Copyright © Julie Buffalohead, published by Highpoint Editions
When the Highpoint Center for Printmaking opened in 2001, the nonprofit community-oriented organization introduced public access to the printmaking arts in the Upper Midwest. Since then, the facility has outgrown its first location and moved to a bigger, better building on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Highpoint is also now considered one of the premiere printmaking facilities and organizations in the U.S., and has drawn artists from around the country.
This fall, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) has been celebrating Highpoint’s successes with an exhibition: The Contemporary Print: 20 Years at Highpoint Editions. The museum recently purchased Highpoint’s 20-year archive with a focus on Highpoint Editions, the collaborative publishing arm of Highpoint Center for Printmaking. The ticketed exhibition runs through January 9, 2021, in Mia’s Target Gallery and offers visitors the crème de la crème of local artists working in the printmaking medium.
Case in point is St. Paul artist Julie Buffalohead (Ponca) whose brilliantly incisive work, often thinly disguised in a cloak of whimsy, investigates the Indian cultural experience through personal metaphor and narrative. Working with the essence of traditional stories, Buffalohead weaves in her views on colonialism and cultural identity to create works that beg for close intelligent reading.
Copyright © David Rathman, published by Highpoint Editions
Other local artists include Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota), whose prints reflect her aesthetic investigations into modern abstract painting and Native American beadwork and porcupine quillwork. David Rathman’s work, on the other hand, melds mystery and method. Other artists included in the show are equally exceptional, including Willie Cole, Carlos Amorales, Sarah Crowner, Jim Hodges, Delita Martin, Julie Mehretu (with an exhibition now at the Walker Art Center), Todd Norsten, Chloe Piene, and Do Ho Suh.
You can “walk” through the gallery online here. For tickets, go here.
