The M Blog

Welcome to the M Blog, an online space for discussing and examining issues related to the many facets of American experience and identity today. The voices you’ll read here are both ours and yours. Look for insights from Minnesota Museum of American Art staff, but also from guest contributors: thinkers, creators, and change-agents in the field and in our community. We’re striving for a mix of deep, highly focused essays and profiles as well as broader-reaching, lighter fare. In the M Blog, you’ll encounter perspectives on the M’s collection and exhibitions, artists, invitations to action, a window onto what we’re thinking about, and more.

Chris McDuffie’s Photo Mission to Find Yourself in Outer Experiences

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Chris said of the Outer Experiences: Black Life in Rural and Suburban Minnesota exhibition, drawing out the word “amazing” to emphasize what sounded like genuine glee...

Collection Features

Peruse collection artworks that have recently been featured on the M's social media. The M's collection is 100 years and counting...take a look!

Artist Talk: Roosevelt Mansfield

Roosevelt says, "This is not about camera settings...it's about learning yourself; it's about not being afraid to try things; it's about using what you  have and letting your imagination come through."

SOS Color Code 2020

When the international distress signal SOS was adopted in 1908, its easily recognizable and unique code produced aural unity, a sense of calm in life or death situations. As the world adjusts to new norms in challenging times, SOS Color Code 2020 offers a reconsideration of how language, objects and symbols, and even color can help us find stable ground and safety no matter where we are.

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and our BIPOC communities now and into the future.

A statement of solidarity with the BIPOC community and how the M plans to continue doing institutional equity work.

What’s Your Weapon?

In this personal essay, high school senior Waylon Rembert Jr. considers the lives and legacies of photographers Gordon Parks and Jamel Shabazz, in light of his own life path, so far, and choices that lie just ahead.