Northeast Minneapolis resident Sarah Davis loves painting food. Until recently she had her studio at the Q.Arma building, a short walk from Uncle Franky’s at 728 Broadway St. NE where she proposed to show her art. Her inquiry morphed into a commissioned mural.
Compared to her fine art painting, it’s a more chunky style, which she said is a nod to the feeling of the restaurant’s logo designed many years ago by Chank Diesel.
Molly McDougall (@madebymollyjo) started out as a restaurant server doing calligraphy for friends’ weddings as a side hustle. After transitioning into painting restaurant signage, she became a mural painter primarily, with about 20 percent of her business being branding through hand lettering and illustration.
When the former Little Jack’s restaurant building and two other buildings were demolished, it looked like her murals on the adjacent apartment building appeared overnight. Actually, it was about a three-week process of applying the exterior grade, UV-resistant paints to the concrete panels that were planned into the 2500 Second St. NE building for that purpose. “We were within a couple days of finishing when those buildings went down,” she said.
McDougall described her technique as incorporating some representational images with other more abstract shapes for a dreamy effect. Three panels face Second Street and two other, taller panels face Lowry.
She said a representative of the builder, Doran Companies, had been following her on Instagram and reached out. The building’s name “The Laker” is a play on the City of Lakes and the sports team. The interior has a sports theme, the murals depict outdoor recreation.
Another new residential building, Tyler Street Stacks, 1180 Tyler St., sports the distinctive Chuck U style in three huge panels over the busy parking lot for The Broadway building (former Land-O-Nod) on the northeast corner of Central and Broadway.
@citymischief did the latest work on the side of Eat My Words Bookstore building at 214 13th Ave. NE. Carmen Gutierrez Bolger made the art panels that have been added to 230 13th Ave. NE, the building she and dik Bolger own.
Windom Park’s warming room/field house, at the southeast corner of Lowry Avenue and Johnson Street, is one of nine Minneapolis parks receiving new murals this year. This project was created to build awareness about Parks for All, the new MPRB Comprehensive Plan, and reduce the amount of tagging and vandalism in the park system. All mural concepts and sites were developed in collaboration with local artists and MPRB staff.
Rock Martinez’s work, which appears on all four sides, represents Goal 8 of the Comprehensive Plan, “Cultivate a thriving workforce.”
Other Northeast-affiliated artists chosen for murals across the city parks include Goal 3: Provide core services with care, by Melodee Strong at the Cleveland Park restroom building and Goal 7: Connect through communications and technology by Kao Lee Thao on the Boom Island river wall.
The Northeast Minneapolis Chamber, with funding by the city of Minneapolis Great Streets Business Support Program, plans a self-guided audio tour of the murals along Central Avenue that were installed last summer supported by Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association and Public Functionary. As part of documenting that Mural Central project, the Chamber created a map of the murals and others in the Northeast area, found here: https://www.muralcentralmpls.com/mural-central-map. The website also offers tips for entities contemplating installing murals and lists of artists who do murals.
If you know of a Northeast mural that’s not on their map or listed here contact margo@mynortheaster.com.
