​Big visions for the Plains Art Museum: renovation, expansion and opportunities abound

By Sabrina Hornung

The Plains Art Museum has been a trailblazing force in the North Dakota art scene since its inception and it’s not slowing down any time soon. In fact, this summer they are preparing to break ground on a major renovation and expansion of their permanent collection facility.

But first, a little history: The building as we know it started out as an International Harvester (IH) warehouse, built in 1904. According to the Plains Art website, the first floor was dedicated to shipping and receiving. The second floor was a showroom which also housed accounting and sales, and the third floor was dedicated to parts. IH remained there until 1970. From there, the building lived a number of lives, including a furniture store, until the Plains Art Museum secured it in 1993, started renovations and later opened its doors in 1997.

In 2012, the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity came to fruition within three interconnected buildings to the west of the main building. All three were from the same era. Together, they added 27,000 square feet of space for pottery, painting and multi-purpose studios, as well as a small gallery. This addition allowed the Plains to both expand physically and expand their educational and creative outreach. And it’s only going to get better.

Not only is the Plains Art Museum providing creative opportunities, it’s providing a glimpse into the museum side of operations.

“We are working with Olson Kundig, an architecture firm out of Seattle, as well as JLG, a local firm here in Fargo, to really envision this open storage concept design,” explained Plains Art Museum Director and Ceo Erin Shapiro. “So it's not just expanding the space, it's also creating a basically fourth gallery for the museum, and that course is starting early in 2027,” she said.

According to Shapiro, collection storage is the most secure space at the museum and only a few staff members have access. It’s climate controlled to preserve the integrity of the works stored there. Accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums means there are strict guidelines regarding how to handle, care for and preserve the permanent collection.

There are over 6,000 pieces of art housed in the current space. And in the past couple of years, the museum has amassed some pretty impressive collections. These collections include art from renowned regional, national, and international artists, as well as folk art and Indigenous art.

Efforts have been made to digitize, but that’s no comparison to seeing the art up close. Open collections are a fairly new trend in museum design. They give patrons access and help them better their understanding of the inner workings of the museum and the art within it.

“Only 18% of art museums in the United States actually have this type of open collection, so it's a newer trend in museum design to give access to the collection so that patrons can have an understanding,” said Shapiro. “Because I like to say that the museum serves in two major capacities — the exhibitions which inform our education and our community outreach. Those are sort of the immediate touch points with the community and viewers and patrons. The collection is really what we're stewarding for future generations.”

The expansion allows the community to see the collection Plains Art Museum is building. Accessing it is easy.

“Patrons, when they come to visit us, will be able to take the elevator down to the lower level basement and actually look into collection storage,” Shapiro said. “They'll be able to look in, see our registrars, our curatorial team at work. It'll just create more transparency. You know, we only exhibit 1%-5% of the permanent collection at any given point. So it's an opportunity for people to really understand the works that we collect. We want to be able to share that work with the public in a greater capacity, which we'll be able to do.”

“We're planning on having internship opportunities for college students and high school students to also engage with the collections,” Shapiro added. “We'll have a more public area now too, that will be built into this new space, where we can facilitate internships, so people can explore museum career pathways and collections — and registration, curatorial fields of work, too. This region's never had access in that capacity. So it's really going to be a gift to the community in that way.”

But wait, there’s more! That’s just the first phase of this capital campaign.

“We're doing a new welcome center that will come in 2029 that will connect the museum proper to the studio building,” explained Shapiro. “We chose to move forward with collections right now because we are up for reaccreditation next summer. It's every 10 years, so we're up for it, and we have some work to do with our facility space. So we decided, let's get this going. So we'll have the brand new storage facility ready to roll for accreditation — and also generate that excitement for people that this museum is the first Smithsonian Affiliate accredited art museum in the state. We're moving forward on these big visions and executing them.”

What’s this about the Plains being the only Smithsonian Affiliate in the state?

The Plains Art Museum recently became the first accredited Smithsonian Affiliate art museum in the state of North Dakota. That means that it's part of a network of 220 affiliates across the country (as well as in Puerto Rico and Panama), all of which work closely with the Smithsonian on programming, exhibition loans, etc.

“That's a really wonderful distinction for us, and we're super excited about the work that we'll be doing with the Smithsonian Institution,” Shapiro said.

The Smithsonian Affiliations network enables the loan of artifacts and traveling exhibitions. Though other museums in North Dakota have collaborated with the Smithsonian and travelling exhibitions have come through the state, the Plains is the first to be officially listed in the Smithsonian Affiliate directory, which is a huge distinction. This could involve collaborative funding —depending upon the program — and access to exclusive resources and opportunities through the Smithsonian network, including professional development for museum staff.

“Wiwahokichiyapi: They Promised Things to Each Other,” is an exhibition that opened April 25 in conjunction with the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian network. It will be on view through February 7, 2027.

“The Smithsonian has worked with cultural institutions and history museums throughout the country, but not an art museum,” Shapiro said. “So we'll be exhibiting artwork, along with the text and the research.”