Winona gets a new art gallery, THIS, with grand opening this weekend

Just in time for the Mid West Music Festival this week in Winona the city is getting a new independent art gallery called THIS The new space run by artist Anne George will have its first group show Friends Family opening on Saturday featuring artists For the first exhibition George invited a group of artists to show whatever they longed in the gallery and urged them to each invite one other artist who they admired The idea is to be inclusive of an already loose district of artists in the southeastern Minnesota region Ultimately the show is a first step in forming a new group art space She calls it a yes-it-can-happen approach George grew up in southeastern Minnesota in a little town called Houston After high school she moved to Chicago to scrutiny art and then spent time on the East Coast before moving to Minneapolis where she lived for years working as an artist and teaching Shortly before the COVID- pandemic George had a major life change when she got a divorce and needed to find a new place to live She didn t want to leave Minneapolis necessarily but her new financial situation meant expanding her geographic search She ascertained a building in Winona that had a living space and space for an art studio all at less than the cost of what a house might be in the Twin Cities Plus it didn t require any major renovations Winona seemed a decent place to land she reported Before she took it over the building was a consignment shop and it s also been a pharmacy and a print shop When I bought it I thought well someday I should do a gallery she recalled After about four years she decided it was time to make particular changes She made improvements to the lighting took out a counter cleaned up the banged up walls and gave everything a fresh coat of paint As each job got completed the transformation made it clear that a gallery was within the realm of possibility Already she s sensed enthusiasm from the surrounding arts society about how essential the new gallery will be for the area There is definitely a need in this area for a place for people s resource around contemporary art to coalesce and redistribute she commented And with the current political context she felt it all the more urgent to offer a space for arts programing She began to understand the intention of the gallery as an act of generosity Having a place for other artists to exhibit it s kind of a gift she announced It feels like something I can do for the art locality and for art in general We just need spaces George s vision for the new gallery is an extension of her art practice almost as if it is an artistic act in itself I think it has to do with my interest in collage she noted How that is about noticing and collecting and putting things together in different combinations to create different meanings and organizing Inside the space at THIS in Winona The new gallery joins the thriving Winona art scene Besides being a regional hub for music with events like the Mid West Music Festival this weekend Winona also is home to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum which draws national and international artists to the region The Winona Art Center and galleries at Winona State University and St Mary s University also add to the scene If you make it to the gallery you ll see a work by Kate Hawkes who also has a solo show right now at the Rochester Art Center called The Cherry Blossoms You Missed The piece at THIS incorporates striped fabric from clothes owned by the artist s friend who passed away Hawkes invited Marc Manke to be in the show who shows an intricate piece inspired by the story of St Sebastian s martyrdom Etched and cut digitally the layered work on paper explores living as a gay person in rural America George invited Mary Bergs based in southwestern Wisconsin to participate in the show and she s sharing a collaborative work made with Diane Bertolo which the two artists started during the COVID- pandemic Eric Anderson meanwhile an artist who created a general art piece outside of the Mayo Clinic a couple of years ago and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop exhibits an eerie painting of a surgery in the exhibition Kjellgren Alkire s whispery black and gray abstract pieces which he makes every day are quite haunting George is showing her own work in the exhibition as well It was kind of an afterthought she stated I m doing work that s kind of painting related in a mixed media way a tactile textile way and kind of bringing in old processes I ve worked with in the past Ultimately George s goal for the gallery to evolve over time much like an art piece might do when it s being made I m excited to see what happens and excited as well to see how my definition of myself as an artist might transform she announced I ve been encountering a lot of people experiencing grief lately myself included and I m happy to be creating something that s having a positive impact right now Friends Family opens Saturday May from p m to p m at THIS Gallery W th St Winona Also this week in Winona the Mid West Music Festival takes place Friday and Saturday featuring more than bands including Charlie Parr the Gully Boys Humbird Nur-D and multiple more playing in four venues More information on that here And if you re making a trip out of it be sure to visit the Minnesota Marine Art Museum Riverview Dr Winona as well Heid E Erdrich has curated a beautiful show called Once Upon A Shore exploring the connection point of Native authors illustrators and artists while Edward Burtynsky s stunning Water exhibition made my jaw drop at times with its large-scale aerial photography The largest painting in the United States Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage Round the World by th century artists Benjamin Russell and Caleb Purrington is also on view at the museum It s a scroll painting and the museum is operating the scroll at select times throughout the summer with the list of times here The post Winona gets a new art gallery THIS with grand opening this weekend 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