The Minnesota History Center’s Art Speaks exhibition, which opened in late February and runs until July 31, features the work of 150 Minnesota artists from an array of different perspectives and media. And Carleton is well-represented, showcasing creations by professor of art David Lefkowitz ’85, assistant professor of art Xavier Tavera, past faculty members Ray Jacobson and Dean Warnholz, and retired faculty members Fred Hagstrom and Dan Bruggeman.
“It was a happy coincidence that so many Carleton-affiliated artists are included,” says Lefkowitz. “[History Center curator of art] Brian Szott has been a strong advocate of contemporary Minnesota artists, and I was lucky that he selected a piece of mine for the show.” A panoramic painting titled Import/ Export, Lefkowitz’s work is part of a series he painted on a single two-by-four that considers the use of wood as a limited natural resource, which happens to complement a number of other pieces in the exhibit that emphasize environmental questions and tough truths. “It’s a way for us to acknowledge the complicity that we all have, as artists and as people, in the state of our environment,” Lefkowitz says.