The Ford Family Gallery at White Bear Center for the Arts features numerous rotating exhibitions throughout the year. The gallery is free and open to the public.
Upcoming Exhibition
Confession and Discretion
May 29 – July 12, 2018
Opening Musical Event: Monday, June 11, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Closing Reception: Thursday, July 12, 6:30 – 8:30 PM with artist’s talk at 7PM
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen and Margo Selski are artists working in disparate media, yet each explores personal narratives regarding childhood memories, life experiences and family stories. The former (a paper sculptor and book-binder) and the latter (a painter of oils) relay their narratives via haunting and humorous figuration and meticulous attention to detail.
Perhaps the most evident commonality between the artists’ work is an interest in costume history… more specifically, the shared use of the Flemish ruff. Many of Selski’s characters don such over-sized neckwear, making reference to classical European portraiture. For Selski, the ruff is both decorative and functional. Its purpose is to elegantly conceal the secrets of the subject or modify one’s behavior. Rasmussen’s three- dimensional facsimiles of the ruffs symbolize limitations or cultural restraints. Similarly, the pages of Rasmussen’s wearable ruffs contain fragmented texts, only to be deciphered by the maker.
Other more subtle relationships exist between Rasmussen’s and Selski’s work. Both are interested in the tensions created by formal and conceptual polarities, such as the realistic and the fantastic, the traditional and the contemporary, the familiar and the foreign, the secure and the perilous, the masculine and the feminine, the sobering and the whimsical, and the beautiful and the repulsive.
Although each artist tells deeply personal stories through their work, both artists admit that a certain amount of information is always retained or obscured. This is done through tangible practices (like harboring secret notes in pockets and hemlines) or through more immaterial means (such as conjuring visual metaphors to disguise painful details or to veil an individual’s identity). The resulting exhibition is an intimate glimpse into the lives of the two artists, through visually engaging and emotionally powerful work.
Upcoming Exhibition
Natural Reflections
Project Art for Nature
July 19 – August 28, 2018
Artist Reception: Thursday, August 2, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Project Art for Nature (PAN) is a group of artists and illustrators from Minnesota and Wisconsin working independently and collaboratively to create artwork which promotes stewardship of threatened natural areas in our region. Each participating artist focuses her/his work on an individually chosen area of land in need of protection or conservation related theme for a 3 year cycle. A portion of all sales from PAN shows are donated to an organization working to protect natural areas. Natural Reflections is the culminating show for PAN’s fifth cycle. We hope that our exhibit inspires you, the viewer, to look, listen, see and hear the need to protect and conserve vital natural areas around you.
Participating PAN artists:
Marj Davis, Denise Friesen, Kim Gordon, Emily Gray Koehler, Wendy Lacska, Suzanne Lewis, Tom McGregor, Cynthia Starkweather-Nelson, Christine Olson, Laura Pereira, Bonnie Ploger, Teri Power, Robyn Beth Priestley, David Spohn, Diane Wesman, Vera Ming Wong
See pages 6 & 7 of the Summer Class Catalog for related classes and events for this exhibition
GALLERY HOURS
Monday: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 8:30 PM
Wednesday: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Thursday: 9:00 AM – 8:30 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Call 651.407.0597 for additional hours
