Roughly two and a half years ago I took a step back from my community-engaged art practice to submerge myself in a very tender and personal project. It has been quite a long and evolving process of reflection, growth, and learning and I am finally able to say that the graphic memoir “Hanabata Days” is now complete. With the support
Free The Deeds
In the Spring of 2021 I was asked by the Free The Deeds team of Diver Van Avery, Miré Regulus, and Lacey Prpić Hedtke to develop portraits of Minneapolis families impacted by redlining and discriminatory housing practices. Free the Deeds is a Minneapolis-wide public art project that will illuminate our common history and offer a path to repair. Please visit
CAGAC
In the Spring of 2020, Dreamsland artists and neighbors will be developing the Central Area Graphic Arts Collective (CAGAC) through a partnership with CANDO and support from the MN State Arts Board. The goal of CAGAC is for Central Neighborhood artists and residents to develop skills in graphic arts and visual storytelling, self-publishing, and marketing. Through this partnership, CANDO will
Returning the River
All images by Dan Marshall ILLUMINATE THE LOCK: RETURNING THE RIVERBY MIKE HOYT, DAMEUN STRANGE, AND MOLLY VAN AVERY WITH RITIKA GANGULY SEPTEMBER 20, 21, 22 (2018) UPPER SAINT ANTHONY FALLS LOCK AND DAM video by Xiaolu Wang, 2018. A night of poetry, projection, and music will illuminate a future where both rivers and people are liberated, where we celebrate
A River and Longing
A River and Longing Comics and graphic novels have influenced my creative arc for the better part of four decades, yet I had never attempted to create one myself. I started this project in the summer of 2017, and it took me a full year to complete. What emerged is a composite story of two individuals experience with adoption, ambiguous loss,
Youth Development
Kulture Klub Collaborative, 1998-2009 As the Director of Kulture Klub Collaborative, I gained expertise in all facets of non-profit organizational oversight, program management, and executive leadership.This position challenged me to transcend my fine arts background and to learn new skill sets and organizational capacities within a very unique arts and social service setting. During a ten year period following the
Salzburg (2017)
During the month of July 2017, I was invited to participate in an artist residency at Stadt-Salzburg via an exchange program between the Anderson Center in Red Wing and Stadt-Salzburg. The purpose of this program is to support emerging and mid-career Minnesota visual artists with a month long residency to travel abroad, and make new work. During this period the city of
DreamsLand (2015-present)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS DreamsLand is a site specific project situated on the Dakota homeland, Bde Ota Othunwe, Mni Sota Makoce, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dreamsland is stewarded by community residents in the Central Neighborhood in S. Minneapolis, collectively reimagining a previously vacated parcel of land. It was developed, designed, and constructed by residents in order to establish a public space for people
Imagining Equity (2016-2017)
Video by Xiaolu Wang, 2017. IMAGINING EQUITY Imagining Equity is a mobile engagement tool commissioned by the City of Minneapolis Department of Community Planning and Economic Development. During the spring and summer of 2017, Imagining Equity will visit community events and organizations throughout Minneapolis to spark conversations and gather community ideas for drafting comprehensive plan policies. The update to the
One Another (2013-present)
In 2013, I spent a good portion of the spring and summer months meeting people and creating art with them through a mobile project called One Another. I designed and built the project on a bicycle trailer which I tour around to city parks, basketball courts, and pick-up soccer fields in search of people to connect with. Through One Another,
Asian Arts Initiative (2016)
I am excited to be working alongside Wing Young Huie on a week long Artist Residency with Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Wing will be continuing his ongoing “Chinese-ness” project and I will be touring and setting up the “One Another” mobile drawing station at various public locations in North Chinatown. Hoyt and Huie will capture portraits of Chinatown North
Asian Arts Initiative
Ink portraits on paper, LCD, mobile portrait station, people of Philly’s North Chinatown.
McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship
DreamsLand (2015) Vacant parcel of land Neighbor labor Community curation
Metatranslations
Created in response to Ed Bok Lee’s poem of the same title as part of “Metatranslations” Lee’s exhibition and artist residency at the American Swedish Institute.
Jerome Visual Artist Exhibition
One Another (2013) Mobile portrait station on bicycle trailer. Wood, metal, LCD display, printer, ink painting supplies. Free broadsheet publication 30 portraits, 14”x20” ink on paper
Wish Well (2013)
During the spring and early summer of 2013 I designed and built this installation for the Arts on Chicago initiative. Wish Well is a contemplative, public space located at the corner of 35th and Chicago (under the Pillsbury House building facade). It will invite community members to simply sit, share, and reflect on mass well wishes left anonymously by people whom visit
Rolling Revelry (2013-present)
The Rolling Revelry is a bike and pedestrian focused event that brings mobile karaoke to the streets and bike paths of Minneapolis. The RR will operate from a self contained mobile karaoke system pulled behind a bicycle. It includes power, sound, microphones, a computer, a projector, and a catalog of over 14,000 songs. The Rolling Revelry has been an annual Minneapolis event
Art(ists) On the Verge
Installation, Soap Factory for Northern Lights Art(ists) On the Verge 3 Video projections, interactive map, animated oil paintings, fiberglass topography, framed ink paintings
Poho Posit (2011-12)
PohoPosit, involves community based creative social practice, landscape painting, video animation, sculpture, and network based interactive media. My south Minneapolis neighborhood is full of active, civically engaged residents; an assemblage of attentive eyes and ears. Every day, via a 846-member online forum, people report and discuss a multitude of things that happen in and around the neighborhood: a string of garage