Pao Houa Her & Leslie Barlow Join the Department of Art
The Department of Art is thrilled to announce that Pao Houa Her and Leslie Barlow will be joining us in new roles this fall! Pao Houa Her will be joining us as an Assistant Professor in Photography and Moving Images, and Leslie Barlow will begin a two-year research and teaching fellowship through the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP).
The PPFP supports scholars with the potential to bring to their research and teaching the perspective that comes from their educational background or understanding of the experiences of groups historically underrepresented in higher education. Barlow will spend her fellowship engaging in studio research in addition to teaching one course, engaging with students, and participating in a mentorship program.
As a result of the search, and through the support of the College of Liberal Arts and the Dr. Harold Adams Fund, the Department of Art was pleased to offer Pao Houa Her a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Photography and Moving Images in recognition of her distinguished work and career.
Both of these amazing artists are working at the cutting edge of contemporary practice, creating bold and impactful work about their families and their communities that is being recognized on a national scale.
Pao Houa Her creates work across multiple genres and technologies of photography to address Hmong identity and related notions of desire and belonging within the Hmong American community. Her holds a BFA in Photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MFA in Photography from Yale University. She is the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and grants, including two McKnight Visual Arts Fellowships (2022 and 2016), a 2013 Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Artists, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist’s Initiative Grant. She has exhibited extensively in Minnesota, as well as across the United States, and more recently, in Southeast Asia. Her work is included in this year’s Whitney Biennial 2022.
To see more of the artist's work, visit Pao Houa Her's website.
Leslie Barlow is a visual artist, educator, and cultural worker from Minneapolis, MN. Her life-sized oil paintings are inspired by community dialogue and personal experiences and often serve as both monuments to community members and explorations into how race entangles the intimate sphere of love, family, and friendship. Barlow is a recipient of the 2021 Jerome Hill Fellowship, 2019 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, the 20/20 Springboard Fellowship, and four MN State Arts Board grants between 2016 and 2021. She was also commissioned to create the 2022 MN State Fair Official Commemorative Art (pictured above). Barlow earned her BFA in 2011 from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and her MFA in 2016 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In addition to her studio practice, Barlow has taught at the University of Minnesota, Metro State University, and Carleton College. Barlow also supports emerging artists at Public Functionary as Director of PF Studios, is a part of the Creatives After Curfew mural collective, and is a 7-year volunteer for the organization MidWest Mixed. She is represented by Bockley Gallery.
To see more of the artist’s work, visit Leslie Barlow's website. You can also read this recent profile piece about Leslie on MPLSART.COM.
