Tom Jones, <i>Commodity II</i>, 2004, lithograph, 30 x 22 inches
Priscilla Briggs, <i>Walmart, II</i>, 2008, lightjet print, 54 x 36 inches
The Hillstrom Museum of Art at Gustavus Adolphus College will host two new exhibitions from Monday, Feb. 16 to Sunday, April 19. Migrations: New Directions in Native American Art will be on display concurrently with Fortune: Photos of China by Priscilla Briggs. An opening reception will take place Monday, Feb. 16 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Migrations includes 42 works by six artists from different Native groups across the country. These artists migrate between indigenous cultures, tradition and contemporary aesthetics, and different media, to represent the Native American experience. The aim of the exhibit is to support innovative, emerging artists who, while exploring their Native heritage, are engaged in work of a more experimental nature than what is generally thought of as “Native American Art.”
Migrations features works by Star Wallowing Bull, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation; Larry McNeil, a member of the Tlingit and Nisga’a Nations; Tom Jones, a member of the Ho-Chunk Sovereign Nation; Marie Watt, a member of the Seneca Nation; Steven Deo, a member of the Creek Nation; and Ryan Lee Smith, a member of the Cherokee Nation.
Fortune: Photos of China by Priscilla Briggs features large-scale photographs by Briggs, who specializes in photography and has been a member of the art department at the College since 2003.
In June and July 2008 and again in Jan. 2009, Briggs traveled to China and the works in the exhibition are a product of her travels. She notes that these photographs “explore the retail landscape of China as the country straddles the ideological gap between communism and capitalism,” and that they consider “the nature of human desire and identity as they are shaped and reflected within the context of capitalist societies.”
Briggs’ travels to China and Museum’s exhibition of her works are supported by a prestigious McKnight Fellowship, by the Minnesota Center for Photography, by the Gamelin Endowment Fund of Gustavus Adolphus College, and by a Research and Creativity Grant, also from the College.
The Hillstrom Museum of Art is located on the lower level of the College’s C. Charles Jackson Campus Center. Regular museum hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 1-5 p.m. on weekends. The museum is free and open to the public.
For more information about this exhibition or the Hillstrom Museum of Art, go online to gustavus.edu/finearts/hillstrom or call 507-933-7200.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510