Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, MN

The Minnesota Museum of American Art or MMAA as the locals of Saint Paul, Minnesota refer to it is still open. They have had a few rough times in recent years, but like any non- profit organization they are surviving. They had had a few changes in the last year to help keep the museum afloat. In fact they even had to close for a while due to lack of funds. The art collections are now on display again as of 2010.

This museum is the oldest one displaying out in the region. It dates back to the 1890's. It got its start with the St. Paul School of Fine Arts in 1894. By 1926 the museum was incorporated as part of the school of arts. At the time they had Dewey Albinson and George Resler as their professors. From the 30's the museum continued to grow their collections, gaining Chinese Jade Pieces in the 40's. In the 50's the museum was named the Saint Paul Gallery and School of Art, but later renamed the Saint Paul Art Center. Whatever the name the Minnesota Museum of Art has a myriad of collections running from local artists to worldwide pieces.

Currently the permanent collection houses 3500 objects from the 19th century to present. Many of the collected pieces are from local artists as mentioned before. The permanent collection is not on display at the moment, but there are some traveling exhibits that will be soon. The permanent collection will also be back in 2010 at some point. The image gallery has works by Dewey Albinson, Thomas Hart Benton, Prophet William Blackmon, Cameron Booth, Nicholas Brewer, and Joan Brown. Also in the image gallery are Rose Cabat, Patrick DesJarlait, Alexis Fournier, Wanda Gag, Francis Cranmer Greeman, Clementine Hunter, Elsa Jemne, and Wolf Kahn.

Many of these artists were born in the United States practicing art in New York. However, there are local Minnesotans like George Morrison of Chippewa City. Other artists are from places like Stuttgart Germany. For example Wolf Kahn was born in Germany, but lives in New York and Brattlesboro, Vermont now.

An upcoming exhibit at the MMAA is the Generation Abstraction in which a number of Minnesota art will be on display that deals in the abstract. The exhibit begins on March 11, 2010 and will end on March 23, 2010. Past exhibits have also been numerous with Crate 1 and 2, Coming of Age a Photography Journey, Minnesota Biennial 3D, In Her Own Right, and Sound in Art. These exhibits tend to travel around the US in case one misses them at the MMAA.

Hours of operation for the MMAA have yet to be announced. Since the 2009 closure it is unsure if the hours will change. There are plenty of supports of the museum to keep it open several days a week. One can assume they will have weekend and weekday hours similar to those of the past, but visitors should contact the museum before attending.