North Dakota Museum of Art to display pieces from its permanent collection

GRAND FORKS — The North Dakota Museum of Art is planning to showcase more than 30 pieces of art from its Permanent Collection in an upcoming exhibition, officials have announced.

The public is invited to an opening reception for “Stories of Place: Select Recent Acquisitions” from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the museum, 261 Centennial Dr., on the UND campus.

A public lecture by the exhibition’s curator Anna Sigridur Arnar is set for 7 p.m. on Oct. 8. A reception is planned for 6:30 p.m. Arnar, full-time curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Dakota Museum of Art, holds a Ph.D. degree, with honors, in art history from the University of Chicago.

The exhibit, which will be on display through Dec. 1, “is another in our series showcasing the museum’s extensive Permanent Collection,” said Brian Lotfhus, membership and marketing coordinator. “Since the late 1980s, the museum has built a collection of over 3,000 pieces of contemporary art.

“The collection has grown, mostly from gifts from artists, pieces acquired from exhibitions the museum has curated, and through generous donors that want to help the museum build a world-class collection,” Lofthus said. “Most recently, an anonymous donor has contributed on a large scale, (these donations constitute) the majority of the current exhibition.”

The “Stories of Place” exhibit draws on the rich range of artwork recently acquired by the museum, Lofthus said. The artworks include collage, sculpture, photography, painting and quilts.

The selected works provide opportunities to reflect on various meanings of the word “place” in the visual arts and storytelling.

“Fundamentally, ‘place’ is the wellspring of human (and non-human) relations; it is a site where stories are formed and reformed,” the announcement said. It is “a container of experience, memory and the imagination, thereby providing rich terrain for artists.”

The exhibition explores specific locations such as Midwest farmlands, the American South and the vibrant Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Some pieces in the exhibit delve into the “spirit” of place, capturing not only the physical likeness but also abstract narratives tied to a place. Others encourage viewers to listen to the “language of the land,” especially when a place is at risk of disappearing, or becoming inextricably altered or damaged, according to the museum announcement.

The artists featured in the exhibition “invite us to consider how place shapes and is shaped by personal memories, imagined realms and the evolving language of the land,” the museum said.

The artists whose work will be displayed include: Diyan Achjadi, Vancouver, British Columbia; LeXander Bryant, Nashville, Tennessee; Edward Burtynsky, Toronto, Ontario; Jamal Cyrus, Houston, Texas; Peter Jemison, Victor, New York; Carolyn Mazloomi, West Chester, Ohio; Teo Nguyen, Minneapolis; Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Lagos, Nigeria; Helen Oji, New York City; Eric-Paul Riege, Gallup, New Mexico; Cara Romero, Sante Fe, New Mexico; Rose Smith and Melvin Smith, Eagan, Minnesota; John Sonsini, Los Angeles; Suyao Tian, St. Paul, Minnesota; Margaret Wall-Romana, Golden Valley, Minnesota; and Joseph Yoakum, Chicago.

For more information, visit

https://ndmoa.com

or call the museum at 701-777-4195.