Tag: Minnesota State Arts Board

More Art Outdoors: Randy Walker’s latest in Minneapolis

Randy Walkers Urban Fabric installation. photo courtesy of Randy Walker

Randy Walkers Urban Fabric installation. photo courtesy of Randy Walker

Randy Walker is at work on a temporary art installation outdoors in Minneapolis, Minnesota, entitle Urban Fabric. Walker received his fifth Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant that will fund the work. The installation is located on the side wall of the historic Pantages Theater, which is home to a nondescript parking lot. It will be part of the Pantages’ 100th anniversary recognition. Another artist is creating a billboard above the installation, and some of the fiber from Urban Fabric will extend over the top to connect to the building above.

Urban Fabric

Urban Fabric

The image below of Walker’s assistant, Arnold Carlson, illustrates that while the work is simple in concept, its execution is extremely tedious and difficult. The Pantages Theatre is located at: 710 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403. You can take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Panteges and other beautifully preserved theaters in downtown Minneapolis in September. More information here: http://dev.preserveminneapolis.org/event/historic-theaters-of-minneapolis-walking-tour/.


Against the Grain: Randy Walker’s Dream Elevator and Other News

 

photo by Randy Walker

photo by Randy Walker

December 2012 saw completion of Dream Elevator by Randy Walker for the City of St. Louis Park, Minnesota.  The structure is a 45-foot tall stainless-steel-and-concrete tower woven with custom-braided polyester rope.  The sculpture is inspired by the nearby Peavey-Haglin Grain Elevator of 1899, the first cylindrical concrete grain elevator in the world.

photo by Randy Walker

photo by Randy Walker

The dedication date of Dream Elevator is as yet undetermined. This year and next, Walker will be at work on at least four public commissions. First,  a permanent outdoor work, Sky Portal, for the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which will be visible from the sky as well as the ground. Second, Entanglement, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Walker will use an existing bell tower as a framework for a fibrous wrapping.

photo by Randy Walker

photo by Randy Walker

Third, a temporary, site-specific installation will be built at the two main cargo shipping terminals in San Diego, California that will be part of WRAP: an artistic investigation of the San Diego Tidelands. Finally, Walker will work with his South Minneapolis community to create a large-scale, collaborative installation for which Walker received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant.