Stillwater Artist Mary Jo Van Dell's Work on Display Alongside Historical Art Giants

Stillwater artist Mary Jo Van Dell's painting, “Titanium,” is on display at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, alongside some of Minnesota's most well-known artists of the past 150 years.

Van Dell’s painting was curated into the permanent collection of the Minnesota Historical Society in 2008. Currently, it is part of the “150 Years on Minnesota’s Waters” collaborative exhibit by the museum and the Minnesota Historical Society, created with guest curator Brian Szott.

Some of the prominent historical artists in the exhibition include Seth Eastman, Francis Jaques, Ferdinand Reichardt, and Adolf Dehn.

“This exhibition brings to the forefront the tremendous influence that our regional environment and bodies of water have played in artistic production of the last 150 years,” according to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. “These works span from the historic and descriptive approach of Seth Eastman’s work from the 1840’s, to the emotive modern abstract work of Elof Wedin, to the creative approaches utilized by some of the region’s best landscape painters working today.”

Van Dell’s work has been collected and exhibited nationally and throughout Minnesota.

Her piece “Shipyard” received Honorable Mention by Ben Heywood, executive director of the Soap factory during the 2012 Arrowhead Biennial Exhibition at the Duluth Art Institute. Van Dell’s piece “Perch” was also juried at The Bloomington Theatre and Art Center where it was given the Merit Award by Yesomi Umolo, of the Walker Art Center.

Van Dell began painting at an early age, and has carved out a “richly-fulfilled life” and career in the arts. As a full-time working artist, Van Dell consistently creates and sells new work, and teaches painting workshops at Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior, White Bear Center for the Arts and out of her private studio in Stillwater.

This exhibit runs through May 23.