A space for powerful and thought-provoking art experiences.
The Grinnell College Museum of Art presents exhibitions of regional, national, and international artists throughout the year in the Faulconer Gallery, a 7,420 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibition space at the heart of the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Exhibitions in the Print and Drawing Study Room and Burling Gallery, located on the lower level of Burling Library, focus on objects in the Grinnell College Art Collection as well as objects directly related to Grinnell College classes during the spring and fall semesters. Click on the links below for exhibitions current, future, and past, as well as student-curated exhibitions resulting from Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) and the gallery's triennial Exhibition Seminar.
Current Exhibition
Sept. 7–Dec. 12, 2021
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Fall 2021 Exhibition
Queer/Dialogue
This exhibition presents eight artists — Louis Fratino, Jordan King, Jeremy Laing, Doron Langberg, Catherine Opie, Christina Quarles, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Devan Shimoyama — whose works enable dialogue at the intersections of identity expression: race, gender, individuality, and otherness, equality within differences, with a focus on the body as expressive terrain. The artists represent distinct voices across a spectrum of media, reflecting diversity in identity expression where it intersects with contemporary political, social, and economic issues, always relevant but particularly charged at this moment.
Curated by Associate Director Daniel Strong and Guest Curator Greg Manuel.
Recent Exhibitions
June 25–Aug. 15, 2021
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June 25–Aug. 15, 2021
Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Awards
The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards annually recognizes outstanding African American artists of children’s books who demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. Our Voice is the first retrospective of all winners and honorees since the establishment of the award in 1974. This exhibition is organized by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. Special thanks to Nick Glass and TeachingBooks.net.
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Bachelor of Arts Exhibition
BAX 2021
BAX features works in the creative arts by third- and fourth-year Grinnell College students.
With support from GCMoA staff, students manage all the exhibition details: from the submission of proposals to the selection of a juror to the installation process and creation of an exhibition website. The exhibition includes photographs, drawings, sculpture, paintings, video, installations, and works created digitally. This year at least half of the work by the 30 student artists are available only on the exhibition website since many of the artists have done their creative work while working remotely around the U.S. and the world. During the pandemic, a team of students has taken the lead in organizing BAX for this year. They include: Sophie Doddimeade ’21, Clara Dingle ’22, Tess Kerkhof ’21, Tommy (Guhn) Lee ’22, Caroline Shea ’22, and Hannah Taylor ’21.
The juror this year is J.M. Culver of Minnesota, who awards Best in Show and other prizes. Additional prizes are awarded by the Office of Student Affairs, the Student Government Association, and the Studio Art Department.
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Face Forward
How many faces (besides your own in the mirror) have you laid eyes on in the past year? It’s time to look again, and so we're pleased to present Face Forward, an opportunity to present the diversity of portraiture and figurative works we have in our collection, as well as feature new acquisitions that you have not seen on campus before.
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Face Forward
Introduction to the Exhibition
Daniel Strong, associate director and curator of exhibitions, discusses works of art featured in Face Forward.
Fall 2020 Exhibitions
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Fall 2020 Virtual Exhibition
Let Yourself Continue
August 2020 marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In commemoration of this event, the Grinnell College Museum of Art is presenting work by more than 50 women artists represented in the Museum of Art’s collection.
Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture
Sept. 15–Dec. 11, 2020
In 2020, the Grinnell College Museum of Art acquired 13 prints by Jacob Lawrence based on his painted series, completed in 1938, of scenes from the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture. A leader of the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in the founding of the Republic of Haiti in 1804, L’Ouverture was one of the historical Black figures that Lawrence found lacking in the history books of his time. He completed 41 paintings in all, now in the collection of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University. Of the 15 prints based on these paintings that Lawrence produced between 1980 and 1997, the College now has 13 of them, including the portrait of L’Ouverture himself. These prints, the first works by this pivotal American artist to enter our collection, are being shown in the Museum of Art for the first time.
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Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture
Professor Fredo Rivera speaks about the prints in Jacob Lawrence's Toussaint L'Ouverture Series
In this video, Assistant Professor of Art History Fredo Rivera talks about prints from Jacob Lawrence’s The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture series.
Past Exhibitions
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April 17–Aug. 2, 2020
Nature, Made
What happens when an artist doesn’t just represent the natural world, but makes it anew, through a creative lens?
Five alumni artists work with animals, plants, and environments, crafting them into personal expression and commenting on the human impulse to alter the world around us. The exhibition, curated by Lesley Wright, director of the Museum, will include painting, printmaking, sculpture and drawing by artists Fay Stanford ’72, Pamela Crockett ’76, Aaron Rothman ’96, Regan Golden ’00, and John Martin Bell ’08.
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May 29 - July 31, 2020
Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Awards
The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards annually recognizes outstanding African American artists of children’s books who demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. Our Voice is the first retrospective of all winners and honorees since the establishment of the award in 1974. This exhibition is organized by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. Special thanks to Nick Glass and TeachingBooks.net.