Featured photo: Traditional Beaded Buckskin Cape Dress, Thomas Stillday with Mary Lou Stillday
Opening in the Kaul Gallery, the photography of RJ Kern in “The Unchosen Ones,” will be available to viewers online and to passers-by from April 3 through May 30, 2020. Kern explains, “One isn’t born a winner or loser, but a chooser.” This is the theme explored in a series of portraits taken behind the scenes at Minnesota county fairs in 2016. The human condition is exposed as we, the viewers, look at them – the unchosen ones, and they look back, encouraging us to contemplate the repercussions for the ones not chosen.
Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016. From the project, “The Unchosen Ones.”
Watermark Art Center will continue with the virtual exhibit of recent works by master bead artist Thomas Stillday (Red Lake Nation). The exhibit, entitled “Wezhichigewaad,” is an Ojibwe word meaning “makers” (pronounced “way-zhih-chih-gay-wahd”). Items on display range from his first project as a twelve year-old to contemporary works created independently and collaborations with family members. All reflect the traditional designs important to the Ojibwe cultural arts.
Also posted among Watermark’s Virtual Exhibits will be April’s Bemidji Youth Exhibit with the work of the Schoolcraft Learning Community by art teacher Jake Anderson.
The Annual High School Invitational has been cancelled with the student works on display at each home school. Watermark will provide links from the Virtual Exhibits page to each school’s virtual tour.
Additional exhibits currently online include “Portraits,” by Blair Treuer, “Looking for America,” by Paula Swenson, and “Other Dimensions,” by Natalia Himmirska.
Through April 30, all in-house events and classes have been cancelled or rescheduled. Please confirm event status online. Watermark Art Center is located at 505 Bemidji Ave N. 218-444-7570. Virtual Exhibits, tutorials, and future virtual classes can be viewed online at WatermarkArtCenter.org.
