Into the Woods

Arts Arts & Entertainment Culture Facebook X With its shimmering blue glass exterior, the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum (CAT) gives a former Shoreview industrial building a dramatic second act—and it offers a fitting introduction to a museum where glass plays a starring role. Inside, the CAT is equally inviting: free admission, no stairs, and a single, 2,000-square-foot gallery that hosts just two or three exhibitions each year. In early September, I toured “Meet Me in the Forest” with Jill Ahlberg Yohe, curator of modern and contemporary art, and Linnea Seidling, assistant curator of glass. The exhibition brings together 21 works by 17 artists working in painting, photography, textiles, ceramics, glass, and installation. The connecting thread is nature—but this isn’t an exhibition of pretty landscapes. “Why are people drawn to using forests, the natural world, to tell these human stories?” Yohe asks as we walk through the gallery. “Ultimately, they’re very human at their core.” Beauty and unease frequently share the same space. Kate Clements’ “Stain,” for example, suspends dozens of delicate glass panels overhead, gradually shifting from colorless glass to pink and blood-like droplets. I found myself continually going back to this one, drawn to its doily-like delicacy and the foreboding shadow it cast on the wall. Seidling describes the intended reaction as a back-and-forth between “terror and awe.” In her own words, “It’s supposed to induce a little bit of anxiety.” That push and pull appears throughout the show. Lori Nix’s photograph of a tranquil marsh rewards a second look when what initially appears to be a bird in the water reveals itself to be a body. Paul Stankard’s intricate glass sculptures—flowers, roots, insects, and even tiny human figures—require getting close to fully understand that, yes, everything you’re seeing is made from glass. Minnesota artists are represented, too. Pao Houa Her’s lenticular “Pictures of Paradise” traces places where her family sought refuge while fleeing Laos, superimposing the landscapes with poppies grown in her mother’s Minnesota garden. The dimensional effect is so convincing, the landscape seems almost within reach. “How do forests hold that personal memory?” Yohe asks. “How does that relate to your own identity, your own personal story? How is nature a vessel for these stories?” New York artist Erica Rosenfeld’s site-specific piece feels like stepping into a page from a hidden-object book. Vintage objects, custom wallpaper, and wonderfully odd creatures—including a two-headed tiger, with a head at either end—reward close looking, with something new emerging at every turn. Beneath the visual playfulness, the installation imagines a safe haven for people who exist on society’s fringes. Rosenfeld spent a week at the CAT assembling its countless “little bits and bobs,” Seidling says. The exhibition also features major names including Carrie Mae Weems, Ebony G. Patterson, and Ana Mendieta alongside emerging artists, an intentional mix of career stages and media. Glass artists, in particular, are shown alongside painters, photographers, and textile artists rather than being confined to their own category. And then there are the forests themselves: seductive, beautiful, and just a little threatening. But, as Yohe points out, nature itself isn’t making that distinction. “There’s nothing in and of itself about nature being scary or beautiful,” she says. “Nature is nature.” It’s we who assign feelings like wonder, fear, safety, and danger, to the natural world. That might be the best way into “Meet Me in the Forest”—come for the beauty, then look again. IF YOU GO: “Meet Me in the Forest” is on view through Feb. 27, 2027, at the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum, 4600 Churchill St., Shoreview.