1. “Giants” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Nearly 100 artworks by artists of the Black diaspora shined in “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.” The show originated at the Brooklyn Museum and traveled to the Minneapolis Institute of Art this spring, shortly after Black History Month and before the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.
2. “Love Language” at the Walker Art Center
MacArthur “genius” grant winner Dyani White Hawk celebrates 15 years of art and community on her home turf. The show includes nearly 100 artworks, including White Hawk’s smaller solo pieces, monumental beadworks created with community, recent glass mosaic works fabricated in Germany and collaborative videos. It was co-organized with the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where it will be on exhibition in April. On view through Feb. 15.
3. “Lars Tunbjörk – A View From the Side" at the American Swedish Institute
Acclaimed photographer Lars Tunbjörk inspired the cinematographers of the hit TV show “Severance” with his 2001 “Office” series, an eerie, satirical portrayal of ‘90s office life. This traveling pop-up exhibition curated by the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., and the Lars Tunbjörk Foundation delighted Minnesota audiences.
4. “Mary Sully: Native Modern” at Mia
Celebrity culture and Native aesthetics inspired mostly self-taught Yankton Dakota artist Mary Sully. Harvard professor Philip Deloria, who is also her great-nephew, brought her work back, with exhibitions at the Met in New York and Mia.
5. Jonathan Thunder’s “The Artist as Storyteller” at the U’s Quarter Gallery
The Duluth-based artist creates surreal paintings that mix pop culture and Ojibwe cultural references. “Artists are dreamers,” Thunder told the Star Tribune. “We have to dip into that part of us where dreams come from and to me, it’s sort of like being taken out to sea.”
6. “Queering Indigeneity” at the Minnesota Museum of American Art
Two-spirit artist Penny Kagigebi curated an exhaustive exhibition featuring 16 two-spirit, “Native queer” and gender-expansive artists who live or have roots in the Upper Midwest. On view through Aug. 16.
7. Crop art at the Minnesota State Fair
What takes a really long time to make, requires laser focus and involves many, many seeds? The beloved Minnesotan tradition of crop art, of course. In August, 451 crop artworks at the Minnesota State Fair’s Agriculture Building wowed visitors, referencing everything from the film “Speed” to corn dogs and Pronto Pups.
8. “Puppetry! In Minnesota!!” at Anderson Center in Red Wing
This playful exhibition provided a peek into the world of puppetry in Minnesota from the 1970s to the present day through more than 80 puppets by 30 artists and several videos of puppet shows. “There’s something about puppets that is really deep in the human animal to express itself,” said Neal Cuthbert, a south Minneapolis-based artist and curator.
