Current Exhibits
Community Photography Show in Gallery II
The James is hosting another community-based show in Gallery II this month. Area photographers of all ages and skill levels were invited to take part. Come check it out!
North Dakota Human Rights Art Festival in Center Stage
Please join us for an Artist Reception on Friday, August 6th from 7-8:30 PM.
The Fourth Annual North Dakota Human Rights Arts Festival will open in Williston at The James Memorial Art Center on Monday, August 2. The exhibition, which features the work of 50 artists, will be on display through August 27. It is the first time that the traveling exhibition has appeared in Williston.
An Artist Reception will be held on Friday, August 6. The event begins at 7 p.m. Artists will be on hand to speak about their motivations and the inspirations behind their work. The event is free and open to the public. Audience members will be invited to interact and ask questions of the artists.
The festival includes 50 2D, 3D, filmmakers, and live performance artists from around the world. Each artist explores human rights, civil rights, or social justice issues through their respective mediums. In addition to paintings, mixed media works, and photographs, a series of experimental videos are also a part of the festival. A full list of the artists participating in the festival can be found in the festival's online Exhibition Program. Certain works in the exhibition may be purchased via the exhibition's online store or in gallery. Purchases support the work of the artists and the James Memorial Art Center.
The show's themes include pandemic-related stories of isolation and creativity, domestic violence, racism, immigration, and border detentions, and more. The festival features local and regional artists, as well as artists from California, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas. International filmmakers from Rome and Spain are also included.
The North Dakota Human Rights Arts Festival's mission is to educate, engage, and facilitate discussion around local and worldwide human rights topics. The festival was founded and is managed by The Human Family, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) based in North Dakota founded to change our communities through art.
The North Dakota Human Rights Arts Festival is supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information about the festival, visit www.ndhraf.org or visit the festival's online Exhibition Program. Interviews with artists can be arranged by contacting Sean Coffman at sean@human-family.org.
"Visions of Justice" - Exploring Justice in Words and Pictures in Gallery I
Please join us for an Artist Reception on Friday, August 6th from 7-8:30 PM.
How do we view justice? How do our experiences shape our perception? A juried exhibition at the Northwest Arts Center explores personal visions of justice by North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation resident artists and writers. Participants in the exhibition interpreted and expressed their vision of justice as related to prompts of judgment, fairness, balance, history and identity.
Originally intended to coincide with Minot State University’s NOTSTOCK 2020 Arts Festival, canceled due to coronavirus, the exhibition was organized by Professor Bill Harbort, MSU Art, Dr. Gary Rabe and Dr. Maria Kerzmann, MSU Criminal Justice, and Mandy Herberholz, ND DOCR Workforce Resource Coordinator.
Held over the past summer, the call for entries drew 30 artworks and 10 written works from across the ND DOCR system. Broaching themes including criminal justice reform, religion, social justice, rehabilitation and regret, the works offer voices and perspective often left unheard in discussions of success and failure in the justice system.
Art can be a powerful tool for communication and understanding across communities and social divides, which is evident in the works submitted for the show.
“The Visions of Justice exhibition celebrates the creative work of our incarcerated population,” says Harbort. “It allows the viewer to explore justice, gain new insight and exercise empathy.” Visions of Justice is organized and sponsored by Minot State University, The Rural Crime and Justice Center, NOTSTOCK and the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations. This program is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.