Photographer Dan Francis to kick off TMI Hospitality artist in residence program

Fargo, N.D. - In a recent project called “Fargo: Past and Present,” photographer Dan Francis deftly acknowledged the history of downtown Fargo buildings, blending old and new images to compare and contrast past and present.

Francis’ sense of a place and its history made him a perfect first participant in a new resident
artist series at TMI Hospitality (TMI), who will feature work from the “Past and Present” series in their Fargo headquarters. The exhibition will be on display this summer. An opening reception date will be announced in the coming weeks.

TMI CEO Lauris Molbert stressed how important it is for a strong business community to make room for artists.

“TMI is dedicated to playing an active role in our community. We believe we should support where we live and work, and we think the expression of art makes Fargo-Moorhead a better place for us all to live in and work in. It’s important to us to have a thriving community, and a very important part of that is having art and places for artists to be successful. It’s a nice way to help the community at the same time multi-tasking with the idea that art is correlated
with the art of hospitality," Molbert said.

The TMI resident artist program is unique to the area for a couple reasons. Private businesses often purchase and display local artists’ work, but rarely do they offer an artist resident status, offer a public reception, or commission work, as the TMI program does. Also, the program’s collaborator, The Arts Partnership (TAP), is assisting in the program by pulling together artists and local independent curators. This collaboration, said TAP Director Dayna Del Val, benefits the entire local arts community as a result.

“It’s a really wonderful thing when a business like TMI supports and values the role the arts play in creating a thriving community for their employees to work and live in. We are honored to be a partner in this collaboration,” Del Val said.

For this inaugural exhibition, TMI will display about a dozen of Francis’ works, including an artwork commissioned by TMI. 

Three artists will be chosen for the residency annually, and all artists in the Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo area are eligible to apply. For more information on the program, contact Del Val at dayna@theartspartnership.net, or to apply, visit www.theartspartnership.net.