Past Shows

Find past exhibit videos and artist talks on our YouTube page!

This exhibition of paper quilling artwork by Nikki Besser (Mizpah, MN) depicts surreal and fantastical stories related to the human experience. Quilling is the art of manipulating and arranging small strips of paper into detailed designs and images. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of strips go into the completion of one piece. 

John Bauer (Grand Rapids, MN) believes in second chances. His sculptures are constructed from all sorts of salvaged stuff — steel, wood, toys, plastic, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, trophies, and much more! Through his creative process, Bauer transforms these useless or unwanted materials into playful and heartfelt works of art. 

Drawings, paintings, and more from the whimsical, weird, and wonderful mind of Scout Humphrey (Deer River, MN). 

Diane Levar (Grand Rapids, MN) taught high school art for forty years. Now retired and focused on her own artistic practice, she paints watercolors that reveal her love for the changing seasons in northern Minnesota. In this exhibition she presents a collection of her paintings alongside studies and pages from her sketchbook to give viewers a window into her creative process. 

Sam Zimmerman / Zhaawanoogiizhik, a Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe direct descendant, pairs his paintings of northern landscapes and traditional clan animals with stories in Ojibwemowin and English to share cultural teachings about Ojibwe sky knowledge. The exhibition is a celebration of the dark sky, natural history, and contemporary storytelling. 

Amy Varsek (Duluth, MN) creates abstract sculptures using found materials. Influenced by a background in biology, Varsek’s work reflects her interest in animals and anatomy while also offering a commentary on the state of our natural and artificial environments.

The MAC’s annual juried exhibition celebrates variety and rewards excellence among Midwest regional artists. The juror, Aaron Spangler, reviewed over 140 submissions to select the 35 works which make up this year’s exhibition.

Through fiber, cyanotype, and other mediums, Karen Goulet (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) creates an homage to water that evokes memories of immersing and emerging from the clear waters and fierce storms which tell stories of her life.

Anika Hsiung Schneider’s work represents her Chinese-self through an American understanding of Chinese identity. She subverts, reclaims, and mirrors Europeans' invention of chinoiserie, an imitation and interpretation of Chinese motifs and techniques in art. Interweaving kitchen objects, self-portraiture, animals, and botanical elements, Anika's work creates a Chinese American fable that explores identity and culture and reframes our understanding of Chineseness.

This exhibition is part of a year-long celebration of the Duluth Fiber Guild’s 50th anniversary. It highlights the contributions of over 20 members past and present in weaving, spinning, dyeing, knitting, and felting. 

Moira Villiard (Duluth, MN) and Carla Hamilton (Pittsburgh, PA) created this immersive installation to examine the experience of waiting for a bed and the inaccessibility of social services and mental health care for people in crisis. Presented in partnership with Grand Rapids Area NAMI.

Now in its fifteenth year, the MAC’s popular “Little Big Show” will include dozens of artists with works that are 10” or smaller and priced at $100 or less. Any artist may submit a single piece, which results in a vibrant showcase of local and regional talent that makes this exhibition an annual favorite for artists and visitors alike. Alyssa Swanson (Cloquet, MN) is this year’s featured artist and will show miniature embroideries from her collection “Ruminate,” which explores emotions and experiences that lie below the surface.

Marva Harms (Pengilly, MN) has spent a lifetime working to balance her role as an art teacher with that of a professional artist. She has taught art in many academic settings and held workshops en plein air throughout the northwoods, including her Floating Studio Workshops near her home on Swan Lake. In this exhibition she shares her creative journey over the past 50 years and her love of capturing the play of light on water – reflections.

Layl McDill (Minneapolis, MN) creates sculptures combining found objects with millefiori slices of polymer clay. These works, which offer layers of intrigue and discovery, playfully celebrate the vital species and community members that make up our complex web of life. 

This exhibition of ribbon skirts showcases the artistry of regional Indigenous makers and highlights how these garments represent powerful and creative expressions of personal identity and cultural connection.

Shaun Chosa creates vibrant paintings that are expressive interpretations of historical and contemporary photographs. He lives and works in Ely, MN, and he is a Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa citizen. 

Charles Alberti was born in 1945 and attended schools in Chicago from elementary through university education. He has had varied careers over the years but continued to create art regardless of other full and part-time positions. He has lived in northern Minnesota for the past thirty years. This body of paintings reflects Alberti’s interest in exploring mathematical concepts.

This exhibit pairs the drawings of Aaron Squadroni (Grand Rapids, MN) with the woven antler baskets of Cathryn Peters (Hudson, WI) for a two- and three-dimensional exploration of sculpture incorporating local materials. Squadroni uses steel and mine rocks to portray mine pits as works of art -- accidental sculptures on a massive scale. Peters creates functional and sculptural vessels using antlers, natural materials, and traditional weaving techniques. 

This series of paintings features bold colors and contemporary design elements in a celebration of traditional pow wow dances of the Great Lakes region. 

Robert Martinez (Riverton, WY) grew up on the Wind River Reservation and his artwork is influenced by his Northern Arapaho heritage as well as the icons, myths, and stories of the American West. He combines historical imagery with intense, vibrant color and contrasting shades of light and dark in his work in order to engage the viewer and confront modern themes. 

Peter Jadoonath (Shafer, MN) has been a ceramic artist for over 20 years. He creates “pots that are cartoons and cartoons that are pots,” with imagery and themes drawn from daily life and mythology. The stories built upon the pots explore the sometimes uncomfortable comedies of life with narratives that can be mundane, trivial, fantastic, humorous, and bold. 

Terri LaDuke (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) displays the bright and uplifting paintings of her “Coloring Book Series.” 

The MAC’s annual juried exhibition celebrates variety and rewards excellence among Midwest regional artists. This year’s juror, Leah Yellowbird, selected works from over 120 submissions. 

View sculptures and watercolor paintings by Duane Goodwin and new works by Leah Yellowbird in painting, beadwork, quillwork, and more.

Gordon Coons creates fumage art using cedar smoke. His images have a strong sense of design and pictorial crispness that belies the tangled layers of history sitting beneath the refined surfaces. The process of burning cedar and transferring smoke to paper is inspired by Coons’ Anishinaabe heritage, and his work explores the intricate relationships, multilayered stories, and overlooked histories of the modern world.

Rick Kagigebi (Lac Courte Oreilles) has created blankets for ceremony, gifts, and commissions for over forty years, providing comfort, protection, and healing. 

Using memories and materials collected along the Mississippi River and surrounding landscapes, Lisa Truax (Pickwick, MN) creates ceramic sculptures that are visual abstractions of land, bodies of water, geology, and topography. Through the merging, melting, flowing, and fusing together of elements, the kiln serves as a transformative tool and mimics the reclamation processes of the earth.

The Little Big Show is MAC’s annual miniatures exhibit. Artists are invited to submit artworks that are no larger than 10 inches in any dimension. Submissions include ceramics, textile art, collage, watercolor, acrylic and oil paint, drawing, and more. Over 70 artists submitted work to the 2022 Little Big Show.

Through twelve watercolor and Chinese ink scroll paintings that illustrate the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, Nancy X. Valentine (Fergus Falls, MN) tells the story of her family’s immigrant experience in rural western Minnesota. The body of work, though deeply personal, is filled with the relatable themes of duty, filial piety, sacrifice, resilience, and overwhelmingly, love. 

Eclectic posters and detailed reduction block prints are on view in this exhibit by Mary Bruno, which is an expression of her love for the art and craft of letterpress. 

Kent Estey is a contemporary artist whose paintings feature bold colors and a variety of mediums including acrylics, oils, ink, and metals. Some of his most recent works use birchbark, Lake Superior stones, and a variety of metal pieces which add interest and dimension to his pieces. Kent is inspired by the late George Morrison, whose work gave Kent the permission to create contemporary and abstract pieces while honoring his Ojibwe heritage.

Through an exhibit of soft sculpture and woodcut prints paired with video installations, Helen Dolan (St. Paul, MN) depicts both public and private views through a lens of hyper femininity. The works, created with traditionally female materials and methods, combine pastel hues with controlled excess to explore themes of loneliness and solitude and reclaim domestic spaces.

Independent journalist Georgia Fort’s photography documents her work covering protests for racial justice and voting rights. This exhibit is presented in partnership with the City of Grand Rapids Human Rights Commission. 

In this exhibit, Russ White (Minneapolis, MN) offers a survey of his recent portraiture. His work consists primarily of large colored pencil drawings and mixed media collages. Through his creative practice he uses photorealism as a springboard to abstraction while creating work that unpacks the privileges and prejudices around identity and ideology.

This showcase exhibition celebrates the folk traditions of Finland and Scandanavia that are carried on by artists and craftspeople across northern Minnesota. Highlights of the exhibit include a collection of folk art woodcarvings by Oiva Bakkenta and displays of fine craft by the members of the Range Fiber Arts Guild.

This exhibit highlights five native tree species of northern Minnesota through a display of traditional forest-based crafts curated by retired forester and birch bark enthusiast, John Zasada. By showcasing the materials and methods used by artists, the exhibit merges information about how trees grow with how different parts of the tree are harvested and used for a range of purposes – such as timber production, food & medicine, baskets, and carving.

Ashley Hise and Lucas Anderson are Duluth-based potters who celebrate the process of transformation inherent in ceramic art by creating works that juxtapose ancient traditions with contemporary expression. As artists, they are inspired by Lake Superior, an association which is conveyed through form, function, and design. 

Lynn Anderson’s artistic journey has involved forays into nature, interwoven with formal art training. Her photographs celebrate what is uncertain, abstract, and unknown in nature: she abandons the clear focus of the camera lens to capture essential colors and forms in the botanical world. Through this work she encourages the viewer’s connection with eternal and transcendent forces.  

Work and art come together in this showcase exhibition. MAC staff members from the past 10 years were invited to submit works for this celebration of the creative individuals who strengthen and inspire the work we do in the community. From ceramics and jewelry to digital art and painting, a wide variety of artistic practices will be represented. Join us to celebrate the people who have been at the forefront and behind the scenes at MacRostie Art Center for the past decade. 

In 2019, Gillian Bedford moved from Philadelphia, PA, to Bemidji, MN. This body of work was created during her explorations of her new home, and the paintings reflect the fresh sense of freedom that was stirred by this new landscape. Bedford’s paintings serve as a reminder to listen to the honest voice within to find the joy, pain, and blessings that unfold in life. 

The MAC’s annual juried exhibition celebrates variety and rewards excellence among Midwest regional artists. This year’s juror, Clarence Morgan, selected works from over 120 submissions.

This exhibit features new work by Clarence Morgan, juror of the 29th Annual Juried Exhibition, and Isa Gagarin. Through drawing and painting (Morgan) and mixed media works on paper (Gagarin) both artists explore layers of meaning in the subject, creation, and composition of their works.

Blair Treuer (Bemidji, MN) creates fiber art that explores the role that Ojibwe traditional cultural practices and beliefs have played in shaping her family both as a collective and as individuals. As a white woman and the only non-native person in her immediate family, this body of work is about her reflections as an outsider and the emotional rollercoaster she often rides as she stands fixed on the outside, but privileged enough to look in.

Paper quilling is an art form where strips of paper are rolled, glued, and shaped together into various forms to craft decorative designs and artistic images. Nikki Shull (Mizpah, MN) takes this art-making process to fascinating and joyful extremes, creating scenes that are familiar in subject and extraordinary in their complexity.

Vern Northrup (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) uses photography as a tool to educate viewers about the rhythm of nature, the preservation of tradition, and the relationship between resilience and sustainability. Akinomaage: Teaching from the Earth follows the cycles of the year in Naagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac) and celebrates the gifts each season brings.

Diamond Knispel (Laporte, MN) creates paintings inspired by the biodiversity of the natural world. Her works capture the vibrant colors and textures in unseen and imagined moments in the northern forests. Through her exhibit, she encourages viewers to tread lightly and look carefully at the wonders of the

“Unfolding Odyssey” offers an invitation to join Karlyn Atkinson Berg's creative journey through her recent series of works including a new panorama of eight side-by-side panels. Together, they comprise a still expanding landscape; an imaginary place of visions, treasures, color, and mystery.

Sometimes big ideas come in small packages. Now in its thirteenth year, the MAC’s popular “Little Big Show” includes dozens of artists with works that are 12” or smaller in any dimension and priced at $100 or less. The exhibition is open to any artist to submit a single piece, which results in a vibrant showcase of local and regional artistic talent and makes this an annual favorite of the MAC’s exhibit calendar. The 2021 Little Big Show will feature a collection by the enigmatic local painter Jim Zasoski.

Corey Olson creates vibrant paintings and drawings that utilize every inch of available space. Repeating patterns and shapes draw the viewer into a corner-to-corner exploration of each piece. His work is an expression of his unique perspective as an artist with autism and developmental disabilities. 

In Flights of Fantasy: Birds, Nature, and Art at Play, Susan Feigenbaum combines her appreciation for birds and nature with her art. She studied birds in five different habitats to create the handbuilt ceramic pieces on display. The abstracted compositions give viewers a fresh look at Minnesota birds and where they live. 

Jesse Dermody is a poet, musician, and sculptor living in the woods of northern Minnesota. His exhibit “Strange Forms” will display a collection of his large, dynamic sculptures created from driftwood, roots, barn boards, stones, animal bones, and other found objects that he collects on his daily hikes near his home north of Duluth, MN.

National Youth Art Month is observed each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. This year, MacRostie Art Center is celebrating with an exhibit showcasing work by current and former eighth grade students in Mrs. Kragthorpe’s art class at Robert J. Elkington Middle School.

In a new series begun in 2020, fiber artist Dave Browne creates mixed media, wall-hung, bas-relief pieces using the fiberglass mesh of common window screen material. The pieces are part of his ongoing commentary on and critique of the invasive digital ecosystem that causes many to literally lose touch with the palpable analog reality we actually live in. 

Monika Lawrence teaches photography and photojournalism at Bemidji State University. Her focus is on people in their environment and people’s impact on the environment. When she moved from Germany to Bemidji, MN, in 2008, she became drawn to the beauty of the monochrome, shape-shifting snowscapes and the evidence of people living their lives amidst harsh conditions. 

In “Interior Intimacies,” interdisciplinary feminist scholar, writer, and visual artist Kandace Creel Falcón engages the themes of home and belonging through a series of mixed-media paintings. With a focus on interior spaces shaped by exterior forces, they explore the gendered expectations of private and public spheres.

The Grand Rapids Arts and Culture Commission’s artist residency program is now in its eighth year. It creates opportunities for the community to interact with artists through a public studio space on the third floor of Old Central School. To-date, thirty different artists have participated in this program. In this exhibition, 2020 Artists in Residence Abbey Blake and Kirsten Forsgaard will show a collection of works created during their 6-month residency.

The MAC’s annual holiday marketplace returns with a new selection of handmade, original art by local artists and makers. From paintings and pottery to woodworking and wearables, the creativity of our community is on display!

Quinton Decker (Missoula, MT) is an emerging Indigenous artist whose current body of work is a series of paintings built off his background in ceramics and the foundations of his education in the arts. This exhibit of colorful, large scale paintings is inspired by expressionism, graffiti, and his nostalgia for childhood memorabilia.

Dan Root (Grand Rapids, MN) is a lifelong creator and community supporter. When he isn’t sharing his love of chess and his artistic talents with the local elementary schools, he enjoys creating functional, detailed spearing lures and decoys at home in his workshop. Root is famous locally for his wood and aluminum decoys, which always sport a vibrant array of hand-painted patterns and colors.

Ashley Kolka-Lee (Duluth, MN) makes small-scale cut paper collages out of magazine paper that explore the landscapes and human-built environments of the north woods. In the past few years, Kolka-Lee has pursued the desire to expand her subject matter beyond northeastern Minnesota to the broader north woods eco-region. Her work explores the region as a subject not only for the obvious reason that home falls within it, but also because of the current climatic, economic, environmental, and socio-cultural challenges we face together.

SEEN is a prison portrait and poetry project—but more importantly, it’s a Minnesota portrait and poetry project. The exhibit is a collaboration of We Are All Criminals, the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, and the thoughtful, intelligent, humble, and deeply gifted writers on the inside.It challenges and disrupts mass incarceration by clearing pathways for people behind bars to have their voices heard, faces seen, and humanity recognized—and for people on the outside to reckon with the inhumanity of our country’s mass incarceration mass disaster.

In the summer of 2018, Areca Roe (Mankato and Minneapolis, MN) photographed around Fairbanks, Alaska, where rising temperatures are affecting the permafrost below.  As a photographer, the visual manifestations of the changes captivated her.  Some houses that rely on permafrost as a stabilizing factor are slumping, and the shifting ground is altering areas of forests to become tilted or "drunken," a term used even in the scientific literature to describe the areas of forest destabilized by permafrost thaw. The resulting photographic series serves as a powerful metaphor for the far-reaching and destabilizing consequences of climate change.

Michael Weatherley (Elbow Lake, MN) is a contemporary printmaker working with monoprints and block prints. His images are characterized by vibrant colors, material elements, and stark black lines. This exhibition will feature a series of large-scale wood, linoleum, and mixed media prints on two- and three-dimensional surfaces. His work focuses on subjects that bring to mind the natural world and are inspired by everyday events that can provoke memories, create emotions, and connect the past to the present.

For the past year, Summer Scharringhausen (St. John, IN) has created 40 paintings that serve as the visual journal of one mother, to share her experiences and open a dialogue about others’ motherhood experiences. There are many parts to motherhood that are rarely discussed in public and mothers are often misjudged by others. Because of this, new mothers often feel overwhelmed, confused, and even depressed. This body of work is about success and failure, love and depression, support and judgment, joy and exhaustion.

The 28th Annual Juried Art Exhibition features a collection of local and regional artworks juried by Laura Youngbird. This juried exhibition includes 24 different artists from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Manifestation, the signature piece and title of this exhibit by Laura Youngbird (Breckenridge, MN), is a take on Native Americans dislocation and white migration westward, in a response to —or an alternate understanding of —the concept of “Manifest Destiny”. Laura Youngbird is an artist and art educator as well as the first and recently retired Director of Native American Art at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota. She has her Master’s in printmaking, and works in mixed media-drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics. The themes in her work originate from experiences her family and particularly her grandmother had while at boarding schools and issues that surrounded their assimilation into non- Indian culture.

Art of the Grain is a collection of formally trained and self-taught wood artists from Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Each artist’s work tells a story, reflecting on the artist’s passion and what processes they use to make their unique pieces. The exhibit includes works by the following wood artists: Richard Helgeson, Jason Holtz, Craig Jentz, Craig Johnson, Dale Johnson, Roger Knudson, Mark Laub, Steph Lunieski, Laurie McKichan, Ed Neu, Greg Stevens.

Line Weight is a mixed media exhibition featuring the work of Bradley W.M. Benn (Edina, MN) and Gary Liubakka (Hibbing, MN).Well-known throughout the local area, both have worked with the MAC in the past including participating in the annual Juried Show as well as the Art Shop. As a potter, Benn’s work includes decorative fish representing Minnesota and international environments. Liubakka’s work moves between line drawings and acrylic paintings of angling and wildlife.

Watermedia artist Elizabeth (Liz) White has been a MAC member, instructor, and advocate for the arts in northernMinnesota for over fifty years. Her passion for teaching,learning, and exploration in painting has influenced her own practice and that of many local artists. This exhibit celebrates the unique elements of her style including a bold color palette and a fluidity between the figurative, landscape, and abstract.

During this time of physical distancing for community well-being, we know that all people are deeply impacted socially, economically, and bodily. Yet, our communities have exponentially recognized the importance of the arts and access to creative relationships. This exhibition features work across many mediums and disciplines, showcasing how our community turns to art as a tool to survive, cope, and heal during uncertain times. 

Bringing into Being is a group exhibition featuring work that uses clay as a medium for interpreting one’s relationship with nature and climate. The participating artists in this exhibition include Ashley Hise (Duluth, MN), Ellie Bryan (Minneapolis, MN), Mary Augustyn (Bovey, MN), Karen Olson (Grand Rapids, MN), Joan Beech (Bovey, MN), and Lenore Rae Lampi (Duluth, MN).

During the 2019-2020 school year, students at Keewatin Elementary school worked with MacRostie Art Center and local artists Aaron Squadroni and Lea Freisen through an artist residency program. Each multi-media piece in this showcase of the residency projects explores the young artists’ individual development of identity and self-awareness.

Serenity Barden is a realism oil painter who lives in northern MN. She is driven to authentically capture the world around her.  Barden is a completely self-taught artist with no formal training at all. She has been creating realistic paintings since 2017, capturing life like landscapes, still life, and portraits. Even though she hasn't been painting all that long, her artwork speaks of a maturity well beyond the time she's been painting.

Radioactive brings together two related bodies of work: photographs from the Atomic Tourism series and large-scale drawings from the Containment series. Together, these pieces tell a story of our relationship to radioactive material and its presence in our lives. The work investigates how our past informs our present, how the act of tourism can be so much more than sightseeing, and how Americans are drawn to our landscape.

Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee) artist located in St Paul, MN. Each digital piece in Myles’ collection consists of hundreds of stacked layers, gradients and shapes. Myles incorporates her talent in design with in-depth research, telling the history of the land as well as the oral traditions of her people.

For the holiday season, the MacRostie Gallery and MAC Art Shop combine into the Northern Spirit Shop, a unique local shopping experience. This annual holiday marketplace and exhibition celebrates the diverse and talented artists that live and work in northern Minnesota. A wide variety of new work from local artists is displayed, including jewelry, carved wooden bowls, pottery, drawings, wooden toys, birch bark weaving, hand-dyed scarves, paintings, and more. The MAC also carries a number of local books, CDs, and DVDs.

Through carefully constructed spaces, Morgan Mercer invites the viewer to adopt a childlike curiosity, fascination, and desire to explore the places she creates. Each of her oil paintings begins with a meticulously built collage that is printed on transparency paper, projected on the canvas, and drawn. This layering and abstraction is designed to engage the viewer in a dialogue of exploration and discovery, and to create the feeling of a physical space despite a flat canvas. Morgan Mercer is a Twin Cities-based artist with a BA in Journalism and a BFA from the University of Minnesota. As a journalist and artist, her work often crosses disciplines to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Lisa Bergh (New London, MN) is a studio artist, co- founder of The Traveling Museum, advocate for the rural arts and culture movement, and Executive Director of the Hutchinson Center for the Arts. Her most recent collection, titled Loosely Based on a True Story, uses abstraction to examine the cerebral and aesthetic weight of emotions. This activity is funded in part by a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council with funds provided by the McKnight Foundation. 

The Indigenous Invitational, curated by Colleena Bibeau and Kayla Aubid, brings together indigenous arts, language, and culture in order to inspire future generations. “Beyond Borders” includes  work by prominent artists George Morrison, Hillary Kempenich, Jonathan Thunder, Moira Villiard, Wesley May, Leah Yellowbird, Breanna Green, and Lucas Reynolds.

Stephanie Frey is an artist based in Minnesota. She received her BFA in Illustration from the College of Visual Arts and is currently working as an elementary art teacher and freelance illustrator. Many of her images highlight an urban landscape though the ordinary moments of her day-to-day life. Her current collection of drawings and paintings aim to represent the artist’s immediate and past life by calling attention to the small moments in a day. 

Dan Anderson (Grand Rapids, MN) is a filmmaker and installation artist. His interest in film began as a student at Grand Rapids High School, and he began hosting regular “Film Nights” at the MacRostie Art Center between 1999-2001. He earned a BFA in Film Studies from the University of Colorado in 2005 and an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from Alfred University (NY) in 2015. His current exhibit “Concepts of Self” is a collection of documentary, narrative and experimental works, both new and retrospective.

Cameron Zebrun (Minneapolis, MN) is a multi-media artist whose artwork reflects his interest landscapes and how they are transformed by natural forces. “Atlas” explores his fascination with the systems humans invent to study and interrupt, catalog, and harness forces of nature. The visual languages of cartography, meteorology, and science are major devices in his stand-alone multi-medium pieces.

The 27th Annual Juried Art Exhibition featured a collection of local and regional artworks juried by Sam Baardman. This juried exhibition was open to artists of any medium who are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota.

Sam Baardman (Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA) is a photographer and musician whose work investigates the bonds between human and nature, and the historical, mythical, political, and economic relationships we have with water.. In “Immersion,” Baardman explores his personal relationship with water, and his journey to healing from his own encounters with the water.

This exhibit celebrates the 35-year teaching career of Meg Ojala, Professor of Art at St. Olaf College, with a body of new work – a photographic exploration of bogs and fens. This exhibition is a meandering visual and poetic search through ecologically crucial peatlands in Finland, Ireland, and Minnesota. The installation of photographs, text, and prints of these captivating ecosystems envelops the viewer in their paradoxes and unfathomability.

Athena LaTocha, born in Anchorage, Alaska, and currently living in Brooklyn, NY, is an artist whose monumental works on paper explore the tenuous relationship between man-made and natural landscapes. As MacRostie Art Center’s inaugural Visiting Artist, LaTocha will be creating a site specific installation using iron spatter and influenced by the intersection of landscape and industry on the Iron Range.

Tracy Krumm (St. Paul, MN) is a studio artist working in metal textiles, forged steel, found materials, pigments, fiber, resin. She is a McKnight Visual Arts fellow, and art educator. Her work integrates hand-constructed textile processes with found materials and forged steel to comment on labor, identity, human connectivity, and cultural production. Her current work investigates the intersection of creative experience, simultaneous occurrence, and transformation. The manipulation of form through low tech and high tech processes, along with explorations in material studies, are at the core of her research.

“A Common Thread” is an Itasca area fiber art collective of accomplished artists who gather together to represent the diverse scope of form and techniques that fiber art encompasses. Their newest exhibition, Fiber Jungle, reflects each artist’s newest creative explorations related to the theme including a co-created work by the group. As the featured artist of the collective, Diane Rutherford presented her latest batik works referencing lunar cycles.

Austin (Gettysburg, PA) is originally from Rathdrum, Idaho and was educated in the Northwest.  He is a figurative painter interested in contemporary narratives in which human need, desire, and its exploitation are interwoven. “Levitate/Gravitate” is a series of life-scale portraits painted in watercolor.  These works discuss the human experience, through an exploration of visual cues that suggest floatation. Individuals portrayed in these paintings appear to be experiencing types of liberation from the most basic constraint, the reality of gravity. While these depictions often seem uplifting, they also suggest a dichotomy between freedom and constraint.

In May, the MacRostie Art Center’s Minnesota Gallery was be filled with miniature-sized artworks from more than 50 artists. The artworks were no larger than 12 inches in any dimension and priced at no more than $100. Mediums included ceramic art, sculpture, textile art, collage, watercolor, acrylic and oil paint, drawing, photography and more. Lea Friesen was our 2019 featured artist. Her collection “Human is Human” invited us to reconnect with our humanity through a diverse collection of intimate portraits.

The annual exhibition, Six McKnight Artists, features new work by 2017 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists recipients Xilam Balam Ybarra (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Mic Stowell (Minneapolis, Minnesota), as well as 2016 McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists recipients Kosmas Ballis (Florida), Eva Kwong (Ohio), Forrest Lesch-Middelton (California) and Anthony Stellaccio (Maryland). This exhibition supported by the McKnight Foundation and Northern Clay Center, showcases the success of each artist’s fellowship or residency.

Vernal Bogren Swift (Bovey, MN) is a batik artist and storyteller who travels frequently to a Pacific Island. She learned her craft in Indonesia but the work is clearly her own now. Inspired by the odd movements of humans, animals, and tectonic plates, Vernal associates behavior with place. A dye palette gained from tree barks, vegetable rinds, and indigo was developed over many decades. These warm permanent colors identify her batik stories and convey how these stories connect to current social and personal events.

Andy Messerschmidt’s March show "Agroccult" consisted of a body of over 800 paintings. This collection involved landscape paintings depicting the fetishization of Earth and the scars this has left upon the planet's soil. These scars are now venerated and shown off like battle scars or allegorical tattoos.

Mary Beth Magyar’s exhibit “Analogous” included a collection of her works in ceramic, metal and wax. The exhibit consisted of fifteen to twenty ceramic hives. The hives were smoke treated and had varying textures. Each hive was hand-built and unique to its counterparts. The exhibit was designed to promote environmental consciousness and emphasize the critical role bees play in Earthly life. Rituals and cycles have been central to Magyar's work, as she used smoke and organic materials in various stages of decay to pair the rituality and cyclical nature of death.

Working with a variety of mediums such as drawing, photography, and printmaking, Susanna Gaunt (Duluth, MN) uses her exhibit “Reconfigure” to analyze the human condition through a philosophical and scientific lens. A recent graduate from the University of Minnesota - Duluth, Susanna received a BFA in Studio Art, with an emphasis in Painting, Drawing and Printmaking. She also holds a BA degree in Philosophy from Boston College.

Naomi Hart (St. Cloud, MN) grew up in the northern wilds of Minnesota where the natural world became her education and her refuge. Hart uses symbolism from nature to tell the story of humanity in a manner that bears witness to the connective threads we share. While dark and introspective, Hart’s work in "Intimate Voodoo: Matters of Heart” maintains a sense of hopeful wonder and joy. The viewer is quickly pulled into the story and the many layers within each piece.  

Saulaman Schlegel (Minneapolis, MN) is a multidisciplinary artist. Their work explores themes of gender, objectification of the artist, the object, and the body. The work reckons with history, up-bringing, and the challenges of the artist in relationship to ideologies that place emphasis on normalized behavior. Saul's current work seeks to create a space where visitors may enter into dialogue and activity aimed to stir questions about gender norms and to offer new lenses through which to view these questions. Their exhibit "Inter/Veil" includes an interactive installation, performance, and resulting artifacts/art-objects. 

Ralph Hanggi Jr. (Deer River, MN) will be exhibiting his "Business as Virtue-Tondo" series, otherwise known as “Busyness.” This series includes a collection of his 4ft acrylic works on circular canvas as well as works on paper and smaller works on canvas. Ralph Hanggi Jr. carves and sands his own canvases by hand in his studio, and uses them to generate “tenants”, or concentrated dialogues on fundamental concepts in art, such as hard edges, shape motifs, color combinations, and linear passages. In artfully documenting and presenting these discussions, Ralph Hanggi Jr. reaches full activation of the picture plane on his canvases. Each tenant in “Busyness” reflects Hanggi Jr.’s extensive educational and artistic background. He has exhibited across the country as a painter, and has been actively producing work and teaching art since 1976. 

In this exhibition, Alison Aune shared her densely patterned and colorful mixed media paintings inspired by Nordic textiles, designs, and symbols. She created these works to honor her Minnesota-Swedish-Norwegian forbearers and other artists in aprons. In this way, she is working within the framework of a feminist aesthetic—honoring women’s contributions to folk art by reviving and reinterpreting traditional designs into a contemporary context.

Starting the day after Thanksgiving and continuing through the month of December, the MacRostie Gallery is transformed into a holiday marketplace. This annual exhibition celebrates the diverse and talented artists that live and work in northern Minnesota. It’s also an opportunity for MAC members and patrons to find unique, handmade gifts during the holiday season and make purchases that support both local artists and MacRostie Art Center.

Peter Gordienko (Swatara, MN) is a self-taught artist who has recently released his first novel. Gordienko’s novel, “Hobos of Honey Town” takes the reader on a surrealistic journey through the trials, hopes, and human nature of a large American city of a long-ago era. His exhibit will use 54 vibrant paintings to reflect the story within his novel as well as the stories of individual characters he has met over the course of writing this exciting epic. Read more about Gordienko’s novel, and purchase the ebook by clicking here!

David Brian Dobbs (Grand Rapids, MN) is an artist working across all mediums. He received his BFA and MFA from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in Painting. In his show “Intertranslations,” each painting is a pixelated screenshot of American cinematic culture. Dobbs uses his paintings as “historical objects” to provide a critical lens through which to view history and how digital technology has transformed our paths to the present- as it continues to shape our future.

Douglas Ross (Minneapolis, MN) earned his BA in History from Carleton College in Northfield, MN. He went on to Minneapolis College of Art and Design to earn his MFA. Over the years, Ross has been inspired by the beauty of Northern Minnesota. He has had his landscape works featured in nearly 280 exhibitions since 1962, and continued this tradition by displaying his paintings of the Iron Range at MacRostie Art Center in October of 2018.

Three different artists explored environmental impact in this group show, titled “Earthly Concerns.” David Luke used photography and digital manipulation to make visible the imminent ecological transformations in Minnesota’s northern boreal forests due to climate change. Linda Snouffer’s interpretive printmaking captured the grass movement of prairie scenes and created forest scenes with grasses melding into trees and back into prairie again. Nancy Stalnaker Bundy’s photography included architectural remnants and artifacts from former mines as well as their surrounding landscapes. As a group, the works examined the juxtaposition between the protected and the vulnerable, the comfortable and the violent, the relaxed and the analytical.

For over 10 years, MacRostie Art Center has partnered with Itasca Life Options, an organization serving adults with developmental disabilities in the Itasca County area, to deliver weekly art classes in the MAC’s studios. In 2018, thanks to a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, MAC and ILO expanded their partnership to include more classes and community art events. This exhibit, titled “In All Directions” showcased the results of the new directions explored by the Itasca Life Options artists.

“Ambiguous Connections” was a shared exhibition between painter Aaron Olson-Reiners and three-dimensional artist Nicole Havekost. Olson-Reiners used abstract imagery and intuitive process to create his paintings that express the struggle for personal meaning and authenticity. Havekost created bodies and materials that mimic textures, colors, and surfaces of biological forms. Together, these artists’ works explored ideas about personal identity, self-awareness, contradiction, and ambiguity.

The exhibit included works by thirty-five different artists from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin in two- and three- dimensional mediums. Exhibited works were selected from over 100 submissions in this annual event that celebrates variety and rewards excellence among regional artists. The juror, Pauline Sameshima, selected first, second, and third prize awards in the two- and three-dimensional categories. Guests at the opening reception also voted to select one artwork for the “Peoples’ Choice Award”.

2018 Winners Included:

Two-Dimensional Winners

1st Place - "Jasmine with Laurel Wreath" by Thomas Page (Oil on Canvas)

2nd Place - "Sticky Fingers" by Sue Brown Chapin (Watercolor)

3rd Place - "Gander" by Mary Myers Corwin (Pastel Chalk)

Honorable Mention - "Sunset" by Carys Church (Wax on Paper)

Three-Dimensional Winners

1st Place - "Winter Grass Out By Carrington" by Jon Offut (Blown Glass)

2nd Place -  "Vessel" by Laurie Jacobi (Felted Wool)

3rd Place - "Backpack" by John Zasada (Woven Birch Bark)

Honorable Mention - "Underworld Scrolls" by Charles Evans (Wax, Paper)

People's Choice Award Winner

“Waves” by Leah Yellowbird (Acrylic on Canvas)

Pauline Sameshima (Thunder Bay, Ontario) is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. Sameshima works with researchers across disciplines, using the arts as a way to research and promote conversations. She translates ideas from research she is studying into other arts modalities, hoping that in the translation, new ideas or ways of thinking emerge. Her exhibit title is a haiku; inspired by the data collected in two of her research projects: one on teacher creativity and the other on women’s birthing experiences.

Marlene Wisuri (Duluth, MN) received her Bachelors degree from the College of St. Scholastica and her Masters in Fine Arts and Visual Design from University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth. Wisuri’s exhibit "The Cost of Living" explores very personal themes of identity and family life. The exhibit features 20-25 works of framed origami made from her parents cancelled checks drawn on the Bovey Bank starting in the mid 1950s, as well as memory jars also made with recycled personal objects.

Joshua Wilichowski (Stillwater, MN) is the son of a Midwestern auctioneer, and thus spent most of his early life observing the intimate relationships people form with the objects around them. In his exhibit "Know It When You Know It" Wilichowski displays his intricate watercolor paintings and scupltures of aged, beat-up pickup trucks and automotive parts in order explore the relationship between masculine culture and vulnerability. He creates visual allegories that document the search for identity and worth within the submission of societal pressure.

Keith Thompson’s exhibit, “Watermedia Expressions”, conveys Thompson’s lifelong love of drawing and Minnesota wildlife.  Although he does not consider himself restricted to the title of wildlife painter, Thompson continuously revisits themes of family, travel, and wildlife to reflect his values. “Watermedia Expressions” showcases all of Thompson’s most recent works in watercolor, acrylic, and oils. Keith Thompson (Grand Rapids, MN) studied art at Itasca Community College, the University of Minnesota, and Bemidji State University. Thompson has been a contributing part of Itasca County’s art community since its origins. 

Kimberly Benson describes her style of Dutch still life painting as a form of “chaos management.” Her works come alive with noticeable texture, vibrant color, and meaningful abstraction. In her own words, Benson states that she desires to create paintings that are visually overwhelming; that play with viewer’s understanding of space, form, and illusion. The exhibit “Rite of Spring” showcases paintings that are not only physically immense, but also tackle immense subjects such as mortality and trauma- some of the major concepts behind the genre of Dutch still life painting. Kimberly Benson (Minneapolis, MN) received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, MN. Benson went on to University of Wisconsin-Madison to fulfill her Masters of Fine Arts. She graduated in 2015 and has since been participated in a myriad of solo and group shows, exhibiting her knowledge, talent, and love for this specific genre of painting. 

Jonathan Thunder's show, "New Heroes of the Old World", explores themes of identity development and introspective exploration. He explains, “My work explores identity and internal dialogue through story and characters. I depict expressive characters whose emotions and thoughts manifest viscerally in their physical form. The bodies of my subjects often appear fragmented, animalistic, or partially obscured. My art acts as the scrapbook recording an evolving identity. Through my subjects, I can exaggerate the villains and heroes that make up my self-image or the worldview as seen through my lens. My cultural identity fuses with my identity as an urban dweller. These paintings are vignettes by nature, a glimpse at a moment in a story that neither begins nor ends on the canvas.” Jonathan Thunder (Duluth, MN) is a painter and digital media artist. He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from the Art Institutes International Minnesota.

The 2018 Little Big Show will showcase over 30 unique pieces, each under one square foot in size.  Many local artists will be participating in this open exhibition, including artist Jane Latimer (Grand Rapids, MN) who has provided the following statement describing the inspiration behind her work: "I have always thought painting was like music. These are songs from the places that have moved me, expressed in paint and water. I like to think that I sing with paint and brush and paper."

The annual exhibition "SIX MCKNIGHT ARTISTS", features new work by 2016 McKnight Artist Fellowship recipients Nicolas Darcourt and Sheryl McRoberts, as well as 2015 McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists recipients Kathryn Finnerty, Lung-Chieh Lin, Helen Otterson, and Joseph Pintz. This exhibition, supported by the McKnight Foundation, showcases the success of each artist's fellowship or residency.

"Variations" by Natalia Himmirska, is a visual tour of the artist's history, travels, and non-linear personal growth over the past ten years. Natalia Himmirska (Bemidji, MN) was born in Moscow, Russia and and graduated with an MFA from Fine Art Faculty of the Moscow Technology Institute. Since receiving her degree she has taught in universities around the world, including Bulgaria and the United States. She later travelled to the U.S. to further her studies at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and Maryland Institute College of Art. All the while, Himmirska has been mastering printmaking and oil painting through creating her own work. She writes, "This exhibition that I call Variations represents crossroads on that straight line of the creative impulse. In many ways, I continue to make new works that themes and concepts which stayed with me for decades."

"Threshold" conveys artist Andrew Nordin’s exploration of abstraction through the geographical and architectural theme of rural decay.  Nordin describes the title of the show as representing the point in which a picture gives way to what is taken to be un-representable. In his own words, Nordin elaborates on how the etymology of the word "sublime" is key to understanding his collection of paintings. Paraphrasing from author and art critic James Elkins, Nordin says the word originally means “up to the threshold”. He writes, “This, to me, is the area of painting I am investigating, and with this project, illustrating: The sublime feeling when confronted with the stark nakedness of rural decay, and how it can translate into abstract painting."

In the exhibit "Comfort & Entanglement", ceramic artist Erin Paradis examines and remembers meaningful encounters she has with what she calls “seemingly ordinary structures, spaces, and objects” in her daily life. She writes, “I experience moments of clarity in those different encounters, moments of both stimulation and provocation. Through exploring the re-occurring forms, lines, shadows, patterns, materials, and compositions that I am attracted to, I am on a constant quest to replicate the sensations I experience."

"Over the Years: A 30-Year Career Retrospective" displays the experiences artist John Kolb has culminated throughout his personal and professional life as a painter. Kolb's exhibit demonstrates the endearing, intricate, haphazard nature of relationships and experiences gathered over the course of one's daily life. He writes, “My work represents the struggle to bring meaning from interaction of materials and processes...The work looks rapidly executed, but each action is carefully studied before completion. Only when every part aids in the purpose of expression is the work finished.” 

Turning Tide showcases artist Jeffrey Hansen's latest textural, colorful abstract paintings. Hansen's work creates uniquely captivating imagery of abstraction that encompasses Abstract Expressionism and Color Field theories and applications. He describes his process of painting by writing, "I blend, liquefy, and texturize- applying many laters of paint; thus, transforming the paint into melty, airy, watery, textural, dreamy hints of nature. From nothing other than the colors that I have chosen, I create imagery that captures a blurry, paused-motion quality of something tangible.”

Kreft's solo exhibit conveys her belief that abstracting patterns is a process of transformation. She incorporates images of culture and nature found in her everyday experience by using inspiration from photos of both her diverse urban neighborhood and the natural landscape. These images become blueprints for her paintings. She writes, “My paintings evolve through multiple layers. Carefully painted lines are spread over an expressive and disjointed under painting to ensure a unified entity.”  

Anderson's exhibited work features an interpretation of the roles that adaptation and optimism play in a species’ existence and evolution. These ideas are represented in functional, wool, felted rugs and hangings.  She writes, "In the craft of feltmaking, my goals in were to create piecework that allows for more specific design and to make strong, sturdy pieces of functional felt. While some of the rugs tell the stories of species’ adaptations and hopeful survival, others focus on the positive outcomes of my own limitations and intentional attitude about moving forward with the work.”

"Birds!"is a collection of oil paintings by Duluth artist Becca Mulenburg. This exhibit showcases some of the birds that have drawn attention to her over the past few years. Each of the bird paintings stems from a personal experience, from a Yellow-rumped Warbler in Minnesota’s Glendalough State Park to a Western Willet on the Gulf of Mexico. Commonly focusing on individual birds versus flocks, Ms. Mulenburg brings the viewer in to see, perhaps, a little bit of personality in the wildlife that surrounds us every day.

As an artist, one of Scott West's main concerns lays in the expression of process through a layered narrative. He does this not only through painting in front of an audience, but showing process in the paintings themselves. As he builds up a piece, West leaves areas open to reveal what is underneath, acknowledging every layer of the painting. These acknowledged layers create their own narrative. They tell the story of the artist's journey through the work. Fragments of pencil lines, paint drips, and fields of under-painting are all visible in West's best work. He leaves a map to his entire process thus creating a narrative beyond the immediate subject.

Craig Clifford attempts to transform common objects so they become more than everyday forms and images. His process includes casting functional and found objects along with a three-dimensional collage technique to transform them into rich tableaus that use color and texture to alter the perception of space and draw the viewer into a complex experience.

Gordon Coons is a mixed-media artist who displayed his woodcut prints, vibrant duct-tape images, and Ojibwa woodland art style paintings. His show, Expressions of My Journey, was  inspired by Ojibwa petroglyphs, images, and stories from birch bark scrolls. These paintings are sometimes described as x-ray vision. Artists paint their subjects with heavy black outlines and what is felt or perceived to be inside to represent a kind of spirit or source of power.

Cathy Durso investigates the circular and cyclical ideas that come to mind through various configurations of painted and stitched circles on canvas in her show, Satellites. Inspired by circles of all kinds—tiny (seeds, cells, grains of sand), enormous (planets, stars, galaxies), and intangible (the circle of life, the cycle of the seasons, the rhythm of a beating heart)—her work speaks to the interconnection between all things. Her process involves a contrast between loose, energetic painting techniques and slow, meticulous hand-sewing, which keeps her paintings balanced and compelling.

"We Are All Criminals" challenges society’s perception of what it means to be a criminal by turning the lens from the 1 in 4 people in the U.S. with a criminal record to the other 75% percent – those who have not been burdened with an official reminder of a past mistake.  Participants tell stories of crimes they got away with. The participants are doctors and lawyers, social workers and students, retailers and retirees who consider how very different their lives could have been had they been caught. This exhibit was part of a collection of events taking place in the Grand Rapids area through the month of September 2017 that aimed to inspire empathy and ignite social change. 

The Minnesota Gallery hosted a unique exhibit organized by MacRostie Art Center in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Individuals who are currently incarcerated and have taken art classes through the education program at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud were invited to submit works for exhibition.  

This annual event celebrates variety and rewards excellence among regional artists from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota in both two- and three-dimensional categories. Marva Harms selected first, second, and third prize awards in the two- and three-dimensional categories and guests at the opening reception voted to select one artwork for the coveted Peoples’ Choice Award.
 

Award Winners

1st place 2D: Tom Page
2nd place 2D: Duane Barnhart
3rd place 2D: Leslie Barlow

1st place 3D: Mary Beth Magyer
2nd place 3D: Jeremy Jones
3rd place 3D: Laurie Borggreve

People's Choice: Becca Mulenburg
Honorary Mention 2D & 3D: Cindy Stitt

Exhibiting artists included: Leslie Barlow, Duane Barnhart, Bradley Benn, Kimberly Benson, Sandra Boreen, Laurie Borggreve, Nancy Stalnaker Bundy, Dawnette Davis, David Dobbs, Constantine Dorn, Anne-Marie Erickson, Tyler Evin, Kristin Grevich, Ralph E. Hanggi Jr., Chelsey Jo Johnson, Jeremy Jones, Kelli Lien, MaryBeth Magyar, Becca Mulenburg, Jennifer Nelson, Aaron Olsen-Reiners, Tom Page, Jenae Porter, Wesley Rabey, Dawn Rossbach, Sandy Schildt, Jeremy Simonson, Stephanie Stevens, Cindy Stitt, Richard Thouin, Christine Tierney, Brittany Trushin, John Ulrich, Liz White

Pictured: Leslie Barlow

Marva Harms is a local artist and art educator who has taught art at in many school districts, art history at the college level and holds workshops in Minnesota, including her Floating Studio Workshops on Swan Lake. She has set out to capture her beloved view of the northeast corner of Swan Lake through 365 miniature paintings - one for each day of the year. So far she has completed 100 paintings. Come see her impressive progress!

"My oil paintings are created from life in the purest method of Impressionism. Color is everything. It is used to model form, dictate temperature and achieve a richness to the big, simple shapes. My work is high-key, bright and expressive."

Pictured: Sunset, Nov 13

This weaving, fiber, basketry and beadwork invitational exhibition highlights the best natural materials and talent our north woods have to offer. Exhibiting artists include:
John Zasada, Emily Derke, Nate Johnson, Cathryn Peters, Leah Yellowbird, Shannon Lucas Westrum, Eve Sumsky, Kristin Majkrzak, Susan Vann, and Dawnette Davis.

Mollie Oblinger’s beguiling landscapes expose the vulnerability of the waywe undermine our natural environment with imagery plucked from her interest in animal tunnels and cellular anatomy. By exploring unique locations, in this case: the Great Basin, her work reflects a set of discoveries specific to that place.