The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has more than 2,600 watercolors, drawings and pastels and in its collection, but they don’t often get to see the light of day. “Marks of Genius,” a new exhibition at the MIA, is part of an effort to get more of those works on the walls and in front of Read more →
Longtime arts administrator Dixon Bond, who three decades ago helped turn around the Ordway in St. Paul, died at his home in Northfield on June 30. He was 77. A native of South Minneapolis, Bond studied at Carleton College, where he founded the all-men singing group the Knights. A career in marketing and fundraising led Read more →
Sometimes what looks like a problem is actually the door to a new opportunity. This is a lesson Minneapolis Institute of Arts curator Erika Holmquist-Wahl learned first hand when she was forced to cancel plans for a show of portraits by Henri Matisse from the Centre Pompidou in Paris. “We had been planning years in Read more →
The Monuments Men, which opens in theaters Friday, has been getting a lot of attention in these parts, and not just for its stellar cast. The movie, which details the efforts of an unlikely World War II platoon tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves, has a number of connections to Minnesota. Connection #1: Read more →
The lights are low, and the sound of chanting surrounds me. Seated cross-legged on a cushion, I gaze into the serene eyes of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, carved from wood and perched on a pedestal at the front of the room. I sit for some minutes, letting my mind relax and letting go of the chatter Read more →
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ new curator, Andreas Marks, is bursting with energy and industry. At a recent press lunch, the recently appointed head of the Department of Japanese and Korean Art took attendees on a whirlwind tour of the MIA’s new show “The Audacious Eye,” which opens to the general public on Sunday. Hee Read more →
Although he’s written and illustrated 10 children’s books, David LaRochelle has not always had a comfortable relationship with the world of art. “Even though I was an art major at St. Olaf College I sometimes felt like an imposter,” LaRochelle recalled, “because I wasn’t that interested in art history and going to museums to look Read more →
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is celebrating record attendance following a year of blockbuster shows. MIA President Kaywin Feldman announced that attendance for FY2013 is at an all-time record of 679,753 – an increase of 48 percent over last year’s total of 456,410. A lot of that is due to exhibits that were big draws. Read more →
UPDATE: Here is Euan Kerr’s radio story: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts today announced it’s received a major gift of Japanese art, totaling close to 1700 works and valued at more than $25 million. The gift comes from collectors Elizabeth and Willard Clark and the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, based in Read more →
Marianne Combs
Euan Kerr