One of the nation’s leading encyclopedic art museums, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), recently accessioned one of my photographs into their permanent collection.
"In a year when state and county fairs have been prevented, it is all the more touching to have this photograph in our collection,” writes Casey Riley, PhD, curator and head of the Department of Photography and New Media.
The print acquisition, edition 10/10 of Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County Fair, 2016, was a gift facilitated by Burnet Fine Art & Advisory. I thank Casey Riley for her support. She’s an amazing curator and leader in the arts community.
Museum acquisitions are important to an artist’s career. Curators can help promote an artist’s career in much the same way a food critic can make— or break— a chef’s career. I’m reminded of this watching my favorite Pixar movie, “Ratatouille,” in which a rat dreams of becoming a great chef, despite being in a rodent-phobic profession.
For example, long-time curator, Ted Hartwell, who founded the photography department at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1972, helped photography gain acceptance in the art world by curating groundbreaking exhibitions by photographers such as heroes Richard Avedon and Henri Cartier-Bresson while promoting careers of Minneapolis photographers such as Tom Arndt and Stuart Klipper (I call both friends and have enjoyed swapping a print or two with over the years).
The Minneapolis Institute of Art has been important to me since my fine-art photography interests began to grow. During winter doldrums and snow storms, I would visit to gain inspiration. I love the free admission and award-winning educational programming. Seeing school children discovering art in the hallowed halls of “the house that Ted built” gives me great joy, and education, too. I always learn a thing or two when I visit, usually documented in my notebook. I would take special notes about the meticulous framing and presentation of work, or about what the artist says about the work (especially vocabulary used). My visits would bring joy seeing the brushstrokes revealing shadow detail in a painting created hundreds of years ago, or appreciating nuances in an early albumen prints by photography pioneers. My brain is pushed to figure out work I don’t initially understand—but work that curators deem culture should understand.
Visiting museums—especially the free ones— is a gift which allows me to better understand history, culture, and life. Often art addresses 'issues' in a way, well, that can’t be expressed any other way. I’m proud to help support such a special museum.
