About the Exhibits
Ade Bethune: Symbols of the Spirit
Ade Bethune's narrative is an indispensable chapter of our cultural history. As an artist, writer, and liturgical consultant, she made significant contributions to sacred art and architecture as well as social justice spanning over a half-century. This collection embodies Ade Bethune’s Symbols of the Spirit article, published in the Catholic Art Quarterly in 1954, and explores the different symbols Sister Ade uses to represent Spirit, the third aspect of the Holy Trinity.
Adolf Dehn: The Works
This exhibit explores a collection of Dehn’s works that display his range of subjects and styles using four highlighted categories of his work: Portraits, Landscapes, Satire, and Storytelling.
Animals and Nature in Art
Experience and explore the beauty of nature through the art collection from the St. Catherine Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibit features breathtaking art pieces in ceramics, paintings, and drawings, all of which celebrate the splendor of nature. We will explore this theme in different collections in three color schemes including: Color, Muted Tones, Colorless. Each art piece in this exhibit tells a unique story.
Architecture in Art
This exhibit takes a closer look at the architecture within the St. Catherine University's Fine Art Collection. This exhibit includes images of buildings and architectural structures such as bridges from around the world. Paintings, sketches, and sculptures all depict various architectural features.
Ariston Covers: 1956-1979
This exhibit explores journal covers from the Ariston digital collection at the St. Catherine University Library and Archives. We focus on an especially productive era for student visual art and design in Ariston, beginning in 1956 with the arrival of the publication’s first student arts editor, Anne Stahmer, and continuing through 1979, when the publication fell back to a less frequent annual issue schedule. Users are encouraged to browse cover images and learn more about both their creators and the surrounding context of print techniques in the mid-century.
Been There, Dehn That
Explore the world through the eyes and paintbrush of Minnesota-born artist Adolf Dehn. Dehn's work spans the entire globe throughout the middle of the twentieth century, from cafés in Paris, processions in India, busy markets in Haiti, to sprawling cityscapes of New York City. From humorous sketches of nuns to depictions of magnificent mountain landscapes, Dehn saw it all.
Bettye Olson: A Retrospective
Bettye Olson (1923 - 2023) was an expressionist painter and art teacher born and based in Minnesota. Taking her inspiration from the natural world around her she paints with bold brush strokes and dazzling colors. This online exhibit is a digital reproduction of the 2006 retrospective that includes images of a selection of Olson's paintings, sketchbooks, and text-based information on her life and career.
Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities
This exhibit includes documents and newsletters selected from the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities collection that highlight the organization’s activities, volunteers, and reactions to local and national civil rights events of the time.
Civilian Conservation Corps in Cook County, Minnesota
This exhibit highlights the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Cook County, Minnesota. The CCC was a work-relief program for young, unmarried men that ran from 1933-1942. CCC workers lived in camps and worked on forest restoration and management, water conservation and flood control, and outdoor recreation infrastructure. The CCC built many of the buildings and trails in Minnesota State Parks along the North Shore.
Corita Kent and Her Students
This exhibit features digitized serigraphs created by Corita and her students. Most of the prints fall within two artistic movements of the twentieth century: abstract expressionism and pop art. The abstract expressionist prints are religious in theme, with a particular focus on images of Jesus and the Christ figure. The pop art prints focus on text-based images, with a focus on social justice themes. The student work included in the collection consists of serigraphs by students of Corita Kent.
ESFL Button Collection
This collection is a snapshot of the broader social justice and union button collection at St. Paul’s East Side Freedom Library (ESFL) which is currently in the process of being cataloged. Although it will not have a permanent home in the St. Kate’s Digital Collection, the ESFL and St. Catherine University share similar values which are put on display in this collection: discovering knowledge, working for systemic change, community, and reflecting on the human experience.
Exploring Woodcuts
This digital collection consists of woodcuts from artists Naoko Matsubara, Cecilia Lieder, and Sister Joanne Emmer. Woodcuts are a relief printing technique where the artist carves an image into the surface of a piece of wood. The artists in this exhibit use different types of designs and colors to create unique prints that can tell a variety of stories.
Flowers and Nature in Art
From woodprints to ceramics to lithographs, this exhibit showcases the various mediums in which nature’s beauty can be displayed in a digital form. Each page of the exhibit highlights a different creator, their preferred medium, and their depictions of the nature environment in which they surrounded themselves.
Forests and Flowers: Works of Nature by Lieder, Dehn, and Mairs
A collection of artwork by Cecilia Lieder, Adolf Dehn, and Clara Gardner Mairs intended to establish a common thread by displaying pieces that depict an overall theme of flowers or nature. This digital collection strives to bring attention to certain pieces from Adolf Dehn and Clara Gardner Mairs that may not be featured as often as others and relate to nature.
How Robert Clark Nelson Viewed His Art World
This exhibit shows Robert Clark Nelson's role at St. Catherine University through three distinct roles: as an artist, as a viewer of art, and as a promoter.
Humanity in the Art of Clara Mairs
This exhibit covers depictions of humanity in the art of Clara Mairs. The exhibit is divided into the following categories: Daily Life, Nudes, Children, Romance and Literacy. The exhibit also includes a bibliography of books by and about Clara Mairs.
James and Nan McKinnell Pottery 1946-1990s
This exhibit explores the McKinnells' life, art, and passion for pottery. James and Nan McKinnell, husband and wife team gifted in the art of ceramics, teaching, and innovation in the pottery world, spent their adult lives exploring the world and the act of creating art. The work and experiences of these highly prolific and nomadic artists offers us a snapshot into the post World War II arts movement in America.
Japanese Woodblock Prints
This exhibit features 36 beautiful and iconic Japanese woodblock prints available through St. Catherine University’s Fine Art Collection, created by 15 Japanese woodblock print artists. Their one-of-a-kind processes and aesthetic styles represent the fascinating history, age-old techniques, recognizable style, and lasting legacy of Japanese woodblock prints.
Japanese Woodblock Triptychs
This exhibit features 25 Japanese woodblock prints, most of which date from the Meiji Era and all of which can be found in the St. Catherine University Archives. All the woodblock prints featured are triptych prints, meaning that while each individual print is self-contained in its own right, it was created alongside two companion pieces to complete a larger work. The prints exhibited here capture a mix of historical events, cultural traditions, and slices of daily life. They are presented as complete triptychs where possible, and are arranged chronologically, so that they may serve as windows into this fascinating period in Japanese history.
Lake Superior Shipwrecks
This collection is dedicated to covering several shipwrecks located in Lake Superior. These pages will tell the story of 8 individual shipwrecks and one wintery storm that took down a fleet. Featuring photographs, articles, interviews, and digital museum artifacts, this collection will bring back from the watery graves the lives and stories of the brave sailors who sailed these ships, and help those who see it remember the dangers faced by those who dared to face the risks and wraths of the mighty Lake Superior.
Making a Musical Contribution
The St. Catherine University Music Department is one of the oldest and most influential departments within the university and has had a significant impact on its history. This exhibit includes a series of performances, programs, and moments that showcase not only the excellence of this department, but also how they embodied the ideals of the entire St. Kate community.
Marshall Plan Posters
This exhibit showcases a selection of posters originally printed in 1950 as part of a contest promoting the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan. Over 10,000 artists from 13 European Marshall Plan countries entered the contest, and the 25 winners were announced in May 1950. 13 of the winning posters are found in the St. Catherine University collections. The poster contest was part of a wider publicity and propaganda campaign aimed to raise awareness and support for the Marshall Plan in the wake of World War II, to promote goodwill toward economic recovery efforts, and to combat the rise of Communism and Communist propaganda.
Minnesota Artists at St. Kate's
There are many great artists from the United States and abroad within the St. Catherine Fine Arts Collection; however it can be a great source of inspiration to see the work of local artists and the success that they've achieved. Thus, this exhibit displays the collected works of four Minnesota artists from within the collection: Gemma Rossini Cullen, Sister Joanne Emmer, Peter Lupori, and Sister Philomene McAuley. On each page you'll find greater discussion of their life and works, as well as the works themselves.
Minnesota Streetcars
This exhibit showcases the vibrant history of streetcars in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The collection highlights 84 years of streetcar use from their local introduction in 1870 to their removal in 1954.
On View at the St. Catherine Gallery
The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery’s current mission is to integrate liberal arts and education by emphasizing women’s contributions to art and exploring themes of social justice, activism, and aesthetics. The items in this exhibit have been arranged into categories that underscore how past exhibitions have supported the gallery’s mission through women artists, local artists, and access for the campus and Twin Cities community to view the work of prominent artists working outside of the local region. Each page includes an exhibit representing one of these categories and includes information on the artists and their work.
Sculptures at St. Catherine University
The goal of this project is to raise awareness and educate community members about the sculptures around St. Catherine University's campus located in St. Paul, Minnesota. By creating a digital version of these sculptures, we hope you gain broader access to them and their information, as well as a convenient and user-friendly space to learn about permanent displays on campus.
St. Kate's Gems
At the heart of St. Kate's are active, creative, and socially engaged women. Local women artists have captured these values in their work, communicating generations what it means to be a Katie. This exhibit proudly offers these underrepresented artists a chance to continue shaping the campus and community of St. Kate's.
Southwest Native American Pottery
This exhibit explores the pottery of Southwest Native American tribes in the St. Catherine Fine Art collection. Every piece tells a story, from finding the clay to its retrieval from the kiln.
Story of a Storyteller: Celebrating 140 Years of Ruth Sawyer
A digital exhibit of a portion of the Ruth Sawyer Papers—a collection of manuscripts, letters, photographs, awards, and other kept materials gifted to Saint Catherine University after Sawyer’s death in 1970. The accolades, letters from admirers, and rare photographs featured in this exhibit illustrate Sawyer’s lasting impact as an author and proponent of children’s literature.
Student Intaglios
This is a collection of intaglios style prints made by the students of St. Catherine University that are housed in the Ann Jennings Student Art Archives. The intent of this exhibit is to highlight some of the artistic abilities of St. Catherine University students over time, with prints made from 1991-2005.
Welcoming the Dear Neighbor?
This exhibit highlights the stories of Ramsey County Minnesota Residents affected by racial covenants that shaped the ethnic and racialized makeup of neighborhoods that still effect life today. Running parallel to the Mapping Prejudice Project, this exhibit examines history through maps, timelines, documents, and articles. .