The M is a gem!

The M is a gem in downtown St. Paul, MN. Formally called the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the M is located in the Pioneer Endicott Building on Robert Street. It has a quiet, lowkey entrance that Erik and I almost missed as we walked from the parking garage to find it a couple of weeks ago.

We entered a spacious lobby and were immediately greeted by a volunteer guide and a giant abstract painting in black, blue, and white called “The Moon Within” by Brian Frink. What a wonderful painting!

In the photo I took of it, you can just see the corner of a modernist chair in turquoise that coordinates with the painting. With Erik’s interest in modern furniture and our past experience with restoring mid-century modern furniture for resale, he had to know who made the chair. There were several throughout the lobby. He snapped a pic of one by the front window.

Later, he tried unsuccessfully to get a photo of the tag underneath on one of the chairs tucked in a quieter corner. (With great restraint, he refrained from flipping the chair over to read the tag.) I’ll spare you the blurry photo, but he was able to identify the chair as the Orange Slice® designed by Pierre Paulin for Artifort. Yes, this particular chair is turquoise, but Orange Slice refers to the shapes of the back and seat, not the color.

 

The M currently has two main exhibits, Queering Indigeneity and Here, Now.

We started with Queering Indigeneity, which featured a variety of works by Native artists exploring gender and Native culture.

As a fiber artist, there were many pieces in this exhibit that caught my eye. First up was Madeline Treuer’s quilt made of fabric she had on hand. I have been following Madeline’s and her father Anton’s Ojibwe Word of the Day videos for a while, so it was fun to recognize her name on the exhibit label and see her artistry.

I was also taken with Noah Polk’s “Shuuka’úul Xaanáak, Xavík”, a large beaded necklace/cape. Shuuka’úul Xaanáak means “beaded necklace/cape” and Xavík means “two” in the Quechan language. It had to take a tremendous amount of time to create this cape out of seed beads, but it isn’t the only one by Noah in the exhibit. He made a second one, just as large and intricate as this one.

Another item that I appreciated for its intricacy was a butterfly made of multiple colors of seed and other beads on a black velvet background. Called “Little Spirit,” this jewel of a piece was made by Zoe Allen with her sister Sadie Allen.

All of the art in Queering Indigeneity had a complexity that drew me in for further study, even if at a glance they seemed simple. This theme continued through the Here, Now exhibit in the galleries in the rest of the museum. The M is not a huge museum. Its scale is perfect for providing plenty of art to study but not so much art that you feel like you can’t get to it all.

Here, Now feature works from the museum’s permanent collection, but they are displayed in a way that they speak to each other across time, form, cultures, and styles. So, it’s not got a bunch of abstract paintings in one room, landscapes in another, and pottery or sculptures in another. The one exception is the gallery devoted to the art of George Morrison. The M has the largest institutional collection of George Morrison works in the world. Even in the gallery with Morrison works, there was a piece by Louise Nevelson.

Here is the George Morrison piece that was my favorite in the exhibit, as much for the story behind it as for its visual effect. It is one of his “wood paintings” and is made of driftwood collected by Morrison and his children and friends.

The M has a couple of grand halls that feature a lighted stained glass ceiling above them, which is eye-catching on its own but also sets off the art to great effect.

I’m going to wrap this post up by mentioning two pieces at either end of the hallway pictured above.

The large painting seen straight on in the photo above is “Path to the Manitouweh” by Rabbett Before Horses Strickland. If it feels like a Renaissance painting, that is by design. Strickland used the techniques of European Renaissance and Baroque painters to create paintings that illustrate Anishinaabe themes. This painting features Ojibwe spirits. Like Renaissance painters of yore, Strickland painted himself into the scene, facing the unfolding of the birth of the universe. (I’m honestly not sure which one is Strickland as there are a couple good candidates.)

This grand painting has so much going on that it takes time to study it thoroughly.

The same can be said of the sculpture at the opposite end of the hall. There is a lot going on in Judy Onofrio’s “Deep Water,” and that’s an understatement.

Every angle of this sculpture gives you something new to see.

 

Isn’t this marvelous?

As I was examining the photos of this piece and the Rabbett Strickland piece at the other end of the hall, I realized both have sea creatures – Strickland’s has sea turtles, Onofrio’s has fish and shells. They are speaking to each other across the expanse.

I was also thinking about the artistry of both pieces and how, to my mind anyway, they are as magnetic as the Mona Lisa.

If you want to see great art, look no further than the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, MN. The M is a gem! And admission is free, though donations are always appreciated.