Blog
Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.
The Latest
“In The Stacks with Eric Hanson”—Material and Metaphor
He’s been busy: drawing, photographing, taking notes, making unusually specific requests of the MIA librarians. Being Eric Hanson, basically, as Coffee House Press‘s artist-in-residence at the Minneapolis Institute of Art’ Research and Reference Library, a curious kid in a candy store of historic imagery, news clippings, and ephemera. Here’s the latest download from his overstuffed mind. But first, ...
Introducing "In The Stacks with Eric Hanson"—The Wishful Browser
The MIA is hosting author/illustrator Eric Hanson (that’s him in a self-portrait above and his artwork at left) as the Coffee House Press artist-in-residence inside the Minneapolis Institute of Art’ Research and Reference Library. And we couldn’t be more excited. Because, well, here’s his first blog entry from CHP In The Stacks (we’ll also be posting ...
Introducing “In The Stacks with Eric Hanson”—The Wishful Browser
The MIA is hosting author/illustrator Eric Hanson (that’s him in a self-portrait above and his artwork at left) as the Coffee House Press artist-in-residence inside the Minneapolis Institute of Art’ Research and Reference Library. And we couldn’t be more excited. Because, well, here’s his first blog entry from CHP In The Stacks (we’ll also be posting ...
8 objects from "Finland: Designed Environments" that explain the coolest country on earth
I’m not going to tell you where to live. And even if I did, I’m afraid I couldn’t help you get there. Because it’d be Finland, a nation of five million frequently frozen souls (only slightly more than live in Minnesota) a long way from America, and not just physically. In the MIA’s sharp new ...
8 objects from “Finland: Designed Environments” that explain the coolest country on earth
I’m not going to tell you where to live. And even if I did, I’m afraid I couldn’t help you get there. Because it’d be Finland, a nation of five million frequently frozen souls (only slightly more than live in Minnesota) a long way from America, and not just physically. In the MIA’s sharp new ...
"God give me this thing." A new acquisition and the art of divine intervention.
God gives you a gift, you’ve got no right to neglect it*—a single-minded philosophy that’s driven many a man and woman, for better or worse, to great heights. Moses on Mount Sinai, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Michelle Bachmann on the steps of the Capitol. But how ...
“God give me this thing.” A new acquisition and the art of divine intervention.
God gives you a gift, you’ve got no right to neglect it*—a single-minded philosophy that’s driven many a man and woman, for better or worse, to great heights. Moses on Mount Sinai, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Michelle Bachmann on the steps of the Capitol. But how ...
Would you know a masterpiece by the eyes alone? As "The Look of Love" opens, a quiz on the collection
Would you recognize a loved one’s eye—singular—without any other context? No hair, no mouth, no decolletage? More importantly, would anyone else—like her spouse? Opening May 16 at the MIA is “The Look of Love,” a fascinating and quirky exhibition that reveals a forgotten trend among the royals and upper class of England in the late ...
Would you know a masterpiece by the eyes alone? As “The Look of Love” opens, a quiz on the collection
Would you recognize a loved one’s eye—singular—without any other context? No hair, no mouth, no decolletage? More importantly, would anyone else—like her spouse? Opening May 16 at the MIA is “The Look of Love,” a fascinating and quirky exhibition that reveals a forgotten trend among the royals and upper class of England in the late ...
Sitting on art—the story behind the Washburn-Fair Oaks park benches
Washburn-Fair Oaks Park, across 24th Street from the MIA, was once the estate of William Washburn, a flour magnate. He dubbed it Fair Oaks after the grove he cleared to build an incredible castle of a home on the 10 acres, transforming the remaining grounds into a lush park of ponds, fountains, and a lagoon. ...