Minneapolis names artist in residence
Heritage Park
Beginning in June, Seitu Jones will join the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) Department as an artist in residence to design public art for transit corridors in Minneapolis. The residency will last approximately one year.
The corridors currently under consideration for the project include Lowry Avenue, Chicago Avenue, Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue and Franklin at Hiawatha Avenue. The types of art may include bus bench designs, sidewalk pavings, transtops and signage.
Hosting an artist in residence is part of the Citys Minneapolis Plan for Arts and Culture. The City’s goals for the project are to promote the economic vitality of commercial corridors by enhancing their identity and aesthetic environments, integrate artworks into public and private sector building projects, and build the capacity of and cooperation of CPED staff and other City partners to integrate public artworks into their efforts.
CPED distributed a request for proposal for artist in March 2006 and received 16 proposals. A nine-member selection panel made up of community members, arts experts and city staff selected Seitu.
He has exhibited throughout the United States and has received a number of awards and fellowships. His local public artworks can be found along Nicollet Mall, in the Heritage Park development, on Saint Paul bridges and retaining walls, and at the Sumner Library, Rondo Community Outreach Library, and Harriet Tubman Center.
Nationally he has created a memorial to novelist Richard Wright in Brooklyn, and an installation at Project Row Houses in Houston. Seitu has created set designs for Penumbra Theater, Pangea World Theater, Children’s Theater Company, Guthrie Theater, Illusion Theater, Walker Art Center, First Stages in Milwaukee and Chernin Center for the Arts in Chicago.
May 23, 2006
Published May. 23, 2006