The Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND.
There’s a hidden gem of an art museum in Fargo, ND, that’s not as well known as it should be. The Plains Art Museum is the largest art museum—and the only accredited one—in North Dakota, and it’s been bringing the community together through art for some 45 years.
The museum’s permanent collection contains approximately 4,000 works, which include traditional Native American art, modern and contemporary Native American art, modernism and postmodernism, photography, prints, and more. In addition, the museum offers about a dozen special exhibitions, along with other smaller exhibitions, each year. These exhibitions feature art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
A sampling of artwork from the exhibition She Gives by Dyani White Hawk.
The Plains Art Museum presented the exhibition The Horse Nation in 2018.
Many recent exhibitions have focused on Native American art, culture, and history. In 2020 the museum presented She Gives, a show of paintings, sculptural beaded works, video installation, printmaking, and photography by Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk. In 2019, one of the featured exhibitions was Waasamoo-Beshizi (Power Lines), an exploration of artworks by 25 contemporary Native American women. And in 2018 the museum featured The Horse Nation, which explored how horses have shaped the history, spirituality, and culture of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people.
The museum has also introduced the Creativity Among Native American Artists (CANAA) initiative, promoting Indigenous art from not only the Midwest region but also the rest of the United States. Over the past six years, CANAA has produced nearly 150 events, such as solo and group exhibitions, classes, workshops, and speaker series.
A scene from the exhibition titled Waasamoo-Beshizi (Power Lines).
In June 2020, Plains Art Museum and CANAA created the Northern Plains Summer Art Institute, a two-week summer program for Indigenous high school and college students. It’s led by Indigenous artists who instruct participants on art fundamentals, college preparation, and navigating the professional world as an artist.
Another program from the museum and CANAA is the podcast “5 Plain Questions,” which explores the stories and perspectives of Indigenous artists, writers, musicians, movers and shakers, and culture bearers who are doing great things for their communities. It asks five basic questions, allowing the interviewee to connect to the listener as they relay their incredible stories week after week. New episodes of “5 Plain Questions” debut every Wednesday on your favorite podcast platform or at www.plainsart.org.
To learn more, visit www.plainsart.org.