Biidaash Aubid is one of five students at Oshki Ogimaag School who participated in a special art project last May. The student art has traveled from the walls of the Grand Portage Community Center to Two Rivers Gallery, part of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. This month, the exhibit is moving to the St. Paul Public Schools Multicultural Resource Center.
Student art from Oshki Ogimaag School in Grand Portage is being seen by hundreds of people in the Twin Cities area and impacting the debate about art in the Minnesota State Capitol.
Some of the original art in the State Capitol is more than 100 years old and has negative stereotypes and images of Native American people. For the past two school years, Belle Janicek, local artist and therapist, has worked with Oshki students to participate in a project to create their own ideas for new and better Capitol art.
In addition to a traveling exhibit to educate Minnesotans, Oshki student art was part of a large exhibit at Two Rivers Gallery, which is part of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. The show was called: Reframe Minnesota: Art Beyond a Single Story. The works were on display for more than two months.
This month, the exhibit is moving to the St. Paul Public Schools Multicultural Resource Center. St. Paul school art teachers will be encouraged to replicate the project, and the Oshki student art will help inspire them and see the possibilities that exist.
Inspired by her young artists, Janicek said, “Thank you Oshki students for your beautiful contributions!”
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