Arts & Culture
Arts and Culture grants in action
Children First's 40 Assets Art Exhibit at Park Nicollet, West End
Four Girl Scouts working toward their Silver Award joined forces with Children First to educate the community about the 40 developmental assets - character building traits young people need to succeed.
As part of the city’s arts and culture grant program with a grant for $4,272.45, the scouts asked 40 representatives from local organizations to create a painting depicting one of the 40 assets. This artwork is now on exhibit for you to enjoy. To Read More...
36 Literary Arts Group
“36” is a literary arts group at St. Louis Park High School. The group is so named to honor the student publication Mandala that was canceled after 36 years as a school-funded publication.
Each Wednesday morning at 7:30, a diverse group of students gathers to discuss the group’s activities, which include coffeehouses, a student film festival, and an annual magazine. At the monthly coffeehouses, students share poetry, short stories, dances, songs, and instrumental skills in a casual, open-mic format, while sipping hot chocolate and munching on cookies. To Read More...
Arts in the Park
St. Louis Park is committed to promoting and integrating arts, culture, and community aesthetics in all city initiatives, including implementation where appropriate.
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Eight organizations and artists will receive more than $22,000 in grant monies to create or produce public art projects in the city.
The St. Louis Park Arts & Culture Grant Program is a collaborative program, now in its fourth year, between the City of St. Louis Park, the St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts and the St. Louis Park Community Foundation. The program funds art projects and cultural activities that build bridges between artists and communities, engage people in creative learning and promote artistic production and cultural experiences in St. Louis Park.
The following is a short summary of each project based on information in the proposals:
Whitney Blount (36 Arts Magazine) - $500 to assist in the printing of an annual literary arts magazine of submissions by St. Louis Park High School students for distribution in May 2009.
Children First - $4,272.45 to assist with the painting and reproduction of 40 original works of art representing the 40 Developmental Assets upon which Children First is based. Those 40 original works will be reproduced into a poster that will allow Children First to educate the wider community through art about the Children First philosophy. The paintings will be created by 40 diverse groups with the assistance of 40 yet-to-be identified artists with the assistance of Michael Christiansen, the illustrator of the Super Heroes Coloring Book. Children First is anticipating a gallery opening of the 40 works of art at The Children First Ice Cream Social in May 2009.
Margaret Coleman- $1,975 to work in collaboration with senior citizens to record and share, through the paper making, their memories, experiences and building of the St. Louis Park community. Coleman is an emerging Midwest artist finishing her Masters of Fine Arts at Pratt Institute in New York. She will be working with Joshua Hosterman, a member of the Tilsner Artist Cooperative in St. Paul, who works in sculpture and sound installation. The project will begin in August 2009 with paper making workshops, manifesting itself in two mixed media art openings open to the public.
Harmony Theater Company and School– $3,328 to assist in the creation and production of a play about the Leningrad Siege, with a special focus on the children living in that city during World War II. The Siege of Leningrad (formerly known as St. Petersburg) was one of the longest and cruelest sieges in the world’s military history. St. Louis Park and other local war survivors will be interviewed. Based on 2005 American Community Survey’s language records, there are an estimated 25,000 Russian-speaking residents in the seven county area. Performances are planned at the Sabes JCC Theatre June 2009.
Meadowbrook Collaborative- $1,070 to assist in the creation of ARTWORKS a structured weekly program that will teach 10 motivated children in grades 3 to 6 the basic understanding of drawing. In addition to art exploration, the program will promote development of the participant’s cognitive, social and emotion skills. Local artist Jon Reiss will run the program beginning in mid-January 2009. The community will be invited to a celebration of the art created on June 11, 2009.
Denise Tennen – $6,970 to assist in the creation of a series of ceramic relief panels to be permanently installed at Aquila Primary Center, Lenox Community Center and other publicly accessible buildings in St. Louis Park. The ceramic relief panels will be created by St. Louis Park’s youngest (Aquila Primary Center students) and oldest (senior groups such as Lenox Senior Center members as well as senior residence, assisted living and nursing home dwellers) community members that will build awareness of the six themes of the elementary level
Zenon Dance Company- $4,000 for a one-week outreach dance residence at Peter Hobart Primary Center. Zenon Dance Company will work with four classes each day and approximately 100 students total. During the residency, students will learn basic dance skills and create dances around a curriculum topic which are structured to stimulate, challenge, entertain and educate. The residency will conclude with a final student performance open to the community at Peter Hobart. Participants will also be invited to attend a free matinee during Zenon’s fall 2009 season at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis.
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Past project winners
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Public artwork at West End illustrates commitment to Vision
St. Louis Park's proud history of commitment to public artwork shines through this fall as the doors to the new West End development swing open in our city. Visitors to the impressive complex will be treated to the creations of two extremely talented artists, providing an engaging respite from entertainment, work, and shopping.
Developed by Duke Realty, The West End, a 40-acre, $400-million mixed-use project at the southwest corner of I-394 and Highway 100, officially debuts later this month. The development's first phase includes a 350,000-square-foot lifestyle retail center and 30,000 square feet of office space.
According to St. Louis Park Parks & Recreation Director Cindy Walsh, those coming to the Roundy's grocery store will encounter "Bee Way," an interpretative outdoor art series that uses stone, tile and metal to invoke images of bees. Don't worry, they don't sting!
In addition to the series featuring a bench equipped with "wings" as a backrest, there's a honeycomb pattern on the adjacent sculpture, as well as the surrounding plaza. And to localize the artwork, many people will recognize a carved beehive shape, reminiscent of the famed "beehive stoves" recently relocated from Highway 100 to a local park.
Inside, located in the atrium of the cinema complex, is a creation by artist Camille Utterback. Her artwork is an interactive light display featuring tubes of light descending from the ceiling of the structure. Illuminated by the sunlight, the tubes will be activated by visitors touching sensors on nearby railings.
Public artwork fits nicely into the "Arts, Culture and Community Aesthetics" component of Vision St. Louis Park, which states that "St. Louis Park is committed to promoting and integrating arts, culture, and community aesthetics in all city initiatives, including implementation where appropriate."
"This public artwork is really a value-added experience for visitors to The West End," Walsh said. "It's such an added value for the development and the entire community, and it has been great to see how the developer and the city have been supportive of this."
"The Shops at West End" will include fashion boutiques, a wide variety of restaurants, a 14-screen, state-of-the-art movie theater, and a grocery store. Later phases of The West End will include 1.1 million square feet of class A office space distributed between several buildings and a hotel.
