Beltrami County History Center postpones reception, artists still selling work

The Beltrami County History Center announced on Wednesday that a reception and sale scheduled for early 2026 to honor participants in its Art is HERstory program has been postponed, and the center expects to reschedule the event in early 2026. The center updated the announcement at 4 p.m. on Dec. 17 and said several participating artists have made their work available for purchase in the History Center gift shop, which will be open through Saturday.

Art is HERstory was a year long series of workshops and exhibits held throughout 2025 that featured local women artists. Workshops took place at the history center in Bemidji and extended to satellite locations in Kelliher and Blackduck, offering residents across the county opportunities to learn mosaic, paint, stencil and basket techniques among other crafts. The planned sale was intended to let artists sell their work directly to residents, with proceeds flowing to the creators.

History Center Director Emily Thabes told Area Voices on the KAXE Morning Show that the artists will keep all the proceeds as a thank you for their contributions to the arts and creativity in this community. The project grew from an effort to examine how women s rights evolved locally and to address economic inequities in creative labor. “One thing that we know about, historically, is that women have been undervalued in the workplace, and that's especially true in art,” Thabes said. “We wanted to take this opportunity to not only uplift and recognize these incredibly talented women artists that we have in the county, but also take this opportunity through the grant to pay them fair wages.”

For Beltrami County residents the immediate impact is both cultural and economic. The gift shop sales provide a short term income boost for participating artists and maintain momentum for community engagement in local arts programming. Over the longer term the project models a public funding approach that directs grant money to compensate artists fairly, which can help strengthen the local creative economy and expand access to arts education across towns in the county. Residents interested in viewing or buying work should visit the History Center while the gift shop remains open through Saturday, and watch for an announcement about the rescheduled reception in early 2026.