The Normandale Community College Fine Arts Gallery will host a public reception for Luis Fitch’s Artivism exhibit on Thursday, September 11 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Gallery. There will also be a public Artivism talk featuring Luis Fitch on Tuesday, September 30 in the Dale Lorenz Auditorium from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Normandale’s Fine Arts Gallery is free and open to the public during Normandale’s Building hours.
The Artivism exhibit opened on August 18 and runs through October 5. Upcoming exhibits will be listed on Normandale’s Fine Arts Gallery page.
“Luis Fitch is an artist who is a mover and shaker in the Twin Cities art community, and a major player in the design and marketing community,” said Fine Arts Gallery Director Brad Daniels. “This Artivism show reflects 10+ years of street art and posters that he has wheat-pasted on walls as applied to power transfer boxes that we can all through the Twin Cities. He is a Minneapolis-based artist and designer, but he has done this nationwide and internationally on a limited basis. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a major talent and great extension of range of work.”
Fitch’s art practice—obliterates the line between art and activism. Born of rasquache, the DIY ethos that elevates cast‑off materials into potent symbols, Fitch transforms corrugated cardboard, stencils, house paint, sand, and gesso into tactile “art boxes” and bold wheat‑paste installations.
A decade of his #FreeArt campaign across the Twin Cities unfolds here: hundreds of signed, numbered boxes and guerrilla‑style posters—once tucked into sidewalks, underpasses, and vacant storefronts—now inhabit the gallery.
Alongside these relics, new public‑art interventions extend Fitch’s street practice into immersive installations you can touch, explore, and activate. Though his work travels from Tijuana to audiences worldwide, his heart remains in Minneapolis—a city remade by its Latinx communities. His interventions claim public space, demanding art that’s immediate, legible, and accessible to those too often marginalized.
Artivism is a call to witness, to connect, and to stand in solidarity. In this hushed gallery, you can still feel the street’s pulse.”
Fitch will also be part of Normandale’s new Art Talk series where artists come into the gallery and have conversation with art students about how to make it in the art profession. He has also donated a dozen pictures for the Art Department to sell for fundraising Art Scholarships for Normandale students.
“Art Talk fills a void,” said Daniels. “What happens during our public receptions are great for the art community, but it usually ends there. We started Art Talk last year to give our art students the opportunity to have direct engagement and conversation with the artist. This is a great learning opportunity for our students.”
Artivism is the first exhibition of the 2025-26 academic year in the Fine Arts Gallery. This season there will be a combination of exhibitions from emerging and established artists, current Normandale students, AFA graduates, and alumni, and high school students from the Metro West Conference and South Suburban Conference.
“We have a very busy art gallery calendar this year, and that is what Normandale is all about,” said Daniels. “We like to see a lot of imagery and things that uplift us and make us think about some of the things we are dealing with in everyday life.”
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