work, including figure studies, narrative self-portraits, feminist works addressing sexual violence, and landscapes. These bodies of work reflect Short’s ongoing commitment to, publishing about, and activism around feminist and environmental issues as well as her broader interests in understanding and studying the natural world.
Short received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting with Distinction from the University of Georgia in 1988. Short taught her first course at MSUM in 1989. In addition to teaching drawing and illustration in the School of Art, Short has also taught Women’s and Gender study courses since the 1990s. She introduced several new courses to the School of Art curriculum, including Women and Art, Contemporary Drawing, Art of Social and Environmental Justice, and Image and Ideology: Art and Representation. She served as Director of Women’s and Gender Studies from 2012-2014. She served as chair of the School of Art from 2020-22.
Short has received numerous notable awards. In 2017, she was selected as an Alice Paul Award Honoree. The award was conferred by the Committee on Feminist Movement History of the National Organization of Men against Sexism and placed Short on historical list of women in the US who have worked to confront men’s violence against women. She received the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ Board of Trustees Outstanding Educator Award (2020) and the MSUM Dille Outstanding Lecturer Award (2021). She has also held national and international wilderness artist residencies, including at Isle Royale National Park (2018) and Theano Point, Ontario, Canada (2019).
Decades will be on display in the MSUM Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gallery August 14-September 14. The opening reception is on Thursday, August 31, 5:30-7:30 pm. All works are for sale. A portion of sales will be donated to the School of Art Printmaking Residency.
August 21 - September 14
Thursday, August 31: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarks at 5:00 pm)
True Sons of Freedom
As part of MSUM’s campus-wide initiatives dedicated to veterans, the Rolland Dille Center for the Arts Gallery will host True Sons of Freedom, a travelling exhibition on loan from the Library of Virginia. To commemorate World War I, the exhibition uses photographs of African American soldiers from Virginia who fought overseas to defend freedoms they were denied at home. The images were submitted by these veterans with their responses to military service questionnaires created by the Virginia War History Commission. These pocket-sized portraits, made outdoors or in makeshift studios, became mementos for families and sweethearts. More importantly, these photographs challenge the crude and demoralizing cultural productions of an era that often reduced African Americans to stereotypes and denied them full participation as citizens of the United States. In these photographs, these servicemen presented themselves as they wanted to be seen.
September 18 - November 9
Thursday, September 21: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarks at 5:00 pm)
Project E-Quality
Project E-Quality, launched in the fall of 1968, was an effort by Moorhead State College to offer opportunities for a college education to students who had been historically marginalized by a racist society. Founded on a belief that MSC had a moral responsibility to correct this ill, the project, nicknamed E-Q, focused on recruiting African American, Native American, and Mexican American students. Although the Civil Rights Movement seemed insignificant in the North, due to the small population of minority groups, desires to promote racial diversity and universal equality became electrified after the assassination of activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
President John Neumaier, the architect of Project E-Quality, left MSC before the program was implemented; Dr. Roland Dille and project director Lois Selberg spearheaded the program alongside figures from administration, faculty, and community leaders. Initially, 50 students were admitted into the program: 35 African Americans, 8 Native Americans, and 7 Mexican Americans. Project E-Quality, after laying the groundwork for racial diversity at the college and broader Fargo-Moorhead community, would be absorbed into the Office of Student Activities and come to a short-lived end in 1974.
Students in Dr. Yolanda Arauza’s Senior Seminar class (Spr. 2023)—Sejla Dervisic, Gary Garbe, Nicholas Kusnierek, Airin Spell, Forrest Suchy, and Connor Thompson—sifted through collections of archival resources, conducted oral history interviews, curated photos and artifacts, and assembled an exhibit to document the under-reported story of Project E-Quality. Dr. Arauza, the lead investigator, was essential in pioneering and guiding this process. This collective effort serves to fill historical gaps concerning the Native American and Mexican American participants while simultaneously amplifying the experiences of the African American students.
September 18 - November 9
Thursday, September 21: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarks at 5:00 pm)
Fall 2023 BFA Exhibition #1
An exhibition showcasing works by graduating Fine Arts and Design students receiving Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees. The exhibition features a range of media including painting, drawing and illustration, printmaking, graphic design, photography, ceramics and sculpture. The BFA Exhibition brings together the creative and critical fine art practice of School of Art students in one culminating showcase. Featured artists: Ashlyn Jelinek, Noah Johnson, Patrick Thomas, Lauren Baloun, Drew Baxley, Elysa Christensen, Kendra Jolicoeur, TJ Gillaspey, Emily Plutowski, Katie Rikhus, Cassidy Kubitz.
November 10 - December 14
Thursday, November 16: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm (artist remarks at 5:00 pm)
Artists
Art-A-Fair 10 High School Exhibition
MSUM’s School of Art’s Art-A-Fair is an annual high school art exhibition, workshop day and awards ceremony. More than 300 students and teachers from high schools in three states attend hands-on workshops by Visual art, Media Art and Music faculty, advanced students, regional arts organizations, and local artists.
January 9 - February 2
Learn more on the Art-A-Fair webpage
Student Juried Exhibition
February 5 - March 7
Thursday, February 8: Reception 4:30 - 7:00 pm
The School of Art’s annual exhibition showcasing artwork by MSUM students. This year, the exhibition will be juried by ---. Cash prizes will be awarded. Registration details coming soon.
Spring 2024 BFA Exhibition #1
An exhibition showcasing works by graduating Graphic and Interactive Design students receiving Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees. The BFA Exhibition brings together the creative and critical design practice of Graphic and Interactive Design students in one culminating showcase.
March 11 - April 4
Thursday, March 21: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm
Artists
Spring 2024 BFA Exhibition #2
An exhibition showcasing works by graduating Fine Arts and Design students receiving Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees. The exhibition features a range of media including painting, drawing and illustration, printmaking, digital design, photography, ceramics and sculpture.
April 8 - May 9
Thursday, April 11: Reception 4:30-7:00 pm
Artists