The Celebration of Life service at the North Dakota Museum of Art was held on Sunday, November 23, from 1 – 3 pm. Thank you to all the friends and family who attended. Recorded live stream will be posted here shortly.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Laurel Reuter Directors Fund at the North Dakota Museum of Art (make checks payable to NDMOA, include “Directors Fund” in memo). This fund is designed to continue Laurel’s legacy of presenting world-class contemporary art on the Plains, the development of Native American Initiatives, commissions of new works and artistic publications, and more.
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Laurel Jean Reuter passed away peacefully in her home on Monday, October 13, at the age of 81. She was surrounded by her artwork, family, friends, and her faithful cat Pretty Boy, just as she wanted.
Laurel was born to George and Evelyn Wallace on October 17, 1943, in Devils Lake, ND. She grew up in Tokio, ND, on the Spirit Lake Reservation. Following the death of their mother at a young age, Laurel and her siblings were raised by their aunt Agnes Smith. Laurel attended Devils Lake High School and graduated in 1961.
Fifty years ago, Laurel embarked upon the journey of building a “cultural jewel on the prairie” that ultimately became the North Dakota Museum of Art. This adventure led her from Tokio to the University of North Dakota, where she studied literature coupled with what art history courses she could find. Her quest to see as much art as possible took her across the globe, from North America and Europe to South Africa, Japan, South America, and the far reaches of Iceland and Asia. In 1989, Laurel was installing a textile exhibition in China as the Tiananmen Square uprising began and she and her team were smuggled out for safe passage home. Throughout her career, she searched far and wide for exceptional art to introduce to her growing audience and the fledgling North Dakota Museum of Art.
Of her early years Laurel stated, “I dedicated my life to creating a vibrant art world on the plains of eastern North Dakota. I was just a kid in the English Department at UND when the director of the Student Union asked if I wanted a part-time job keeping a student gallery open on the top floor. It was there I began to think about space, installation, and how does a gallery work. In 1973, I appointed myself the director, and no one cared. I remember it as an exciting time. With the help of my very small staff, we grew the Student Union gallery beyond our expectations.”
Laurel forged a formidable career that earned praise from around the world, yet she was quick to brush accolades aside in favor of her next big project. In 1999, while still recovering from the devastating flood of the Red River Valley, she received the Award of Distinction from the National Council of Art Administrators for “her dedication to art and to culture in North Dakota and her struggle to create a world-class museum in a remote environment.”
Furthermore, they commended her for “helping a devastated community draw together and recover its spiritual existence.” In 2007, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of North Dakota.
Laurel curated hundreds of exhibitions by renowned artists including Kenneth Patchen, Larry Clark, Fritz Scholder, Ed Ruscha, David Gilhooly, Frank Gohlke (1979—organized by New York’s Museum of Modern Art), Sol LeWitt, N. Scott Momaday, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and a two-person exhibition by Elmer Bischoff and David Parks. In 1989, with the support of a legion of friends, Laurel moved the institution from the Student Union to the empty women’s gymnasium on campus. Having raised enough funds to begin, she hired renowned architect Harvey Hoshour of Albuquerque, New Mexico to design and create an elegant new space that is still celebrated and cherished by so many artists today.
The North Dakota Museum of Art opened in its new home with solo exhibitions by Peter Dean and Barton Benes, with whom she shared life-long friendships. As she grew the museum throughout her career, she continued to provide her audience with challenging exhibitions.
In 2007, after traveling South America and visiting artists who were making work about those who had been disappeared under military dictatorships in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Laurel organized and opened The Disappeared at the Museum. Shortly after the exhibition closed in North Dakota, it and the accompanying catalog began a multi-year tour to five cities in the US and five in South and Central America. Over 900 people attended the opening in Guatemala, while in New York, at El Museo del Barrio, New York Times Art Critic Holland Cotter wrote, “The Disappeared was organized by Laurel Reuter, founding director and chief curator of the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks. It is scheduled to travel through North and South America for three years, and has a bilingual catalog that is a work of art in itself. From Ms. Reuter’s stunning essay to the supplementary material, it is a total-immersion emotional experience. And why is it that an on-the-road exhibition from a small museum in the Midwest is the most potent show of contemporary art, political or otherwise, in town? All I can say is that curators in our local museums should pay a visit, and ask themselves that question.”
With such monumental exhibitions came accompanying artist catalogs and numerous books, including Whole Cloth, her landmark publication on textiles co-authored with friend and colleague Mildred Constantine, who served as curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At home and abroad, Laurel leaves a lasting impact on artists and the greater art world as a whole while establishing and passionately developing an institution that continues to carry forward her vision and love of the arts.
Laurel lived her life surrounded by beauty. She reveled in the prairie light as she drove her VW convertible to the family farm, or to an artist’s studio to pick up paintings for an auction. Her garden was as aesthetically important to her as the many exhibitions she curated. Flowers were intricately arranged by color, height, blooming season, and zones. She took great pleasure in curating her beloved garden, which looked wild to the untrained eye, but which she cared for with much thought and deliberation.
Laurel held close her relationship with Cynthia Lindquist, then President of the Cankdeska Cikana Community College, as they joined forces to commission Native American artists, and bring exhibitions to the Spirit Lake Reservation and New York. She also cherished her long-distance relationships with artist friends Juan Manuel Echavarria, Xu Bing, and countless others she admired, shared meals with, and talked art. Laurel deeply loved her brothers, and treasured introducing her nieces and nephews to the grander world. Above all, she lived the Museum’s mission statement, “…we have come to value the arts because they make our hearts wise—the highest of human goals.”
Laurel is survived by her brothers James (Loretta) Wallace and Russell (Edith) Wallace; nephews Craig (Tracy) Wallace, Dean (Lisa) Wallace, David (Misty) Wallace, Jesse (Jean) Wallace, James (Trish) Wallace, and Matthew (Mara Jiran) Wallace; nieces Janel (Mike) Vander Klipp, Kristi Wallace, Jennifer (Hunter) Parisien; and her sister-in-law Kathy Krack. She was preceded in death by her father George Wallace, her mother Evelyn Wallace, her aunt Agnes Smith, and her brother Glenn Wallace.
The family would like to thank those who cared for Laurel after her retirement, including Melissa Miller, whom Laurel considered a daughter, Sarah Parker, and the many women who provided comfort and conversation over the years.
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We will miss you, Laurel.
Laurel and the NDMOA were integral parts of my undergraduate and graduate life at UND, providing something very different and even more rewarding than my aviation degree. There were many exhibitions that I was fortunate to assist with and conversations in Laurel’s office when I’d return to Grand Forks for work.
My favorite memory, however, is ending up near her on a flight back to Grand Forks. She was absolutely dumbfounded that my friend and I would spend a weekend on a “mileage run” to Oslo for 22 hours, and offered to give two wayward jet lagged UND seniors a ride back to their apartment.
She was a treasure who will be deeply missed, but one whose legacy lives on in the Museum, and all of the collectors she inspired.
Laurel was kind to me and allowed me to do some hours at the desk when I had my daughter. It was a great experience and one I will always treasure. I enjoyed meeting her and talking with her. She was always happy and smiling. No question I had ever seemed to be too much. She taught me to look at art in a new way and I got to meet new artists and experience cultures I never thought I would ever. She was a great influencer in my daughter’s art life as well. You will be greatly missed.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Laurel Reuter only a handful of times since my college days wandering through the Student Union gallery. However, I have been continually blessed since by the art (and music) showcased in the lovely museum she created on campus. Laurel’s wonderful and insightful exhibits brought beauty and awe to the weary eyes of this non-artist, inspired curiosity about the world at large, and challenged my thinking in critical ways.
I return to GF often to visit family and friends, and a trip seems incomplete without at least a little time spent embraced in that peaceful space. May it continue to inspire and bring joy for generations.
With deep admiration for Laurel—and for those who carry on her heartfelt mission!
My husband Richard and I moved to GF in the fall of 1970. I clearly remember the Student Union Art Gallary as I would visit it during my lunch hour working in McCannel (?) Hall in Student Services. Then I started volunteering at the start of the dazzling renovated girls gym. As Henry James would say, “she was an original.”
From Scotland wonderful memories of our dear friend Laurel
So sad to hear of her passing
Will and Marian Maclean
Laurel was a personal friend and professional ally. We met decades ago in Kansas City, where we were joint key note speakers for a Surface Design Association event. I remember we went for lunch the day after our presentations and were friends ever after.
What is most memorable for me is her utter tenaciousness and spirit. Laurel occasionally visited me in rural Minnesota at my old feral hippie barn and studio. The outdoor biffy, buckets of drinking water to be carried from the well, all the mud and icy spots she navigated in street shoes…Laurel was ALWAYS game. I would have travelled anywhere with her because of that attractive characteristic.
Unforgettable and very dear.
It was a privilege to work with Laurel when she gave Scottish artist Will Maclean a wonderful exhibition, ‘Cardinal Points’ in 1998, together with an exceptionally informative catalogue. She then toured the exhibition to McMaster Museum in Ontario and Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was a seminal experience for all of us.
Laurel also exhibited the South African artist Georgie Papageorge whose London exhibition with Art First she later visited. We kept in touch always sharing news about Will Maclean. Her last email to me was in October 2022 and ended ‘I still love my life in the visual world’. She meant so much to us and is an inspiration. Thank you for the loving memoir.
I did not know Laurel, but I knew of her museum from once showing there, which was a very proud moment for me. That was also enough to know that it took a remarkable person to make such an extraordinary museum possible. I send my deepest sympathies to all who knew and were touched by Laurel.
I met Laurel when I first moved to Grand Forks in 1998. When I took on a leadership role at UND Music a decade later, she reached out to me and we struck a deal to have the musicians from the concert series work with UND music students. She was a great resource for ideas and action. I view her as a mentor and role model. I miss her dearly.
I remember with great fondness Laurel’s visits to my studio in New York. Her unwavering dedication to the artists she loved and championed was truly inspiring.
Meeting Laurel and working with her for the production of The Disappeared was an unforgettable experience. Her commitment to art and human rights worldwide, her professionalism, her warmth as a hostess are rarely found in the art community. In my name and on behalf of the rest of Argentinian artists and Institutions that were part of the aforementioned art project we share your feelings and at the same time we are sure her team under Matthew’s leadership will honor her legacy.
Dear Laurel,
I feel your absence acutely. At the same time, I’ve so many memories from the many years we knew one another. You served me spaghetti with fresh peaches at your house. Your custom clothing, always impeccably dressed! Our shared love of books, books and more books. The many wonderful treasures you chose for the gift shop. The yellow iris at McCanna House. Your writing and gardening. Your faith in and support of my work. Inviting me to curate a show from the collection and design the installation of an exhibition for the museum immediately following the spring flood of 1997. “Enjoy it, it will be your only chance,” you said only half teasing, wanting the help but being territorial about your space. But years later, you booked a drawing show from NY and then came Meditation for the Hand which I co-curated for the museum with Hanne Tierney. Your visiting one of my exhibitions in NYC and being instrumental in two commissions of my work. Making time to listen and peppering me with questions when I’d drop in to your office on visits home. Providing example, for me and so many others, of a life fully and happily integrated with art. Your lovely, welcoming voice. With gratitude for all. I’ll miss you always.
Barbara
And I forgot for a moment the peonies!! Such a lovely, lovely part of a remarkable legacy. Thank you Laurel.
Flowers inside and out! The peonies made me think of the many hundreds of fabulous arrangements that graced the main desk in the museum over the years. Another example of Laurel’s attention to detail and her enjoyment of beauty.