[Pictured: Kwame Brathwaite (American, born 1938), designer: Bob Gumbs, Untitled (Black is Beautiful),
1970 (printed 2018), archival pigment print. The Shared Fund, 2019.67]
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Black is Beautiful on Sunday, February 14! Learn more about the extraordinary Black artists who created art to document and honor the beauty, struggle, and resilience of Black people. Create portraits of people who inspire you using various techniques drawn from African American artists like Wadsworth Jarrell and Elizabeth Catlett. Watch a shadow-puppet show by local artist and activist Ty Chapman, and make your own shadow puppet. Sing along and hear tales affirming love from Nothando Zulu, founder of the Black Storytellers Alliance, and create your own love letter for Black Lives this Valentine’s Day. Find all activities on February 14 → link here.
Families can also pick up a free Family Day Artist Tote at Mia’s Third Avenue entrance February 13-14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., available until supplies last. You’ll find materials to make a shadow puppet, colorful portraits, and collages to celebrate Family Day.
The materials in the kit complement the Virtual Family Day program’s activities but are not essential to enjoying the activities. Click here to learn more about the items and activities featured in this month’s tote.
Award winning artist Jamie Okuma applied a Native American aesthetic to a pair of Christian Louboutin stilettos. Meticulously beaded and quilled, they are a contemporary version of highly decorated moccasins. @j.okuma researches historic artwork but updates the aesthetic to appeal to contemporary Native tastes and concerns.
Minneapolis Institute of Art: Celebrate and honor Native American heritage and contemporary culture with art, stories, videos, virtual exhibitions and more this month (and always)!
Pictured: “Towards Joy and Justice” by Isabel McLaughlin. Image description: five figures dance with smiles on their faces and patterned clothing. They are dancing in front of repeating text that reads resist, rest, rejoice, justice, joy.
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Minneapolis Institute of Art: The people have spoken! As part of this month’s Third Thursday: The People’s Poster, we received poster designs from members of the community, and hundreds voted on the design they’d like to see turned into a screen printed poster on Third Thursday. Congratulations to the people’s choice, “Towards Joy and Justice” by Isabel McLaughlin! Isabel asks, “How can we find joy and justice in this moment? How can we feel connected to a collective dream? My design came from these questions and my hope for my home, Minneapolis, and our future.”
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Drop by Mia on Thursday, September 17 from 4-6pm for a socially-distanced outdoor screen-printing demonstration by @ThePeoplesLibrary and free poster pick-up. We will also be collecting donations to help support Mia’s neighbors in Whittier. List of supplies to come.
Mia is open Thursday-Sunday from 10am-5pm. Reserve your free timed ticket to visit before you pick up your poster.
The new episode of Mia’s #TheObjectPodcast explores a big question: Can happy people make art? Long before Vincent van Gogh died young, poor, and under-appreciated, artists had gotten the message: you have to suffer for your art. But where did this template of the starving artist come from? And is there any truth to it or is it a myth, a romantic misreading of how great art is made? Search for “The Object” and listen wherever you find your podcasts, or tune in here: http://bit.ly/2DUgt3U
Here’s Vincent van Gogh’s beloved “Olive Trees,” from 1889, a year before his death, when he was in treatment St-Rémy in southern France: http://bit.ly/2kRWXZR
