Two exhibits will be opening this month at the Anderson Center at Tower View. 

Cynthia Weitzel’s exhibit “Way: Deaf Way, All the Way” will open in the Main Gallery on May 20 and will run through Aug. 12. 

Threads of Connection and Belonging by Cecilia Cornejo will open in the new Untitled Gallery on May 12 and will go through July 30. 

Both artists and their work will be celebrated during an artist reception on Friday, May 19, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Threads of Connection and Belonging

Cornejo’s exhibit, Threads of Connection and Belonging showcases various voices from across the southeastern region of Minnesota that answer the questions “What does it mean to be home?”

The exhibit comes from years of work with her project The Wandering House.

The Wandering House is a small recording studio that asks questions about the idea of home and keeps all participants anonymous.

The Wandering House was placed throughout Red Wing last summer in multiple spots and these voices were added to the exhibit. 

“Cecilia has built connections with many people, including and especially those whose stories aren’t always highlighted,” Artistic Director Stephanie Rogers said. “Through her work, the stories collected are given back to the people and places they came from in a framework that invites reflection and discovery.”

For those who want to add their voices to the audio testimonials, there will be additional opportunities to do so. 

“Red Wing community members can participate in the next phase of the project in multiple ways. Additional audio testimonies and ambient sounds from around town can be submitted directly via the newly developed website,” the Anderson Center said in a news release.

In addition to the audio submissions, the community can use their embroidery skills in the project. 

“Community members are invited to embroider a short statement recorded in Red Wing from October of 2022 while Cecilia was in residence at the Anderson Center,” the news release said. 

They are taking contributions from the community until the end of the year. 

The plan is to take the embroidered works and create a community quilt to be displayed in 2024. 

Way: Deaf Way, All the Way

Weitzel is a deaf visual artist that has been a part of the Anderson Center community for many years. 

She has been a year-round studio resident at Anderson Center at Tower View since 2011 and is the founder of the organization’s innovative Deaf Artist Residency program. 

“Space is transformed into a ‘sense of place’ by Weitzel in “Way: Deaf Way, All the Way,” which share’s Weitzel’s journey in exploring different ways to visually communicate the deaf point of view,” the news release stated. 

The work showcased in this exhibit shows the experiences Weitzel has had throughout her career. 

“Through intersections at the axis of language, embodying the culture and spirit of the deaf community, Weitzel presents several new bodies of work of different mediums that reclaim and reframe the lived experience of the people of the eye,” the news release stated. 

The Anderson Center has support through a creative support for individuals grant through the Minnesota State Arts Board to provide Weitzel the opportunity to host online artist talks. 

The artist talks will take place from the gallery and her studio and are primarily for deaf audiences, but also completely available to the general public. 

Both galleries are free and open to the public during the days Wednesday through Saturday during the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.