Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

It's a beautiful weekend ahead, with hot weather on Saturday and possible storms on Sunday. A lot has happened in the past two weeks, including the dismantling and removal of LA artist Sam Durant's piece 'Scaffold' (2012) from the premises of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Elsewhere in the garden, the giant blue rooster has come to roost. Much of the art this weekend is taking place outdoors – and rightly so! Here are five art events to check out this weekend, June 9 & 10.

"Unloaded" at Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Exhibition opening: Friday, June 9 from 6-9pm; curator and artist talk at 8 p.m. in Auditorium 150

MCAD Main Gallery (2501 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404)

A traveling group exhibition at MCAD takes on the heavy topic of gun control and violence, looking at how the use of guns impacts peoples' lives. Some works are somber yet politicized reflections about recent violent acts, such as Adrian Piper's "Imagine (Trayvon Martin), a lightened image of his face behind a target. Other works, such as Natalie Baxter's collection of plush, stuffed-animal-like guns, suggest an emasculation of a gun as a symbol. There's plenty more works from fantastic artists such as Mel Chin, Renee Stout, and Lauren Adams, as well as lots of information about Minnesota groups that are working to prevent gun violence in this state. To read more about gun laws in Minnesota, click here http://gun.laws.com/state-gun-laws/minnesota-gun-laws.

Northern Spark

Friday, June 9^th from 8:59 p.m. to Saturday, June 10^th at 5:26 a.m.

The annual arts all-nighter returns Saturday with more than 70 artists and performers lighting up the sky and gettin' you lit (with light, that is). Spaces along the Green Line, the light rail that connects Minneapolis and St. Paul, will be illuminated by art projects — including a full-color wrap on one of the trains, "Water Is Life," by Andrea Carlson, showing an American Indian water spirit and thunderbird. The theme is "Climate Chaos/People Rising." The festival follows the sun, beginning at exactly 8:59 p.m. (sunset) and ending at 5:26 a.m. (sunrise), preceded by a launch party featuring hip-hop group ZuluZuluu. A good reason to stay up. Info at northernspark.org.

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Grand Reopening

Saturday, June 10^th beginning at 12pm noon

Garden address: 726 Vineland Place, Minneapolis, MN 55403

The sculpture garden was set to re-open last week, on Saturday, June 3, but what are plans, really, other than attempts to conceive of the future? Protests broke out on Friday, May 26^th, after Walker Director Olga Viso published an open letter to the Circle, a Native American newspaper, about Sam Durant's sculpture 'Scaffold,' which included the design from the gallows hanging of 38 Dakota men in 1862 by the U.S. government, everything changed. In one week's time, after protests and a mediation meeting between the Walker, Sam Durant, the Minneapolis Park Board, and a council of Dakota elders, the piece was dismantled and removed. It may be burned.

Brandon Kuehn: "I Want to Believe"

Exhibition opening: June 9, 6-8 p.m.

Christensen Center Art Gallery at Augsburg College (2211 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454)

Are you paranoid or paranormal? Have you seen a UFO? Whatever your response is, artist Brandon Kuehn wants you to believe. So much, in fact, that he has created a new body of work that considers the iconography of UFOs and how that's impacted people, collectively, on a subconscious level. Kuehn's work was funded by a 2015 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant. This exhibition is based on stories from about paranormal, myth and legend that he collected from around the state of Minnesota. More info here: http://www.augsburg.edu/galleries/2017/02/02/the-paranormal-art-project-brandon-kuehn/

Mark Horton: "Cities"

Groveland Gallery (25 Groveland Terrace, Minneapolis, MN 55403)