Plains Art Museum to Give 100 Memberships to Participate in Social Impact Study
Press Release
For Immediate Release (August 2021)
Fargo, North Dakota – Working with the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Plains Art Museum will study the social impact we have on our community and assist in refining a social impact tool for the museum field. As an added incentive to ensure the success of this important initiative, the Museum is giving 100 complimentary memberships to study participants. To register for the study, please visit Social Impact Study – Plains Art Museum.
Thanks to a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS), the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, in partnership with Thanksgiving Point, had the opportunity to select museums across the country for the Measurement of Museum Social Impact (MOMSI) project. After a competitive application and review process, Plains Art Museum was one of 38 museums selected for the study.
Social impact is the effect of an activity on the social fabric of a community and the well-being of those who live there. This study will measure social impact through strengthened relationships, health and well-being, continued education and engagement, and intercultural competency.
Working with the MOMSI team in Utah, our museum will recruit and survey visitors from our local community. The data collected will inform Plains Art Museum on our social impact and will provide validated data about the museum field generally.
“Art museums are critical spaces for dialogue, creative problem solving, critical thinking, and multicultural reflection. Plains Art Museum is excited to learn what that means in terms of social impact in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo region and beyond,” said Plains Art Museum Director Andy Maus.
For questions, please contact Sarah Anstett, Development and Marketing Manager, at sanstett@plainsart.org.
Plains Art Museum is the largest art museum in the Dakotas and Western Minnesota. It is general admission free and educationally-focused thanks to strong and growing support from over 800 households and businesses. The Museum manages a permanent collection of over 4,000 objects, organizes and presents dozens of annual exhibitions, facilitates public art projects, and leads over 200 educational programs and experiences for all ages each year. The Museum, and its Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity, is located at 704 First Avenue North in downtown Fargo. For more information about visiting or supporting your art museum, visit plainsart.org.
Plains Art Museum Exhibiting Renowned Artist Chakaia Booker
Press Release
For Immediate Release (August 2021)
Fargo, North Dakota – Plains Art Museum, in partnership with EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW) in New York City, New York (est. 1948), is honored to present unique prints, large-scale sculpture, and hand-made books by renowned artist Chakaia Booker. Gestural Expanse: Prints, Sculptures and Books by Chakaia Booker is now open through January 22, 2022 in the Museum’s William and Anna Schlossman gallery.
Chakaia Booker (b.1954, New Jersey) is an internationally acclaimed, New York-based artist known for her monumental, transpiring, public sculptures that explore recycled, deconstructed and reconstructed form – often utilizing shredded, twisted automobile tires from the streets of Manhattan. Expanding on her work as a sculptor, Booker has worked with the legendary Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop since 2009 and with master printer Justin Sanz in creating over 200 unique and multi-dimensional abstract landscapes which are simultaneously rooted in improvisation, aesthetics, and universality. Booker’s explorations are complemented with selected works from RBPMW archive in Gestural Expanse — including impressive works by Robert Blackburn, Renee Cox, Melvin Edwards, Zarina Hashmi, Maren Hassinger, Glendalys Medina, Mildred Thompson, and others – celebrating the culturally diverse collective art studio, and the fostering and encouragement of innovation and collaboration.
Chakaia Booker is the recipient of numerous awards, grants, and residencies including the Pollock-Krasner Grant, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her works have been exhibited throughout the United States, and at the: 2000 Whitney Biennial; Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana; as well as in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Booker’s work is in some of the most prominent art collections in the world such as: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Booker earned her BFA in Sociology from Rutgers University, and an MFA from the City College of New York (CUNY). Booker lives in New York City and her studio is located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In addition to her sculpture and prints, she is acclaimed for her personal wearable sculpture.
Gestural Expanse is made possible in part through support from Fargo Moorhead Area Foundation, Arts Midwest GIG Fund, North Dakota State University School of Design, Architecture, and Art; Thomas Jefferson; and Yvonne Condell.
Plains Art Museum is the largest and only accredited art museum in North Dakota. It is your nonprofit museum an education center, supported by over 800 individuals and organizations. The Museum and its Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center of Creativity are located at 704 First Avenue North in downtown Fargo. For more information about visiting or supporting your art museum, visit plainsart.org.
Contact: Andy Maus, Museum Director / CEO, amaus@plainsart.org, 701.551.6123