Current Exhibit
Poet Artist Collaboration | April 12-June 9, 2024
Red Wing Arts is excited to present our Poet Artist Collaboration! This year 42 juried artists and poets will participate in this event which includes an art exhibit, poetry readings, and chapbook featuring all artwork and poetry of the participants. The joy and challenge of this event is the translation of the emotion and story of the written words of a poet by an artist into a representative piece of art.
Past Exhibits
Red Wing Arts Student Art Show | March 1 – April 6, 2024
Red Wing Arts has proudly presented the Student Art Show for the past 31 years. This special exhibition showcases a wide variety of artworks by K-12 students from Burnside Elementary, Sunnyside Elementary, Area Homeschools, Creekstone Montessori, Twin Bluff Middle School, Red Wing High School and Tower View Alternative High School. We invite you to join us as we celebrate the creativity of our local youth!
Please join us for a Public Reception Monday, March 4, 4-6:30 pm
Red Wing Arts Depot Gallery
Please note, we are staggering our reception:
K-4 grade students and their families, please visit from 4-5:15pm; Art Teacher Remarks at 4:30 pm.
5-12 grade students and their families, please visit from 5:15-6:30pm; Art Teacher Remarks at 5:45 pm.
Red Wing Arts Student Art Show Sponsored by:
Embroidering Red Wing: stories of home told with needle and thread | Jan 12 – Feb 24, 2024
Please join us for a free public reception:
Saturday, Jan 27, 2-4 pm
The Wandering House
The artworks featured in this show function as portals into the Red Wing community and beyond. Embroidering Red Wing is the culmination of a sustained collaboration with multiple organizations and individuals in the Red Wing area. This collaboration started with Cecilia Cornejo’s artist residency at the Anderson Center in October 2022, when she connected with community members to invite them to record their thoughts on home and their concerns and hopes for the future. Thanks to partnerships with Red Wing Arts, Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County, Downtown Plaza, Red Wing Farmer’s Market, and two of the local high schools, Cornejo recorded audio testimonials with 163 people ranging in age from 6 to 86 years old. The recordings took place in The Wandering House, a former ice-fishing house that was converted into a mobile audio recording studio for the purpose of gathering these stories.
The Embroidery Project workshop
Working on embroidery
After combing through nearly 30 hours of audio, in the summer of 2023 Cornejo launched The Embroidery Project and invited community members to embroider phrases from the audio recorded the year prior. Working in close collaboration with Red Wing Arts, we enlisted the support of experienced, amateur, and first-time embroiderers who enthusiastically created visual renditions of the 60 phrases selected. With support from a Creative Individuals Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Cornejo was able to supply materials and organize three free workshops to assist participants through the process. Led by the multi-talented local artist, Dawn Zero Erickson, these meetings helped participants come up with a design, learn basic and advanced stitches, and try their hand at appliqué techniques. The workshops were also a great way to enjoy each other’s company, share ideas, and keep up the momentum.
With most of the pieces completed, the task of arranging them into the Red Wing Community Quilt was taken up by five extraordinary and fearless local quilters: Linda Bang, Lynda Kern, Maureen Nelson, Lorrie Sonnek, and Linda Thielbar. Their roles have been shared all along and include design, whole cloth quilting, detail quilting and piecing, plus handwork and painting.
Embroidering Red Wing also features an interactive touchscreen, that allows the public to listen to the original, anonymous recording made in 2022, on which the embroidered work is based. This digital replica of the Red Wing Community Quilt also features statements written by the embroiderer reflecting on their experience participating in this project. A special thanks to collaborator, Valentina Guerrero Chala, who designed the program’s interface.
Lastly, the exhibition also includes The Wandering House ~ Sonic Archive, a repository of testimonials and ambient sounds designed as an exploration of home from a rural perspective. The archive is comprised of testimonials Cornejo has been recording since 2019 with community members in Northfield, Lanesboro, and now Red Wing. The Sonic Archive is a collaboration with Hüseyin Kuşcu, founder of Kakare Interactive, a London-based firm that specializes in the creation of interactive archives and novel platforms.
In the Depot Gallery visitors are welcome to try embroidering with materials provided or take a Storytelling Embroidery Kit home. Storytelling Embroidery Kits are made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.
Cecilia Cornejo is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Domestic to Decorative: The Evolution of Nordic Weaving | Oct 27 – Dec 24, 2023
With demonstrations at the Depot Gallery on Saturdays: Nov 4, Nov 18, Nov 25 & Dec 9
From humble beginnings, woven textiles from Nordic countries evolved over the centuries into an acclaimed decorative art, both in the home countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland and wherever immigrants traveled.
The Scandinavian Weavers Interest Group traces this journey in the curated exhibition “Domestic to Decorative: The Evolution of Nordic Weaving,” as each of the twenty weavers present a personal take on the theme. Some are inspired by treasured family heirlooms and traditional techniques, others by the possibilities of modern looms and materials. The exhibit will include demonstrations of weaving and spinning.
Participating Weavers: Lisa-Anne Bauch, Jane Connett, Beth Detlie, Nancy Ebner, Nancy Ellison, Kala Exworthy, Melba Granlund, Peg Hansen, Karen Lundmark Holmes, Judy Johnson, Robbie LaFleur, Judy Larson, Sharon Marquardt, Jan Mostrom, Alma Josefina Norha, Josefina Norhala, Kevin Olsen, Mandy Pedigo, Mary Lonning Skoy, Edi Thorstensson, Lisa Torvik, and Barb Yarusso.
The Scandinavian Weavers Interest Group is the largest of several interest groups affiliated with the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. Interest groups allow members to delve deeply into specific weaving techniques and traditions through coordinated study, exhibits, publications, and volunteer efforts.
The members of the Scandinavian Weavers Interest Group are honored to work with Red Wing Arts to share “Domestic to Decorative” with the Red Wing community.
Demonstrations @ The Depot Gallery
November 4
10am / Edi Thorstensson
Demonstrating weaving a rep band on a Swedish hand-carved rigid heddle.
1pm / Nancy Ellison
Demonstrating weaving on a rigid heddle loom. Nancy weaves pillows, chair cushions, and more using locks of gray, black, brown, and white wool from the Icelandic sheep in her flock. Wool mantels (or capes) were woven this way and were historically worn by shepherds to protect them from the weather when out with their flocks.
November 18
1pm / Peg Hansen & Melba Granlund
Demonstrating the upright warp weighted loom which has been used in Scandinavia since the 4th century A.D. Early on it was used to weave linen and woolen cloth for clothing, as well as ryas and varafels used as cloaks for warmth.
November 25
10am / Beth Detlie
Demonstrating a weft faced weave (Krokbragd) on a rigid heddle loom. The final project will be a table runner. Beth started weaving in late 2020.
December 9
1pm / Lisa Torvik
Demonstrating a transparency technique on a frame loom. Transparency weavings are meant to hang in windows allowing the light to become part of the design.
Mitakuye Owasin | We Are All Related
Aug 25 - Oct 21, 2023
Artist Reception: Saturday, Oct 21, 2-4 pm
An invitational exhibit showcasing the artwork of Indigenous artists whose works explore interconnectedness, healing, spirituality, and community.
DEMETRIA BUCK • RUBIA BUCK • TORI CAMPBELL • AFTON JOSETTE DELGADO • JASMINE FIDDLER • JEREMY FIELDS • DENNIS GILBERT JR. • LEOLA • COLLINS PROVOST-FIELDS
COLE REDHORSE TAYLOR • ANGELA TWO STARS • LEONA WELLS
Since 2020, Red Wing Arts, in partnership with the Prairie Island Indian Community, the City of Red Wing and Goodhue County, has begun collaboratively presenting the Honoring Dakota Project, a process of community conversations and events that provide education to discover our shared stories, bridge our communities, and create a space for healing.
The Honoring Dakota Project developed out of the ongoing need to acknowledge the Dakota people as vital members of the Red Wing Community. Through art, shared experiences, and conversations we will uplift, honor, and celebrate our rich cultures.
As a parallel program to the Honoring Dakota Project, this fall Red Wing Arts will present the Mitakuye Owasin / We Are All Related an invitational exhibition showcasing the artworks of 13 Indigenous artists whose works explore interconnectedness, healing, spirituality and community.