CURRENTLY ON EXHIBIT
Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday, 9:00AM – 3:00PM. Lake Region Arts Council is closed Friday through Sunday.
Please email LRAC4@LRACgrants.org or call us at 1-800-262-2787 or 218-739-5780 before you visit the gallery, to ensure that the gallery is open that day.
In the Main Gallery:
Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self
September 28 – December 15, 2026
Opening Reception & Artists Talk: Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Reception: 5:00–6:30 PM
Artists Talk: 5:30 PM
Lake Region Arts Council (LRAC) is pleased to announce “Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self,” a regional juried exhibition featuring 18 artists and 27 works of art in the LRAC Main Gallery. The exhibition will be on view September 28 through December 15, 2026, inviting visitors to explore the many ways artists interpret, understand, and express the self.
A self-portrait can be much more than a recognizable likeness. It can be intimate or symbolic, playful or conceptual, realistic or imagined. Through painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and other approaches, the artists selected for this exhibition explore identity, memory, emotion, personal experience, place, and the stories that shape who they are.
“Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self” encourages artists to consider questions such as: Who am I? How do I wish to be seen? What stories, emotions, or symbols shape my identity? What lies beneath the surface of a portrait?
About “Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self”
“Self-Portraiture: Reflections of the Self” celebrates the infinite ways artists see, interpret, and express themselves. The exhibition welcomes work that explores the personal, emotional, cultural, conceptual, experimental, and imaginative dimensions of identity.
Every self-portrait is a one-of-a-kind expression—an invitation for the viewer to step into the world of the maker.
The exhibition embraces a broad understanding of self-portraiture, including literal representations and symbolic interpretations; invented personas and alter-egos; masks and mythic forms; dreamscapes and inner worlds; personal narratives and emotional journeys; and sculptural or three-dimensional explorations that extend self-portraiture beyond the traditional frame.
The 18 artists selected through the LRAC juried call are:
Trudy Pendergast, Alexandria, MN
Jennifer Aranda, Moorhead, MN
Joan Jarvis, Pelican Rapids, MN
Kary Janousek, Moorhead, MN
Jodi Peterson, Moorhead, MN
Rebecca Krueger, Fergus Falls, MN
Thom Tammaro, Moorhead, MN
Valerie Hanson, Evansville, MN
Pamela Magnuson, Fergus Falls, MN
Sharon Scapple, Detroit Lakes, MN
Emma Strommen, Wadena, MN
Amy Schmidt, Campbell, MN
Anna Fremont, Fergus Falls, MN
Les Skoropat, Moorhead, MN
Kaylyn Ness, Fergus Falls, MN
Felicia Curley, Fergus Falls, MN
Maren Kostrzewski, Moorhead, MN
Eric Santwire, Fergus Falls, MN
Together, the artists present 27 works in the LRAC Main Gallery, offering visitors an opportunity to encounter a wide range of artistic perspectives and interpretations of what it means to represent the self.
Exhibition Reception & Artists Talk
The public is warmly invited to attend the exhibition’s Opening Reception on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from 5:00–6:30 PM at the Lake Region Arts Council. An Artists Talk will take place at 5:30 PM, offering an opportunity to hear more about the artists, their creative processes, and the ideas and experiences behind the works featured in the exhibition.
The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.s
In the Office Gallery:
Dar Eckert: New Works
September 28 – December 15, 2026
Lake Region Arts Council (LRAC) is pleased to present a solo exhibition of ceramic work by regional artist Dar Eckert in the LRAC Office Gallery. The exhibition will be on view September 28 through December 15, 2026.
Eckert is known for her distinctive raku-fired ceramic vessels and sculptures, with work influenced by nature, the environment, politics, and her lifelong passion for making things by hand. Her work often explores environmental and social themes through black, unglazed ceramic and intricate textural forms.
A defining element of Eckert’s practice is her open-weave ceramic “fabric,” which represents the fabric of relationships, life, and the environment. The delicate quality of the ceramic reflects the fragility of the natural world and the interconnectedness of people and their surroundings.
More recently, Eckert has been creating larger sculptures from numerous individual ceramic pieces. These multi-piece works reflect her interest in how people, ideas, and organizations come together to create something larger and stronger than the individual parts.
Eckert discovered raku through a workshop and eventually made it the focus of her ceramic practice. After graduating from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2013, she opened her studio and has continued working in ceramics. Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and has received awards twice at the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Show.
In 2019, Eckert presented her first solo exhibition at the Kaddatz Gallery in Fergus Falls. Her work is represented by Bridgette’s Main Frame Gallery in Perham and Art of the Lakes Gallery in Battle Lake.
“Of all the possibilities, ceramics is my strongest love,” Eckert says. “Sometimes my work reflects the beauty around me, but other times I am driven by current events.”
The public is invited to visit the exhibition and experience Eckert’s thoughtful exploration of nature, community, environment, and the possibilities of clay.
