Minnesota Marine Art Museum

10/24/2026

The weekend of October 2 – 4, we celebrated Fall New Look Weekend at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum! 🎭✨

We kicked off the festivities Friday night with our New Look Masquerade Party, an evening filled with art, meaningful conversations, and community connection. Exhibiting artists Andy DuCett, Barbara McIlrath, and Geo Rutherford joined us for a curator-led conversation, sharing insights into their new exhibitions and connecting with guests.

The evening continued with composer A. Eric Heukeshoven debuting his project, "Canvas to Composition," DJ Rhumpshaker bringing the energy to the MMAM Atrium, and Billy X. Curmano keeping the celebration going in the Oberton Education Room.

A heartfelt thank-you to everyone who joined us and helped make the weekend so special. We loved celebrating art, creativity, and community with you! 💙

[Photos by Bailey Bolton for MMAM]

10/23/2026

Discover the art of Pająki! ✨

Rooted in centuries of Polish tradition, pająki are vibrant hanging mobiles crafted from straw and paper, traditionally made in late autumn to adorn the home for the Christmas season. With colorful paper pompoms, intricate garlands, and delicate decorative details, these beautiful creations are more than ornaments, they’re symbols of protection, blessing, and a warm welcome into the home.

Join Britt Malec for a two-day, hands-on workshop at MMAM on November 20 - 21, celebrating this colorful craft revival!

Day 1: Explore the history and cultural significance of pająki, select your materials, and learn the basics of paper pompom making.

Day 2: Build on your skills with advanced pompom techniques and decorative elements, including paper flowers, dried peas, and garlands. You’ll leave with your own completed pająk, plus the skills and knowledge to source materials and continue creating at home.

Heads-up! This craft involves threading needles, folding small pieces of paper, and tying tiny knots, so comfort with fine motor tasks is helpful.

Come connect with tradition, explore your creativity, and make something beautiful to bring a little color and blessing into your space!

Secure your spot today! ⬇
https://mmam.org/calendar2/straw-mobiles

10/23/2026

What does it take to bring the art of Magic: The Gathering into a museum?

This week, Minnesota Marine Art Museum Development Director Mike Linnemann is speaking at IX, the Illustration Experience, an annual art show and symposium in Reading, Pennsylvania, dedicated to imaginative realism and the artists who bring imagined worlds to life.

His talk, Curating Magic: Bringing Currents of Control to Life, offers a behind-the-scenes look at an upcoming exhibition at MMAM. From selecting a narrative and securing original artwork loans to designing the visitor experience, Mike will explore what it takes to bring the illustration behind a beloved trading card game into a museum.

https://imaginativerealism.com/programming/

Every IX show is filled with multiple tracks of demonstrations, workshops, lectures, films, and even field trips running from Thursday morning through Sunday afternoon. IX utilizes both classroom space as well as the high-tech Boscov Theatre, a 135-seat digital theatre with a full stage and stadium....

10/22/2026

Just finished exploring Geo Rutherford’s exhibition “Spooky Waters of the World” ? 👻

Keep the spooky discoveries going, and pick up your own copies of “Spooky Lakes” and “Spooky Rivers” available at the MMAM shoppe!

Life’s better with stickers! Dive into Geo’s one-of-a-kind sticker collection and take home a little extra spooky fun. ✨

“ Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World” is on view through February 14, 2027.

[Photos by Bailey Bolton for MMAM: “Geo Rutherford: Spooky Waters of the World”]

10/21/2026

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM), in partnership with the Rivoli Arts Building, will present a one-night pop-up exhibition featuring the work of Minneapolis-based artist Liz Sexton .sexton on Friday, Nov. 6, from 5pm to 8 p.m.

The free event will take place in the Rivoli Arts Building’s fourth-floor gallery, located at 123 4th St. N. in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as part of their First Fridays Art Walk program.

Visitors will have the opportunity to meet Sexton and learn about her artistic process, materials, and inspiration. MMAM staff will also be available to share updates about the museum and its current exhibitions and programs.

Sexton creates intricate paper mâché sculptures that blur the boundaries between the animal kingdom and human life. Using repurposed materials, including discarded paper bags and packing supplies, she builds animal masks from hundreds to thousands of paper strips, carefully shaping each piece until the animal’s character emerges. Photographs by Ben Toht accompany her sculptures, depicting people wearing the masks in both natural and urban environments.

The pop-up exhibition reflects MMAM’s commitment to connecting audiences with artists and expanding conversations about art, water, and the natural world beyond the museum’s galleries. The partnership with the Rivoli Arts Building brings these conversations to a creative community in downtown La Crosse.

10/20/2026

“The Coast and the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America” is a traveling exhibition on loan from The New York Historical, features more than 50 marine and maritime artifacts drawn from an expansive collection, bringing the story of early American history and culture vividly to life.

As you make your way through the history-rich exhibition, you’ll encounter a striking grisaille work by Howard Pyle, the gifted and prolific artist, illustrator, and author renowned for his depictions of American historical subjects.

Painted in 1893 for an article of New York’s history in “Harper’s New Monthly Magazine,” Pyle’s “A Privateersman Ashore” depicts a scene set during the War of 1812. At the center stands a strutting freebooter in stylish, quasi-naval attire, who confronts the viewer with a bold gaze and a cigar in hand. In the background, a group of more sober citizens watches the exotic newcomer from a cautious distance. Their wary expressions and guarded postures convey a sense of apprehension as they gawk at the newly landed privateersman, whose confident bearing and flamboyant appearance set him apart from the townspeople.

“The Coast and the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art” is on loan from The New York Historical and is on view through February 28, 2027.

[Image: Howard Pyle (1853-1911), “A Privateersman Ashore” 1893. Oil on Canvas. The New York Historical, A Gift of George A. Zabriski, 1948.28]

[Photo by Bailey Bolton for MMAM: “The Coast and The Sea: Marine and Maritime Art”]