MISSOULA — As a free resource for the community, the Missoula Art Museum (MAN) is using it’s galleries to spread awareness on an important issue.
The Museum will host a new exhibition in the Summer of 2024, featuring work by Indigenous and Native descendant artists.
The goal is to spread awareness on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis in Montana.
The museum is currently calling for artists across the state to submit work for the exhibition.
The submission deadline for artists is January 5, 2023.
Artists must be indigenous or Indigenous-descendant but can be affiliated with Tribes outside of Montana.
The Missoula Art Museum has invited Rachel Allen to serve as guest curator on the project.
An Indigenous art expert who was born in Great Falls, Allen now works at the Northwestern Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane.
The MAM has stayed committed to showcasing Indigenous art since 1997 when the Lynda Frost Gallery was opened, according to senior curator, Brandon Reintjes.
The Lynda Frost Gallery on the third floor of the museum is dedicated to contemporary Indigenous art.
The current art call, however, is unique to the museum.
“A specialized focus for Indigenous artists and tribal people is something that we haven’t done before, so we’re excited about different ways of inviting people in and being able to showcase art, or become aware of artists that we might not usually work with,” Reintjes says.
The exhibition dedicated to the state’s MMIP crisis will run from May 3 until September 7, 2024.
The artists who are accepted into the exhibition will be notified sometime in February, and a preview of the show for artists and their families will be held on April 22.
The exhibition’s theme is a serious topic, but Reintjes says art can be a great way to spread awareness about one of the state’s toughest issues.
“The more you learn about it and the deeper you go, the more shocking and terrible it is. And it’s one thing that artists’ voices can really lend awareness to and help us understand in different ways. So we’re really hoping that a lot of the submissions that we get, and Rachel’s expert eye with curating, have a way of bringing it together to be outward facing and interact with a broader public.”
Artists can submit applications for the exhibition online, or by emailing Reintjes directly at brandon@missoulaartmuseum.org.
