Gallery exhibitions tell big stories in a personal way – Twin Cities

As summer draws to a close, museums across the Twin Cities are turning to individual narratives to explore larger, more sensitive social issues.

How can drawings convey the experience of 37 years of continuous imprisonment? What can we learn about pre-Soviet peasant women from textiles, or about modern queer identity from ceramic works? How can art help us recontextualize history—and the way it was told in newspapers and magazines at the time?

These are some of the questions being explored in gallery shows and exhibitions this fall in St. Paul and the Twin Cities.

September

Opening hours

September 14, “O' Powa O' Meng: The Art and Legacy of Jody Folwell” – Minneapolis Institute of Art: Artist Jody Folwell “has revolutionized Pueblo pottery – and Native American art more broadly – over the past five decades,” according to the museum. This free exhibition, organized jointly by Mia and the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, spans her entire career. 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis.

September 21, “Queer Alchemy: Works by Sarah Knight — Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis: The artist, a transgender ceramicist, explores ideas of artificiality, transformation and experimentation in his work. Free admission; 2424 Franklin Ave. E., Minneapolis.

September 26, Bill Crane solo exhibition – Interact Gallery, St. Paul: Bill Crane, a deaf artist, has created ink drawings and acrylic paintings at Interact Gallery, an art space for people with disabilities, since the studio opened nearly 30 years ago. Now an artist-in-residence there, this solo exhibition presents a retrospective of his landscape scenes, portraits, and abstract works. On view through October 31, by appointment only. Interact Gallery; 755 Prior Avenue N.; schedule an appointment at calendly.com/interact-gallery.

September 28, “Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)” – Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis: Each of contemporary artist Kara Walker's 15 large-scale prints in this exhibition is paired with a woodcut illustration by artist Winslow Homer from an 1866 Harper's Weekly publication. Walker's art focuses on the people and events that were not mentioned in what was touted as a comprehensive history of the war at the time – and that remain excluded from dominant narratives today. Free admission; 333 E. River Pkwy., Minneapolis.

Sept./Oct., “Kary Janousek Solo Exhibition” — Friedli Gallery, St. Paul: Fargo-based artist Kary Janousek creates ambrotypes, a process popular in the 1850s that involves developing photographs on glass, which she embellishes with additional colored glass and other layers. Interestingly, she also sells vintage hats. Free admission; 943 W. Seventh St.

Last chances

Closing September 22, “Peasant Women of the Russian North: Heritage of a Lost Culture” – Museum of Russian Art, Minneapolis: This exhibit focuses on peasant crafts from the pre-Soviet era; particularly the durable and meaningful flax textiles that women wove. Although many of the artifacts in the exhibit date from the 19th and early 20th centuries, they incorporate thousands of years of symbolism from the time before Christianity reached Russia. Museum admission is $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, $5 for students, free for children and members; 5500 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis.

October

Opening hours

October 4-6, “Migration and Memories” – Solidarity Street Gallery, St. Paul: This unique exhibition is not confined to a single space, but spans Payne Avenue for three days. There is a gallery exhibition at 967 Payne Ave., but works of fine art, music, poetry and more will also be on display at local businesses on the East Side. Admission is free.

October 5, “A Thousand Matryoshkas” – TMORA: The museum says its collection of Russian matryoshkas is the largest in the country, ranging from “some of the earliest dolls ever made” to their post-Soviet heyday in the 1990s.

October 12, “At the Moulin Rouge – Minneapolis Institute of Art: In the 1880s and 1890s, now-iconic illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec documented Parisian nightlife in a series of colorful paintings and posters. The most famous of his works, the oil painting “At the Moulin Rouge,” is being brought to the city on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago and will be displayed alongside works from Mia's collection that are rarely shown publicly.

October 17, “Here, Now” – Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul: The downtown museum has endured a rough half-decade, but the M is bouncing back with this exhibition, the first major show of pieces from the permanent collection since 2013. This show — paintings, prints, sculptures, textiles and more by artists such as Grant Wood and Elizabeth Catlett — will be on view through 2027, so you have plenty of time to stop by. Free admission; 350 N. Robert St.

Last chances

Closing October 5, “Midwest Voices in Contemporary Glass” – Cafesjian Art Trust, Shoreview: Head to the suburban glass oasis to see the museum's first juried exhibition of Midwestern glass artists. This exhibition accompanies a larger exhibition tracing the last half century of the American studio glass movement; that exhibition runs through roughly the end of the year. Admission is free, but reservations are required at cafesjianarttrust.org; 4600 Churchill St. Shoreview.

Closing October 6, “The Art of Resistance” – Xia Gallery and Cafe, St. Paul: This exhibition features works created during 37 years of imprisonment by Zhi Kai Vanderford. The artist, writer, trans activist, and one of the first people in the country to earn a paralegal degree while incarcerated is represented in this exhibition. A central theme of the works is the dissonance between imprisonment as punishment and the friendships the artist made while incarcerated. Free admission; 422 W. University Ave., Suite 14.

Closing 13 October, “Together” – The M: This art exhibition with works by ten families – of different builds and ages – has been on display since spring.

Closing 20 October, “Women in Soviet Art” — TMORA: As part of the Soviet political project, women were not portrayed in art in traditional domestic roles or as objects of beauty, but rather as active players in the labor market and economy, the museum said. What can we learn about the true role of women in the USSR from the way these paintings depict strong female characters?

The whole season

“Pearl Lines” – Walker Art Center, Minneapolis: This exhibition by emerging artist Walter Price (b. 1989) features never-before-seen paintings. The artist's work, the museum says, “is distinguished by its commitment to history, race, and cultural awareness.” Included in required timed museum ticket: $15 for general admission; $13 for seniors; $10 for students; free for children, youth, and Walker members. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis.

“In Search of the Lost” – Weisman Art Museum: In the late 19th century, the black St. Paul newspaper The Appeal published a section with ads from family members looking for enslaved relatives who had been sold. Now, contemporary painter Christopher Harrison has created a series of speculative portraits of these individuals and families torn apart by slavery—and brought back together by education.