Meet the M State Fair Purchase Award Winners: Drew Arrieta and Love Quetee

Photographer Drew Arrieta and painter Love Quetee are this year’s winners of the M’s State Fair Purchase Award. A few days before the fair opened, we found both artists in the Fine Arts Building basking in the glow of attention from family, friends, and thousands of new admirers.

“Blown away” sums up their response at learning they had won.

With the award, their work now enters the museum’s collection, where it will be displayed, interpreted, and enjoyed for generations to come. Meanwhile, each artist has income from the purchase and a new achievement to note on fellowship applications and artist statements.

“To go from being handed that camera to having a work enter a museum collection feels pretty substantial,” Drew Arrieta says.

“I hope that, through this acquisition, more people will . . . connect with the story I’m trying to tell through my brushstrokes,” says Love Quetee.

3 Questions: Drew Arrieta

“There’s something really meaningful about knowing that Signs of Refusal will be preserved and held by a museum here in Minnesota, for Minnesotans.”—Drew Arrieta

What was your first thought when you saw your painting had won the M State Fair Purchase Award? 

Drew Arrieta: I was honestly blown away. Winning this award has quietly been a goal of mine for a while. It’s not something I’ve ever really vocalized, but it’s one of the reasons I’ve continued submitting work to the State Fair. So to actually receive it means a lot to me.

It’s also the first time a work of mine has been purchased by a museum. There’s something really meaningful about knowing that Signs of Refusal will be preserved and held by a museum here in Minnesota, for Minnesotans. Given what the work documents and where it was made, that feels especially significant.

What does it mean to have your work enter a museum collection at this point in your career?

DA: It feels incredibly affirming. I don’t come from a traditional art background. I really began my art practice about six years ago, during the Minneapolis Uprising, when someone lent me a camera and encouraged me to document what I was seeing and to pursue the stories and images that I felt better represented what was happening around me.

To go from being handed that camera to having a work enter a museum collection feels pretty substantial. It reminds me that there isn’t one path to becoming an artist, and that the work we make from the places and communities we’re part of has value. I hope it can also be encouraging to other artists who may not have had access to a traditional art education or a clear path into the art world.

In a few words, what is your artwork about?

DA: Signs of Refusal is made from photographs of 117 stop signs I encountered while walking and biking throughout Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge. During moments of resistance and uprising, public space becomes a place where people leave messages of solidarity, grief, anger, and refusal. Those messages can appear almost overnight, but they can also be among the first traces to disappear.

I wanted to document these signs before they were erased and show how, across neighborhoods, people were taking up everyday public space and using it to communicate solidarity and resistance.

3 Questions: Love Quetee

“With Gbanganla, I wanted to make a visual love letter to Liberia.”—Love Quetee

What was your first thought when you saw your painting had won the M State Fair Purchase Award?

Love Quetee: I was very surprised to find out that I won the M State Fair Purchase Award. I was walking around looking for my work, and I took the long way because I didn’t know where my painting was set up. As I walked around trying to find it, I saw all these amazing works with incredible awards, and I thought, “There’s no way I received an award with all of these great artworks and artists.”

When I finally got to my work, I was surprised to see that I had not only received the Minnesota Museum of American Art Purchase Award, but two other awards as well. It was definitely my biggest night of achievements. I felt really special, especially because I had been going back and forth with myself about whether I should even submit Gbanganla to the State Fair. To have it accepted on my first try was already a blessing, so receiving these awards was beyond anything I expected.

What does it mean to have your work enter a museum collection at this point in your career?

LQ: I’m very grateful and still in shock. This will be my very first museum acquisition, and it has already brought me so many opportunities. I hope that, through this acquisition, more people will have the opportunity to view my work, learn more about me as an artist, and connect with the story I’m trying to tell through my brushstrokes. I want to continue growing my artistic practice and become a successful full-time artist, and this museum acquisition is a big step toward that goal.

I want to thank everyone at the Minnesota Museum of American Art who saw the hard work and dedication I put into Gbanganla and believed that it was worthy of being part of the museum’s collection. It means so much to me to know that they see my work as something just as special and meaningful as I do.

In a few words, what is your artwork about?

LQ: With Gbanganla, I wanted to make a visual love letter to Liberia, celebrating its culture, land, and the beauty I see in my people. The greenery, traditional garments, jewelry, and the figure’s bold presence reflect the richness of a heritage that continues to shape me.

Minnesota Museum of American Art
350 Robert Street North
St. Paul, MN 55101
Located in the Historic Pioneer Endicott

Office: 651.797.2571

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