You'd never suspect they are movers and shakers in New York's insider art world. She's a no-nonsense retired librarian, and he's an ex-postal worker who wears deliberately mismatched clothing. For decades, they've lived in a modest Manhattan apartment with their turtles, fish, cat--and more than 4,000 pieces of conceptual, minimalist, and other contemporary art. Meet Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, whose art collection has been called (by their friend, artist Sol Le Witt) "the most important in the U.S."

A portion of the Vogels' collection is now part of the Weisman Art Museum's permanent collection. Through a gift program designed by the National Gallery of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, works by 50 different artists from the Vogels' collection found a new home at the Weisman this fall. See a slideshow and hear more about the art that came to the Weisman here.

The national gift program has distributed the Vogels' collection of contemporary art throughout the nation, with a hand-picked assortment going to a selected art institution in each of the fifty states. The Weisman was chosen as the Minnesota institution. Artists whose work came to the Weisman include Lisa Bradley, Mark Kostabi, Lucio Pozzi, Alan Shields, Edda Renouf, Richard Tuttle, and many others.

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Working with visitors of all ages, and volunteer gallery guides we here in the Weisman education department (Judi and Jamee) wanted space to share some of the great questions, ideas and experiences that go down as people dig into our exhibitions. Kicking this off during the exhibition "Stories from the Somali Diaspora"--the powerful photographs by Abdi Roble seems like a perfect plan. So here are some thoughts from Judi.

Rooted in Abdi Roble's visual images that document this forced migration, I've heard some important, sincere and sometimes hard conversations take place in our galleries. Why did these families leave Somalia? Why Minnesota? What's with the Hijab? Where or what or when is "home"?

Abdi's photos are powerful and visitors have been moved by stories of violence, survival, strength and humanity. Being so close to a large portion of the Somali community in Minneapolis--our West Bank neighbors--I've been made more aware of my own cultural assumptions and unexamined fears as I met more Somalis, particularly young Somali women. It has offered a sort of education programming gut check--what is our relationship beyond campus to our diverse surrounding communities? We talk access and engagement, but do we really do it? Can we do better? We are so fortunate photographer Abdi Roble brought not only his artwork, but his enthusiasm and compassion to town, offering a foundation we have all built on.

One of the collaborative ideas that emerged was to create an ongoing, weekly art club with young kids from The Brian Coyle Community Center's summer program.

Working with Coyle Arts Coordinator Angel Peluso, each Tuesday this summer, a group of kids came over from the west bank to the museum to look into art ideas and create some work in response. We've had the help of teen artist Kendall Ray to get this rolling, and hope to grow with other neighboring community and arts organizations.

The Brian Coyle Center Art Club kids have been exploring identity, materials, architecture and visual storytelling.

We're having a blast getting to know these young artists and to share ideas with their dedicated teachers and organizers. For our last summer session we went over to Brian Coyle and helped kids make shaped hats to wear in a final celebration parade planned with Bedlam Theater. The hats...well...they got a bit tall.

Thanks to Angel for her enthusiasm and here's to our continued neighborhood collaborations!

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A genetically-modified petunia is the centerpiece of Eduardo Kac: Natural History of the Enigma, a new exhibition opening April 17 at the Weisman Art Museum. The exhibition runs through June 21, 2009. The public is invited to meet the artist at an opening reception from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17 at the Weisman.

The exhibition is the result of a three-year collaboration between artist Eduardo Kac and University of Minnesota scientist Neil Olszewski. Kac and Olszewski have created and propagated a new life form—a transgenic petunia—by fusing proteins from both a plant and from Kac himself. Kac’s DNA is expressed only in the flower’s red veins. The Weisman exhibition features the transgenic plant and prints based on the seeds produced for the project.

"The result of this molecular manipulation is a bloom that creates the living image of human blood rushing through the veins of a flower," Kac said. "This piece is a reflection on the contiguity of life between different species. It uses the redness of blood and the redness of the plant's veins as a marker of our shared heritage in the wider spectrum of life."

Continue reading "Eduardo Kac's genetically-modified petunia at WAM" »

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