Pattie Chalmers’ Mudmaid Museum is an exploration of folklore and legends that blurs the lines between myth and reality. Chalmers has created her own museum of catfish-beings, referred to as “Mudmaids,” believed to exist in the Mississippi River in a distant past. This unique concept of a museum within a gallery plays with the definitions of fact and fiction, featuring artifacts created by Chalmers. The Mudmaid Museum exhibition reveals an alternate history, a museum filled with artifacts from when Mudmaid apparitions were encountered in American waterways. In the Mudmaid Museum visitors will see books, woodcarvings, photographs, rag dolls, diaries, letters, whisker oil bottles and much more from the foggy past.

Pattie Chalmers grew up and went to art school in Winnipeg, Canada. She received her B.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Manitoba in 1994, and her M.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Minnesota in 2001. Since graduating, she has exhibited on five continents, in six countries and in 34 states. She has had six solo exhibitions in the past eight years, most recently the exhibitions Every Thing and More at the Craft Alliance in St. Louis and Imperfect Ramblings at Merwin Gallery at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.

Chalmers has taught at the University of Minnesota, Ohio University and at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale where she is currently a full professor.

Opening Night Reception, Friday, September 8 from 6-8 p.m.
Saturday, October 7 from 1 p.m.: Artist Talk with Pattie Chalmers

Coming this fall, The Sheldon invites 3rd-5th grade classrooms for an experience that will inspire students to research, imagine, create and think critically. Visit the galleries and explore the “Mudmaid Museum” inside the Sheldon Art Galleries, where artist Pattie Chalmers’ mythical creature, the Mudmaid, is memorialized and celebrated with “artifacts” fashioned by the artist from a variety of media.

Students will have an immersive experience in the gallery with the Mudmaid art, and then be challenged to create their own imagined mythical creature. The project is aligned with art, social-studies and writing standards in the 3rd-5th grade curriculum.

90-minute visit
Cost based on a sliding scale.

Reserve Your Spot!