The American Heartland—Real and Imagined

This series of programs, organized in conjunction with the exhibition New Visions of the American Heartland, presents artists and scholars who consider the Midwest as a geographic region and a cultural place. In a series of talks, readings, and performances, they explore how this area has inspired artists to describe the contours and cultures of the Midwest—rural, urban, and small town. All programs take place at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum and are free of charge unless otherwise indicated.

Opening Celebration
Saturday, November 17, 7:00-11:00 p.m.
Exhibition preview; meet the contemporary artists.
Fall harvest hors d’oeuvre buffet with regional beer and wine.
Folk melodies by Thea Ennen and her band.
Midwestern musings from home grown treasure Kevin Kling.
Tickets: $10/$5 for WAM members, students, and seniors.
For reservations call the Weisman events line at 612-626-4747.

Kerry James Marshall: One True Thing
Sunday, November 18, 2:00 p.m.
Chicago-based artist Kerry James Marshall has been exploring the notion of the "death of the artist." In this slide lecture, Marshall discusses this idea in relation to his own work, including the installation piece in New Visions. Rather than being a unified, singular creator who can be recognized through a signature style, the artist, in Marshall’s view, is becoming a multifaceted maker who can radically change directions in media, subjects, and themes, perhaps creating one "true" work in every artistic medium.

Marshall has exhibited in the United States and internationally for over twenty years, and was awarded the MacArthur Prize in 1997. Well known for his large-scale, figurative paintings that commemorate African American life and history, Marshall has also worked in installation, featuring such media as comic book illustration, sculpture, photography, text panels, and video.

Re-Visions of the Heartland or Why Oz is Green
Karal Ann Marling
Sunday, January 27, 2:00 p.m.
Nationally known art historian and cultural commentator Karal Ann Marling has written extensively about many facets of Midwestern culture, from the work of Thomas Hart Benton and other regional artists to the history of the Minnesota State Fair. In this slide lecture, she discusses the works in New Visions of the American Heartland as expressions of meanings of the Midwest, refracting them through film depictions of the region in The Wizard of Oz. A professor of art history and American studies at the University of Minnesota, Marling authored an essay for the exhibition catalogue.

New Voices of the Midwest
Carolyn Holbrook, Kent Meyers, David Treuer, with moderator Jon Spayde
Wednesday, February 6, 7:00 p.m.
In this reading and discussion program, three Midwestern authors read from works that offer visions of the many cultures of the region today. David Treuer, assistant professor in the University’s Program in Creative Writing, received critical attention for his stories about lives of Ojibwe people, both those living in northern Minnesota, in his first novel, Little, and those in the urban core of Minneapolis, in his recent novel, The Hiawatha. Kent Meyers received a Minnesota Book Award for his memoir, The Witness of Combines, about growing up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota. Carolyn Holbrook, executive and artistic director of SASE: The Write Place, reads from a work-in-progress. Her memoir about living in Minneapolis explores the racial and psychological complexities of her life as an African-American woman who transformed herself from a mother on welfare into a community arts leader. Moderator Jon Spayde is an author and a contributing editor to the Utne Reader. He is currently working on a book about the Midwest’s overlooked diversity.

The Power of the Arts in Small Midwestern Towns
John Davis
Sunday, February 10, 2:00 p.m.
Visionary arts organizer John Davis has proven how vital the arts can be in small towns. In the early 1990s, he founded the New York Mills Art Retreat as well as the town’s Regional Cultural Center. In 1993, he began "The Great American Think-Off," a philosophy contest that has garnered national media attention. In 2000, Davis moved to Lanesboro in southeastern Minnesota and launched "The Kids Philosophy Slam" (see related article in this newsletter). Davis examines several aspects of these projects, including the importance of a creative vision for a small town, the revitalizing power of the arts, the critical need for community ownership, and the political dynamics needed to implement creative change in small communities.

Family Bookmaking Workshop
Sunday, February 17, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
$6 per person/$5.40 for WAM members
To register call the MCBA at 612-215-2520
The Weisman is partnering with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts to offer a bookmaking workshop for families in conjunction with the exhibition New Visions of the American Heartland. Participating parents and kids will tour the exhibition and create a "landscape book," a structural piece that can frame text or another 3-D landscape image.

Garden/Home/Work/Word
The Midwest in Song and Poetry
Sunday, March 10, 2:00 p.m.
This concert features the Twin Cities Women?s Choir and five local poets in a performance exploring Midwest impressions and sentiments connected to
garden, home, work and word. These themes, which resonate throughout the exhibition New Visions in the American Heartland, help organize the many
ways we experience the Midwest^?s a physical environment, a site of industrial and productive values, and interpreted through stories, cultural traditions, and myths.

The Twin Cities Women?s Choir is a diverse chorus that affirms the voices of women through music from all cultures and traditions. Poets joining in this
special performance include Michael Dennis Browne, Ardie Buckholtz, Margaret Hasse, David Mura, and Angela Shannon. This performance is organized by
Weisman Art Museum; Mary Bussman, director of the Twin Cities Women?s Choir; and Carolyn Holbrook, director of SASE: The Write Place.