Community Curators

How can museums create an environment where community members feel empowered to tell their own stories?

The items in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s collection originate from places all around the world. Through the Community Curators program, museum staff and community members collaborate to access and engage with objects in the collections in meaningful ways to foster a more community-driven practice of storytelling and interpretation.

Through this program, community artists, educators, and organizers select and interpret items from museum collections alongside their own work. The items will be featured in an on-site display in the museum lobby for the duration of three months, and each curator will facilitate a conversation about the selected objects and their meaning to their cultural community. 

January-March
Cole Redhorse Taylor
Moccasins

A beader and quillworker since his teens and twenties, Cole takes inspiration from artwork left by his Mdewakanton Dakota ancestors — pieces that were not only useful, but also functional in his relatives’ everyday lives. His display combines moccasins he created with those found in the museum’s collections that were made by artisans from communities like his. 

April-June
Raquel Kaprosy
Weaving

Raquel learned the art of weaving when she was six years old, progressing from bracelets and small belts to double-sided designs on larger looms. She believes each weaver is the main character of the story they want to tell through their loom; she is passionate about honoring her heritage and culture through the textiles she creates and stories she tells. 

July-September
Aaron Johnson-Ortiz
Weaving/Collage

In this display, Aaron curates a collection of works of two contemporary Maya artists — Yeymi Sumoza and Anton Vázquez — in the context of the museum’s Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed exhibit. The featured artists build on a 5,500-year-old legacy of Maya weaving, simultaneously preserving traditional themes and techniques while evolving them in their own work. 

October-December
Cyndy Milda
Beading/Quillwork

Cyndy’s work takes inspiration from her grandparents’ jewelry-making, which she witnessed growing up with them in the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Her displayed objects include dentalium jewelry that draws influences from her grandmother’s French ancestry, a belt born out of a generational love for wrestling, and the first piece she ever quilled.  

Interdisciplinary contemporary artist Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra explored Indigenous futurisms.

Education professional Jamie Barton discussed parallels between Natives in the United States and Guatemalan Mayas.

Artists Dej Txiaj Ntsim Yaj and Ger Xiong posited the question, ‘When is a pot not a pot?’

The museum’s collections of parfleche items stood out to artist Afton Delgado.

Community activist Joe Vital was immediately drawn to the museum’s collections of seeds.

Interpreter Mallory Glynn’s curation focused on what it means to be a Dakota woman through the lens of collection pieces.