Plains Art Museum

History

Plains Art Museum began as the Red River Art Center in 1965 and was housed in the former Moorhead, Minnesota, post office. The Museum acquired its present name in 1975 and maintained residency in Moorhead until 1996. The Museum renovated a turn-of-the-century warehouse in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, and opened to the public in October 1997.

Facility

The redesign of the International Harvestor (IH) branch house was directed by Hammel Green & Abrahamson, Inc., whose work also can be seen in the award-winning Minnesota History Center, the Walker Arts Center and the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.

Plains Art Museum facility features 56,000 square feet of which 9,000 have security, climate, and light control properties. The building is fully accessible and contains the Hannaher's, Inc. Print Studio, The Dawson Studio, Café Muse, The Store, the Goldberg Resource Library, meeting and reception space, frame shop, wood shop, visitor services center, two and a half story projection wall, performance areas and permanent collection storage and care areas.

Programs

The Museum offers approximately 12 special exhibitions along with smaller exhibitions each year. These exhibitions feature art of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Classes, lectures, studios, collaborations with other disciplines as well as social events and performances complement the exhibition schedule.

Permanent Collection

Throughout its history, the Museum has collected, preserved, exhibited and interpreted art. Today, its permanent collection contains approximately 3,000 works including national and regional contemporary art, traditional American Indian art, and traditional folk art.

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