Public Art - A Presence on Nicollet
Tour for the Society of Experiential Designers - June, 7, 2018

Conducted by Laura Kamin-Nygaard, Coen + Partners, Gretta Fry, SEGD and Regina M Flanagan

Public art has been a feature of Nicollet ever since renown landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, the Mall’s original designer, invited artist Jack Nelson in the 1960s to create the perpetual motion Sculpture Clock that you will find gloriously restored on the southeast corner of 11th Street.

The re-design of Nicollet in the early 1990s integrated artwork in the streetscape. Work from that period that’s returned to Nicollet includes Stanton Sears’s Boat Benches near the light rail station; Kinji Akagawa’s seating for humans and birds Enjoyment of Nature in the north grove; and pavement insets Shadows of Spirit by Seitu Jones and Ta-coumba Aiken with poems by Soyini Guyton at the south end.

The tradition continues with James Corner Field Operation’s reconsideration of Nicollet. City of Minneapolis Art in Public Places commissioned new works including Blessing Hancock’s twelve Nicollet Lanterns featuring original poems by four exciting young Minneapolis writers Junauda Petrus, Moheb Soliman, Sagirah Shahid and R. Vincent Moniz, Jr. (NuEta), and Prairie Tree by Ned Kahn near WCCO. Final pieces to be installed this fall include Tableau, A Native American Mosaic, 1992, a granite pavement carpet by revered Minnesota artist George Morrison, and Nimbus, a new place-making sculpture by Tristan Al-Haddad to complement the Theater in the Round in front of Minneapolis Central Library.

 

Give & Take @ Water Bar - Art, Environment and City
March 23, 2021

What do you know? What do you want to know? Give & Take uses these two questions to launch an evening of short presentations, games and socializing.

The Give & Take event Art, Environment and City on March 23, 2021 featured artist Ned Kahn who is creating Prairie Tree for Nicollet Mall, artist Emily Stover, architect and planner Peter Hendee Brown, and engineer Paul Imbertson with several students from the University of Minnesota. The event was presented by Regina M Flanagan, artist whose role is curating and integrating public art on Nicollet Mall with funding through the City of Minneapolis Public Arts Program, and hosted by Ben Shardlow and Works Progress Studio at Water Bar & Public Studio in Northeast Minneapolis. View Ned’s presentation here.

Featured Presenters were:

Ned Kahn is an environmental artist and sculptor. For the last twenty years, he has developed a body of work inspired by atmospheric physics, geology, astronomy and fluid motion. He strives to create artworks that enable viewers to observe and interact with natural processes. Kahn will be creating an iconic sculpture for Nicollet Mall; read more here.

Emily Stover uses design disciplines to create temporary installations and engaging experiences in and about public space. Using her experience in architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism, she questions our complex relationships to each other and the land we inhabit. Her work has been part of the Northern Spark Festival, the Creative City Challenge, Weisman Art Museum’s Pop-Up Park programming, and the Walker Art Center’s Open Field through the Kitchen Lab Residency.

Peter Hendee Brown is an architect, planner, and development consultant based in Minneapolis, where he has worked on Nicollet Mall, the Commons, and Peavey Plaza. He teaches private sector development at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and is the author of How Real Estate Developers Think and America’s Waterfront Revival.

Paul Imbertson is an engineer and award-winning University of Minnesota educator. He has experience in curriculum development both locally and internationally, student and community outreach, efforts to enhance student learning experiences, and renewable energy development in emerging nations. He has also worked on outreach, education, and implementation projects in inner-city schools, on Indian Reservations, and in rural communities both in the US and abroad.

Urban Design and Public Art Downtown – Observations and Questions

Brown Bag Conversation on March 6, 2021 with staff of City of Minneapolis Planning and Economic Development and Public Works, Downtown Council, Hennepin Theatre Trust, and others conducted by Regina M Flanagan.

Flanagan’s presentation features a brief survey of public art in downtown Minneapolis from the 1968-present and explores how three recent city plans conceive of public art. Content is drawn from the Urban Design section.

Plans discussed include the Minneapolis Downtown Council’s Intersections – Downtown 2025 Plan; Plan-It Hennepin: Creative Placemaking by the Hennepin Theatre Trust; and the Downtown Public Realm Framework Plan by City Planning and Economic Development and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Flanagan asks a series of questions about public art in the context of each plan.

Slides of the presentation may be viewed here.