One of six, large paintings by Ron Adams depicting diverse community life.
Visits to a health clinic often occur with moods ranging from calm resignation to fear and trepidation. Or, in the case of a large clinic in my hometown, anticipation – looking forward to seeing a series of six, large paintings mounted along a large hallway.
Each measuring six feet long and three feet tall, they depict scenes in the community – children playing in a park, a street market, county fair, family riding bikes, diversity along a downtown sidewalk. They show a community that is vibrant, diverse, welcoming, and resilient.
The six large paintings were created by Willmar, MN artist Ron Adams. In a community with a very diverse population for a small Midwest city, the overall theme portrays inclusion of recent ethnic groups. (See my Aug. 22, 2025 post: “Bienvenidos, Soo Dhawow, Velkommen – Small Midwest city a thriving ethnic and cultural mosaic”).
Years ago, as the local newspaper editor, I felt a deep sense of the importance of community arising from participation in civic organizations: Chamber of Commerce, service clubs, school and religious groups, and recreational sports. (Oct. 9, 2024 post-civic groups).
Despite many individual differences, people got along and the community prospered. There were and continue to be serious problems, but they were being addressed to varying degrees. Open and honest communication is a good start.
Today amid chaos, turmoil, deceit, and now another war, it’s necessary to remind ourselves that community is still the foundation of society. If the violence of nature – hurricanes, tornadoes, floods – bring people together in mutual assistance in a community, so can political violence imposed by unjust and corrupt leaders. We saw that in Minneapolis’ response to the ICE surge.
Community art
Many mornings I feel dread opening online newspapers, expecting to see headlines above fretful stories that we already know about in the constant barrage from digital channels. To assuage that, I look for and appreciate seeing stories tell about how the community is responding to all the chaos.
If lessons from history prevail, we can believe in hope that the harm being caused by gangsters in control of too many governments someday will end, thanks to the efforts of people cooperating in community. In addition to protests and providing aid to those being targeted by violence from the current federal administration, we see expressions of hope and resilience in art and literature.
While Ron’s paintings portray community diversity, another set of artwork was created specifically to express community resilience and resistance to the January ICE surge in Minnesota. ArtYouHeart curated an exhibit of ICE OUT protest posters in February in St. Paul. Many creative posters were displayed in a large meeting space at Can Can Wonderland, an entertainment arcade.
“Bringing together protest poster artwork responding to the presence of federal agents in our community and the harm being caused here, this show features work by artists from Minnesota and beyond who are standing up for their neighbors through bold, urgent, and deeply personal visual responses,” states a Can Can Facebook post. I have been there to play miniature golf and arcade games. It’s a fun place recycled from an old can making factory.
Writers respond
Protest in print complements the visual arts. Feb. 26 at The Loft in Minneapolis, a group of poets and writers gathered for “an evening of reading and fellowship in response to the current moment.” Proceeds from the event went to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
It featured readings by Curtis Sittenfeld, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Chaun Webster, Claire Wahmanholm, Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, Lara Mimosa Montes, Halee Kirkwood, and Jessica Nordell.
“This is a night to be in community, to begin to process what’s happened, to push back against the tsunami of disinformation, and most of all, to be together,” Nordell said in a Publishers Weekly story about the event.
Organizer of the event, Nordell is well known for her book, The end of bias: a beginning: the science and practice of overcoming unconscious bias. I have read the book, and highly recommend it, but here I must rely on the jacket for a summary:
“Unconscious bias: Persistent, unintentional prejudiced behavior that clashes with our consciously held beliefs. We know that it exists, to corrosive and even lethal effect. We see it in medicine, the workplace, education, policing, and beyond. But when it comes to uprooting our prejudices, we still have far to go. Nordell reveals how minds, hearts, and behaviors change.”
Some day in the future historians of art and literature will look back on this time in the same way we look back on previous times of conflict. Who can forget seeing “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso, showing the brutal Nazi bombing of a Basque village during the Spanish civil war. Or Hemingway’s novels from World War I; also, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. I learned a lot about a soldier’s experience in the Vietnam War from Tim O’Brien ‘s The Things They Carried.
In the travesty that is now being inflicted on our communities, our social cohesion and political order will certainly generate a new crop of art and literature telling what happened, and how individuals and communities responded. History shows that we will prevail. The cost we do not yet know, but the future will, as they will see in art and literature, that follows.
