Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers
January 16 - March 16, 2024
Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art
Please note: The gallery will be closed March 4 – 9 for Spring Break.
Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers marks the opening of the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts and features work in a wide variety of painting media and esthetic approaches by 29 artists, including Frank Big Bear, David Bradley, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Andrea Carlson, Avis Charley, Fern Cloud, Michelle Defoe, Jim Denomie, Patrick DesJarlait, Sam English, Carl Gawboy, Joe Geshick, Sylvia Houle, Oscar Howe, Waŋblí Mayášleča (Francis J. Yellow, Jr.), George Morrison, Steven Premo, Rabbett Before Horses Strickland, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Roy Thomas, Jonathan Thunder, Thomasina TopBear, Moira Villiard, Kathleen Wall, Star WallowingBull, Dyani White Hawk, Bobby Dues Wilson, Leah H. Yellowbird, and Holly Young.
The exhibition premiers at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (January 16 – March 16, 2024), then travels to the Rochester Art Center (April 24 – July 21, 2024) and continues to the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (September 3 – December 27). The Katherine E. Nash Gallery has published a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue with critical essays by several prominent Native American scholars. The catalogue is distributed worldwide by University of Minnesota Press.
Dreaming Our Futures is curated by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe), Northrop Professor of American Studies, University of Minnesota, and Howard Oransky, Director of the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, with Christopher Pexa (Bdewákaŋtuŋwaŋ Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation), Associate Professor of English, Harvard University. Dreaming Our Futures is co-sponsored by the Department of American Studies, the Department of American Indian Studies, the Department of Art History, the Office for Public Engagement, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities, the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Senior Advisor to the President for Native American Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Opening Reception & Public Program
Saturday, February 3, 4:00-8:00 pm
4:00-6:00 PM Program, InFlux Space, E110
6:00-8:00 PM Reception, Regis East Lobby
See a video slideshow of the Program + Reception on our YouTube.
Join us for a program hosted by Brenda J. Child, (Red Lake Ojibwe), Northrop Professor of American Studies, University of Minnesota. Presented in partnership with The Great Northern. Panelists include:
• Kate Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux Dakota and Muscogee Creek), Executive Director, Minnesota Museum of American Art
• Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), author
• Diane Wilson (Dakota), author
• Christopher Pexa (Bdewákaŋtuŋwaŋ Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation), Associate Professor of English, Harvard University.
Related Programming
Wednesday, January 17, 7:00 pm
Exhibition catalogue book launch at Milkweed Books
1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis
Join us for the launch of Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers, with editors Brenda J. Child and Howard Oransky and contributor and The Seed Keeper author Diane Wilson. RSVP here.
Friday, February 2, 1:00 - 2:30pm & 2:45 - 4:15pm
The George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts presents the first Horizon Seminar
"Art and American Indian Citizenship, 1924 – 2024"
with Brenda J. Child and Christopher Pexa
InFlux Space, E110, Regis Center for Art
First Panel will feature Kate Beane, Heid Erdrich, Patricia Marroquin Norby, and Matthew Martinez, moderated by Brenda J. Child.
Second Panel will feature Mona Susan Power, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Darlene St. Clair, and Angela Two Stars, moderated by Christopher Pexa.
Thursday, February 15, 12:00 pm
Regis Center for Art, InFlux Space, E110, Regis Center for Art
Join us for a presentation with Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha), the inaugural Associate Curator of Native American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. She will read her essay, "Painting Medicine: George Morrison’s Big Water Magic", on the exhibition artist George Morrison from the exhibition catalogue.
Thursday March 14, 12:00-1:00 PM
Regis Center for Art, InFlux Space, E110, Regis Center for Art
Join us for a presentation with exhibition artist Fern Cloud on traditional Dakota hide painting techniques.
George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts
Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers is the inaugural exhibition of the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts at the University of Minnesota. This new study center in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota — an interdepartmental collaboration between the University of Minnesota Department of American Indian Studies, Department of American Studies, and Department of Art — supports the creation, presentation, and interpretation of Indigenous art in all its forms and makes no distinction between the fine arts and Indigenous traditional arts. Future plans for the Center include the Morrison Center Distinguished Visiting Artists program, related graduate seminars and undergraduate courses on the development of museum exhibitions on American Indian topics and artists, and student internships in conjunction with the Minnesota Museum of American Art, which will allow students to develop expertise working with works by George Morrison and other American Indian artists held in that collection.
Land Acknowledgement
The University of Minnesota is on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the land of the Dakhóta Oyáte.
Sponsorship
Generous support has been provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and the Harlan Boss Foundation for the Arts.

The Katherine E. Nash Gallery spans 5,000 square feet for the presentation of exhibitions and related programming that engage with a wide range of artists, scholars, and collaborative partners.
Location
Regis Center for Art (East)
405 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Public Hours
Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm
The Regis Center for Art is locked to the public on Saturdays, with U-card access only. Visitors can call 612-624-7530 to gain entrance into the galleries and should plan to enter the building's main entrance located on 21st Avenue South directly across from the parking garage.
Upcoming Closures
March 5-9, Closed for Spring Break
March 18-25, Closed for Installation
April 22-29, Closed for Installation
Contact Us
[email protected]
612-624-7530
Parking & Public Transit
Learn more about the parking options below:
21st Avenue South ramp
5th Street South lot
19th Avenue South ramp
The Gallery is accessible via Metro Transit buses and light rail lines. For your best route, visit Metro Transit Trip Planner.
Accessibility
Regis Center for Art is accessible to visitors who use mobility devices or prefer to avoid stairs. Service animals are welcome in the gallery.
A fully accessible, gender neutral restroom is available on the 2nd floor of the Regis Center for Art (West). To access this restroom, take the elevator to the 2nd floor and proceed across the skyway towards Regis West. As you exit the skyway the restroom will be directly across from you. Fully accessible gendered restrooms are located directly to the left hand side when exiting the gallery on the first floor of Regis Center for Art (East).
Large bags and backpacks must be left at the gallery front desk with the attendant. In order to protect the art, no food or drink is allowed in the gallery.
March 26 - April 13, 2024
MFA Thesis
Saturday, March 20, 2024
Program, 6:00 - 6:30 PM, InFlux Space
Reception, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, Regis East Lobby
April 30 - May 11, 2024
BFA Thesis
Saturday, March 20, 2024
Joint program and reception with BA Capstone exhibition
Program, 6:00 - 7:00 PM, TBD
Reception, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, TBD
September 12 - December 9, 2023
Regis Center for Art 20th Anniversary Exhibitions: Works by Faculty and Staff
May 2 - 13, 2023
Heart of the Matter (BFA Thesis)
March 28 - April 15, 2023
lineage (MFA Thesis)
January 17 - March 18, 2023
A Tender Spirit, A Vital Form: Arlene Burke-Morgan & Clarence Morgan
September 13 - December 10, 2022
A Picture Gallery of the Soul
January 21 - March 28, 2020
The Beginning of Everything
September 10 – December 7, 2019
Queer Forms
September 15, 2015 - January 27, 2019
Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta
Katherine E. Nash Gallery | September 15 - December 12, 2015
NSU Art Museum | February 28 - July 3, 2016
BAMPFA | November 9, 2016 - January 15, 2017
Bildmuseet | June 18, 2017 - October 22, 2017
Martin-Gropius-Bau | April 20 - July 22, 2018
Jeu de Paume | October 16, 2018 - January 27, 2019
Mission
The Katherine E. Nash Gallery is a research laboratory for the practice and interpretation of the visual arts.
Vision
We believe the visual arts have the capacity to interpret, critique, and expand on all of human experience. Our engagement with the visual arts helps us to discover who we are and understand our relationships to each other and society.
The Katherine E. Nash Gallery will be a center of discourse on the practice of visual art and its relationship to culture and community — a place where we examine our assumptions about the past and suggest possibilities for the future.
The Nash Gallery will play an indispensable role in the educational development of students, faculty, staff, and the community.
History
Professor Katherine "Katy" E. Nash (1910–1982), a faculty member of the Department of Art from 1961–1976, proposed that the Student Union create a university art gallery. Founded in 1979, the gallery moved to its current location in the Regis Center for Art in 2003. Learn more about the remarkable life and work of Professor Nash.
Minnesota Monthly: Indigenous Artists ‘Remember the Future’ in New Show
MPR News: George Morrison’s legacy honored by new Indigenous arts center at the U of M
Minnesota Daily: New art exhibition highlights 29 Indigenous painters
WTIP North Shore Radio: Four generations celebrate The George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts