Echoes and Equations: The Art and Archiving of Harriet Bart

The exhibit is open through Sept. 25, 2026, weekdays only, and Elmer L. Andersen Library. Check the exhibit line up on our calendar for hours and details.

Echoes and Equations offers a historical examination of a leading Twin Cities artist. Harriet Bart’s artistic career and culmination of achievements are illuminated, bringing to light her creative process and work that has consistently examined the intersection of visual and performative art, history, poetry, and science. By presenting selections from her archives displayed alongside her handcrafted artists’ books, this exhibition champions the interdisciplinary nature of Bart’s artistry. Co-curators Amy Gabbert-Montag and Deborah Ultan underscore the storytelling power of archives and celebrate the artist’s vision and production of art.

The combination of archival materials — sketchbooks, correspondence, research notes, photographs, and ephemera — complement the art objects and artist’s books to reveal Bart’s intellectual and spiritual acumen, and the depth of research that has informed her decades-long art and book making. This exhibit emphasizes the artist’s attention to the echoes of memory, the geometry of pattern, the eloquence of equations, and the profound inspiration she finds in literature, historical imagery, and stories of people and places.

This exhibit was curated from the newly acquired Harriet Bart archive for the UMN Libraries’ Gorman Rare Art Books and Artists Archives. It is co-sponsored by The Institute for Advanced Study and made possible through the Imagine Fund.