Each artwork by Mark Sifferlin and Kevan Willington is a "splash" — a moment where artist interpretation meets nature, resulting in works of art that challenge the objective view of the environment. Rather than nature observed from a distance, these works present nature felt. Executed in rich oil on panel, the paintings utilize the rigidity of the wood to support bold, gestural strokes and deep, singing harmonies of color. These are not mere documentations of scenery; they are colorful landscapes that invite you to step inside the vibration of the earth and breathe it all in.

This project is a collaboration between Maggie Thompson, Fond du Lac Ojibwe and Peggy Thompson, her mother. It brings together weaving, painting, and shared observation of land. 

Together, the pair will create a series of 5-10 small works, each pairing woven florals with painted earth. They will display Ojibwe floral design as a living, evolving practice while situating it in conversation with another generation’s way of making. The works emphasize relationships to land, lineage, and to one another, positioning the arboretum not only as a site of study, but as a shared teacher.

The two artists will explore the grounds of the Arboretum using two distinct visual languages — Ojibwe floral design and painterly depictions of ground. Maggie will create woven textile works with ribbon featuring Ojibwe florals inspired by flowers growing. Peggy will contribute a series of paintings focused on ground, dirt, and earth found at the Arboretum. Rather than depicting flowers directly, her work centers the soil that sustains them, emphasizing texture and a mother’s role as nurturer. Her paintings will function as both physical and conceptual foundations for Maggie's woven pieces. The works will be shown in the Reedy Gallery Sept. 1-30, 2026.

The project reflects how knowledge is passed intergenerationally and how children grow from those familial foundations. Maggie layers her woven florals in with Peggy's painted surfaces, revealing differences in how they see, translate, and honor the land. Read more about the project in the summer issue of the Arboretum magazine.

The Native American Artist Residency Program is funded by the 2024 Gala in the Gardens. It celebrates the intersection of art and nature at the Arboretum and supports co-curated art programming.

This exhibit brings together two Ojibwe artists who create contemporary work about Native life.  Stratigraphy (/strəˈtiɡrəfē/) spirals through the cyclical nature of generations, land and time. It complements artist Maggie Thompson’s intergenerational collaboration, Inherited Ground. The word stratigraphy refers to the structure and order of a particular set of strata, or layers of earth. Geologists and archaeologists alike use stratigraphy to understand the passage of time. The exhibit showcases the way that these three artists conceptualize time: through generations.

In the words of artist Racquel Banaszak (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe), visual art allows the viewer to “navigate between the past, present, and future simultaneously.” Her layered, stratigraphic collages portray Ojibwe lifeways of time immemorial. She uses modern materials like beads, velvet and gold leaf, and traditional materials, like porcupine quills, and ink. Faceless figures, like corn dolls, wear clothing and take actions that elude time.

Eliza Klarer (White Earth Nation Direct Descendant) makes ceramics that have a literal stratigraphy: layers of Waabigan or clay covered by layers of glaze, some accented by additional layered appliques. Her Woodland ceramics echo back 2,500 or more years. Her contemporary work speaks to the uppermost layer of the Earth’s crust – the buildings and fungi that cover the newest stratum we interact with every day. Her paintings feature layered meaning. Migizi (eagles) swoop down to Minnesota’s state flower, and waawaashkeshiweshkan (deer antlers) appear alongside modern objects.

These works invite you to consider time as a cycle, with layers of generational ancestry beneath, behind and all around us.

This exhibit will run alongside the Inherited Ground exhibit in the Reedy Gallery for the month of September. 

There is still more outdoor fun to be had this year. Step out of the "white cube" gallery and into the tall grass. The Brightness of Being is an invitation to leave your serious art-critic hat at the door and rediscover the world through the eyes of  Anne Spooner, Leigh Bauer, Liya Oertel and Nicky Torkzadeh. This is a curated celebration of the light that resides within the playful, the small and the spirited. In a world that often feels heavy, this exhibition serves as a sanctuary of illumination — focusing on the literal brightness of the sun-drenched sky and the figurative brightness of the human and animal spirit.