FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 | 6:30P - 10P

Tickets: $20 general admission, $15 MMAM Members, $15 Students

Celebrate the season of mystery and transformation at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s New Look Masquerade Party. As part of MMAM’s 20th anniversary year and our 2026 theme, Making Waves, this immersive fall evening invites guests to step into a world where art, story, and disguise collide.

Arrive adorned in your most enchanting masquerade look, elegant, eerie, or somewhere in between? Or, craft your own creation at our on-site mask-making studio. Throughout the evening, guests will take part in a playful tradition: each attendee receives tokens to award to the most captivating masked figures of the night. Will you take home the prize?

The museum comes alive with experiences tucked into every corner. join an artist-led conversation exploring the themes of story and transformation, gather for live spooky lake stories read by Geo Rutherford, listen to MMAM’s exciting sound experience, and end the night with Billy X. Enjoy seasonal drink specials and light bites from the Waterbar Cafe + Provisions culinary team.

Set against the crisp air and golden hues of fall along the Mississippi River, the New Look Masquerade Party is a one-night-only celebration of creativity, community, and the thrill of becoming someone, or something, new.

Run of Show 

6:30p | Doors Open. Waterbar Cafe + Provisions Open.

7:00p - 7:15p | Sonification 1 “Canvas to Composition” with Eric Heukeshoven in Fluid 

7:20-7:35p | Sonfication 2 “Canvas to Composition” with Eric Heukeshoven in Fluid 

7:20p - 8:00p | Staged Social: Andy DuCett, Geo Rutherford, & Barbara Mcilrath in Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World

8:15p - 8:45p  |  Book readings with Geo Rutherford in Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World

8:50 - 9:05p | Sonfication 3 “Canvas to Composition” with Eric Heukeshoven in Fluid 

9:10-9:25:pm  | Sonfication 4 “Canvas to Composition” with Eric Heukeshoven in Fluid 

9:00p - 9:40p | Billy X Curmano NEW X ART ENSEMBLE in Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World

10p  |  Doors Close

All Night | Mask-making for purchase for $5

All Night | DJ Dr. Bob

All Night | Photo Booth

All Night | Waterbar Cafe + Provisions New Look Preview Party Specials

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Dress Code: A Little Mysterious

Think fierce, spooky, dramatic, or chic. Masquerade masks are encouraged but not required. Don’t have a mask? Make your own at the party for $5. Our best-dressed guests will win a prize!

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Transportation + Overflow Lot:

Parking is available at MMAM. There is also overflow parking available offsite at the Fastenal parking lot (267 W. Third St. Winona, MN). There will be a complimentary shuttle service that will run between MMAM and the Fastenal parking lot continuously from 6:30p - 10p.

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Canvas to Composition

Canvas to Composition is a series of four digital musical sonifications that will be permanently installed in the exhibition Fluid. Visitors will experience what the artworks themselves sound like - every paintstroke and cut is turned into a composition created by composer Eric Heukeshoven. Attendees at the New Look Masquerade Party will be the first to hear the compositions and listen to Eric speak about his process.

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About the artists

• Andy DuCett

  Andy DuCett is from Winona, MN and received his M.F.A. from the University of Illinois and his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. His artistic approaches span many disciplines in both studio and client environments. His work has been shown in galleries and museums around the country and is in the collections of The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Philbrook Museum of Art and The Walker Art Center. He has been featured by Artforum, New American Paintings, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post, as well as in publications from Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo, and London. He was the recipient of a 2017 McKnight Visual Arts Fellowship, a 2021 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Grant and is listed on the curated registry of the Drawing Center in New York City. His client list includes Hasbro, Travail Kitchen & Amusements, General Mills, Can Can Wonderland, Target and Meow Wolf. He has upcoming solo exhibitions at the MN Marine Art Museum in 2026 and The Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND in 2028. Starting in 2027, he will also be a Distinguished Dayton Hudson Visiting Teacher/Artist at Carleton College. 

• Barbara McIlrath

  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.” 

• Dr. Bob

  Robert Armstrong aka Dr. Bob has been performing as Dj Rhumpshaker since the year 2000. A rabid fan of multiple genres of music, Rhumpshaker got his start playing at house parties and art openings. Eventually settling in as the house Dj for the no name bar and hosting monthly dance parties for the last 10 years. Dj Rhumpshaker is also a multi instrumentalist and enjoys throwing his own original productions into the mix. Best known for his deep funk cuts, Dj Rhumpshaker also enjoys a wide variety of musical styles and is constantly exploring new and old music genres. An active member of the online Dj community you can find over a hundred of his mixes on mixcloud.com.

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Fall New Look Weekend Events

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 three exhibiting artists including, Andy DuCett (Home(town)), Geo Rutherford (Spooky Waters of the World), and Barbara McIlrath (LandSkyWater).

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SUPPORT COMES FROM:

Support for Andy DuCett: Home(town) comes from the lead sponsor, Merchants Bank, and the presenting partner, the Winona Creators Collective.

Barbara McIlrath: LandSkyWater is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

Support for Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World comes from the lead sponsor, the Sanborn Canoe Co., the media partner, Minnesota Public Radio, and the presenting partner, the Red Balloon Bookshop. Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet is published by Abrams Books for Young Readers.

MMAM acknowledges sustaining support from generous contributions from foundations, corporations, individuals, members and volunteers, including ongoing support from our Board of Directors, the Elizabeth Callender King Foundation, the Morgan Family Foundation, the Minnesota State Art Board, and MMAM’s New Look Weekend lodging partner, Hotel 44 North. 

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