Photo by Ashton Gerard/MDN The Hartnett Hall Gallery is a newly renovated gallery on Minot State University’s campus. It is now the third gallery space on campus. It opened Tuesday with it’s first exhibition “Learning Curve” by MSU Associate Professor of Art Ryan Stander.

When the Northwest Arts Center moved out of their space in Hartnett Hall, the room sat empty for over a year. The arts faculty was coming up with ways to use the space and finally came to their conclusion in time for the 2019-20 school year.

“We split it in half, so part of it is student studios…and the other side is more of an experimental gallery,” said Ryan Stander, Minot State University associate professor of art.

The Hartnett Hall Gallery is located on the second floor of Hartnett Hall on Minot State’s campus. The gallery will be open during normal business hours from Monday to Friday. The student studio spaces are available for students to apply to use.

MSU student Angela Decker is the Student Gallery director, an internship that will help her with her Art Administration program. She, and others who will follow in her path, will book the shows, help with installation and write press releases.

In addition to helping with administration, the space will serve as an additional opportunity for art students to experiment and learn what goes behind a gallery show, even if it’s just for a week.

“My hope for (the space) is that students have a crazy idea and they can go do it,” Stander said. “It can be a traditional show, it can be framed work or it could be ‘I saw this trash can, and it was tipped over, so I picked it all up and brought it in here.'”

The space is without boundary for the students at Minot State. The space will allow students to move forward with quick thought and turnaround without going through the bureaucracies of other galleries, according to Stander.

“It’s a pretty open opportunity for students and that excites me,” he added.

Galleries for a lot of people are made for entertainment, but galleries for art students is just another classroom. In addition to pushing the envelope of what people perceive as art, the art students will also learn valuable professional techniques that they can carry into the real world. They will learn how to display and hang their art, the best way to light a piece and write an artist statement.

“A lot of schools don’t have that,” Stander said. “We have three galleries on campus. For a school the size of Minot State, that’s pretty amazing.”

Between the three galleries on campus, MSU will see about 36 different shows and artists throughout the school year. The exposure along with the experience will be invaluable to students.

To learn more about the different art galleries located at MSU and around Minot, visit www.minotstateu.edu/art/galleries.shtml.