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Great Northern Festival Features New Augsburg Gallery Exhibition

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On January 21, the Augsburg Art Galleries will open a new exhibition featuring nine local, Black women and femme designers. TO ILLUMINATE ABUNDANCE, curated by Olivia House ’20 and Silent Fox ’18 of 13.4 Collective, explores what it means to live a life full of love, freedom, and light.

TO ILLUMINATE ABUNDANCE brings together nine Black designers at various stages in their careers. House and Fox invited contributing graphic designers to reflect on and illuminate a text, quote, or lyric that helps imagine what it could look like to move forward and towards more; to help envision what life is like when it feels full. The exhibition features work by Ashley Koudou, Kelsi Sharp, Leeya Rose Jackson, Marcia Rowe ’22, Olivia Anizor, Sabrina Peitz, and Terresa Moses, as well as House and Fox.

“This show is meant to express what our world should be: a world in which Black femmes are able to live a life without pain or suffering; a life full of light,” said House.

An opening reception for TO ILLUMINATE ABUNDANCE will take place on Saturday, January 21. The curators and artists of the show will gather for an artist talk on Thursday, February 2 at the Hagfors Center to contextualize their work and their view of the exhibition within a broader landscape of making, community, politics, and futurism. This event is featured as part of The Great Northern festival, happening January 25–February 5 around the Twin Cities metro area. The Great Northern celebrates Minnesota’s cold, creative winters through 10 days of diverse programming that invigorate mind and body.

The exhibition runs through March 24 in Augsburg’s Gage and Christensen galleries.

Reggie Agyen-Boateng ’21 Anchors Hennepin Ave Public Art Project

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A young man stands with his back to the camera looking up at a billboard photograph of a Black journalist with one fist raised
Photo via Instagram: @kusi_photos

Towering over Hennepin Avenue, the black-and-white photograph of a journalist with fist raised stops people in their tracks. 

The artist behind this complex, arresting image? Reggie Agyen-Boateng ’21.

Agyen-Boateng majored in sociology at Augsburg and now works professionally under the name Kusi Photography. He is one of seven artists featured in “It’s the People,” a public art installation in downtown Minneapolis coordinated by the Hennepin Theatre Trust. His portrait of independent journalist King Demetrius Pendleton was chosen to anchor the project with a multi-story billboard on 900 Hennepin Avenue for the next year. 

“My participation in “It’s the People” is my way of honoring the countless victims who have lost their lives to police violence,” said Agyen-Boateng in his artist statement. “It also allows me to give back to my community in a meaningful way after the suffering that Minnesota has endured over the years. 

“Working with King Demetrius Pendleton to capture his lived history in a single portrait challenged me to think about the complex layers and intersectionality of Black identities and lived experiences. This way of examining identity moved my work as an artist forward into new territory. It also became a way to document and truth-tell through images.”

Now in its fourth year, the 2022 project also features large-scale photos of theatre artists, arts leaders creating programming with youth experiencing homelessness, concert venue staff, Indigenous restauranteurs, student artists, and queer leaders. Learn more about “It’s the People” from Hennepin Theatre Trust. 

Congratulations, Reggie! 

Star Tribune columnist catches up with Maximino Garcia-Marin ’14

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Minneapolis Star TribuneCollege alumnus and artist Maximino Garcia-Marin ’14 was featured in a year-end recap column by the Star Tribune’s Gail Rosenblum, who first met Garcia-Marin as a result of his senior art exhibition. Rosenblum noted that Garcia-Marin’s senior project was “personal” and “powerful” featuring a wall of 4,900 stenciled blindfolded faces, each representing 3,000 undocumented immigrants. Read, “Rosenblum: Catching up with folks we met in 2014” to learn more.

Submit to Murphy Square by Feb. 3

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murphysquareMurphy Square is a publication of the Augsburg community, a collection of short stories, essays, c, and visual arts created by students, faculty, and staff of the College. Below Augsburg College students and a professor of English share their thoughts about the importance of this .

You can submit to the 2012 edition of Murphy Square through Friday, Feb. 3. Email murphysquare@augsburg.edu with your art or written work attached as a document. Your name should not be on the file. Put your name and the title of the work in the body of the email. Email olsoncar@augsburg.edu with questions.

Pictured here is the Murphy Square editorial staff. Continue reading “Submit to Murphy Square by Feb. 3” →

A late-blooming artist brings his work to Augsburg

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ocotilloBy Wendi Wheeler ’06

By his own admission, David Wilson was not born an artist. In fact, it was only after failing at college and going out into the working world that he began to discover a love of creating art. “I didn’t come to art early or naturally,” the artist and professor now says. “Everybody has a different timer connecting to what they really want to do in life.”

Wilson, an associate professor of art at the University of Tennessee, is the creator of  “Ocotillo,” the newest installation in the Christensen Center gallery. Continue reading “A late-blooming artist brings his work to Augsburg” →

The sights and sounds of Paris

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parisIt is said that Paris is never more French than in the winter. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why a group of students and two Augsburg faculty spent part of their holiday break taking in the sights and sounds of Paris.

Actually, they were in the City of Light to experience the art and music. In this course, professors Merilee Klemp of the music department and Tara Sweeney of the art department worked together to develop a program that would help students understand and appreciate the intersections between the disciplines. Continue reading “The sights and sounds of Paris” →

Pastor and potter at Oct. 15 vocatio chapel

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vocatioThe Art has always been a part of personal faith lives. From religious icons, to hymns of praise, worshippers have used art as a tool to pray and praise. Songs and hymns give praise to God. Paintings and sculptures depict stories from scripture to let the worshipper understand the story in a new way. Dramas have brought sacred stories to life.

The 2008-2009 Vocatio Chapel Series, “Faith and the Imagination: The Call to the Arts” continues on Oct. 15 with pastor and potter David Greenlund of Peace Lutheran Church in Lauderdale, Minn. He has started an arts ministry at his congregation called the Artists Way. Continue reading “Pastor and potter at Oct. 15 vocatio chapel” →

Exploring our designed environments

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designed_enviroWhat could be better than a summer school class with weekly field trips?

Art history professor Kristin Anderson’s Designed Environment course uses art and architecture to study the history of Minneapolis and St. Paul. On weekly outdoor excursions, students explore buildings, parks, churches, and museums to learn about architecture, landscape design, and urban design and their evolution throughout history. Anderson teaches the course because she wants students to experience some of the beauty and positivity of the Twin Cities. Continue reading “Exploring our designed environments” →

Hanging art in New York City

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wootenZac Wooten has more than graduation to look forward to this summer. This art history student is on his way to attend New York University in the fall in the profit arts and administration program. At NYU, Zac will earn his Master’s in Arts Administration (MAA).

Zac discovered his passion for art on a study abroad trip in Italy. There, he learned how art plays a significant role in everyday life in Italy. After returning to Augsburg as a theater major, Zac took a class with art history professor Kristen Anderson on the historical aspects of art. In a subsequent course, Kerry Morgan, Augsburg’s art gallery coordinator, noticed Zac’s passion for art. “He would attend art shows and stay after to ask questions,” she remembers. “Zac had above and beyond an interest in the art brought to campus.” He was interested in making art accessible to others. Continue reading “Hanging art in New York City” →