Plains Art Museum

The Plains Art Museum is a fine arts museum located in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, United States. Founded in 1965 as the Red River Art Center, it assumed its present name in 1975 and has grown to become one of only two museums in North Dakota accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum holds approximately three thousand works spanning national and regional contemporary art, traditional American Indian art, and traditional folk art, and it occupies a renovated late-19th-century warehouse in Fargo's downtown core.

The institution traces its origins to 1965, when the Red River Art Center opened in the former post office building in Moorhead, Minnesota, Fargo's neighboring city across the state line. In 1975, the Red River Art Center merged with the O'Rourke Art Gallery Museum to form the Plains Art Museum, while simultaneously operating the Rourke Gallery nearby. The two institutions split in 1987 following the departure of founding director James O'Rourke, after which the Plains Art Museum and the Rourke Art Museum became separate entities. The Plains remained at its downtown Moorhead location until 1996, then relocated in October 1997 to a renovated turn-of-the-century International Harvester warehouse in downtown Fargo, a property it had acquired in 1994. The museum earned accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2003. In 1993, the museum launched the Rolling Plains Art Gallery, a climate-controlled semi-trailer that traveled to communities in North Dakota and Minnesota, bringing selected works from the permanent collection together with a traveling art educator; this program is no longer active. More recently, in May 2020, the museum launched the weekly podcast "5 Plain Questions," hosted by Joe Williams, director of Native American programs, featuring interviews with Indigenous artists and produced in conjunction with Eleven Warrior Arts.

The permanent collection comprises roughly three thousand works. Its strengths lie in three principal areas: national and regional contemporary art, traditional American Indian art, and traditional folk art. The modern and contemporary holdings include pieces by nationally prominent figures as well as artists with regional significance. The museum's commitment to American Indian art is reflected not only in its collecting but also in its programming, including the podcast dedicated to Indigenous artists.

The collection includes works by major American and international artists such as Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Salvador Dalí, Ellsworth Kelly, Helen Frankenthaler, and Sol LeWitt. Additional represented artists include Mary Cassatt, George Morrison, William Wegman, Walter Piehl, David P. Bradley, and Star Wallowing Bull. The museum also presented the exhibition "Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Made in America" in 2006.

The museum is housed in a former International Harvester warehouse built at the end of the 19th century. The building, which encompasses 56,000 square feet, was renovated according to plans by the architectural firm Hammel, Green and Abrahamson before the museum opened there in 1997. The facility contains exhibition galleries as well as the Hannaher's Print Studio, the Dawson Studio, Café Muse, the museum store, and the Goldberg Resource Library. A distinctive feature is a two-and-a-half-story projection wall, and the building also includes event spaces.

The Plains Art Museum is located in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. It is an independent institution and one of approximately 750 museums accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Visitors can access the museum's exhibitions, studios, library, and café within its renovated warehouse facility. The museum maintains an active public role through exhibitions, educational programming, and digital initiatives such as its podcast series.