In Minneapolis this weekend, 16 Black artists honor the late painter Peter Williams with work reflecting on the legacy of slavery, the murder of George Floyd and visions of a Black utopia. The Weisman Art Museum kicks off the new school year with its Wam-O-Rama arts festival. Local Black comedians are heading to the Phoenix Theater for a night of improv, while Indigenous artists lead an afternoon of song, poetry and visual art.
Black artists paint their way from racial violence to Afrofuturism
When Keisha Williams began her role as a curator and director at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in 2022, she was not familiar with painter Peter Williams, an MCAD alumnus who died in 2021 at age 69.
“His work means so much to me now,” she said. “I think that is one of the joys of discovering new artists.”
For many visitors, the MCAD Gallery’s new exhibit, “Peter Williams: Homegoing — A Call and Response,” may also be a first encounter. At a glance, the works are overwhelming with bold colors and exaggerated figures. Look longer and stories emerge: the violence of slavery, the brutality of mass incarceration, the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the dream of freedom beyond Earth. Williams’ art does not allow distance or casual observation; it insists on bearing witness to the Black experience.
“When I was doing my exploration of Peter, one of the things that really stuck with me was that he remarked about his time at MCAD and he said, as much as he loved it, he really wasn’t able to have the conversations about race and representation that he hoped to have,” Keisha said.
“And I think, as a Black woman, we’ve been in those spaces. We’ve all had those feelings and I hope that the work that I’m doing here as a curator tackles that issue. I wanted to bring in other artists to be a chorus of response that he is seen, he’s heard, he’s understood and he belongs.”
Nearly four years after his passing, five of Williams’ large-scale paintings and six smaller works return to the MCAD Gallery in dialogue with pieces from 16 Minnesota-based Black artists — some who knew Williams personally; others who drew from his influence or are engaging with his work for the first time.
“I selected artists that had truly inspired me throughout my own curatorial journey,” Keisha Williams said. “I knew that we had so many incredible artists in the community that speak to the themes that Peter unpacks in his paintings and that there was so much incredible dialogue that could happen. I really wanted to bring in the presence of living artists to have that conversation with him.
The lineup spans generations of MCAD alumni, from the 1970s to 2018, including Ta-coumba T. Aiken, Leslie Barlow, Candice Davis and Bobby Rogers. Other featured artists include Sayge Carroll, Russell M. Hamilton, Christopher E. Harrison, Maiya Lea Hartman, Leeya Rose Jackson, Seitu Ken Jones, Nia-Symonne Gayle, Lamar Peterson, seangarrison, and Jovan C. Speller.
Williams’ influence runs through these artists in different ways. He was classmates with Aiken at MCAD and friends with Jones. He mentored Hamilton at Wayne State University. Barlow discovered him as a fellow alum at a time when she felt isolated as Black portrait artist at MCAD and Davis first encountered his work through a campus lecture. For younger artists like Gayle, who never met him, the exhibit offers an entrypoint into that lineage.
“Peter was a passionate educator,” Williams said. “I really wanted this multi-generational experience.”
The gallery unfolds in three thematic movements, reflecting the past, present and future of Black life. The first theme, “The Colorful Hard Truth,” looks directly at the legacies of slavery with a haunting outline of a slave ship and an untitled self-portrait showing white paint dripping across Williams’ face.
“Peter took a DNA test and discovered he had white ancestry,” Williams said. The painting raises difficult questions about “Where you come from, of consent, or what his ancestors might have dealt with to have that white DNA come into this being.”
The second theme turns to the ongoing climate of racial violence and police brutality. Williams’ paintings converse with Minneapolis artists Russell M. Hamilton and seangarrison, who wrestle with their own experiences as Black men in America.
“It’s been five years [since the murder of George Floyd], which feels unbelievable,” Williams said. “Peter didn’t live in Minnesota during that time but he was so deeply invested in highlighting the systems of oppression that keep Black people vulnerable and at risk.”
The exhibition closes with “Ascendance,” where Afrofuturist visions fill the gallery. Here, Williams’ 2020 painting “How to Make a Great Picture” hangs beside works like Leslie Barlow’s ethereal portrait “Heavenly.”
“I hope that people, if they didn’t know Peter’s work, will just absolutely be amazed by it,” Williams said. “It’s so powerful. The scale, his way of painting, his use of color. It’s just incredible.”
When: Opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5. Gallery hours from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Through Nov. 1.
Where: 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis
Cost: Free
Live music and art activities at the Weisman
As University of Minnesota students return to campus for a new school year, the Weisman Art Museum will kick things off with a “Wam-O-Rama” arts festival on Friday. The event features student art vendors, screenprinting with Bohemian Press, live music from Radio K, indie-rock bands and jazz-inspired rapper and poet Gr3g.
Meanwhile, in the Target Gallery, Mexican artist and educator Pablo Helguera presents a bookstore of Spanish-language books celebrating Latinx heritage. Visitors can take home one book each on a pay-what-you-wish basis.
When: 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5
Where: 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis
Cost: Free
Black comedians explore identity through improv
The Twin Cities comedy troupe Blackout Improv returns with a show at Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis this Friday, showcasing Black improvisers, teachers, visual artists, actors, comedians and writers as they craft comedic scenes that explore racial truths and the Black experience. The cast features stand-up comedian Aron Woldeslassie, interdisciplinary artists Destiny Davison and Khary Jackson, theater artists Jada Pulley, Duck Washington and Alexis Camille, among others.
When: 7:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5
Where: 2605 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
Cost: $15. Buy tickets here.
Gathering celebrates Indigenous art with story, song and ceremony
Pangea World Theater will host “Going to Seed” this Saturday, a community gathering featuring songs and puppetry, poems and readings by Ikidowin Youth Theater Ensemble and Indigenous writer Diane Wilson; and a first look at Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie’s public art installation “Butterfly Honoring Garden.”
The event, taking place in the courtyard between Moon Palace Books and Pangea World Theater, will also include a giveaway of yard signs designed by Dakota artist Marlena Myles with words from Wilson, and a story circle where participants can write letters to their ancestors and to the future.
When: 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6
Where: 3024 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis
Cost: Free
