Ten Twin Cities art experiences to take in this winter and spring
by Lydia Moran
February 18, 2022
Spooky and political, animated and sculpted, divined from the realm of spirits and goaded by lockdown doldrums — presenting ten visual art experiences to revamp your worldview as winter grinds to an end.
Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art
Feb. 19 - May 15
Ghosts are everywhere at the first major museum exhibition to examine the relationship between artists in the U.S. and the supernatural. Curator Robert Cozzolino spent five years traveling around the country visiting diverse spiritual communities, archives, and personal collections to offer more than 150 works from the early 1800s through the present — some of which have never before been exhibited, or even left their place of origin for hundreds of years. Why focus solely on the U.S.? In this country, "spirits are unsettled, and people have to reckon with spirits,” Cozzolino explained to press at an exhibit preview, referencing both individual spirits and the deep historical traumas of colonialism and slavery.
Works range from paintings and drawings to a tiny bottle of "spirit water” and vintage Planchettes. Some depict past paranormal encounters, while others make contact with the beyond. Many works were made in collaboration with named and anonymous spirits. Some pieces even materialized without human intervention, as with the towering "Azur the Helper, June 15, 1898," which appeared on the canvas "like moisture from the atmosphere."
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis. General Admission $20.
The Nature of Shoreham Yards
Jan. 19 - May 15
In the northeast corner of Minneapolis sits Shoreham Yards: a web of crisscrossing train tracks, grain elevators, shipping containers, wildflowers, and weeds. Riders on the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway zip past but don’t often enter. If they did, they might find what artist Gudrun Lock has: a tangle of nature and industry rich for artistic exploration. At the Weisman, Lock’s collective of creatives has installed in-process work and research focused on what Shoreham Yards can teach about consumption, pollution, colonialism, and ecosystems.
Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis. Free.
Avenues of Creation
Feb. 14 - April 16
Steven Premo’s art knows no bounds. Premo (Mille Lacs Band of the Ojibwe) is nationally recognized for his paintings, illustrations, and murals. His drawings grace educational materials used throughout public and private schools and the Minnesota Historical Society Press. He has consulted on art education with the Minnesota Department of Education and tribal schools. Premo’s first solo exhibition in the Twin Cities highlights narratives of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe people and the evolution of Ojibwe art forms.
All My Relations Gallery, Minneapolis. Free.
Piotr Szyhalski, Labor Camp
March 1
A raven pulls meat from carrion as smokestacks billow in the background under bold typeface: “Seek Truth From Facts.” A thin twig sprouts from the smooth surface of a stump: “Resist.” Artist Piotr Szyhalski’s ongoing COVID-19: Labor Camp Report project includes 225 illustrations created daily during lockdown. A professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Szyhalski uses striking graphics reminiscent of mid-century government poster art to highlight intersecting social issues of police violence, Indigenous treaty rights, voter suppression, and income inequality.
Virtual, presented by the Walker Art Center. 7 pm. Free.
16mm Experimental Animation Showcase
March 3
The Cult Film Collective are a bunch of hoarders…in the best way. They’ve spent the past six years sourcing rare 35mm films from private collections and archives. In March, the vault gets cracked open to present a strange and dazzling selection of eight animated shorts from across the globe.
Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis. 7 pm. $8.
Art of the Grain
Feb. 24 - April 1
There’s nothing like running your hand over an evenly smoothed piece of wood. Fifteen Minnesota-based wood artists exhibit their meticulous construction in Bloomington, and pieces include custom-made furniture, a music stand, and sculptures highlighting the natural elegance of wood.
Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel
March 23 - March 27
In 1947 the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, dividing Palestine into two states. Fifty-five years later in the summer of 2002, filmmakers Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi traveled together from south to north along the partition they called Route 181 — capturing new settlements, abandoned villages, and interviews with residents on both sides of the divide. Mizna presents part two — “The North” — of this three-part series virtually and at the Trylon Cinema.
March 23, 7 p.m., Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis ($10); streaming March 23–27 (pay-as-able).
Abstracproseality: Visual Notations from Dark to Light
Jan. 4 - June 30
According to Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery artist-in-residence seangarrison, there are two steps to viewing his work. The first “view” is the initial impression, experienced viscerally. Then the “post-view” happens after the brain gets a chance to decode the iconography and prose hidden within seangarrison’s abstract acrylic and mixed media explorations of African American life. Hopefully, the layered viewing experience sparks action, or “simply allows their soul to smile in agreement.”
Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery, Minneapolis. Free.
Cosmist Reconstructions - Memories of Earth
Oct. 30 - Feb. 27
Ending soon! The Museum of Russian Art is exhibiting a wide variety of work from New York-based Andréa Stanislav, including photomontages, collages, and sculptures. Stanislav explores the tradition of Russian Cosmism, a school of thought that originated in 19th century Imperial Russia, and imagined a future where human evolution merges with technological developments forever. It later became a model for the Soviet space program and Soviet-era science fiction — and for Stanislav’s oeuvre, where natural elements are woozily manipulated.
The Russian Museum of Art, Minneapolis. $14.
Mesitzaje: Intermix-Remix
March 19 - June 12
As conversations around mixed identities increase worldwide, and definitions of identity are strongly debated, seven Midwest-based Latinx artists want to understand conversations about terminology and identity through the language of visual art. Originally founded in 2000 by Xavier Tavera and Dougie Padilla, Grupo Soap del Corazón has featured the work of over 100 local, regional, and international artists to celebrate Latinx ingenuity in the upper Midwest.
The Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul. Free.
This feature is part of The Current’s 89 Days of Winter series, helping you enjoy the best of the season with weekly guides to events, entertainment, and recreation in the Twin Cities.
