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Cargill Gallery

Cargill Gallery is a library-based gallery space committed to community-engaged group exhibits, with a primary focus on local creators from underserved communities and organizations with limited access to exhibiting their work. Cargill Gallery’s free, public exhibits encourage lifelong learning and often connect visitors with library resources or associated programs and activities.

Cargill Gallery will:

  • Support greater equity through amplifying the voices of diverse communities and creators who may speak for themselves and tell their own stories.
  • Connect people, ideas, communities, and resources.
  • Promote dialogue, broaden perspectives, and provoke deeper thinking.
  • Inspire learning and creativity.

Location and hours

The gallery is on the second floor of the Minneapolis Central Library. It is free and open to the public during library hours.

Information for exhibitors

Organizations may apply to use the gallery. Read more about applying to use Cargill Gallery.

Exhibits

I Wonder

December 22, 2025 - January 30, 2026

Hennepin County Library announces its next Cargill Gallery exhibit: I Wonder, a collection of digital artwork created by youth artists at the Best Buy Teen Tech Center at Minneapolis Central Library. The show highlights the Center's role as a hub for innovation and features a diverse range of mediums, including digital video projects and photography. Selected works demonstrate both technical skill and powerful artistic vision, offering a compelling look at the next wave of creative talent being fostered at Minneapolis Central.

Learn more about this exhibit.

Be Aware or Be Away

November 17 - December 14

Hennepin County Library announces its next Cargill Gallery exhibit: Be Aware or Be Away, an exhibition of paintings and murals by Kushite Arts Team, a collective of extraordinary artists of East African heritage. They believe in the transformative power of art to connect people, celebrate heritage, and spark meaningful conversations. Their work reflects themes of heritage, resilience, and beauty, drawing on rich cultural narratives to create visually stunning and thought-provoking pieces.

Learn more about this exhibit.

a stack of bound books advertising the exhibit the binding

The Binding is Just a Way to Keep It All Together

June 6 - July 27

Hennepin County Library announces its next Cargill Gallery exhibit, The Binding is Just a Way to Keep It All Together, an exhibit that explores bookmaking, narrative, and sequence. The exhibit, featuring 19 artists from the Interact Center for the Visual & Performing Arts, gathers hand-bound volumes and small folded zines, repetitive paintings and stashes of paper, and lines of poetry and stapled packets of text, to play with elements of story-and bookmaking. In each artist’s work, a narrative unfolds, whether across pages or frames, whether explicit or abstract. In the Interact studio, ideas are stacked, piled, taped, bound – coming together over the course of days, years, or decades. As studio facilitator Presley Martin points out, “the binding is just a way to keep it all together.”

Learn more about this exhibit.

Shifting Perspectives

March 1 - April 27

Hennepin County Library announces its next Cargill Gallery exhibit, Art from the Inside: Shifting Perspectives, an exciting showcase of art that challenges conventional views and encourages new ways of seeing the world. This exhibit is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in thought-provoking pieces from talented artists currently serving time in Minnesota as well as incredible works from returning neighbors. Experience the power of art to transform perspectives and inspire change.

Learn more about this exhibit.