MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood
Native American Artists Mark the Minnesota Sesquicentennial
Three Twin Cities organizations have joined together to present MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood. Ancient Traders Gallery, Form+Content Gallery and University of Minnesota collaborate on a symposium, artists panel and two exhibitions that examine notions of statehood, sovereignty, memory and homeland from the view of Native American artists and scholars. MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood came about as the three collaborative organizations marked the Minnesota celebration of the sesqui-centennial anniversary of Minnesota’s statehood.
MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood presents a series of coordinated events on December 5, 2008 with free shuttle bus service between venues to celebrate this interdisciplinary collaboration. Venues include University of Minnesota, Form + Content Gallery and Ancient Traders Gallery, all in Minneapolis.
More than two-dozen American Indian artists and scholars will take part in the MNdn 150 collaborative events at three venues including:
• Rethinking Statehood: Symposium and Artist Panel at University of Minnesota.
• States, Dates and Place: American Indian contemporary fine arts group show and spoken word at Ancient Traders Gallery.
• Mnisota Dakota Home: photography and video installation with artists Joseph J. Allen (Lakota-Dakota) and Mona Smith (Dakota).
More than two-dozen American Indian artists and scholars will take place in the MNdn 150 collaborative events including special presentations and appearances at each venue on December 5, 2008.
MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood collaborators include Brenda Child and Sonja Kuftinec, University of Minnesota; Heid Erdrich, Ancient Traders Gallery arts program of Great Neighborhoods! Development Corporation, and Form+Content members Leah Golberstein and Christine Baeumler; and artists Joe Allen and Mona Smith. Key support for the Form+Content Gallery exhibition and the artist panel has been provided by the Institute for Advanced Study, with additional support provided by the Scholarly Events Fund and the Space and Place Collaborative, University of Minnesota.
MNdn 150 is on the web at MNartist.org
MNdn 150: Beyond Statehood Collaborators
University of Minnesota
Institute for Advanced Study & Department of American Indian Studies
Rethinking Statehood: Sovereignty, Memory, and Citizenship. Symposium and Artist Panel at the University of Minnesota, December 5, 2008. Panelists discuss the historical, cultural, and political relationships between the American Indian sovereign governments and the United States. Organized by the Department of American Indian Studies.
University of Minnesota, Institute for Advanced Study, 131 Nolte Center, Room 140
315 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis. For more information on the symposium, visit
ias.umn.edu or call 612-654-2921
Artist Panel December 5 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Ancient Traders Gallery
Ancient Traders Gallery will be the setting for States, Dates and Place a contemporary art exhibit by American Indians. This exhibit brings together a group of established and emerging artists whose painting, drawing, photography and digital work present an indigenous perspective that marks the context of Minnesota’s statehood. Featured artists include Carolyn Anderson, Andrea Carlson, Gordon Coons, Jim Denomie, Jonathan Thunder, and Dyani Whitehawk.
States, Dates and Place opens with an artist's reception at Ancient Traders Gallery, 1113 East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, from 5-9 p.m. on December 5th. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs through Jan. 24, 2009. Ancient Traders Gallery hours are W-F, 11-6, Weekends 11-4. Group tours are welcome!
Ancient Traders Gallery is dedicated to contemporary American Indian art and the stories of American Indian people that honor connections to history. Sponsors of Ancient Traders Gallery programs include The Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Foundation, Compas/Medtronic, The McKnight Foundation and Target. Ancient Traders is a non-profit gallery and program of the Great Neighborhoods! Development Corporation.
Opening Celebration December 5 from 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Food offered to feast the spirits of art and place, Spoken Word throughout the evening.
Form+Content Gallery
Mnisota Dakota Home, a two-person exhibition of photography and video installation examining the ancestral home of artists of Joseph J. Allen and Mona Smith will take place at Form+Content Gallery, November 20 – December 27, 2008.
Mnisota is the Dakota language origin of the word Minnesota and the Dakota people have called Mnisota their home for many generations. Mona Smith’s multimedia installation, Dakota Voices, Dakota Places, focuses on the connection Dakota people have to Mnisota. The installation includes nature sounds, Dakota language, English language, and video. Dakota people speak about their homeland and their relationship to Bdote (the confluence of the Minnesota and the Mississippi rivers). Photographer Joseph J. Allen features the latest color photographs from his Dakota landscape series. Departing from the standard toolset of the documentary photographer, Allen chooses an inexpensive toy camera photograph Dakota sites. 300 dpi images of Joe Allen’s work at http://homepage.mac.com/josephjallen/FileSharing3.html
Form+Content Gallery, Whitney Square Building, 210 North 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN. For more information, visit formandcontent.org or call 612/436-1151. Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 pm and by appointment
Reception December 5 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Light Dakota fare of Wojapi and Wasna served
