We believe the arts are an avenue to the sacred. Our permanent art collection challenges, comforts and inspires, with exhibits throughout the program year. Our extraordinary music program, Literary Witnesses series and other offerings bring the arts into daily life at Plymouth.
Art exhibits—featuring paintings, ceramics and other media—are held in the Conn Gallery September through May. Artists are selected by the Gallery Committee. Contact Lynnette Black or Tom Bloom for more information.
PRISM: A multi-faceted exhibition
Artists Maggie Thompson and Tamara Aupaumut will be featured in the Conn Art Gallery, March 1–April 8, with an opening reception Sunday, March 1, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.
Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) was born and raised in Minneapolis. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013. As a textile artist and designer, she derives her inspiration from the history of her Ojibwe heritage, exploring family history as well as themes and subject matter of the broader Native American experience. Thompson’s work calls attention to its materiality pushing the viewer’s traditional understanding of textiles. She explores materials in her work by incorporating multimedia elements such as photographs, beer caps and 3D-printed objects.
Thompson had her first solo exhibition Where I Fit at All My Relations Gallery in 2014. The Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Minnesota Historical Society have both acquired pieces from Thompson to be a part of their permanent collection.
Tamara Aupaumut is a multidisciplinary artist. She is a painter, ceramist, quillworker, beadworker, photographer, and has also worked in film and theater. Tamara descends from the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and the Brothertown Indian Nation.
The 2019 Theater Playshop at Plymouth is on hiatus. Playshop will return in a different format in summer 2020. In the meantime, contact Director of Spiritual Formation and Theater Seth Patterson 612/977-1277 for more information. Seth has an MFA in Theater Performance from Florida Atlantic University and an MDiv from the University of Chicago.
Plymouth’s extraordinary music program is under the direction of the internationally renowned Phillip Brunelle. Learn more.
Renowned author Louise Erdrich will read from her latest book, The Night Watchman, 4 p.m., March 1. This free Literary Witnesses event is co-sponsored by Erdrich’s own Birchbark Books and Rain Taxi Review of Books.
The fourth annual Plymouth Reads poetry reading takes place Sunday, April 26, at 11:30 a.m.
This program of the Fine Arts Board brings poets of national and regional stature to add their voices to Plymouth’s artistic exploration of life and the spirit. A nationally recognized poet reads each spring and fall, and a regional writer, sometimes a Plymouth member, each winter. Past Literary Witnesses include U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, Mary Oliver, Lucille Clifton, Galway Kinnell, Linda Pastan and Robert Bly. Susan “Sam” King and Gregory Orr discussed “Can Poetry Save Your Life?” on April 8, as part of the Literary Witnesses 20th Anniversary celebration. Contact Hawona Sullivan Janzen for more information.
Plymouth is home to magnificent embroideries. These huge artworks were designed by British artist Pauline Baynes and created by The Needlers, a multi-generational fellowship group, active at Plymouth for more than 40 years.
