Fall arts: Minnesota artists shine, from renowned museums to neighborhood festivals
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As the leaves begin to change, so do the big-name artists on the walls of Twin Cities art institutions: Vincent Van Gogh and David Hockney are on their way out; Sandro Botticelli is headed into town.
And in the meantime, in St. Paul spots like the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Friedli Gallery, and studios and churches across the city during October’s St. Paul Art Crawl, local artists take the spotlight. Through painting, ceramics, textile and more, they explore city life and cultural change.
Here are some of the many exhibitions coming up in galleries, studios, and museums around town this season.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 16–18: Take Me To The River art festival begins — across St. Croix River Valley. As part of the annual art festival, ArtReach St. Croix presents open studios in Stillwater, Shafer, Marine on St. Croix, Minn., and Hudson, Wis. All weekend, artists will showcase ceramics, oil paintings, textiles, glass, and more. Plus, from 12 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 17, catch Art At The Acreage in Osceola, Wis., at Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher’s estate. The Take Me To The River festival will continue through October. More information is available at https://takemetotheriver.info/
Go before Sept. 18: “Van Gogh and the Olive Groves” closes — Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ special exhibition places Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 work “Olive Trees,” in Mia’s permanent collection, in context with several other Van Gogh landscapes and new research from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Special tickets required: $16 for general admission; free for youth and members at the Investor level or higher. 2400 3rd Ave. S., Minneapolis.
Check out more things to do in our fall arts guide.
Sept. 24: Art and Artists Celebration — Franconia Sculpture Park; Shafer, Minn. The 26th annual celebration, also serving as the closing for the 4Ground: Midwest Land Art Biennial, will feature hands-on art making, a land tour of the park, a community forest planting, a rain stick workshop, and several ticketed and non-ticketed performances. Most events are free; parking is $5 per car. Franconia Sculpture Park, 29836 St. Croix Trail, Shafer, Minn.
Sept. 24: Marydale Arts Festival — Marydale Park, St. Paul. In addition to plenty of local artists, this festival also offers kids’ activities like temporary tattoos and birdhouses. Stop by from 12 to 5 p.m. at Marydale Park in the North End, 542 Maryland Ave. W., St. Paul.
Sept. 24–25: Spirit of the St. Croix Art Festival 2022 — Hudson, Wis. More than 80 artists will show original work and put on demos in Lakefront Park, in downtown Hudson. Plus, live music, art, and entertainment both days at several stages in the park. Admission is free. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 24, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 25. Lakefront Park, 500 1st St., Hudson, Wis.
Sept. 24–25: Afton Art in the Park — Afton. This outdoor art market showcases fine art, woodwork, jewelry, fiber arts, sculpture, and more, plus some live music, drinks and food. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 24, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 25. Town Square Park, St. Croix Trail S. and 34th Street S., Afton.
Go before Sept. 25: “David Hockney: People, Places & Things” closes — Walker Arts Center, Mpls. Now 85, Hockney is one of the most renowned contemporary British artists, and this exhibition showcases not only some of his classic prints, paintings and drawings but also his set design work and art made using an iPad. Included with required timed-entry museum ticket: $15 for general admission; $13 for seniors; $10 for students; free for kids, teens, military, and Walker members. Admission for everyone is free Thursday nights and the first Saturday of every month, but a timed ticket is still necessary. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis
Sept. 30: “Blood on the Pavement: Notes on Healing” — Friedli Gallery and Studio, St. Paul. Using visual art and sound, artists explore violence, healing, loss, and moving forward. “When we are faced with continual violence against land, body, and truth, how can we heal?” See the exhibition at the opening reception from 6–8 p.m. on Sept. 30, or through Oct. 29 at the Friedli Gallery. 943 W. Seventh St., St. Paul.
OCTOBER
Several dates: St. Paul Art Crawl — around the city. The St. Paul Art Collective’s annual event returns with a few different art crawl events spaced around town. From Oct. 7–9, catch local artists in Lowertown; West Seventh, in the Schmidt Artist Lofts; and Virginia Street Church. There, on Virginia and Selby, exhibiting artists will be joined by tangoing accordionists, classical keyboardists, jazz and folk musicians, and more. Then, on Oct. 14, stop by the Dow Gallery, on University and Hampden, and from Oct. 14–16, Harriet Island Artists’ Warehouse 2, on the West Side of St. Paul, also opens its doors to the crawl. More details at stpaulartcollective.org/art-crawl-events/.
Oct. 1–2: Rivertown Fall Art Festival — Stillwater. This annual art fair takes place right between downtown Stillwater and the St. Croix River and features more than 150 artists’ work, ranging from ceramics to glass to metal to woodwork to fiber and jewelry. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 1, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 2. Lowell Park, 201 N. Water St., Stillwater.
Oct. 14: “Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts” opens — Walker Arts Center, Mpls. Greek artist Jannis Kounellis was influential in the 1960s and ’70s Italian movement Arte Povera and tried to break down boundaries between painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. The retrospective shows some rarely exhibited multimedia works how he would’ve wanted them to be seen. Exhibit admission included with required timed entry ticket to the Walker. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis.
Oct. 16: “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi” opens — Mia, Mpls. This exhibition focuses on Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), showcasing his notable works side-by-side with paintings, drawings, sculptures and more from his teachers, contemporaries, and ancient Greek and Roman inspirations. This gallery is presented in partnership with the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, and it’s not a traveling show — Mia is its only stop, and the museum says the artworks from Italy are ones that seldom leave the country. Special tickets required: $20 for general admission; $16 for certain members; free for youth and members at the Investor level or higher.
Before Oct. 16: “In Our Minds” closes — Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul. Artists work with everyday objects in this show put on by the M and Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. As The M’s interior space remains closed, this show takes place in window displays downtown on Robert Street, 4th Street, and the Skyway Ecolab Entrance. As galleries are in 24/7 window displays, admission is free; a full map is available outside the M at 350 N. Robert St.
Before Oct. 30: “The Morning Dip” and “Birger Sandzén: Distant Horizons” both close — American Swedish Institute, Mpls. Catch two exhibitions before they come to an end on the same day. “The Morning Dip” is a portrait series by the Paris-based American-Swedish artist Peggy Anderson that chronicles the rituals surrounding residents’ daily sea baths in Torekov, Sweden. Plus, in “Distant Horizons,” the museum showcases works by landscape painter and printmaker Birger Sandzén (1871–1954). Both exhibitions are included with museum admission: $12 for general admission; $8 for seniors; $6 for college students and youth 6–18; free for children and members of all ages. 2600 Park Ave., Minneapolis.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 4: “We Are Still Here: Stepping Into Our Power” opens — Friedli Gallery and Studio, St. Paul. In this 3rd annual show, Native artists explore how Indigenous practices and heritage can bolster new leadership. Meet the artists during the opening reception on Nov. 4 from 6–8 p.m., or visit the gallery Tuesdays through Saturdays at 943 W. Seventh St., St. Paul.
Before Nov. 6: “Capturing Change: The Urban Images of Berenice Abbott and Giovanni Battista Piranesi” closes — Weisman Art Museum, Mpls. This exhibition offers two viewpoints into urban flux and place. Working in different centuries and continents, photographer Berenice Abbott, in 1930s New York City, and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi, in 1700s Rome, ask similar questions about modernity and city life. Admission is free. 333 E. River Parkway, Minneapolis.
Nov. 19: “IM/PERFECT SLUMBERS” — The M, St. Paul. Coming to the M’s window galleries is a series of installations by textile artist Katya Oicherman that focuses on “the historical and the contemporary state of sleeping and being in bed,” per the museum. Along with window displays, Oicherman and other local artists and activists will also create visual and sound installations and host events through April 30, 2023.
ALL SEASON
“Revolution à la Mode: Fashion and Music in Revolutionary France” — Mia, Mpls. On view for free from now until March 5, 2023, Mia is debuting selections from its collection of hand-colored French fashion periodicals from the 1700s. Plus, during the 1790s, these magazines sometimes included musical scores, and Mia partnered with a violinist and musicologist to recreate these long-lost pieces of music.
Also at Mia through the fall are exhibitions by local artists Monica Sheets, Teo Nguyen, Joshua McGarvey, and more.
“Paj qaum ntuj / Flowers of the Sky” — Walker Arts Center, Mpls. Local Hmong artist Pao Houa Her presents a solo exhibition of photographs of Hmong communities cultivating cannabis and other crops near Mt. Shasta, in California. In addition to showcasing Hmong people’s resilient connections to the land through photographs, Her has also created an audiovisual installation inspired by kwv-txhiaj, or Hmong song poetry. It’s on view until Jan. 22, 2023 and is free to view with required timed Walker entry ticket.
“Capturing the Pristine: Minnesota Artist Peter Ustimchuk” — The Museum of Russian Art, Mpls. Born in Ukraine in 1967, artist Peter Ustimchuk is a landscape painter — and also owns a construction company in Minnesota. His works are on display through Jan. 15, 2023. Also at TMORA through the fall: ongoing show “Say No to War: Political Cartoons by Ukrainian and Russian Artists” and the special anniversary exhibition “TMORA: 20 Years.” All are on view with regular museum admission: $14 for adults; $12 for seniors; $5 for students and military; free for children and members. 5500 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis.
“Piotr Szyhalski: We Are Working All The Time!” — Weisman Art Museum, Mpls. Szyhalski, a Polish-born designer and Minneapolis College of Art and Design professor, creates multimedia art, performance and ephemera as a form of speech and resistance. His most recent work is COVID 19: Labor Camp Report, a series of 225 hand-drawn posters processing the daily churn of news surrounding the pandemic, racial injustice, and other social crises.
