Critical Grooves Book Lab

November 14, 2024, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Listed In: Talks and Screenings

Select Thursdays, 6:30-8 PM, Free

  • September 12: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
  • October 10: Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris
  • November 14: The Autobiography of my Mother by Jamaica Kincaid
  • December 12: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Plains Art Museum’s announces its sixth iteration of Critical Grooves Book Lab. Ages 16+ are welcomed, FREE.

For our sixth (6th) session (Fall–Winter ’24), we will read four lesser-known writers who will productively intersect with the museum’s scheduled exhibitions during Fall – Winter 2024. We begin with Ocean Vuong’s award-winning novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, to intersect with the Thomas-Suwall collection on exhibition in Full Disclosure. From there, we move on to Wilson Harris’s Palace of the Peacock to discuss aspects of the novel’s convergence with A Little Grey for Color. Then, Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother provides important context for a robust discussion of several past and upcoming exhibitions in our Starion Gallery. Finally, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (a speculative fiction novel set in 2024) captures the perils of climate change, the disparities within human rights, and the struggle for sovereignty—issues found in the upcoming exhibition, Water Talks.

If this assemblage of lesser-known writers sounds compelling, then please join us at Plains Art Museum on the select dates below. We offer an array of hot teas and hot chocolate. However, feel free to bring your own beverages/snacks, as well.

To encourage broad participation, you may acquire the selected texts through convenient means, as per your situation. Also note: Critical Grooves Book Lab selections will also be available for purchase from The Store at Plains Art Museum.

For more information and/or participation contact Dr. Kelvin Monroe kmonroe@plainsart.org.


Events Calendar

December 2016

Other Exhibitions

Art Camp

March 02, 2026 - March 29, 2026

Plains Art Museum presents Art Camp 2026, highlighting the creativity of North Dakota K–12 students through a vibrant exhibition of their artwork.

View Exhibition

2026 Scholastic

February 16, 2026 - March 08, 2026
Art & Writing Awards Exhibition

This annual exhibition celebrates the creativity, vision, and talent of North Dakota’s teen visual artists and writers.

View Exhibition

Homing: Radical Re-Membering

January 31, 2026 - July 05, 2026

Homing is a solo exhibition featuring the work of regional multidisciplinary artist Alicia Hauff. This body of work examines the disconnect between contemporary life and the ecological, ancestral, and somatic systems that have sustained human and non-human communities.

View Exhibition

Color Improvisations 3

March 14, 2026 - August 23, 2026

Color Improvisations 3 features 42 colorful, larger-than-life quilts that celebrate the expressive possibility of color in contemporary textile art.

View Exhibition

Wíwahokičhiyapi

April 25, 2026 - February 07, 2026
They Promised Things to Each Other

Treaties are living documents that are "the supreme law of the land" and remain legally binding agreements that establish the political relationship between Native Nation and the United States government. These agreements have established land boundaries, resource rights, reservations; they determine Tribal Nation citizenship and outline mutual obligations.

View Exhibition