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 has put up with a lot. Take for example, this experience:

Weiser didn't want to be rude, so she just got out of the elevator and away from the man as fast as she could. But afterward she thought about all the things she would have liked to say to him.

It's moments like these that inspired Weiser's solo show

at Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis.

Just as Weiser's thoughts are hidden behind her desire to be polite, so the words are obscured by the lovely antique designs she's recreated in painstaking detail. But look closely and you'll see such phrases as "you're rude" or "not funny" or "xenophobic?"

Weiser is used to working in three dimensions - primarily ceramic sculpture - so even her drawings evoke layers of depth. So do her mirrors, which she etches with patterns and words, so the viewer sees him or herself behind each phrase or question.

Weiser says she doesn't want to be accusatory, but simply create a space in which viewers are encouraged to look at their own behavior and words.

Orphan Babies, silver and gold, by Dana Weiser

Weiser, a Korean-American adoptee with Jewish-American parents, is also interested in issues surrounding adoption.

Weiser created orphan babies tricked out in Swarovski crystals and gold and silver paint to drive home her point. The babies are distressed, with their arms outstretched, based on memories of a visit she paid to the Korean orphanage from which she was adopted.

Weiser says as a child she turned to art as a means to cope with racism she experienced. Now it's allowing her to raise her voice, and fight back.

at Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis through October 16.

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

Author

Dana Weiser turned to art as a child in order to cope with racism she experienced. Now that art is helping her to raise her voice, and fight back.

Artist tackles adoption, racism in new show

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