MSUM School of Visual Arts Alumna Featured in Two Solo Art Exhibitions in the FM area
Artist and educator Laura Youngbird has recently been featured in two separate exhibitions in Fargo-Moorhead. The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County currently is displaying her exhibition titled “Manifestation” through April 3rd. In this exhibition, Youngbird addresses Native American dislocation and white migration westward while interrogating the concept of Manifest Destiny.
Youngbird also recently had a solo exhibition at the Plains Art Museum called “Common Thread” that presented two series of portraits featuring friends, family, and important Native artists and scholars such as George Morrison, Gwen Westerman, and Jason Kingbird. She premiered several new series of prints, featuring descriptive titles such as Loose Ends, Alterations, One Size, and Common Thread, which are united through narratives based on her life and experiences, and the motif of the dress.
An enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa, Grand Portage Band, Youngbird earned a BFA in painting and drawing, an MA in drawing and printmaking, and a BS in Art Education with a minor in American Indian Studies, all from MSUM. Currently, Youngbird is the director of the Plains Art Museum’s Creativity among Native American Artists program, which offers professional development and exhibition and program opportunities to Native artists in the region.