July 24 – September 24, 2012
Rena Effendi
Bill Harbort
John Hitchcock
Terry Jelsing
Mary Lucier
Tim Schouten
In the Spring of 2012, the Museum was selected from a pool of 65 national arts organizations to receive the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s Artistic Innovation and Collaboration (AIC) grant. Throught this grant the Museum will commission six artists to work with members of the Spirit Lake Reservation to collaboratively create a body of work. To kick off this project the Museum is showing the work of each of the six artists.
The AIC grant program is the first national competitive grant program for the Foundation. It propels the organization’s philanthropic mission of cultivating, promoting, encouraging, and supporting the production and exhibition of art.
“This grant program is rooted in the defining characteristics of Bob’s legacy – fearlessness, innovative practice, cross-disciplinary exploration, and collaboration among artists – and supports new work in a time when funding artistic experimentation is receding. We are delighted to be able to support projects that are pushing the boundaries of artistic practice and helping artists and cultural organizations investigate new territory,” said Christy MacLear, Executive Director of the Foundation.
In 2011, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation invited 65 arts organizations across the country to apply for the inaugural grant cycle. After a competitive application process, nine grants, totaling $800,000, were awarded to a diverse group of innovative projects.
The North Dakota Museum of Art received $150,000 over three years to support the commissioning of artists Rena Effendi, Bill Harbort, John Hitchcock, Terry Jelsing, Mary Lucier, and Tim Schouten to create work exploring life on North Dakota’s mixed race, multi-cultural Spirit Lake Nation of the Dakota (Sioux) people. The project brings together artists from various disciplines and backgrounds, including Native Americans, to create work with and about a community that has minimal contact with contemporary artists.
Installation Images
Tim Schouten, Rail Yard, Brandon (Treaty 2).
Oil, pigment, beeswax, microcrystalline wax, dammar resin on canvas, 36” x 42”.
John Hitchcock, Signal Mountain, 2011.
Screenprint, Drawing, 30 x 44 Inches.