Art Hounds: Art North International showcases Minnesotans' work
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Photographer and drawing student Anne Field is excited about the Arts North 26: International Juried Exhibition at Hopkins Center for the Arts. The show drew more than 700 entries from around the United States as well as six countries, and 168 are on display in Hopkins, Minn.
Two-thirds of the gallery pieces — painting, sculpture and other visual art — are by Minnesotans.
It’s the first year that the Hopkins Center, southwest of downtown Minneapolis, has administered the show.
Due to the pandemic, visitors may view the exhibition in-person or online. Field said the virtual tour of the exhibition was thoughtfully filmed, allowing you to pause in front of any of the pieces to enjoy, just as you would in real life.
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Since artist Alexis Polen moved to Hugo, Minn., a year and a half ago, she connects with Minnesota artists by following them on Instagram. She recommends the postings of Save the Boards to Memorialize the Movement.
The project is led by Kenda Zellner-Smith and Leesa Kelly, who, along with other volunteers, gather and preserve art that responds to the police killing of George Floyd. This art, painted on the plywood that covered windows in the cities during the unrest, expresses grief, rage, hope and healing. The collection consists of more than 600 panels and needs cataloguing and conserving.
Polen has been struck by the work to track down and transport art, as well as raise money to fund the project. She admires “the transparency of these women on social media [who are] taking their passion and their cause and building it into an actual movement in real time. There’s something amazing and brave about the ability to not only follow a dream but to put it out there for people to see.”
Ellen Mueller, director of the MFA program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, says you should visit the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minn., north of Stillwater. The outdoor venue features “more sculptures than you could see in a day if you wanted to,” says Mueller. “You can run into giant works that are much larger than a human. You can have very site-specific works that you walk through, into, and between.” Some sculptures clearly represent something in the real world, others are abstract.
Mueller highly recommends a visit to the free community ice rink. Next to it, there’s a new installation by New York artist Jason Peters. By day, it looks like a series of white buckets, but by night it lights up and changes colors. The rink remains open daily through February, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., weather permitting.
Correction (Jan. 21, 2021): An earlier version of this post misspelled Alexis Polen's name. The story has been updated.
