Sunday, OCTOBER 4 | 10:30a - 11:30a
Tickets: $10, MMAM Members: $5, Students: $5
Meet the Artist tickets do not include MMAM gallery admission.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to tour the new exhibition, LandSkyWater, with the artist Barbara McIlrath. Drawing from her travels between Pepin, Wisconsin, and St. Paul, and the shifting seasons of the Driftless region, McIlrath’s paintings move between close observation and expressive abstraction.
In this intimate “Meet the Artist” experience, McIlrath will share insights into her process and reflect on how land, sky, and water continually shape her work. Guests are invited to ask questions, look closely, and join in a relaxed conversation about place, perception, and the act of painting.
This event is part of the Fall New Look Weekend, October 2 - 4, 2026. Celebrate a season of mystery, transformation, and creativity with a full weekend of programing featuring four exhibiting artists including, Andy DuCett (Home(town)), Geo Rutherford (Spooky Waters of the World), Barbara McIlrath (LandSkyWater), and Tanya Aguiñiga (Water | Craft).
About the artist:
Barbara McIlrath earned her BA degree in Humanities at Illinois Wesleyan University, MS degree in Education at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and BFA degree at Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where she received the Vanderlip Award at graduation. She has worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, instructional designer/Mayo Clinic, corporate training consultant and faculty member at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Barbara travels along the Mississippi River between her farm studio in Pepin, Wisconsin and her house in St. Paul, Minnesota. The seasonal color changes of the Driftless Region inspire her paintings and drawings. McIlrath is particularly drawn to the shoreline of Lake Pepin in the historic Village of Old Frontenac, Minnesota, as well as the prairie surrounding her farm in Hicks Valley, near the Village of Pepin. Her paintings range from textured impasto paint mixed with cold wax to delicately layered oils and gouache. She describes her work as “including both carefully observed images of land, sky and water to more abstract compositions, discovered in the process of simplifying, improvising and questioning what I am seeing.”
