Joe O’Connell (1927-1995) was a Minnesota-based printmaker, photographer, and sculptor, creating more than 100 large-scale works in wood, metal, and stone during his career. He spent more than 35 years as a professor of art and artist-in-residence at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University.

Since his death in 1995, the College of St. Benedict has been the home of the Joe O’Connell Collection – housing many original pieces, along with negatives, plates, molds, sketches and personal correspondence. Approximately 25 prints and sculptures are on permanent display across the central Minnesota campus.

​In 1976, the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis commissioned a sculpture for the atrium of their 1951 Long & Thorshov building, after a bequest from the estate of longtime member, Helen E. Blaisdell. The sculpture was designed and created by Joe O’Connell and installed in 1978.

The sculpture itself was an 8-panel relief, carved in mahogany and embellished with forged iron. At the time, the sculptural motifs sought to express the essential spirit of Unitarian-Universalism; incorporating ecclesiastical imagery from a variety of faith traditions.

Shortly after installation, two of the panels bearing the first line of a sonnet by Gerald Manley Hopkins were damaged by vandals. The damaged panels were removed, and the remaining six panels hung in the building’s foyer for more than 40 years. The fate of the damaged panels was unknown.

Fast-forward to the Doors Open Minneapolis tour of the First Unitarian Society building in April, 2026:

Furniture-maker and St. John’s alumnus, Willie Willette stopped in to see the sculpture, as he had many times before. As Mr. Willette described, “It is one of my favorite sculptures, by one of my favorite artists. Any time I was in the [Lowry Hill] neighborhood, I tried to visit.”

In this instance, Mr. Willette was surprised to discover that the sculpture had been removed. Willie quickly got in touch with the Facilities Manager at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis and learned that the sculpture had been removed and put into on-site storage after the members had begun reassessing the art programme across the building. There were no plans to return the sculpture to public display.

​Wasting no time, Willie Willette put his preservationist hat on – he is also a Docomomo US/MN board member – and got in touch with the archivist of the Joe O’Connell Collection at the College of St. Benedict.

Mr. Willette is no stranger to repatriating O'Connell works to the College of St. Benedict. After the 2005 closure of Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church in tiny Delavan, MN, he and his family arranged for the donation of an O'Connell stature of Saint Isidor to be displayed in the Benedicta Arts Center at the college – one of the buildings where Joe O'Connell worked and taught. Indeed, the transfer of the Saint Isidor statue was a deeply personal project – the statue had been commissioned by Mr. Willette's father's family for their home church in Delavan.

After connecting the two parties in May 2026, the Board of Trustees at First Unitarian Society unanimously agreed during their June meeting, to donate the O’Connell sculpture to the College of St. Benedict on the condition that it would be permanently and predominately displayed on the campus.

But what of the missing, vandalized panels?

It turns out – according to Becky Pflueger, the Gallery Manager at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University – the damaged panels were returned to Joe O’Connell to repair. “After the restoration was completed, the First Unitarian Board [of Trustees] ultimately decided not to reinstall the panels, and they have remained at CSB ever since… originally displayed in Sister Colman’s office, a former CSB president and a strong champion of the arts on our campus. After her retirement, the panels were installed on a wall outside the Institutional Advancement and Admission offices in the Schoenecker Building.”

Last week – in coordination with First Unitarian Society, the College of Saint Benedict and Joe O’Connell’s children – Willie Willette personally delivered this favorite piece of sculpture back to the curators at the Joe O’Connell collection, where it will be cleaned and reunited with the restored panels. The full sculpture is set to welcome new students to the College of St. Benedict for generations to come.

​Read more about the sculpture, “Panel for Wall, 1978”
Read More about Joe O’Connell and the Joe O’Connell Collection

​Check back to this page for updates on the reinstallation!

Hailed as a landmark since its completion, this six-story, 220,000 ft² office building is destined to become a boutique hotel.

Last week, Docomomo US/MN hosted tours of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Building, designed by Minoru Yamasaki and completed in 1965. The tours were led by Minnesota developer Chad Tepley, who recently purchased the building and is planning an ambitious rehabilitation project that will preserve the exterior, and many interior elements of this iconic site.

The tour began in the sun-drenched lobby, where Mr. Tepley outlined the plans to covert the former office building into a community-accessible space that includes a 160-room hotel, bars and restaurants, wellness and fitness amenities, conference and event facilities.

On the sixth floor, tour attendees had the opportunity to see the former office and cafeteria spaces that will be converted to guest rooms – each with a full bank of original windows.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to the mechanical penthouse and rooftop, which will be converted into event facilities and feature an all-season swimming pool.

Read more about the Northwestern National Life Insurance Building.

Progress updates are available on the building website: 20washingtonmpls.com
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Last week, Docomomo US/MN executed the inaugural bus tour, Modernism on the Move, to southern Minnesota, focusing on St. Peter + Mankato.

Around 50 members (including several Docomomo US/MN Board Members) gathered early in the morning at Ridgedale Library to have a morning nibble of donuts (provided by Cardigan Donuts) and coffee before boarding the bus and making the journey down to Highway 169. 

The tour started with stops at 2 modernist homes in St. Peter before making our way to Christ Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus College where the group took a self-guided tour of the chapel before feasting on delicious sandwiches from the St. Peter Co-Op. 

After a relaxing picnic lunch, we boarded the motor-coach and made our way to Mankato for another round of house tours. The group had the opportunity to see 4 very distinct MCM homes before making our way to our last stop of the day + reception site, the Jared + Katherine How Residence by Close Associates. Attendees closed out the day by enjoying a selection of cheeses + charcuterie, while sipping on local beers + carefully selected wines as they wandered about the residence and examined the homeowners collection of modernist chairs.

Post-reception, it was time to board the motor-coach for the last time, and make our way back to the Twin Cities. An action-packed day from start to finish, the tour went off without a hitch, and paved the way for future bus tours to locations around Minnesota.

Docomomo US/MN is excited to announce new officers to its Board of Directors. The board elected Ashley Bull as President, Patrick Moe as Vice President and Peter Barile as Secretary. All three new officers have been dedicated Docomomo US/MN board members and together will be stewards of the organization as they advance the mission to document and advocate for Modernism in Minnesota. Jamie Heilicher remains as Treasurer and continues to serve as both founder and lodestar for Docomomo US/MN.

Ashley Bull, President, is a self-proclaimed house nerd with a passion for interior design. She brings to the board many years of corporate leadership experience. Ashley is the owner and founder of Novella Design House, a firm that specializes in Mid-Century Modern design and restoration. Ashley and her husband have spent the past several years thoughtfully restoring their 1956 architect-designed home in Wayzata – which was featured in 2023 on the Docomomo US/MN fall home tour.

Patrick Moe, AIA, Vice President, is a registered architect, Project Designer and Associate with the Minneapolis Studio of Perkins & Will focusing on Higher Education projects across the country. A graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Master of Architecture program, Patrick’s architectural education began as a visual arts student at St. John’s University in Collegeville, exploring the forms and materiality of Marcel Breuer’s work on the campus through sculpture, drawing, and painting and as an assistant in the campus woodworking shop.

Peter Barile, Secretary, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where at age nine, he fell in love with a friend's house – an Eichler home in Marin County. He has been obsessed with Modernism ever since. Peter and his husband are currently restoring their Mid-Century Modern home, the Ronald Balazs House I, in the Prospect Park neighborhood of SE Minneapolis. Peter is a realtor with Anderson Realty in Minneapolis. 
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Originally billed as a ‘Once in a career opportunity,’ the 19th International Docomomo Conference was held in Los Angeles last month. The biennial conference was held in the US for only the second time since the founding of Docomomo.

And Docomomo US/MN was there.

The Minnesota chapter had a strong delegation in Los Angeles. Six members of the board attended the conference, all of whom participated as conference presenters or volunteers – at the registration tables, as session monitors, as tour captains and docents.

Docomomo US/MN board members connected formally and informally with counterparts from across the country, and indeed, from around the globe. Nearly 50 countries were represented by the 500+ conference attendees.

And the tours! The conference was bookended by opportunities to see iconic Mid Mod locations across Southern California. The MN attendees visited sites from Bakersfield to Long Beach, visiting iconic homes and office buildings designed by California icons Ray and Charles Eames, Paul R. Williams, Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and many, many others.

​IDC also provided the opportunity for Docomomo chapters around the world to consider what is next for the organization – how we evaluate the impacts of mid-century architecture on present-day design; how we define Modernism in the 21st Century; and whether the Modern Movement, as it originated a century ago, continues to evolve in art, philosophy and the built environment…

​Docomomo US is excited to announce new leadership for the national Board of Directors: Meredith Arms Bzdak as President and Todd Grover as President-Elect.

Meredith Arms Bzdak is an architectural historian and Partner at Mills + Schnoering Architects in Princeton, New Jersey. Meredith brings more than three decades of experience in architecture and historic preservation, along with a distinguished record of scholarship, teaching, and national leadership.

Todd Grover, FAIA, is a registered architect in Minnesota and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He has worked full time with MacDonald & Mack Architects since 1997 and became a Principal in 2004.

If you have been to a Docomomo US/MN event in the last decade, you will recognize Todd. He is a longtime board member and past president of Docomomo US/MN, and a tireless supporter of the organization. Todd has spearheaded Docomomo advocacy campaigns for threatened mid-century sites across the state, and indeed, nationwide.

Congratulations, Todd!

Read More about 2026 updates to Docomomo US Board of Directors

Frank Kacmarcik (1920-2004) was a Minnesota-based artist, liturgical consultant, designer, calligrapher, iconographer, and collector of fine art and manuscripts. He was a major influence in American religious art and architecture throughout the last half of the 20th Century, and an early practitioner of the Liturgical Movement in the Catholic Church during, and after the Vatican II Council.

In conjunction with the 2025 Docomomo US national advocacy theme, Places of Worship, Docomomo US/MN commissioned new research into Frank Kacmarcik's Influence in Minnesota.

In this article, architectural historian Mary Dahlman Smith focuses on the life and career of Frank Kacmarcik, his contributions to the Liturgical Movement in Minnesota, and the overlap of Modernist ideas with church reform movements of the 20th century.

Kacmarcik's scholarship took him around the world, though his home was firmly centered in Saint Paul, and Collegeville, Minnesota. His partnerships with architects Marcel Breuer, Ed Sovik, Val Michelson, George Rafferty, (and others) left a lasting impact on sacred spaces throughout Minnesota, and indeed, across the country.

Drawing on dozens of sources, personal interviews, and site visits, the article features more than 30 photos and illustrations. The research project was also presented in a livestream last month – a recording of which is linked from the article itself.
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Docomomo US/MN is excited to announce the 2025 merch collab partner… Bekah Worley @bekahworleyco!

Bekah is an illustration artist in Minneapolis, MN. Her work puts the color story first, and draws inspiration from the forms and connections of folk art. She works mainly in acrylic, and loves incorporating found objects into her art. 

We married Bekah’s mastery of color and shape with our passion for Mid-Century Modern design to bring you three iconic Mid-Century objects reimagined.

Stickers, notecards, limited edition signed prints, and more are all available now in the Docomomo US/MN Online Store!

We are also thrilled to be partnering with Craft Made Aprons @craftmadeaprons to apply Bekah’s designs to hand-made custom tote bags and aprons.

This is a limited-edition collab. When it’s gone, it’s gone!

All items from the 2025 Bekah Worley collection will be available for in-person purchases one night only – Thursday, November 20 at Golden Age Design during A Very Merry Mod Mixer!
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