What: Fall Art Tour
When: 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Saturday
Where: 10 different colleges & universities throughout Minneapolis/St. Paul including the University of MinnesotaâÄôs Katherine E. Nash Gallery
Cost: Free
This Saturday, 10 local college and university art galleries will participate in the Fall Art Tour, sponsored by the College Art Gallery Collaborative.
The art tour is a gallery crawl connecting campuses throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul, inviting the broader community to get a taste of collegiate arts camaraderie.Participating campuses include the University of Minnesota, Augsburg, Bethel, St. Thomas, St. Catherine and Macalester, among others.
Unlike the biannual St. Paul Art Crawl, these galleries are too spread out to trek to and fro nomadically, but the CAGC has that problem covered. Free shuttle busses will depart every 20 minutes to transport guests between campuses. Nice Ride is also offering a day pass for $5 plus trip fees.
Last year the participating galleries harmonized, each featuring a print show. However, this yearâÄôs art tour has no theme or aesthetic congruence. Each gallery will open the doors to their regularly scheduled exhibits. The goal is to promote intermingling between campuses and to allow the community to see what these Twin Cities college art departments are up to these days.
âÄúItâÄôs a great opportunity for students, faculty and the public to see whatâÄôs going on in the different campus galleries,âÄù said Kate Casanova, a University graduate student and gallery installations coordinator.
Representing the University, the Katherine E. Nash Gallery will be featuring the Great Celestial Abstraction, an exhibit theyâÄôve had installed since early September. Adorning the galleryâÄôs walls is a collection of contemporary abstract paintings straight from China that were curated by the recognized Italian art critic, Achille Bonito Oliva.
Just down Riverside Avenue from the Nash Gallery will be another stop along the art crawl, AugsburgâÄôs Gage Family and Christensen Center art galleries, featuring âÄúRecollections,âÄù a collection of work by Augsburg alumni.
This eclectic exhibit harbors a wide variety of pieces ranging from ceramics to photography to printmaking. Augsburg gallery director and appointed head of CAGC, Jenny Wheatley, has been heavily involved in the planning of this yearâÄôs tour.
âÄúI think one of the advantages of attending a school in the Twin Cities is that you get to be surrounded by such a supportive and active arts community,âÄù she said.
But despite the communityâÄôs thriving pulse, Wheatley believes many students can become rather myopic and unable to see beyond what their school is doing. The Fall Art Tour is an open invitation to bridge the unnecessary gap between local college and university arts communities.
âÄúItâÄôs so easy to get honed in on what youâÄôre school is doing,âÄù she said. âÄúThe art tour really gives the students, the faculty and the staff a chance to engage in the arts community beyond their own individual campus.âÄù
