SPRING 2026

What a lovely spring it has been so far, a multitude of blossoms are blooming and a feeling of abundance is in the air. Just like the world around us, our spring issue of Insight abounds with a variety of articles sure to delight, educate and inspire. In this issue we meet our new Guide and Tour Specialists, Selen Ozakhun and Greta Oelberg, we learn about the featured AiB vases, the revered artist El Greco, the history of Huipiles, and how the Shogren-Meyer team came to be such astute collectors. We look back at the beginning of the Art Adventure tour program and we take a moment to pause with Käthe Kollwitz.

This is not all, though. We end our issue as we have for the past four years with Marne Zafar’s timely recipe and tips to museums around the country and abroad. In addition to these regular contributions, her column on book recommendations, writing pieces, and finding photos for articles, Marne Zafar has been Insight’s publisher since its inception in the fall of 2022, a role she is passing on to Mia’s staff this summer. Marne even designed Insight’s logo. For the past four years, Marne has volunteered her time, working her magic to help create beautiful issues every season. Martha and I offer our sincerest gratitude to Marne. It’s been an honor to work with and learn from her this year.

Spring is a time to celebrate. Insight celebrates the dedication of our incredible guides, our hardworking staff, the breadth of Mia’s collection, and our inspiring exhibitions. We hope you enjoy.

Cara Richardson

Co-editor with Martha Bordwell

Spring Crocuses, plate from Transactions of the Horticultural Society, London, vol VII (1805-30; 1831-48
After Charles John Robertson • Hand-colored engraving
The Minnich Collection The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, 1966 • P.18.437
Credit: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Spring Arrives

As the touring year comes to an end, it's a good moment to look back on everything that has happened. We faced some tough times, but we also made real progress. Some days were challenging, while others reminded us why we do this work.

The Guide Council, which advocates for all guides, met monthly to discuss and make decisions for our community. Some key updates are changes to the lead guide role for multi-visit school tours, improvements to the Honorary Guide program, and new Book Tour procedures.

Looking forward, the new year is a chance to start fresh. With some council members finishing their terms, we're looking for energetic, enthusiastic, and committed guides. We have openings for a Co-Chair for Adult Tours and a Writer/Editor for the newsletter. If you want to help shape the council's future, please get in touch.

As Vincent Van Gogh said, "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."

Kathryn Heller Schwyzer

Co-Chair, Mia Guides Council

THOUGHTS FROM MIA

Meet Greta Oelberg and Selen Ozakhun

In March, I interviewed Greta Oelberg, Guide and Tour Specialist (School Groups) and Selen Ozakhun, Guide and Tour Specialist (Adult/Multi-Generational). We spent a delightful hour getting to know one another. Following are highlights of what I learned. Greta (left) and Selen (right) Photo: Maryam Marne Zafar Give us a sense of your educational and career journeys: Greta: I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. I moved to Minneapolis to attend college at the U, partly because I w

Martha Bordwell

14 hours ago5 min read

The Vases: Flowers, Birds and More

They’re big, they’re colorful, they’re full of elaborate detail - and yet, this pair of Presentation Vases may not have been familiar to most guides until one of the two recently showed up in the lobby as the 2026 Art in Bloom signature object. The 5-foot-tall vase will delight the people who attended Art in Bloom, with its flamboyant cascade of flowers and birds on a vivid blue background, but there’s also a good bit of history and skilled craftsmanship behind these pieces w

Meg Ubel

14 hours ago4 min read

A Painting by El Greco at Mia: Who Was El Greco and Why Do Museums Collect His Paintings?

Mia owns the painting “Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple” (c. 1570-75) by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as Greco (the Greek). I first learned about this painter from the professor who taught the art history course that I took in my freshman year in college as a requirement for my pre-landscape architecture major and who talked about him at length. During the thirty years that I have been a Mia member, while viewing that painting I have heard other visitors v

Rafael E. Tarragó

14 hours ago6 min read