Please join us for an Artist Reception for our current exhibit at NCTC on November 21.
Immersed in Color Inspired by Culture an exhibit open through November 21. This colorful exhibit includes 29 pieces of art created by four artists in acrylic, watercolor, beading, collage, and an award-winning hockey stick design.
NWMAC Showcase Specialist Trey Everett explained, "Our latest exhibit features three Native American Minnesota artists and one non-Native artist. It's a fantastic display of multifaceted creativity. Acrylic, watercolor, beading, mixed media, and college are all part of this unique exhibit."
You won't want to miss this incredible exhibit open through November 21 at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. An artist reception will be held on Thursday, November 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Refreshments will be served. This event is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Please join us!
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Announces
Immersed in Color Inspired by Culture
Open Through Thursday, November 21
Featuring the Artwork of Shawna Boulette Grapentine
With Joan Kauppi, Therese Masters Jacobson, and Candace Sam
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls
Artist Reception Thurs, Nov 21 from 5:30 -7:30 PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of Immersed in Color Inspired by Culture an exhibit open through November 21. This colorful exhibit includes 29 pieces of art created by four artists in acrylic, watercolor, beading, collage, and an award-winning hockey stick design.
NWMAC Showcase Specialist Trey Everett explained, "Our latest exhibit features three Native American Minnesota artists and one non-Native artist. It's a fantastic display of multifaceted creativity. Acrylic, watercolor, beading, mixed media, and college are all part of this unique exhibit."
You won't want to miss this incredible exhibit open through November at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. An artist reception will be held on Thursday, November 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome to attend this free event.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Artist Shawna Boulette Grapentine is a Cree-Ojibway from the Metis community of Manigotagan and is a member of the Hollow Water First Nation. She is known for using silhouettes of nature and vibrant colors in her custom paintings. Shawna’s artwork highlights the beauty of the indigenous culture, her love for mother earth and everything that surrounds her. She is the featured artist in this exhibit.
Candace Sam is from Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and White Fish Bay First Nations, Ontario. Her mixed media piece in the exhibit is a replica of a drum and is untitled.
Therese Masters Jacobson of Alvarado has four watercolor and two acrylic portraits. Therese said, "My paintings and drawings are usually water-based acrylics, watercolor, or pen and ink. I paint commissions on request."
Joan Kauppi is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation and is an Anishinaabe businesswoman. She explained that her collage pieces in the exhibit are esemplastic -- having the ability to shape diverse elements or concepts into a unified whole. “The pieces I create are simple, often pairing opposing scale, different eras, backgrounds and focal points. The transformation of merging images changes the story through simplicity.”
Watch this video for a virtual tour of the exhibit at youtu.be/UxaVpsctorQ.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8 - 5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Please call to make sure the college is open before making a special trip. Hours can change. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about this exhibit or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 280-4917 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
Please join us for an artist reception on Wednesday, September 18 from 5 to 7 PM at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. Take advantage of the opportunity to tour our current exhibit The Portrait Gallery and meet the artists who created this body of work — Pamela Edevold, Jessica Ross, Therese Masters Jacobson, and Heidi Danos. Some of the art is available to purchase. Snacks and drinks will be provided. There is no charge for this event and everyone is welcome to attend!
Artist Pamela Edevold will give a special presentation at 5:30 PM about the Native portraits. You won’t want to miss this!
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Announces
The Portrait Gallery
Open Until September 30
Featuring the Artwork of Pamela Edevold, Heidi Danos,
Therese Masters Jacobson, and Jessica Ross
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through September 2024
Artist Reception Sept 18 from 5 to 7 PM with a special presentation by Pamela Edevold at 5:30 PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of The Portrait Gallery open through September 30. This gallery exhibits 33 portraits in acrylic, watercolor, digital, and colored pencils created by four area artists. Ten of the portraits are of Native American Dancers and 13 are of dogs, cats, chickens and a horse.
You won't want to miss this incredible exhibit open through September at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. Many of the portraits are for sale.
Pamela Edevold is a realist artist specializing in portraiture and figurative painting. In this exhibit she is showcasing ten acrylic paintings featuring local Anishinaabe dancers of all ages, accompanied by their narratives of the cultural and personal meaning of their regalia. Each dancer's narrative consists of information they provided to the artist, and Pamela purposely refrained from undertaking any personal research so she wouldn't be tempted to add or subtract from what was given. All the dancers were extremely generous with sharing their images and information. Photo sessions with the dancers took place during powwows held at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shing School and the July Onigum Powwow, and one model traveled from Naytahwaush to Bagley to be interviewed and photographed. Pamela is originally from Grafton, North Dakota and lives in Bagley now. Learn more by attending her presentation during the Artist Reception at 5:30 PM on September 18.
Fosston artist Heidi Danos has four digital portraits in this exhibit. She explained, "Creating helps me shut out the noise, and sometimes even capture it. I enjoy exploring different mediums and don’t foresee myself getting boxed into a single style anytime soon, if ever.”
Therese Masters Jacobson of Alvarado has four watercolor and two acrylic portraits. Therese said, "Since relocating to northern Minnesota at fifty, I’ve continued to enjoy life as a painter, art teacher, and living an artful life in my seventies. I’ve exhibited in both group and solo exhibits in Bemidji, Fosston, Moorhead, Grand Forks, Grand Rapids, Thief River Falls, East Grand Forks, and Crookston. My paintings and drawings are usually water-based acrylics, watercolor, or pen and ink. I paint commissions on request."
Jessica Ross of Thief River Falls has 13 animal portraits in this exhibit. Jessica shared, "My companion portraits take colored pencils to a different level using both fixed and malleable qualities, with loose under tones and detailed markings. Each portrait is unique and being able to commemorate these important family members gives me a sense of pride. I believe our lives are forever changed by their presence."
Watch this video for a virtual tour of the exhibit at youtu.be/sscycjJdSII.
An Artist Reception will be held at the gallery from 5 to 7PM on Wednesday, September 18. Drinks and snacks will be available and there is no cost to attend.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8 - 5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Please call to make sure the college is open before making a special trip. Summer hours can change. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about this exhibit our website at www.NWArtsCouncil.org, or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 280-4917 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Announces
Awareness: within and without
May 30 – July 31
Featuring Artwork by Cindy Kolling and Gail Ose
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through July 2024
Artist Reception Wednesday, July 10 from 6 – 8 PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of Awareness: within and without. This exhibit features 54 pieces of artwork by Gully Visual Artist Cindy Kolling and Thief River Falls Visual Artist Gail Ose and is open through July at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
Showcase Specialist Trey Everett shared, “Cindy Kolling is a master at capturing the life cycle of plants through her pen and ink and silkscreen artistry. Gail Ose's visionary and highly symbolic work is a fascinating process as well as mesmerizing to gaze into. This exhibit is a complementary combination of two distinct styles which give careful attention to the form and the formless, what is without and what is within."
Cindy Kolling’s work includes two sets of 12 silkscreen prints of the life cycle of native plants white sage and blazing star plus other work. These are different handprints of one plant in a continuing series originating from pen & ink drawings of Cindy’s that reference her field sketches, artist’s photos, and observation experiences.
No two handprints are alike and there are no more. These original prints may be released as high quality digital reproductions later, as determined by the artist ,but the original handprint is unique and unable to be done the same again. Cindy explained, “I want to make new art that invites viewers to expand their participation in life by developing and sharing appreciation and to consider our local world with fresh insight.”
Cindy continued, “I am not a medium purist and incorporate carefully researched information into the creation of my works, most of which are created in series. Much of what I do involves fine line technical pen drawing. My drawings almost always begin with some kind of in-field observations and sketches; and very often reference my photographs. The drawings are not meant to be technical or even very realistic renderings but do have interpretive accuracy to start with and evolve from there. Many of my drawings are taken further into hand printed pieces. I often work on carefully selected recycled fiber paper with quiet colors of hand-screened inks. My frames are repurposed “thrift store finds”, or custom-made by an area woodworker from reclaimed wood. I like mixing the old and new concepts to create something fresh. It is the result of experimenting with what one has; what one knows, and where one wants to go. The process is a work in progress.”
Gail Ose is a visionary artist and founder of Serendipity Art Hub based in Thief River Falls, where she lives on a farm with her husband, LeRoy, and their two Great Pyrenees dogs Carly and Thor. In her studio classroom and workshops, Gail offers painting classes taught from the perspective of Heart, Soul, and Spirit while nurturing authentic, creative expressions regardless of talent or experience. Gail weaves her passion for creativity and spiritual connection into her painting practice and throughout her life and leads others into uncharted areas of their creativity, both inward and outward, to live and create more authentically.
She explained, “I am honored to be paired with Cindy Kolling as one of the showcase artists in this exhibit and very grateful to the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council for supporting me and working with me in my endeavor to bring this dream of mine into the light as an emerging artist. It is my sincere hope that my paintings touch and inspire something inside visitors as they explore their unique images. Each of my portal paintings are sacred acts of allowing myself to be a vehicle for sharing an energetic message and each is infused with symbolic meaning designed to carry a specific energy of intention cohesive to its message. Each of my portal paintings are exercises in communing with spirit to bring forth the unseen realm and bridge it with the visible in the form of a painting. My portal paintings usually have a lot of symbology that usually invites the onlooker into wonderment and curiosity. They usually provoke introspection.”
Watch this video for a virtual tour of the exhibit at youtu.be/Rcys2dLpwlg
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at Northland Community and Technical College on Wednesday, July 10 from 6 – 8 PM. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event. Many pieces of art in this exhibit are for sale. You are welcome to purchase at any time and pick up when the exhibit ends.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8 -5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Please check to make sure the college is open before making a special trip to see the exhibit. Summer hours can change. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
If you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Announces
Fiddle Tunes, Fiber Folk & Prairie Prints
Featuring Jeanne Griffin O’Neil and Erin Jeanne O’Neil
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through April 2024
Artist Reception Wednesday, April 24 at 6 PM — The O’Neil Family Band will perform
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of Fiddle Tunes, Fiber Folk & Prairie Prints Featuring Jeanne Griffin O’Neil and Erin Jeanne O’Neil. This exhibit is open through April at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
East Grand Forks Artist Jeanne O’Neil explained, “The focus of this show is the celebration of Erin's recently completed book, Twenty of Plenty, in which twenty of her original fiddle tunes are transcribed. We are both folk musicians and visual artists, and it is fitting to bring these forms of artistic expression together, as the tunes and art are both inspired by the rural landscapes we live in.”
The newest prints in this show come from a series of sketches made over the past summers on Jeanne’s land. “Walking the fields and pathways every day, year after year, the colors, contrasts, textures and lines of trees, grasses, sky, river are impressed in my mind, creating an accumulated knowledge of these places. The making of each print creates a deeper knowing and a stronger connection to that knowing.”
Jeanne’s daughter Erin O’Neil learned to play the fiddle by the age of seven. Erin plays by ear and the Twenty of Plenty tune book project was an effort to get some of her tune compositions transcribed so that they could be introduced into wider circles of musicians who read music. With a grant from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council through funding from the McKnight Foundation, she collaborated with a folk musician originally from Norway. The descriptions and illustration throughout the book offer insight into the meaning of the compositions. The cultural influences for these tunes include French Canadian, Irish, Scandinavian, Scottish traditional fiddle music, New England Contra Dance music, Old Time Appalachian music, and Metis fiddle tunes.
Erin also has Rag Folk pieces in this exhibit. The Rag Folk represent preservation of what has been used in everyday life and creating new lives out of old scraps and rags. The Rag Folk contain memories and essences of what has passed, and the joy of childhood carried forward and honored in adulthood. Erin started creating these pieces with a passion for recycling and reducing waste and a desire to connect with others.
Jeanne and Erin both play in the O’Neil Family Band. Erin plays the fiddle and feet, while Jeanne plays the banjo and concertina. The band holds many community dances in our region.
Watch this video featuring Erin’s music for a virtual tour of the exhibit at https://youtu.be/8lZbCEPmtik.
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at Northland Community and Technical College on Wednesday, April 24 at 6 PM. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event. There will be refreshments and live music by the O’Neil Family Band.
Most of the pieces in the exhibit are for sale. You can purchase at any time and pick it when the exhibit is over.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about this exhibit our website at www.NWArtsCouncil.org, or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
We are pleased to announce the opening of Pulled in Many Directions Photography by Andy Hall. This exhibit is open through February 26 at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
Take a virtual tour of the exhibit at https://youtu.be/81b-LEr1S8c
Andy Hall has been a full-time photographer for more than 23 years. He lives in Climax and owns Sweetlight Gallery in Crookston. According to Andy, his subject matter “varies tremendously and my techniques are ever evolving. What comes to life through my camera is all but invisible to me until I quiet my mind and allow my eyes to see the perfection in the obvious and the stunning beauty of the often overlooked. I revel in discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary!”
Of his technique and methods, Andy explained, “The photographs that you see here were created with digital cameras, a variety of lenses, a handful of filters and a tripod. I own camera gear from several different manufacturers. I print on archival photographic paper and canvas. I spray coat my canvases with a water-based UV protection that also makes them quite durable. I perform all aspects of my craft.”
There are 45 pieces in this exhibit that are either wrapped in canvas or framed canvas. All are for sale. In addition, Andy can tailor make any print to multiple sizes. All of the images in the exhibit are available in at least 5 other sizes and offered on canvas or metal, framed or unframed. He also offers paper prints that can be matted or framed to your own personal preference. Visit his website sweetlightphoto.com to view many other photographs. To make a purchase, contact Andy at 612-269-3601.
Showcase Specialist Trey Everett shared, “I have known Andy and seen him work over the years. He is all about quality. He spends hours upon hours finding the perfect shot, sometimes standing outside in subzero weather, keeping his camera and hands as warm as possible. His artwork is instantly captivating and mesmerizing. Andy is continually experimenting with subject matter, so his work is always evolving and expanding. This exhibit is a taste of the talent of Andy Hall.”
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at Northland Community and Technical College on Wednesday, January 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event. There will be live music, drinks, and dessert.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For other information look to our website at www.NWArtsCouncil.org, or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
Figures of Ghosts & Dreams: The Artwork of Stephanie Olson
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through November 29
Artist Reception Wednesday, October 18 from 6-8 PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of Figures of Ghosts and Dreams: The Artwork of Stephanie Olson. This exhibit is open through Wednesday, November 29 at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
Stephanie Olson is a public-school English teacher in Goodridge and lives with her husband and kids in rural Thief River Falls. She holds a Writing MFA degree from Hamline University. Her visual work has appeared in several group shows, including past exhibits with the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council, two This Week Only exhibits at the North Dakota Museum of Art, and a group show at the Vine Arts Center in Minneapolis.
Figures of Ghosts and Dreams includes 42 pieces of watercolor on paper, India ink on paper, and acrylic on wood, cork, and canvas. Stephanie explained, “This exhibit reflects the art that comes to me. When I sit down with an idea, with a plan, my art fails almost every time. But when I sit down with no intention, it's like a door is left open. In the beginning, my art was more abstract: lines, color, depth. Now, I have these figures. Sometimes they seem peaceful, as if visiting from a dream. Sometimes they remind me of loved ones who have passed on, like visiting ghosts. There are undeniable motifs that I can't escape: houses, snakes, dogs, cats, women. I must let it all come as it is, like the weather. I wouldn't say it's like the notion of a muse taking over, not at all. It's more like a house filling up with guests. I'm never sure how long they'll stay, but this is what I find when I manage to steal time to sit down and paint. It's always a surprise. Try it! You never know who might show up, who you might meet.”
Experience the exhibit virtually with this video https://youtu.be/nkG_lKjq71o
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at Northland Community and Technical College on Wednesday, October 18 from 6 to 8 PM. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event. There will be live music and refreshments and Stephanie will be painting during the event. Come and see Stephanie creating art while viewing her large group of expressive pieces! Stephanie’s art is available for purchase.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about this exhibit or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
Spirituality invites us to create art. Art invites us into spirituality.
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through September 29, 2023
Artist Reception Sept 27 from 6 to 8 PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of Art & Spirituality, featuring the art of Sister Denise Schonhardt. This exhibit also includes artwork by Trey Everett, Gail Ose, Elizabeth Wavra, Betsy Saurdiff, and Noah Hanson and is open through September 29 at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
Sister Denise Schonhardt of Crookston is an accomplished painter who “grew up among the hills, lakes, and trees,” which is evident in her art. She explained that her “paintings are about how colors interact, how they push and pull, how they change each other, and how they convey emotion.”
Watch the Artist Spotlight with Sister Denise here. She speaks about how spirituality influences her art and so much more!
The 35 pieces in this exhibit include oil and acrylic paintings, ceramic art, and pen and ink and depict the nuances and breadth of spirituality. Showcase Specialist Trey Everett explained, “I am very happy with our newest exhibit "Art and Spirituality." It is difficult to convey in words and sentences what spirituality is to us let alone our personal spiritual experiences. However, art, in any form, can express the transcendent. The artwork in this exhibit is highly varied and a very intimate expression of what spirituality is to each artist. Sister Denise's hypnotic and prophetic artwork gave the whole gallery a surreal orange-red tint when it was installed. The religious philosopher Rudolf Otto coined the word Numinous from the Latin word numen which means a "divine majesty" or "presiding spirit." He believed "that the essence of holiness was to invoke in the observer a feeling of awe, wonder, and even dread." He called this the "Numinous." I hope when people interact with this exhibit, they experience the numinous, a sense of peace and awe as well as a sense of unease and challenge.”
Gail Ose of Thief River Falls explained, “The canvas is a sacred meeting place for me between the seen and unseen realms.” Elizabeth Wavra disclosed, “My art is the fruits of my prayers and my contemplation of God, and my attempt to share those experiences with others.” Multilayered with meaning, Trey Everett’s works are symbolic images of stations of the cross. “These images of the stations of the cross are designed to be a meditation on themselves.” Finally, Noah Hanson’s pieces depict scenes from Dante’s Inferno and are a part of a series of 68 paintings. He shared, I wanted to connect with the text on a couple different levels. The Divine Comedy is a poem about witnessing. Dante in the story, and by extension the reader, is invited to come and see, and in seeing to make heaven and hell manifest. I wanted to bear witness and to understand the role of a witness, as such is a large part of the artists role. I also tried to put myself in the role of the poem's sinners, creating a purposefully laborious and repetitive project to give myself a taste of that kind of hell.”
Watch this video for a virtual tour of the exhibit at https://youtu.be/t_nCcw8vrPg
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at Northland Community and Technical College on September 27 from 6 to 8 PM. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM and at other times when events are held at the college. During the summer, the college may be closed on Friday afternoons so please confirm before making a special trip. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about this exhibit visit or for other information look to our website at www.NWArtsCouncil.org, or if you are an artist interested in exhibiting a body of work with NWMAC, please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Announces a
Student Exhibit Featuring K-12 Artwork from NW MN
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council Gallery
NCTC in Thief River Falls through July 31, 2023
Artist Reception Tuesday, June 27 from 6-8PM
The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) is pleased to announce the opening of a Student Art Exhibit, featuring K-12 Artwork from throughout Northwest Minnesota. This exhibit is open through July 31 at the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
The exhibit features art by area students throughout northwest Minnesota, including the schools of Sacred Heart in East Grand Forks, Crookston, Warren-Alvarado-Oslo, Kittson Central in Hallock, Ada-Borup West, Fosston, Tri-County in Karlstad, and Roseau.
NWMAC Showcase Specialist Trey Everett said, “We have a variety of collections in this gallery from "Art Inspired by Art," to Artist in Residence mask making, to written pieces that have been published, to artwork that was chosen by area art teachers. It is all quite fascinating and inspiring to walk through our gallery and just take in the quality, creativity, and talent packed into this exhibit. I am very proud of our regional students' artwork as well as art teachers, teachers, artists in residence, parents and others who help teach and inspire our students."
Watch this video for a virtual tour of the exhibit at https://youtu.be/UQX4C4upQqg.
There are 105 total pieces in the gallery divided up into four sections:
Section 1. Mask Making High School and Fifth Grade, Tri-County Schools, Karlstad / Mask Making Residency with Artist Lisa Arnold, 2023 / Photos of mixed media masks. 23 pieces with 21 students.
Section 2: Write On Roseau Community School District, Roseau / Essays for the Roseau Times-Region Newspaper from Roseau Community School District Students, 2023 / Newspaper essays NFS. There are 17 entries in this section. All were published in the paper between January and May of 2023.
Select students from Roseau Community School wrote essays of 800-1,000 words. The essays were published weekly in the Roseau Times-Region Newspaper. This project has run for four years. English teacher Kelsey Didrickson’s 12th grade college English class has contributed to this project. Artist Julie Elick explained, “This project instills the arts into our community and public life, providing a weekly place for students to enhance their writing talents. Roseau County is growing stronger each year with its encouragement of literacy. “
Section 3: Art Inspired By Art.
3a High School. This section includes artwork that was inspired by famed, as well as obscure art pieces. Students drew inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, MARINA’s song “Are you Satisfied?”, and Michael Angelo’s The Creation of Adam. One student’s work Polybius drew inspiration from an urban legend Polybius and a song by Lemon Demon called Cabinet Man. Art in this section was created by NCTC student Wyatt Bring (cat image), Ada-Borup-West student Carlie Nerhus (ceramic art), and Sacred Heart’s Sophia Modeen (skeleton hands reaching out to each other), Aalliyah Griggs (digital art of purple and pink pieces of paper), Rhilynn Leroux Peters (red/orange swirl sky painting), and Mackenzie Gjerswold (video game painting). Total of 6 pieces.
3b: Kindergarten Students. Kittson Central School, Hallock Pigeons, 2023. Kwik Stix tempera paint pens on paper 12 x 18 inches.19 pieces. Pigeons Kindergarten students at Kittson Central in Hallock created pigeons as a directed drawing of the character from Mo Willems’ books that follow the adventures of pigeon and his friends. (For example, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus). They learned to use shapes to create the character and then added a colorful background.
Section 4: General Student art chosen by art teachers. This section has artwork from Crookston, East Grand Forks, Fosston, Ada-Borup-West, and Warren Alvarado-Oslo. It features pen and ink, pencil, acrylic on canvas, mixed media, pottery, glass casting jewelry, Styrofoam prints, woodblock prints, watercolor pencils, watercolor, chalk, linoleum block print, oil pastels, aluminum metal embossing, and digital artwork. There are a total of 40 pieces in this section.
An artist reception at the gallery will be held at the end of June in conjunction with the 101 Dalmatians play at Northland Community and Technical College. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event. Stay tuned for details.
The exhibit will be open on Thursday, July 27 during the Art & Wine Walk and the musical at NCTC.
The NWMAC Gallery is located at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. The gallery hours in the summer are Monday-Thursday from 8:00-4:30 PM, Fridays from 8:00 AM to Noon, and at other times when events are held at the college. Enter through Door B, which is right next to the gallery. Visitor parking is free.
For more information about our exhibits please contact Trey Everett at (218) 745-8886 or email NWArtsCouncil@gmail.com. Please sign up for our e-newsletter on our website home page to see the latest news and grant announcements. Email director@NWArtsCouncil.org or call 218-745-8886 to reach our office during regular business hours.