Fauna First Look Preview Party

FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2023 \ 7PM - 10PM [DOORS AT 6:30PM]

TICKETS $15 \ MEMBER RATE: $10

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About First Look Preview Party Artists

Liz Sexton

Liz Sexton opens her exhibition, Liz Sexton: Out of Water, on May 5. Her sculptures blur the line between the animal kingdom and human life. Working with paper mâché, a medium she prefers for its versatility and accessibility, Sexton creates large masks of fish, sea mammals, marine mollusks, and reptiles that are meant to be worn. Her large, intricately detailed masks are brought to life in photographs featuring each likeness being worn in unsuspected, non-natural environments, giving them an otherworldly effect. Her work serves as a celebration of the natural world and the beauty of the creatures that inhabit it. Simultaneously, she sheds light on the dangers imposed on animals due to climate change. As the climate changes and ecosystems are lost, animals become displaced and are forced to live in our human world.

Courtney Mattison

Courtney Mattison opens her solo exhibition, Courtney Mattison: Undercurrent on May 5, 2023. Mattison creates intricate and large-scale ceramic sculptural works that visualize climate change through the fragile beauty of marine life. Her sculptures inspired by coral reefs depict the delicate beauty found beneath the sea and highlight biodiversity impacted by human activity. After studying marine biology and ceramic sculpture in college and graduate school, Mattison dedicated her career to creating art that calls attention to threats facing the ocean. Her background in marine conservation informs her work, and her advocacy seeks to inspire us to preserve our changing seas. The works in this two-gallery exhibition will confront viewers by bringing them up close and personal to coral reefs and promoting meaningful change needed to protect our underwater ecosystems.

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 based environments. He’s interested in the slippage that re-contextualization of images and experiences offers — going from familiar to unfamiliar, easy to complicated. 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, and The Walker Art Center. He has been featured by Artforum, New American Paintings, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post, as well as publications in Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo, and London. He was the recipient of a 2017 McKnight Visual Arts Fellowship, and is listed on the curated registry of the Drawing Center in New York City. He recently completed a series of projects commissioned by SITE Santa Fe, and is a 2021 recipient of grants by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR to fund Conservatory, a collaboration with Jovan C. Speller.

Erin Drummond/Flyway Dance

Erin Drummond (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, director, and educator. She creates interdisciplinary artwork in places ranging from the Sonoran Desert to their studio and continues to be interested in the body’s communicative power within the complexities of place, using movement research as a catalyst for personal, political and environmental change. Her work often explores mystery and the unknown, drawing philosophical and physical inspiration from forces of nature. Erin has performed and collaborated with numerous artists, companies and collectives nationally and internationally, including Rosy Simas Danse, Robin Stiehm's Dancing People Company, Coco Karol, K.J. Holmes, Amara Tabor Smith, Wicked Sister Dance Theatre, Labor Force Dances, Leyya Mona Tawil, Body Watani/Leila Awadallah, Sex&Money, and the MN Opera. Her creative work has been supported by the Minnesota Southeastern Arts Council, Savanna Moon Wildlife Refuge and MN Humanities Center. Erin's early foray into earth science as an undergraduate at Columbia University led her to continue studying ecological systems as they interact with human cultural phenomena. She has been a resident and visiting artist at the Savanna Moon Wildlife Refuge, Squawking Hawk Acres Permaculture Demonstration Site, Dhamma Dena Meditation Center, and Fundación Casa Cultural La Chispa (Colombia). Her choreography often explores the intersection between nature and culture and has been presented at a number of venues including the Walker Art Center, ACDA Gala at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Miller Theatre (NYC), LGBT Center (NYC), Hundred Grand (NYC), University of the South Pacific (Samoa), and for the United Nations in Bangkok. Erin is Assistant Professor of Dance and Dance Program Director at Winona State University and an active freelance artist based in Winona/Keoxa, Minnesota/Mne Sota Makoce, Dakota Land. She holds a BA from Columbia University and an MFA in dance through Hollins University, in collaboration with institutions in Frankfurt, Germany. She is also a certified yoga teacher, with an emphasis in vinyasa classes and vipassana meditation.

woolen lover

woolen lover (they/them) is a local queer sound and movement artist. In their live music performances they layer vocals, synthesizer, found sounds, and electronic sounds- using the loop pedal to unfold each song in the moment.

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.

Sara Holger

Sara Holger lives in Wabasha and is the mother of three. She has been an environmental educator since 1994, working for Minnesota State Parks since 1999. She is currently the Lead Interpretive Naturalist at Whitewater State Park. In 2005, she founded Project Get Outdoors, a non-profit organization working to connect low-income youth and BIPOC children to the natural world. Sara is also a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and has been leading forest therapy walks across southeast Minnesota to introduce people to the transformative power of nature.

This project is presented by the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, with support in part from our Board of Directors, the Elizabeth Calendar King Foundation, Gundersen Medical Foundation, Winona Foundation, the Winona Community Foundation, and other generous sustaining contributions from foundations, corporations, individuals, members and volunteers.

Special thanks to our sponsors and partners, Lake and Company (Media Partner), and the Blue Heron Coffeehouse (Hospitality Partner).

This activity is made possible 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.