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Spring is always a lively time on the St. ����ֱ�� University campus, in no small part due to the wide-ranging opportunities for experiencing the arts on campus. This spring offers a full slate of shows at  that run the gamut from music and dance to comedy and storytelling. Among the lineup is The Aunties, a storytelling event featuring Indigenous women who lead and influence, including St. Kate’s alum Anne McKeig ’87, JD, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. 

“The Aunties was programmed in alignment with the Integrated Learning Series' recent theme of Indigenous thought leadership,” said Irene Green, executive director of The O’Shaughnessy. “We are thrilled to have these three Indigenous women on our stage and hope you will join us for this world premiere.” 

Across campus at the ����ֱ�� G. Murphy Gallery in the Visual Arts Building, two new exhibitions span mediums from watercolor to hand-stitched felt works. Both opened on February 3, and are free and open to the public. 

"The spring semester is always my favorite time of year in the gallery, with its mix of exhibitions by artists from the greater art community and an exhibition by our ����ֱ��s,” said Nicole Watson, gallery director. “Minnesota artists Keren Kroul, Nicole Havekost, and Erica Spitzer Rasmussen use their art to consider identity through memory, the body, and garments. For each of these artists, personal and universal narratives speak to the multiple identities a person can hold.”

Bewitch by Nicole Havekost and Even Now by Keren Kroul are on view now. Dress Codes, an exhibition by Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, and the annual ����ֱ��-led Senior Juried Exhibition and Creative Showcase, open on April 13. For more information, please visit .

See a list of selected spring events and exhibitions below. 

February 24

Featuring , Letters Aloud celebrates the inevitable setbacks everyone experiences. Hear rejection letters received by some of history’s most successful figures, from Andy Warhol to Sidney Poitier.

Don’t miss the chance to see the beloved MPR News host as she joins the Letters Aloud cast on stage, adding her unique touch to dozens of the most unforgettable rejection letters ever penned.

April 20

The Aunties is an invitation to come together to honor the women who shape, heal, and uphold Indigenous communities — the aunties — through an evening of contemporary storytelling, shared stories live from the stage alongside familial and archival photographs, and works of legacy. This world premier, commissioned by The O’Shaughnessy, will feature stories by aunties from our local region, including . We welcome you to join us in this celebration of culture and community. 

by Keren Kroul

Location: East Gallery 

Exhibition Dates: February 3–March 17

Keren Kroul’s Even Now explores, through large-scale watercolor painting and video installation, themes of memory, identity, and familial and historical legacy.  

“While some images are opaque, reflecting their solid presence in the mind, others are a watery wash, the dissolving of concrete places, lives, and eventually, memories,” Kroul said in her artist’s statement. “Towering over the viewer, monumental in size while fragile in materiality, this work is a physical representation of the overwhelming helplessness I feel when confronted by the horror of this personal and historical legacy.” 

by Nicole Havekost

Location: West Gallery 

Exhibition Dates: February 3–March 17

In her exhibition, Bewitch, Nicole Havekost uses large, hand-stitched felt works to explore the often-unsettling experience of a changing body, charting its beguiling fluctuations through processes of motherhood and aging. 

“My work is the outlet for my compulsion to explore this exquisite, repulsive organism that exists beyond my desires and authority,” Havekost said. “My work of the last several years has centered on themes of feminine being through the body, hybridity and contrast, scale, and disruption. Through all these works, hand-stitching, irregular seams, and nasty knots are part of my process. These are the visible representations of the making and mending, repairing, and refinishing we are engaged in as human beings daily.”