FEE: Free

Wiwahokichiyapi: They Promised Things to Each Other

April 25, 2026 – February 7, 2027 | Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND

Treaties are living documents that continue to serve as legally binding agreements shaping the political relationship between Native Nations and the United States government. These agreements established land boundaries, resource rights, and reservations; they determine Tribal Nation citizenship and outline mutual obligations. The influence of treaties, and the policies surrounding them, has had a profound impact on traditional and contemporary Indigenous life, art, and ways of making and knowing.

By pairing treaties with historical and contemporary images and art objects, this exhibition explores how treaties continue to impact Native people and reverberate through Native creativity and expression.

Wiwahokichiyapi: They Promised Things to Each Other provides an overview of treaties in the United States, with a focus on those connected to our region. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Plains Art Museum partnered with Lakȟóta Archeologist Tyrel Iron Eyes and the Giiwedinong Treaty Rights & Culture Museum team, including Logan Monroe, Don Wedll, and Winona LaDuke, whose research and expertise helped shape the exhibition. Students from Concordia College’s Digital Design class also contributed to the exhibition panel design.

This exhibition, and all exhibitions at Plains Art Museum, are free and open to the public.

FEE: Free

Threads of Offering | Thương Hoài Trần

June 27, 2026 – January 24, 2027 | The Ruth and Seymour Landfield Atrium & Xcel Energy Gallery at Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND

Threads of Offering presents the work of interdisciplinary Vietnamese American artist Thương Hoài Trần, whose creative practice explores identity, family history, displacement, memory, and diasporic connection through processes of weaving and unweaving.

Bringing together two major bodies of work — Ông Bà and Made in Vietnam — the exhibition examines the emotional and cultural complexities of immigration, generational disconnect, and labor. In Ông Bà, Vietnamese for “grandparents,” Hoài Trần creates monumental woven portraits honoring their family members. Each strand of yarn is hand dyed before being woven into large-scale portraits and partially unraveled, symbolizing fragmented memories, unspoken histories, and complicated familial relationships. Standing between seven and eight feet tall, the works evoke the presence of ancestors towering over viewers in the Ruth and Seymour Landfield Atrium.

Displayed in the Xcel Energy Gallery, Made in Vietnam features garments labeled “Made in Vietnam” that the artist collected, altered, and investigated through various material interventions. One featured work documents Hoài Trần painstakingly disassembling garments thread by thread over more than 24 hours, condensed into a one-minute video critiquing the hidden labor and exploitation embedded within fast fashion production. The work also functions as a self-portrait reflecting on diasporic identity and cultural inheritance.

Born in Tây Ninh, Vietnam and raised in Emporia, Kansas, Thương Hoài Trần holds degrees from Emporia State University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Their work has been exhibited nationally at institutions including the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, The Center for Craft, and the Studios at MASS MoCA.

Gallery admission is free every day of the week.

Generous support is provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program; the North Dakota Council on the Arts; the Arts Partnership; the McKnight Foundation; The FUNd at Plains Art Museum; Giving Hearts Day donors; Spring Gala sponsors; and Plains Art Museum members.

FEE: Museum Admission

Americana: Objects that Reflect Us

July 4, 2026–January 3, 2027

Explore 250 years of American history through the stories told by everyday objects in Americana: Objects that Reflect Us. This exhibition examines how Americans have understood their nation, communities, and identities through themes of democracy, conflict, opportunity, belonging, and culture.

Featuring artifacts that reflect the evolving American experience, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how ordinary people have helped shape the nation's history and culture over the past two and a half centuries.

This exhibition was made possible through a donation from Stenerson Lumber of Moorhead and the generous support of museum members.

Location:
Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County
Hjemkomst Center
202 1st Avenue North
Moorhead, MN 56560

FEE: Free | Call for Artists

Emerging Artist Exhibition Opportunity

Submissions Accepted Now

The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center and Continental Divide Brew Pub invite emerging artists from rural Minnesota to submit artwork for exhibition and sale at the Continental Divide.

This opportunity is designed to help artists expand their audience, build their exhibition experience, connect with fellow creatives, and become part of a growing regional arts community. Artists are encouraged to submit samples of original artwork along with a brief exhibition proposal for consideration.

To Apply:
Submit artwork samples and a brief exhibition proposal to:

• Megan Shirley-Ross, Artistic Director: megan@kulcher.org

• Cyrus Bickell, General Manager: cyrus@cdbpnym.com

Continental Divide Brew Pub
32 N Main Ave, New York Mills, MN 56567

FEE: Free

Clear as Mud | Annie Lee-Zimerle and Brian Zimerle

August 1 – November 29, 2026 | Starion Bank Gallery at Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND

Clear as Mud brings together the work of Annie Lee-Zimerle and Brian Zimerle, two artists whose practices explore memory, materiality, and the quiet complexities of everyday life while reconsidering the promises and contradictions of the American Dream.

Drawing from backgrounds in printmaking, book arts, painting, drawing, and ceramics, the artists create works that reflect on domesticity, cultural mundanity, memory, and transformation. Annie Lee-Zimerle’s narrative-driven pieces examine her experiences growing up between South Korea and the American Midwest, while Brian Zimerle’s sculptural ceramics investigate the fragility of meaning through replicated objects shaped by history and material change. Together, their work invites viewers to consider what is preserved, altered, or lost over time, offering a layered meditation on belonging, cultural inheritance, and collective identity.

Annie Lee-Zimerle received her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in numerous public and private collections. Brian Zimerle holds an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and has exhibited nationally while collaborating with archaeologists and institutions on historically informed ceramic recreations.

Gallery admission is free every day of the week.

Generous support is provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program; the North Dakota Council on the Arts; the Arts Partnership; the McKnight Foundation; The FUNd at Plains Art Museum; Giving Hearts Day donors; Spring Gala sponsors; and Plains Art Museum members.

FEE: Free

Life Drawing – Open Studio

Fridays | 10:00–11:30 AM

Artists of all experience levels are invited to Life Drawing – Open Studio at the Historic Holmes Theatre in Detroit Lakes.

Life drawing, also known as figure or gesture drawing, focuses on drawing the human form in a variety of poses and levels of detail. These informal Friday morning sessions offer an opportunity to practice your skills, connect with other artists, and learn alongside Artist Facilitators from the Holmes Artist Collective.

Bring your own art supplies. All mediums and experience levels are welcome. No registration is required.

When: Fridays, 10:00–11:30 AM
Location: Holmes Art Cellar, located in the basement of the Historic Holmes Theatre
806 Summit Ave., Detroit Lakes, MN 56501

Free and open to all. No registration required.

FEE: FREE

Call for Artists: Lanesboro Arts Sales & Exhibition Galleries

Application Deadline: December 31, 2026

Lanesboro Arts is accepting applications from visual artists in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin for two upcoming gallery opportunities: the 2027 Juried Sales Gallery and 2028 Exhibition Gallery. Artists working in all visual arts media, including both 2-D and 3-D work, are encouraged to apply.

The Juried Sales Gallery currently represents more than 80 artists, with a select number of new artists added each year to exhibit and sell their work. The Exhibition Gallery typically presents five solo or group exhibitions annually, with each exhibition running approximately eight weeks.

Artists are selected based on artistic vision, quality craftsmanship, thought-provoking qualities, diverse representation, and alignment with Lanesboro Arts’ organizational values. A regional artist jury will review applications in January, with applicants notified of decisions in March.

Deadline: December 31, 2026
Eligibility: Visual artists from Minnesota, Iowa & Wisconsin
Location: Lanesboro Arts, 103 Parkway Ave. N., Lanesboro, MN

FEE: Free to Apply

Call for Art: The M Triennial: Held Here

Application Deadline: Sunday, November 15, 2026 | 11:59 PM CST

The Minnesota Museum of American Art (the M) invites Minnesota artists to apply for the inaugural 2027–28 M Triennial: Held Here, a major exhibition bringing together contemporary visual art reflecting the vitality, diversity, complexity, and cultural landscape of Minnesota.

Centered on the theme Held Here, the triennial asks artists to consider connection and belonging at this moment in our shared history: What do we hold onto to heal, endure, thrive, and cultivate a hopeful future? What do we hold in our hands, bodies, histories, hearts, and imaginations—and how do we tend to one another?

Artists working across all media are encouraged to apply, including painting, drawing, printmaking, book arts, sculpture, photography, video, film, installation, performance, sound, textiles, ceramics, and interdisciplinary forms. Approximately 30–40 artists will be selected.

The call is open to visual artists at any career stage who currently reside in Minnesota or have lived in Minnesota during the past year. Artists with significant ancestral, familial, or cultural connections to Minnesota are also invited to apply and describe those connections. Artist teams are welcome.

Applicants may submit up to three completed works, works in progress, and/or proposed artworks. There is no application fee.

Selected artists will receive a $750 honorarium, professional documentation of their exhibited work, inclusion in the exhibition publication, transportation assistance as applicable, professional installation support, and opportunities to participate in related programming.

Call Opens: September 15, 2026
Application Deadline: November 15, 2026 | 11:59 PM CST
Artist Notifications: By February 1, 2027
Exhibition: September 16, 2027–July 30, 2028
Public Reception: September 23, 2027 | 6:00–8:00 PM
Application Fee: None
Questions: info@mmaa.org | 651-797-2571

FEE: Free

Come, Go Back, Child | Aaron S. Coleman

September 26, 2026–May 30, 2027

Plains Art Museum presents Come, Go Back, Child, a solo exhibition of recent work by multi-media artist Aaron S. Coleman featuring densely layered prints, sculptural assemblages, and mixed-media installations.

Coleman’s work examines the intertwined histories of race, religion, and power in the United States, combining found imagery, historical references, pop culture graphics, and religious iconography to explore contemporary Black experiences and confront systems of white supremacy.

For this exhibition, Coleman also created new works responding to objects in the Plains Art Museum Permanent Collection, including racist caricatures, blackface imagery, and a photograph of a Ku Klux Klan figure. By altering and recontextualizing imagery and materials connected to the past, the exhibition asks viewers to grapple with the continuing legacies of racism and historical injustice.

The exhibition title draws from Dr. Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route and its exploration of slavery, ancestral loss, memory, and the challenge of confronting histories that have been erased or left unresolved.

Exhibition: September 26, 2026–May 30, 2027
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 26 | 6:00–8:00 PM
Location: William and Anna Jane Schlossman Gallery, Plains Art Museum | Fargo, ND
Admission: Free

The opening reception includes light refreshments, an opportunity to meet Coleman, and a chance to explore what Plains Art Museum describes as the largest exhibition of the artist’s print work to date.

FEE: Free

Office Gallery Exhibition: Dar Eckert

Solo Exhibition - Dar Eckert: Ceramic Works
September 28 – December 15, 2026
Lake Region Arts Council Office Gallery | Fergus Falls, MN

The Lake Region Arts Council is excited to welcome regional ceramic artist Dar Eckert to the LRAC Office Gallery for a solo exhibition of her distinctive ceramic vessels and sculptures.
Known for her raku-fired ceramics, Dar’s work is inspired by nature, the environment, politics, relationships, and her lifelong love of working with her hands. Her pieces often explore environmental and social themes through black, unglazed clay and intricate textural forms.

One of the defining elements of Dar’s practice is her open-weave ceramic “fabric,” representing the fabric of relationships, life, and the environment. Her delicate forms reflect the fragility of nature and the interconnectedness of the world around us.
Dar has also recently begun creating larger sculptures from numerous individual ceramic pieces. These works explore how people, ideas, and organizations can come together to create something larger and stronger than the individual parts.

Join Us for the Opening Reception & Artists Talk!

The LRAC is excited to celebrate this exhibition with a joint opening reception featuring the 18 artists from the group exhibition in the Main Gallery and Dar Eckert’s solo ceramic exhibition in the LRAC Office Gallery.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
5:00–6:30 PM
Artists Talk: 5:30 PM

Meet the artists, explore the exhibition, and hear directly from artists about their creative processes, ideas, and experiences behind the work.

Refreshments will be served. The reception is free and open to the public!

Gallery Hours:
Monday–Thursday | 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
Closed Friday–Sunday

We hope you’ll join us and discover the many ways artists answer the question:
What does it mean to see—and be seen—as ourselves?

FEE: Free

Main Gallery Exhibition: "Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self"

Regional Juried Exhibition | 18 Artists | 27 Works
September 28 – December 15, 2026

Lake Region Arts Council Main Gallery | Fergus Falls, MN
The Lake Region Arts Council invites you to experience “Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self,” a regional juried exhibition exploring the many ways artists see, interpret, and express themselves.

A self-portrait can be much more than a recognizable likeness. It can be intimate, symbolic, playful, conceptual, realistic, surreal, or completely imagined. Through painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and more, 18 regional artists explore identity, memory, emotion, personal experience, place, and the stories that shape who we are.

Who am I?
How do I wish to be seen?
What stories, emotions, or symbols shape my identity?
What lies beneath the surface of a portrait?

The exhibition features 27 works by 18 artists from communities throughout west central Minnesota:
Trudy Pendergast • Jennifer Aranda • Joan Jarvis • Kary Janousek • Jodi Peterson • Rebecca Krueger • Thom Tammaro • Valerie Hanson • Pamela Magnuson • Sharon Scapple • Emma Strommen • Amy Schmidt • Anna Fremont • Les Skoropat • Kaylyn Ness • Felicia Curley • Maren Kostrzewski • Eric Santwire

Join Us for the Opening Reception & Artists Talk!

The LRAC is excited to celebrate this exhibition with a joint opening reception featuring the 18 artists from the group exhibition in the Main Gallery and Dar Eckert’s solo ceramic exhibition in the LRAC Office Gallery.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
5:00–6:30 PM
Artists Talk: 5:30 PM

Meet the artists, explore the exhibition, and hear directly from artists about their creative processes, ideas, and experiences behind the work.

Refreshments will be served. The reception is free and open to the public!

Gallery Hours:
Monday–Thursday | 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
Closed Friday–Sunday

We hope you’ll join us and discover the many ways artists answer the question:
What does it mean to see—and be seen—as ourselves?

Bold and Playful Exhibition

EXHIBITION DATES: September 29–October 31, 2026
ARTIST RECEPTION: Thursday, October 15 | 5:00–7:00 PM
LOCATION: Red Door Art Gallery | 418 Dakota Avenue, Wahpeton, ND
FEE: Free Admission

The Red Door Art Gallery presents Bold and Playful, a group exhibition featuring works by six artists: Dr. David Clardy, Della Conroy, Phyllis Joos, Jodi Peterson, Ellen Sturdevant, and Laura Von Bank.

The exhibition brings together a variety of artistic perspectives, celebrating creativity, color, and playful expression through the work of these talented artists.

ARTIST RECEPTION: The public is invited to a reception on Thursday, October 15, from 5:00–7:00 PM. Visitors can explore the exhibition and enjoy a special 15% discount on exhibition artwork purchased during the reception day.

Bold and Playful will remain on view through October 31, 2026. Exhibition artwork can also be viewed online.

FEE: Free

4 Points of Light Exhibition

October 2–31, 2026

Four Points of Light brings together four neighboring artists whose studios are only minutes apart, yet whose creative voices are distinctly their own.

Working across contemporary abstraction, expressionism, mixed media, photography, impressionism, and landscape, each artist approaches the world through a different lens. What connects them is a shared passion for creativity and self-expression—and a belief in art’s ability to bring light into the world.

Exhibition: October 2–31, 2026
Location: Evansville Art Center
111 Main Street, Evansville, MN 56326
Admission: Free
Phone: 218-948-2787

Pinprick: Kara Jelinek + Tobias Zikmund

EXHIBITION DATES: October 13–November 14, 2026
RECEPTION: Saturday, November 7 | 4:00–6:00 PM
LOCATION: New York Mills Regional Cultural Center | 24 Main Avenue North, New York Mills, MN
FEE: Free Admission | Reception Free and Open to All

The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center presents Pinprick: Kara Jelinek + Tobias Zikmund, an exhibition featuring new and recent work by two Fargo-based artists exploring connections between material, place, memory, identity, and the natural world.

Working across tufted textiles, painting, sewing, sculpture, and mixed-media objects, Jelinek and Zikmund transform familiar materials and processes into unexpected forms.

Kara Jelinek is a textile artist whose creative project, Soft Spot, explores physical and emotional softness, memory, and connections to the natural world through tufted rugs and sculptural textiles.

Tobias Zikmund is a painter and public artist whose work examines the agricultural landscapes of North Dakota and the relationship between human intervention and the natural environment. For Pinprick, he expands his practice into sewing, quilt-inspired works, sculpture, and other media.

Together, the artists offer distinct but complementary approaches to how materials can carry personal and collective meaning.

GALLERY RECEPTION: The public is invited to a free reception on Saturday, November 7, from 4:00–6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served.

Teen Art Studio with Anna Lassonde

DATES: Mondays, September 21 – November 23, 2026

TIME: 6:00–8:00 PM

LOCATION: Holmes Art Studio | 806 Summit Avenue, Detroit Lakes, MN

FEE: $200 for All 10 Sessions | $20 per Individual Session

AGES: 13–18 | 12-Year-Olds Welcome

REGISTRATION: Advance Registration Required

Young artists are invited to explore their creativity at Teen Art Studio, a 10-week program led by local artist and educator Anna Lassonde of Jollybird Studio at the Holmes Art Studio in Detroit Lakes.

Each Monday evening, participants can work on a planned art project or bring their own creative ideas to life with guidance and encouragement from Anna. Designed to foster artistic exploration and self-expression, these sessions offer a welcoming space for teens to develop new skills, experiment with different mediums, and connect with other young artists.

All art materials are provided at no additional cost, and snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Students can register for the full 10-week series or attend individual sessions. While the program is designed for ages 13–18, interested 12-year-olds are also welcome.

Anna Lassonde is a multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, and educator whose work includes watercolor, acrylic, drawing, clay, and mixed media. Through her teaching and creative practice at Jollybird Studio, she encourages artists of all ages to explore their creativity in an accessible and supportive environment.

All registrations are final sale unless the event is canceled.