A Minnesota Marketplace

Walker Art Center's store gives Minnesota artists a new outlet

The Walker Art Center's Walker Shop is now home to a store within a store.

Image credit: Walker Art Center

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Inside Out

By: Caroline Nitz

I love it when a museum recognizes local art. One of my favorite exhibits ever was a display of Minnesota book arts at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. I took away more than an understanding of the incredible craftsmanship of Minnesota presses – I appreciated that the museum engaged itself with the local community.

And why shouldn’t they? There’s an incredibly strong art scene in the Twin Cities, and local art is everywhere. It’s in galleries, private studios and jpeg files all over the Twin Cities. So how can we get our hands on all this work?

Enter the Walker Shop at the Walker Art Center.

The venerable Minneapolis art museum has partnered with mnartists.org to create a local artists’ retail space, conveniently located within the Walker Shop. The store-within-a-store, dubbed mnartists.marketplace, is completely devoted to making local art, artistic wares, and art inspired objects accessible to the public.

Local artists are also being given the opportunity to submit designs for a limited edition of objects to be sold exclusively in the Walker Shop and promoted through mnartists.org and the Walker Art Center. It’s a chance to get their work featured in one of the best museum shops out there.

The first edition of artist-designed objects is a series of pint glasses featuring the designs of six Minnesota artists, including a charming image of Babe the Blue Ox by Christy Johnson and a blockish bike by Watertown, Minn.-based artist Michon Weeks.

An added bonus: each set of pint glasses comes with a voucher for two free beers at Gather by D’Amico.

+ mnartists.marketplace opens Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Walker Shop at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls. The store will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.