The Twin Cities rival Chicago for the title of public art museum capital of the Midwest; we have the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Weisman Art Museum on campus, to name a few. In this course, we will use these nearby museums as our mobile classroom, meeting once every two weeks in a gallery or museum study room to explore diverse works of contemporary art. Through a combination of up-close sensory experiences, reading relevant essays, and conversing with curators, we will learn about 1980s feminist photography, artists’ video games, monumental oil paintings by African American artists, 3-D printed sculptures from Korea, and more. We will also learn how to get comfortable talking and writing about art—how to describe what we see and experience, generate questions, and make connections. Every field trip will include instruction on how to travel to and from campus using public transportation, and travel time is accounted for as part of class time. Assignments include writing wall labels and creating mini museum tours for your peers.
Gopher Grades is maintained by Social Coding with data from Summer 2017 to Summer 2025 provided by the University in response to a public records request