New History Center Exhibit Showcases Faces, Places Of Minnesota's Past And Present

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- There's a new place to go starting this weekend to better try and understand Minnesota's history -- the good and the bad.

It's a one-of-a-kind exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

Sure, it's a museum, but it may as well be a library, because it's full of story after story after story.

The brand-new exhibit is called Art Speaks, and it's an expression of Brian Szatt's life work.

"The opportunity to do a large exhibition like this was really for me a once in a lifetime or once in a career opportunity," Szatt, the museum's art curator, said.

It's nestled in the History Center, but unlike other exhibits, this one is all visual art, hand-created by Minnesotans.

"We can use a work of art as a window into a whole variety of topics, so we can talk about the individuals that are portrayed or the landscapes that are portrayed, whether that's Lake Superior or St. Anthony Falls," Szatt said. "And we think that Minnesotans resonate with that work because they're familiar with it themselves. We think here the art can tell a bigger story, or a more meaningful story to Minnesotans."

The exhibit has four sections, the first of which features portraits.

Among the portraits: Barbara Cyrus, a longtime columnist for the Spokesman-Recorder, and legendary Vikings coach Bud Grant.

The next section is full of landscapes past and present.

The exhibit features works by a wide variety of artists, including an African American artist who played minor league baseball, then worked as a butler. One of the largest pieces is by an immigrant from Vietnam.

"They don't have to be a famous artist or a highly exhibited arist, they could be an artist who maybe was an amateur in his or her lifetime," Szatt said.

Next is the voices section, featuring everything from a powerful piece representing 38 Indigenous lives lost in a brutal killing to modern day reminders of pain, like the pandemic.

Some lighter art is in the final, abstract section.

"Minnesotans are many things, and one of those is we have a sense of humor, and you'll see that in this work. The work can be playful, fanciful, but also very serious topics are covered here," Szatt said.

It's a collage of art, a collage of stories, representing a collage of people.

The exhibit is now open in downtown St. Paul and will run into July.