exhibition opening

Dubuque Latinx Fiesta 2025

October 11 is opening day at the Dupaco Voices Building, and DuMA is partnering with Latinx Fiesta to transform Washington and E. 10th Streets into a vibrant street festival featuring live music, dance, food vendors, artisan booths, and free family activities.

Inside the Dupaco Voices Building, explore a Latinx art exhibition with works displayed throughout the first floor. The Museum’s temporary location will offer visitors a space to experience the art, connect with the community, and reflect on the diverse voices and stories expressed through the exhibition.

Dubuque Latinx Fiesta. Food, live music, arts, dancers, resources, vendor.

 

K–8 OPENING CELEBRATION

In March we’ll be opening our exhibition of Dubuque’s youngest creatives with a reception for the city’s elementary school children and their artwork.

HIGH SCHOOL OPENING CELEBRATION

Our high school artists take centerstage in our second exhibition of artwork by Dubuque’s youth.

Swing by to celebrate their accomplishments and toast the future of art in our area.

A photo of the 2023 Highschool Student Art Opening Celebration. A crowd of all ages stands in the Museum lobby conversing with each other and viewing the student art. One person reaches out with their phone to take a photo of a student artist next to their displayed work.

Voyages: An Opening Celebration

4:30-5:30 PM

We invite you to embark on a series of voyages with the artists featured in our spring exhibitions. For our opening celebration, Gerit Grimm, Stina Joy Henslee, and Jenni Brant join artist and guest curator Hieyler Pimpton to discuss their respective travels, which include journeys to Iceland, from East Germany, and through the creative process itself.

5:30–8:00 PM

The galleries will be open for viewing, music from DJ Echoras will be in the air, and hors d’oeuvres from City Girl Farming—inspired by the spring exhibitions—will be served.

$15 for members of DuMA
$20 for guests
$10 for guests under 21
Free for 1874 society

Includes admission to museum, panel discussion, and one drink ticket.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Voyages An Opening Celebration

 

FIRST FRIDAY: DIGITAL ART AND DESIGN FROM UD

First Fridays are back at DuMA with the opening of the University of Dubuque Digital Art and Design (DART) Senior Thesis exhibition, the latest in our Showcase series featuring our community partners.

This installation showcases UD student illustrators, animators, digital painters, and designers—and the body of work they created during their college career.

Join us to celebrate the creative achievements of Jakhari Anderson, Jenna Benzing, Alyssa Classen, Urias Gbarjolo, Dillon Leffler, Carlos Sanchez, Elizabeth Thill, and Kimonte Thomas.

Dubuque by Design Opening Celebration

Celebrate 150 creative years with free family fashion and design activities, conversations with artists, and local brews, bites, and music inspired by our exhibitions this season.

Family Celebration
10 am–1 pm
Free with Museum admission

Family fashion and design workshops kick off our Opening Day. In the morning, families are invited to collaborate and design fashions inspired by Dubuque icons, from Lange ski boots to H. B. Glover pajamas (immortalized by Richard Bissell on stage and screen as The Pajama Game). Design your own Dubuque factory, Millwork building, or new museum, all to help us create the city of the future. For those who need a little more of a prompt, collaborate with baristas from Bob and Lou’s to design a new custom coffee drink.

Fill Your Factory!

Grab a piece of folded paper
On 1 side design the outside of your factory.
You can include doors, big vents, billboards and advertisements.
Then Flip it over and show what’s happening on the Inside of your factory.
What does your factory build? Do people make your product or do machines? How does your factory run?
Try practicing collage techniques by using magazines, cut out shapes, and colorful paper to bring your factory to life.
When you’re all done you can add your factory to the art museums tiny factory district.

Chair Challenge!

Imagine creating a one-of-a-kind chair, designed totally by you! Use recycled materials and your imagination to make a unique functional chair.
When designing your furniture try to think about who is sitting in your chair. A toddler? Maybe a astronaut? What about a cat or a dog? Furniture is designed for people to sit in. Thinking about who will use your chair is important to make them comfortable.
Try to think about what it’s made of. Is it strong? Or is it meant to be soft and comfy, What about lightweight for east traveling?
Each chair has a job. Thinking about what job your chair does will make a successful design! Get creative and make something amazing!
You can even take it home for your toys to sit in and then post a pic on our Facebook page!

Artist Conversation
3 pm–4 pm
Free with Museum admission

Join artist Hieyler Pimpton inside the Kris Mozena McNamer gallery for a conversation about her exhibition I Have Told You 50 Times. She’ll talk about her artistic inspirations and her journey to create the 50 collages on view. You’ll appreciate her warmth and humor—and we don’t expect she’ll have to repeat herself.

Opening Reception
4 pm–7 pm

$15 for members of DuMA
$20 for guests
$10 for guests under 21
Free for 1874 society

Toast the past and the future with local craft beers, music, mocktails, and food inspired by Dubuque by Design.

Registration required for the 4 pm reception. Click here to purchase tickets.

25th High School Exhibition Opening Reception

DuMA is proud to host the 25th year of this highly anticipated and celebrated exhibition. The 2024 citywide high school exhibition features two and three dimensional works by students from Dubuque’s three high schools: Senior, Hempstead and Wahlert.

An opening reception will be held Thursday, April 11 from 4-6 PM. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.

First Friday: CSEI @Home Photovoice Art Exhibit Opening

Photovoice is a a storytelling technique used to put the camera in the hands of people to explore and share their perspectives on a certain topic or subject. CSEI’s mission of addressing homelessness and housing instability is the reason we are focusing on the prompt of @Home. Home could be your favorite place to be or a place you wish you didn’t need to be, it could be a community, a pet, or a person. The CSEI Photovoice wants to exhibit the various perspectives of what @Home means to our community.

Photographs will be on exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art from May 30th until July 21st.

RSVP

CSEI @HOME PHOTOVOICE Opening Reception June 7th 5 PM through 8 PM Dubuque Museum of Art

K–8 exhibition celebratory reception

Brightening the gray winter days with youthful creativity, the citywide K–8 exhibition features two and three-dimensional artwork by elementary and middle school students, chosen by their teachers and installed by art students from Dubuque Senior High School.
The public is invited to a celebratory reception on Thursday, March 7 from 4–6 PM.

ARTIST TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION DRIFT: RECENT WORKS BY E. E. KONO

Dubuque artist E. E. Kono discusses the work in her solo exhibition, Drift: Recent Works by E. E. Kono, with a reception to follow. Kono shares how landscape, history, and myth inform her approach to creating new work using traditional techniques like egg tempera and silverpoint. Reception to follow in the lobby.

Free with Museum admission