Cyclone: Artist Responses to 100 Years of the History Center of Olmsted County Collection

Exhibition on View: October 26, 2025 - Sunday, March 29 2026

Exhibition Reception: Thursday, November 6, 2025, 4 - 6pm | Free

Guests are invited to meet the artists, enjoy light refreshments, and celebrate the opening of this powerful exhibition. This event is alcohol-free and inclusive for all.

Rochester Art Center is proud to present Cyclone: Artist Responses to 100 Years of the History Center of Olmsted County Collection, a major exhibition that bridges past and present through art, history, and community storytelling.

In the late afternoon of August 21, 1883, a category F5 tornado tore through downtown Rochester, sweeping twice through the Lowertown area and leaving at least 37 dead and more than 200 injured. Local doctors, led by Dr. William Worrall Mayo, cared for the wounded but needed nursing support. Mother Alfred Moes and the Sisters of St. Francis, a teaching order, answered the call, transforming a dance hall into an emergency hospital.

In the disaster’s aftermath, Mother Alfred became convinced that Rochester needed a permanent hospital. Although Dr. Mayo initially resisted the idea, she persuaded him to serve as medical director if she could raise the necessary funds. True to her word, Mother Alfred raised the money, and six years later, in 1889, St. Marys Hospital opened with the Mayos as the sole medical staff and the Sisters providing exceptional nursing care. This unlikely collaboration laid the foundation for what would become the Mayo Clinic, transforming Rochester, then a quiet prairie town, into America’s City for Health.

Would Rochester have become a global medical destination if not for that cyclone? No one can say for certain. Cyclone reflects on how transformation and resilience emerge from pivotal moments in history, as artists reinterpret the stories that continue to define our community today.

A committee of historians, curators, and community members selected sixty historical artifacts from the History Center of Olmsted County’s collection, representing key themes such as Mayo Clinic, IBM, Immigration, and Civil Rights. Grouped by theme, these objects were presented in a call for art, inviting regional artists to propose new, interactive installations. The selected artists created original works that reimagine the artifacts through a contemporary lens, revealing how the stories of the past continue to shape the present.

“As each artist engages with these historical objects, they bring their own lived experiences and questions to the work,” said Executive Director Pamela Hugdahl. “The result is an exhibition that not only honors our shared history but also reinterprets it in ways that speak to today’s audiences.”

Visitors are invited to experience Cyclone as both reflection and discovery—an artistic dialogue between memory and imagination. Together, Rochester Art Center and the History Center of Olmsted County encourage audiences to explore how history, like a cyclone, continually reshapes the landscape of our community.

Co-Curated by:

Pamela Hugdahl, Executive Director, Rochester Art Center

Zoe Cinel, Curator, Rochester Art Center

In consultation with Valerie DeCora Guimaraes, George Thompson, and Paul Scanlon

Responding Artists:

Heather Acerro

Katrina Barnett & Catrielle Barnett

Alejandro Castañón

Devon Hugdahl & Theoren Sheppard

Jennifer Jesseph

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Olivia Otto

Juliane Shibata

Jacob Smithburg

Alessandra Sulpy

Suzanne E Szucs

Cole Redhorse Taylor

Pajyeeb Xiong

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.