'Northern Spark' Floods Streets With Art In Downtown Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Northern Spark is back this weekend. New this year, art-goers will be flooding the streets of downtown Minneapolis for two nights.
"We hope to see a broad range of ages and people from different neighborhoods," said Steve Dietz the Co-Director of Northern Spark. "If you missed something you can come back the next day and see and it also there's no excuse for not staying up the whole thing."
Locations this year include Minneapolis Central Library, animations along the newly renovated Nicollet Mall, and Commons Park just outside U.S. Bank Stadium. That is where you can see South Dakota native Keith BraveHeart's "A Buffalo Nation." The body of work is meant to symbolize this historic photo of the near extinction of buffalo in the 1800s.
"We are going to recreate this historic photo, then in the process we are going to talk about it and find our common ground all as relatives as people from Minneapolis," said artist Keith BraveHeart.
The public is invited to help add to the pile by folding and customizing their own buffalo.
"I wanted to bring that to the festival where we can focus on a critical discussion," said BraveHeart.
You can also see the 2018 Creative City Challenge winner. Carry on Homes is collaboration of five artists from five countries.
"Suitcase is a symbol of immigration itself and people moving," said artist Zoe Cinel. "Carry on Homes started as what people feel when they move to another country and how do you make yourself feel at home."
Those who attend are asked to share their stories of immigration on luggage tags.
"This wall is a white wall and on the other side we have a similar design but this time we decided to celebrate the immigrant culture in the Twin Cities," said Cinel.
Since 2011 Northern Spark collaborated with nearly 295 organizations and presented the work of over 1900 artists to make Northern Spark happen.
The event is FREE and it's this Friday and Saturday night from 9 until 2 a.m.