Native American Community Development Institute and Hennepin Theatre Trust: WE ARE STILL HERE

Native American Community Development Institute and Hennepin Theatre Trust: WE ARE STILL HERE

by | Dec 13, 2020 | art/design

THE RETURN, DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION/ANIMATION BY WE ARE STILL HERE ARTIST MENTOR, JONATHAN THUNDER.

THE RETURN REPRESENTS SOVEREIGNTY, STRENGTH AND HOPE.

 

We Are Still Here is a multiyear initiative with the aim to uplift Native voices and stories in Minneapolis. This collaborative partnership between the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) and Hennepin Theatre Trust will bring large-scale, high profile public artwork created by an emerging network of Native artists to both the Hennepin Theatre District and the American Indian Cultural Corridor highlighting contemporary Native culture and dispelling stereotypes. The initiative will also establish a sustainable framework for ongoing engagement among the Trust and other downtown Minneapolis stakeholders.

A learning cohort of three Indigenous artists will work with project mentor Jonathan Thunder over 18 to 24 months to create digital designs, animation, a possible mural and more. We Are Still Here will promote native storytelling for the built environment along Hennepin Avenue. Through pilots, prototypes and a final project that will be a central feature for the reopening of Hennepin Avenue after a four-year reconstruction project culminating with the Hennepin Theatre District centennial celebration in 2022.

“As a culture-bearer, working in contemporary media, Jonathan is the ideal mentor for this group as he brings a wide range of skills from large scale painting to digital animation and installations,” said Angela Two Stars, All My Relations Arts Director. Thunder, Red Lake Ojibwe, is a multi-disciplinary artist known for the surreal imagery he uses to address the subjects of loss and recovery of indigenous sovereignty, environmental welfare and humorous social commentary through his paintings, animated and experimental films, installations and illustration work.

Engaging with native artists and community has been the mission of NACDI since its founding in 2007 and the early creation of the “American Indian Community Blueprint” in 2010. Angela Two Stars, NACDI’s All My Relations Arts director shares, “by interweaving contemporary and traditional storytelling, and the allyship of Indigenous communities here in the Twin Cities, we are able to connect the Dakota history of the land and continued connections to our past using the powerful visuals of our contemporary artists.” NACDI’s long-standing commitment to public engagement has enabled them to be a source of leadership and guidance among its network of Native artists and community.

In the Hennepin Theatre District, the Trust transforms the spaces along Hennepin Avenue to create a more vibrant and inclusive environment through its public art projects and programming. “We are looking forward to collaborating with NACDi to broaden the awareness of Native truth-telling and working together to create a system enabling continued public art and placemaking efforts,” said Mark Nerenhausen, president and CEO for the Trust. Nerenhausen said that We Are Still Here will be a catalyst to weave Native culture back into Hennepin Avenue connecting the District’s community to arts and cultural experiences in unexpected places.

 

 

Meet the artist

Jonathan Thunder
jonathan thunder black and white portraitJonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe) is a multi-disciplinary artist. He is known for his surreal paintings, animated and experimental films, installations and illustration work. Jonathan has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe and studied Visual Effects and Motion Graphics in Minneapolis at the Art Institute International. His work has been featured in state, regional and national exhibitions, as well as in local and international publications since 2003. Jonathan is a 2020 Pollock-Krasner Foundation grantee.

To learn more about Jonathan Thunder, visit ThunderFineArt.com or follow him on Instagram.

About Jonathan Thunder’s art

At the core of Jonathan’s work is a story line that reflects his personal lens as a filter to the social, political, environmental and spiritual climate. He works with imagery that is surreal and imaginative by incorporating influences from the structure of his dreams, the culture around him and the direction his life is headed on any given day. Jonathan considers his work “vignettes” or short stories within a larger ongoing narrative that evolves as he evolves. He makes what he sees.

Jonathan believes in the simplicity of a moment captured. Some cryptic or spontaneous imagery invites the viewer to create a portion of the narrative for themselves or consider an interpretation. He enjoys merging his painter self with his filmmaker self to create art that lives and pushes the boundaries of a space.

As part of the We Are Still Here project with NACDI, Jonathan designed four works that are currently on display on Clear Channel Outdoor digital billboards in the Hennepin Theatre District in downtown Minneapolis.

VIEW DIGITAL BILLBOARDS

About the digital artists’ cohort

We Are Still Here will re-center Native voices and stories in the Hennepin Theatre District and Native American Cultural Corridor through the work of a Native artists’ cohort working in a variety of digital and analog media, leading to a large-scale public art project by fall 2020. All My Relations Arts and Hennepin Theatre Trust have committed to this multiyear partnership to weave Native culture back into Hennepin Avenue with temporary and permanent art that engages Native and non-Native people in a deeper sense of place and share future.

MORE ABOUT WE ARE STILL HERE

Capri Theater: Resurgent West Broadway Boasts $125 million in Projects in North Minneapolis

Capri Theater: Resurgent West Broadway Boasts $125 million in Projects in North Minneapolis

by | Dec 6, 2020 | art/design

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“We are about to experience a building boom on W. Broadway,” said Hansen, 46, a Minneapolis native who remembers far-leaner times when he was trying to drum up business amid vacant store fronts.

The W. Broadway corridor experienced modest progress in redevelopment and business expansion after the 2008-2009 recession. Now, that has given way to a redevelopment wave that portends to be the biggest building surge ever on the near North Side.

“JXTA is building a new state-of-the art campus on the corner of Emerson and Broadway avenues,” Grier said. “We are reimagining the economic reality of young people in the creative arts, injecting vitality, curiosity and Black excellence in the creative economy of Minnesota.”

Tara Watson, nurse and chiropractor, also owns the Anytime Fitness franchise and a home-health agency in buildings she has renovated in recent years at Penn and Broadway, just north of the Capri. Her business mentor was the late Dr. John Williams, a dentist on lower W. Broadway, who returned to Minneapolis after an all-star football career for the University of Minnesota and in the NFL.

Watson is chairwoman of the West Broadway Business Association. It has worked with business owners, the city, developers and Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) to get more absentee-owned buildings, some abandoned, into local hands and redeveloped.

Warren McLean, chief executive of NEON, said he’s optimistic despite the COVID-19 pandemic and protests and riots that damaged several businesses in the neighborhood. The damage was limited by business owners and residents who turned back looters and arsonists for several nights in late May after the police killing of George Floyd in south Minneapolis.

“We have major catalytic projects going on W. Broadway,” McLean said. “The Capri Theater on the north end. The Jay and Rose Phillips Foundation, Tri-Construction, and New Rules just broke ground on the 927 building on W. Broadway. And developer Tim Baylor is about to break ground on Satori Village, a project that consists of market-rate housing, affordable housing and senior housing. Cub Foods has recommitted to W. Broadway as has U.S. Bank, both damaged during the protests. Cub will institute a commercial baker that will bring jobs.”

Some details on those projects:

• Satori Village, a $60 million housing, 198-unit, three-phase project near the Cub store on the south side of lower W. Broadway, on which Baylor expects to break ground next spring after five years of planning, property acquisition, rezoning and fundraising among equity partners and lenders. Baylor, 66, is owner of several local McDonald’s restaurants and a veteran real estate developer who lives in Minneapolis.

Baylor is negotiating with the city for up to a $4 million loan for infrastructure improvements that would be repaid through increased property taxes on the mixed-income housing development, including a senior complex.

• The 927 W. Broadway building, a $7 million overhaul, including an $800,000 city loan, of a dilapidated commercial building that will be the new headquarters for the Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation; headquarters for Black-owned Tri-Construction of the Northside, and Chris Webley’s New Rules, which is expanding from the former corporate manager’s flagship collaborative-workspace site on Lowry Avenue.

• The still-developing Resolute, scheduled for construction next summer, several blocks southwest of the Capri, will be 65 apartments, a coffee shop, hair salons and a day-care center that will replace a former pizza shop and parking lot at 1300 W. Broadway.

Ian Alexander, an attorney and developer who lives nearby, said Resolute’s housing will be affordable for working class and young professionals. Damaris Hollingsworth, principal architect at Design By Melo, who is working on the Resolute, said neighbors have contributed to the project.

“There has to be a complete and holistic ecosystem; housing and jobs that pay a livable wage” and proximity to education, stores and entertainment, she said. “The projects where I am the lead designer … [are] really about housing and commercial and retail.”

 

By  and  Star Tribune staff writers

Cuyuna Cove: Custom Designed Boutique Lodging – Crosby, MN

Cuyuna Cove: Custom Designed Boutique Lodging – Crosby, MN

by | Nov 29, 2020 | art/design

OUR STORY & HISTORY OF THE AREA

Cuyuna Cove’s story is all about love, big dreams and perseverance. Founders Christopher and Kelsey grew up in central MN where they attended High School together. They graduated and went their separate ways, both moving across the nation to different states. After returning to Minneapolis at similar times, they reconnected and shared a strong passion for travel, hospitality, design and outdoor adventure.

Cuyuna Cove was born from a desire to combine custom design, travel inspiration and outdoor experiences. Utilizing their professional experience and over 7 years of renovating, designing and running Airbnb rentals, they made the leap, bought the land and got to work building Cuyuna Cove. “We both strongly believe in the importance of being outside in nature and what it can do for both your mind and your spirit and overall health. We built Cuyuna Cove so we could share the beauty, endless outdoor adventures and the unique history Cuyuna has to offer with others. This place is incredibly special and unique.”

 

HISTORY BEHIND THE NAME ‘CUYUNA’

The Cuyuna iron range was discovered by Cuyler Adams, a surveyor who discovered traces of magnetic ore in 1895 while doing land surveys. The word “Cuyuna” was coined by Adams’ wife, who combined the first three letters of Cuyler’s name with “Una”, the name of their dog. In 1903 Adams formed the Orelands Mining Co.

Christopher and Kelsey live in Crosby, MN with their two dogs and when they’re not at Cuyuna Cove you’ll most likely find them outside paddle boarding the mine lakes, biking the trails, hiking with the dogs and enjoying all that Historic Main Street in Crosby has to offer.

 

NEW BEGINNINGS

What once was a bustling iron ore mining area in Cuyuna, MN shut down in 1984. With endless red dirt land, sprawling forests and empty mine pits, Cuyuna was ready for change. That change came when mountain bikers, volunteers and locals worked together to push for trails to be carved into the abandoned landscape. Over the past 10 years Cuyuna has become one of the top outdoor adventure destinations with people visiting from across the globe. The land now boasts 30 miles (and counting) of renowned single track Mountain Bike trails, over 40 miles of paved trails and over 15 crystal clear, turquoise mine lakes perfect for paddle boarding and kayaking.

 

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Christopher and Kelsey envisioned @cuyunacove as a boutique “glamping” hotel in northern Minnesota with 30 miles of red dirt, single track, Mountain Bike trails, 15 pristine mine lakes to paddle/canoe/kayak and a bustling Historic Main Street to explore. At Dogwood, we’re delighted to partner with their vision and deliver fresh coffee beans to get your northern Minnesota mornings kicked off on the very best glamping note!

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Sooo this happened…guys, we’re in the Star Tribune!!
We definitely have some tears welling up in our eyes this morning drinking our coffee and finding out the article was posted a couple days ago.

Kelly Smith called me a couple weeks ago and asked if she could interview us (she had recently stayed in one of our cabins). Of course we said YES!

Oh, what a crazy couple years it has been. We’re grateful for every single one of our incredible guests, thank you for your words of encouragement during the build and covid this Spring…we needed it to keep going. Thin, stressed and worried we’d go under before we even opened our doors…it turned out to be quite the opposite.

Hope and the Minnesota community really came through for this small business. We love you all and thank you!! Have a beautiful Sunday.

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Built for the Modern Outdoor Enthusiast. Custom Designed Boutique Cabins and Glamping tents located on 3 wooded acres in the city of Crosby MN with direct access to Cuyuna State Recreation Area and Historic Downtown Crosby, MN.

Cuyuna Cove

Minneapolis Institute of Art: Celebrate and Honor Native American Heritage and Contemporary Culture

Minneapolis Institute of Art: Celebrate and Honor Native American Heritage and Contemporary Culture

by | Nov 22, 2020 | art/design

[Pictured: Jamie Okuma (Luiseño and Shoshone-Bannock, United States, 1963); Designer: Shoes designed by Christian Louboutin; “Adaptation II,” 2012, Leather, glass beads, porcupine quills, sterling silver cones, brass sequins, chicken feathers, cloth, deer rawhide, buckskin. Bequest of Virginia Doneghy, by exchange, 2012.68.1a,b, © 2012 Jamie Okuma]

 

Award winning artist Jamie Okuma applied a Native American aesthetic to a pair of Christian Louboutin stilettos. Meticulously beaded and quilled, they are a contemporary version of highly decorated moccasins. @j.okuma researches historic artwork but updates the aesthetic to appeal to contemporary Native tastes and concerns.⁠
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Minneapolis Institute of Art: Celebrate and honor Native American heritage and contemporary culture with art, stories, videos, virtual exhibitions and more this month (and always)!

Minneapolis Institute of Art

 

 

 

International Travel is a Bit Complicated These Days, So Let Rome Come To You! – Bloomington, MN

International Travel is a Bit Complicated These Days, So Let Rome Come To You! – Bloomington, MN

by | Nov 13, 2020 | art/design

Experience Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition

One of the greatest artistic achievements of all time, at the Mall of America in a COVID-Safe environment on the 2nd floor, North Atrium, November 13th through January 1st.

These frescos were reproduced on canvas using state of the art technology, allowing visitors to study the art up close and at eye level. A curated audio guide reveals the story behind why Michelangelo selected these subjects and what significant part they played in history.

The average visit lasts about an hour, and last walk-in time will be at 8 pm.

We’re doing our part to prevent the spread of COVID by implementing limited-entry timed ticketing, social distancing within the exhibit, and required-masks for entry.

BUY TICKETS
Valspar® Announces 2021 Colors Of The Year Inspired By Mindfulness And Wellbeing

Valspar® Announces 2021 Colors Of The Year Inspired By Mindfulness And Wellbeing

by | Nov 7, 2020 | art/design

Minneapolis-based Valspar is a subsidiary of Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams Co.

Aspire Design And Home: Today, industry leading paint and coatings brand, Valspar, from the Sherwin-Williams Consumer Brands Group, announces its 2021 Colors of the Year with 12 livable shades that evoke calm, serenity and simplicity. With this palette, Valspar seeks to empower consumers to take control of their environments and create spaces that will expand their worlds, calm their minds and enrich their lives.

When forecasting the 2021 Colors of the Year, the color experts at Valspar observed global lifestyle trends that have shifted significantly from last year. The rise in external stressors has correlated with consumer’s increased interest for mindfulness and self-care activities. Since a physical space can directly impact your mindset, this year’s colors have been selected to bring a sense of wellbeing to your walls, ultimately blending home improvement with self-improvement. Valspar’s 2021 Colors of The Year help take the guesswork out of color selection, so that consumers can easily navigate DIY projects and take charge of their physical spaces, so they help foster their best mental space.

“Our homes have become offices, entertainment centers and classrooms – which means the colors, sights and sounds in our rooms have an even bigger impact on our daily lives” said Sue Kim, Valspar Color Marketing Manager. “These lifestyle changes coupled with a surge in DIY home activity helped guide our selection of a range of colors for Valspar’s 2021 Colors of the Year that can not only transform your space but also elevate your mood.”

With do-it-yourselfers in many areas of the United States continuing to spend more time at home compared to past years, Valspar projects that this renewed focus on improving interiors will extend well into 2021 and beyond.

Blissful Blue – Naturally Timeless, Organic Haze. This muted indigo taps into the organic tones of a morning mist.
Design tip: Soft, grayish blues can act as neutrals, making them easy colors to design around.

Soft Candlelight – Optimistically Warm, Inviting Radiance. This mature yellow lights up a space with a golden glow.
Design tip: Yellow hues feel cheerful and help elevate your mood.

Granite Dust – Organically Urban, Cool Comfort. Inspired by the protective qualities of natural stone, Granite Dust allows you to create your own personal haven.
Design tip: This versatility of the shade allows it to read warm or cool, providing flexibility to adapt to your décor.

Cherry Taupe – Earthy Pigment, Natural Warmth. Cherry Taupe is a botanical neutral that adds rich sophisticated softness.
Design tip: Gold accents elevate organic, earthy colors.

Arizona Dust – Naturally Bold, Easy Energy. This Modern apricot shade with a bold twist evokes our desire to embrace vibrant tones from nature.
Design tip: Consider this playful hue in a satin sheen for added moisture resistance in spaces like bathrooms and mudrooms.

Garden Flower – Clean Growth, Fresh Florals. Modernly classic like the beauty of white roses, this natural tint is soft and simple setting our mind at ease.
Design tip: Black and white decor compliments colorful walls.

Academy Gray – Contemplative Depth, Moody Comfort. A deep blueish gray that promotes the importance of time spent at leisure, allowing us to unwind and relax.
Design tip: Wainscoting lends architectural charm to spaces with luxurious color.

Unforgettable – Luxurious Relaxation, Soft Ease. A shade with no time restraint, this white has warmth to soften rooms and lend an elevated sophistication.
Design tip: Medium-toned wood accents, paired with soft cream walls, create a down-to-earth space.

Gallery Gray – Soft Confidence, Approachable Elegance. Embodying minimalism, this fresh shade of warm grey inspires a feeling that is modern and natural.
Design tip: Bold architectural features take center stage against gentle gray walls.

Dusty Lavender – Shadowy Pastel, Balanced Vibrancy. Natural dyes are introducing new pastels into the home. Dusty Lavender creates a soft but unexpectedly dynamic feel that is warm and inviting.
Design tip: Carry color onto ceilings to give small rooms a larger appearance.

Maple Leaf – A warm camel shade that has an authentic quality, embracing our appreciation for a handmade craft.
Design tip: Living plants add freshness and vitality to neutral spaces.

Lucy Blue – Effortlessly Optimistic, Joyful Energy. Familiar and calming, like the waves of the ocean. We look to blue to bring a playful happiness into the home.
Design tip: Neutral furnishings add sophistication to vibrant spaces.

 

Aspire Design And Home

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