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,
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,
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
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
Norae Shanty (2005-2019)
The Norae Shanty (karaoke+shack) project is based on Korean karaoke rooms called “Norae bangs” (song rooms) and is a scaled-down version of a karaoke bar. I created Norae Shanty for the Art Shanty Projects to provide new and intersecting populations with the opportunity for soulful exchange. Norae Shanty, 2005-2008