Women and Water, Woven Portraits from Around the World
Exhibition Dates: May 20 – July 29

Artist Talk:  Thursday, June 25 | 6–8pm | Carlson Hall

 Award-winning fiber artist and master weaver Mary Burns will present an artist talk for her exhibition, Women and Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World, on Thursday, June 25, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Carlson Hall at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Ave., Minneapolis. This event will also feature live music from Sara Thomsen and special guest Sharon Day–one of the extraordinary women featured in this exhibition! 

The exhibition will be on display from now through July 29, 2026. 

Women and Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World features 29 woven portraits representing 39 women from more than 20 countries, as well as the Arctic and Antarctica. Through intricately woven textile portraits, Burns honors women whose work protects, advocates for, and sustains the world’s waters. 

The exhibition was inspired in part by Burns’ relationships with Native women and water protectors while creating her earlier project, Ancestral Women Exhibit: Wisconsin’s 12 Tribes. 

“A Native American saying, ‘Water is Life,’ is simple, direct and true,” said Burns. “For me, water has always been sacred. But it was through getting to know Mildred ‘Tinker’ Schuman, an Ojibwe Elder, and many other Native women that I came to understand their deep reverence for water.” 

The women represented in the exhibition include farmers in Mozambique, oceanographers, artists, journalists, conservation biologists, sea captains, limnologists, and activists from regions including Detroit, India, Peru, Honduras, and the Kingdom of Tonga. 

“In many traditional cultures, women are the protectors of water because women give birth and are seen as keepers of water,” Burns said. “May these women and their stories encourage all of us to strengthen our own ties with water and inspire actions to protect our waters.” 

Burns intentionally uses fiber arts — often viewed historically as women’s work — to underscore the strength, resilience, and essential contributions of women worldwide. 

Mary Burns is an internationally exhibited, award-winning fiber artist and master weaver whose work explores environmental themes, cultural heritage, and climate issues through textile arts. In addition to Women and Water, her acclaimed Ancestral Women Exhibit features woven portraits representing Wisconsin’s 12 Native tribes. Burns has participated in numerous science and art collaborations, including Paradise Lost? (2006), examining the impacts of climate change in Wisconsin. She has served as artist-in-residence at Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon and the University of Wisconsin Trout Lake Limnology Station. Burns also teaches fiber arts workshops and co-leads nature tours with her husband, John Bates. 

Artist Statement:
A Native American saying, “Water is Life,” is simple, direct and true. For me, water has always been sacred. But it was through getting to know Mildred “Tinker” Schuman, an Ojibwe Elder, and many other Native women when weaving my Ancestral Women Exhibit: Wisconsin’s 12 Tribes (2016) that I came to understand their deep reverence for water. In many traditional cultures, women are the protectors of water, because women give birth and are seen as keepers of water. Beginning with North American water keepers and water walkers, the ideas for an exhibit celebrating women and water spread as I found more and more people across the globe doing important water advocacy and work. They included farmers in Mozambique, oceanographers, a sea captain in the Kingdom of Tonga, artists, journalists, limnologists, a conservation biologist in the Arctic, and activists in Detroit, India, Peru and Honduras. All of these women, and many others, are doing essential work for water, for the planet and for us.

The exhibit features 29 woven portraits representing 39 women and 20 countries, plus the Arctic and Antarctica.

In many cultures, fiber arts are seen as a traditionally feminine craft. Creating these portraits through a woven medium reflects the often-underestimated power and importance of women’s work.

I am blessed, honored and humbled to do this work and am so grateful to the people of Women and Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World. They are role models of strength, fortitude, sacrifice and love.

May these women and their stories encourage all of us to strengthen our own ties with water and inspire actions to protect our waters.

Mary Burns Bio:
Mary Burns is an award-winning fiber artist and master weaver. Her work has been shown internationally. Mary’s latest exhibit Women and Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World, features women who work with and for water across the globe. The exhibit is composed of 29 woven portraits of 39 women from over 20 countries, plus the Arctic and Antarctic. Mary’s Ancestral Women Exhibit features woven portraits of an elder from each of Wisconsin’s 12 Native tribes along with 12 complementary weavings. She weaves custom-designed jacquard weavings and wall pieces in addition to felting, natural dyeing and eco-printing. Mary has participated in numerous science and art collaborations beginning with Paradise Lost? (2006), which examined the impacts of climate change on Wisconsin. She has been an artist-in-residence at Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, as well for the University of Wisconsin Trout Lake Limnology Station. She teaches various fiber arts workshops. She and her husband John Bates also lead nature tours.