About the project

I read an article in Hyperallergic about the astounding lack of representation of women and BIPOC in 18 major US museums.
Read the full article here.
The takeaway from the study:
"Our results are threefold. First, we provide estimates of gender and ethnic diversity at each museum, and overall, we find that 85% of artists are white and 87% are men. Second, we identify museums that are outliers, having significantly higher or lower representation of certain demographic groups than the rest of the pool. Third, we find that the relationship between museum collection mission and artist diversity is weak, suggesting that a museum wishing to increase diversity might do so without changing its emphases on specific time periods and regions. Our methodology can be used to broadly and efficiently assess diversity in other fields."

In order to expose more students to diversity it needs to be done intentionally. This directory is designed for easy access to a wide variety of artists. There is a variety of ethnicities, gender, race, within the directory as well as a large variety in the kind of art these artists make.

Julie Buffalohead_Trixster Showdown_Color screenprint & Diptych_Printer & Publisher Highpoint Editions_Collection at MIA_27 3/3 x 22 (left panel)_27 3/8 x 34 (right panel)
Buffalohead born 1972, Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma

Julie Buffalohead's work has focused thematically upon describing Indian cultural experience through personal metaphor and narrative. Just as frequently as the work has been evocative of animals, anthropomorphism and nature, it has been a critique of the simulacrum of the Old West, and of the prejudicial commercialization of Native culture. 
She is a member of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma. She has had solo exhibitions at Carleton College, St. Thomas University, St. Johns University, Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis, The Plains Art Museum, and  Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Buffalohead (b. 1972) lives and works in St. Paul, MN and is represented by Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis. 

                          Alonso Sierralta, Anderson Center 2021

Alonso Sierralta
Hold, 
metal, wood
2021
Anderson Center Sculpture Garden

Alonso Sierralta moved from Chile to the United States when he was fourteen, and studied in Nebraska before settling in NE Minneapolis. He earned an MFA from the University of Nebraska. 

Hold combines natural and man-made materials to channel Alonso's experience of cultural transplantation into powerful metaphors for growth, challenge, pain and adaptation. The tension, contradiction, and contrast created by pairing organic materials with manufactured ones evokes the mixed emotions of optimism & fear that accompany giving up the familiar and provides an inclusive opportunity to examine the issue of immigration from a fresh & visually expressive perspective.

Migration and moving from one place to another plays a large role in Sierralta’s sculptures, which he usually puts together using wood and resin while adding many natural and organic materials, such as seeds, grass, roots and other things. Among his favorite spots for finding sculpture materials is along the Mississippi Riverbanks. (writing courtesy of The Anderson Center, read the full article here)​

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                                                                                                                                    Keren Kroul  
The Shape of Memory,
​detail of installation,
Watercolor on paper
2022