East Side Arts Council (ESAC) will be open in participation for Solidarity Street Gallery for Friday and Saturday. Featuring artist Melissa Critchley in ESAC’s windows.

Melissa Critchley's work explores our deepening fusion with technology, and asks what we might gain, and lose, along the way: "Is this progress, or the erosion of life?"

What makes her precise, circuit-like lines even more striking: Melissa lives with MacTel (macular telangiectasia), a condition that makes it impossible for her to see a straight line. A dual US–Luxembourg citizen from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, she has called the Twin Cities home for almost 30 years. She holds a BA in Art and Art History from the University of Minnesota and works out of F-O-K Studios in St. Paul.

OPEN IN PART OF SOLIDARITY STREET GALLERY
977 Payne Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55130
October 16, 2026 | 5:30-7:30PM

ARTIST TALK
October 16, 2026 | 6:30-7:00PM

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION AT ESAC
Historical and Contemporary HMong Textile Stories is a 2-person Hmong art exhibition featuring Tshab Her in contemporary textile art (paj ntaub) and Mama Suzanne in traditional textile art (paj ntaub).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tshab Her is a textile artist who connects the spirit of resistance and storytelling through paj ntaub. She is a daughter of Hmong refugees who fled the “secret war” in Laos.

Mama Suzanne is recognized and honored through the work she does to retain, preserve and expand the cultural knowledge and practice of Hmong paj ntaub needlework. She has been practicing since age 6.

Free senior classes start again this fall 2026 ranging from visual arts, clay, and poetry. Limited seats available.

Please sign up while you can as this is a first come, first serve basis. 

• Visual Art classes with instructor Sue Costello Sepulveda 

• Visual Art classes with instructor Tamina Muhammad 

• Handbuilding Clay classes with instructor Mem Lloyd

• Poetry classes with instructor Diane Jarvenpa

To sign up email office@eastsideartscouncil.org or call (651)774-5422