West of Ice Cracking

The Rourke Art Gallery + Museum is pleased to present White Earth Window: Photographs from Wayne Gudmundson, a touring exhibition of silver gelatin prints by  Wayne Gudmundson from the Permanent Collections of The Rourke Art Gallery + Museum.

White Earth Window is a series which documents sites from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, selected in consultation with Ojibwe elders and scholars, that examine the Ojibwe experience from pre-reservation folkways and stories through the White Earth Settlement Act in the mid-1980s. Following their exhibition at The Rourke Art Galllery + Museum in fall 2021, Gudmundson donated the entire series to the museum’s Permanent Collections. ​This exhibition is made possible in part by support from the Minnesota State Arts Board through a Creative Support for Organizations grant award which enabled the museum to create a Collections Coordinator position.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Wayne Gudmundson was born in Fargo, North Dakota in 1949; he was introduced to the vast landscape of that state from the backseat of his parents’ 1954 Chevy. He met his wife, Jane, while they were both teaching in Copenhagen, Denmark. They married on 4 July 1975 in England.

Gudmundson worked for a year at the then newly-formed Plains Art Museum situated in what is now The Rourke Art Museum in Moorhead, Minnesota. Then, as a National Endowment for the Arts Artist in Residence, he was one of the original staff members at the new Creative Art Studio in Fargo where he worked for the next ten years.

Now Professor Emeritus from Minnesota State University Moorhead, he taught photography for twenty-five years in the department of Mass Communications. He also was the director of New Rivers Press, the oldest non-profit literary press in the country.

Gudmundson’s work has appeared in eleven books, numerous exhibits, and several public television documentaries. His photography is represented by the Joseph Bellow’s Gallery in La Jolla, California.

The Exhibit

​Currently Available for Rental 
Interpretive materials, and exhibition signage included; please inquire for display space requirements, rental fees, and dates of availability. Only venues open to the public will be considered for exhibition.