Hello Arts Lovers and Crafty Queers,
I am building a visual arts section that feels relatable and widens the conversation about art and creativity. Much like a spectrum of identity, queer folks deserve a spectrum of thoughts, voices, and visuals when consuming art, and Minnesota is an excellent place to find them. You’ve seen the traditional art review and the critical essay, and you know what those feel like. Let’s try a new approach to writing about visual creative practice. Here are six artists whose work I want to see anywhere: in my home, on billboards, and everywhere else you can think of. Follow their careers closely.
Hilary specializes in shocking: bright backgrounds, rich surfaces, and diverse bodies rendered in oil. The positioning of the figures urges the viewer to reconsider their own attitudes toward bodies and gender identity, along with what they expect color and texture to do in a painting. Hilary’s command of oil paint lets them work texture both on the canvas and through the canvas itself (she often paints on velvet). Hilary is also constantly exploring while in the studio; if you ever get the chance to visit them in the California Building (206A) in Minneapolis, you’ll feel like you’re taking a vacation.
A huge painting. I have my eye on several at the moment (Hilary offers payment plans). On a smaller scale, when I visit their studio, I tend to get stickers and prints to give as gifts because, again, gorgeous.
Holy humor and texture! Zacharie McKee is a Native American (Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk) concept artist and illustrator. Their practice includes drawing and digital painting, zines, Risograph, and self-publication. Zach’s illustrations, whether promotional or in a zine, give audience members a doorway into their experiences. Her style is inviting yet distinctive to her visual voice due to their mastery of digital texture. Zach is currently focusing on an autobiographical comic exploring growing up as a “weird, fat, Ojibwe kid.” Currently, they are working on Ojibwe language preservation projects. Be on the lookout for upcoming projects: Waawaashkeshi, Giiyosewikwe, and Wiinaajimo.
Get every single zine they have. Every Minnesotan should have a McKee zine. Start Seeing Horses and Freaky Fantasy: A Manuscript of Medieval Freaks are the right path into the McKee fan club.
Mikha Dominguez (aka Mikhamik) is a queer, nonbinary, Latinx Venezuelan visual artist, photographer, educator, and sculptor. The first time I encountered Mikhamik’s work in public, I raced online to find their portfolio. Whether you are looking at their photography or their installation work, this maximalist’s dream leaves you wanting more. On the surface, Mikhamik’s work is bright, colorful, and playful, but it urges viewers to stay and dig deeper. Their most recent project was created for MEXIMALISMO, an exhibition and fashion show by Serpentina Arts that pairs familiar objects with striking images.
Follow their Instagram for pop-ups, openings, and happenings. This is work best experienced in person. You can also book a consultation with Mikha through Springboard for the Arts.
Shug is a standout textile artist in Minnesota. I often see Shug’s work reflect the abundance of “stuff” in our world (read: textile waste). As someone so partial to maximalism, Shug does a wonderful job combining the facets of maximalism seen in quilting and midwestern craft culture and merges them with concepts from contemporary art—a marriage of styles that grounds viewers. Shug’s work is warm and inviting in medium yet unflinching about the complex topics it raises to the front of viewers’ minds. They also created Embodied Material, a collective where queer textile artists discuss theory together.
The works pictured are a series of textile collages on paper available through their website.
Grover Hogan is a queer, Black, and Mexican interdisciplinary artist from Houston, Texas, currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Grover works to make sure the audience always feels like they’re in on the joke: the work may look niche, but Hogan excels at sending familiar visual cues. Their time as an educator of many ages has allowed them to convey images across generations, and they frequently oscillate between illustrative and realism in style. Either way, these styles create a sense of intensive relatability rather than offense.
Grover recently posted on Instagram that they will be making stickers of each card in their self-designed tarot deck, and I’m so excited. Watch Grover’s Instagram for pop-ups and art sales.
allison anne is an interdisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who works in a variety of mediums, including collage, zinemaking, publishing, and graphic design. I am so impressed by this artist’s ability to cultivate community regardless of what medium they put their hands on. allison frequently invites viewers via social media to travel with them through collage exploration of different printed material, approaches, and techniques. Each new body of work is like walking from one city block to the next: unique in style but cohesively a part of the same entity.
allison makes their work wonderfully accessible in several mediums. I highly recommend shopping their website for an original artwork or ephemera such as stickers if you’re looking to start or expand your queer art collection.
