Thanks to the efforts of local graffiti artists, community volunteers and high school students, a 115-year-old bridge in south Minneapolis is getting a makeover.
Built in 1908, the bridge is part of the final stretch of a railroad that parallels the Midtown Greenway before crossing the Mississippi River. Two 80-foot murals will connect the Longfellow and Seward neighborhoods — and depict the history of the area.
The project, underway this month, is led by 36th Avenue Revitalization and Transformation (ART), a group of Seward and Longfellow community members who wanted to do something about the “eyesore” of a bridge — as project manager Jack Becker calls it — that spans 36th Av. S. between 27th and 28th streets.
The group is getting help from students in a public art class at Hiawatha Collegiate High School who learned from and worked alongside artists with SPRAYFiNGER, a graffiti arts community founded by Peyton Scott Russell.
The students helped research the history of the bridge site and the neighborhood, including its indigenous roots and landmarks. For the final project, students decided on a collage depicting youth and elder generations, the Mississippi River, local architecture, native plants and maps of the neighborhood.
They spent about 20 hours in after-school workshops developing design skills and using stencils and spray paint. As the project has progressed, the students have worked on the murals daily.
“Now, it’s go time; the mural’s happening,” said visual arts teacher Derek Davidson, who works with the students. “It’s all hands on deck, you know. Every hour we can spare, we’re out there.”
Davidson said that while many of the art students are from south Minneapolis, the largely Hispanic school community differs from the majority white population of surrounding neighborhoods.
The murals’ organizers pondered how to ensure the project could be inclusive of both communities, he said, and tried to do so by extensively researching the area’s history.
“The creativity and collaboration at play is inspiring, and it reminds our young people that they belong and that this community is ours together,” said Hiawatha Collegiate Principal Nicole Cooley.
Students participating in the project receive a stipend for their work. The money comes from the $36,000 organizers raised for the project, which Becker called “unbelievable” for a group that isn’t an official nonprofit. Significant funding came from the Seward Neighborhood Group and the Longfellow Community Council, which donated $15,000. Other donors included TruStone Financial and Xcel Energy.
Becker said he is hopeful some of the student artists might be inspired to keep up the work once they finish school.
“We want them to know this is a job; you can enter this field,” he said. “I’m really excited that this is really a launchpad for them wanting to learn more about public art.”
Rachel Boeke, executive director of the Longfellow Community Council, said she is hopeful the art, as well as lighting expected to be installed next spring, will help passing pedestrians feel safer and encourage drivers to slow down — an issue on 36th Avenue in particular, she said.
“It looks unloved,” Boeke said of the bridge before the mural work began. “But if you talk to anybody living in Seward and Longfellow, they love their communities; they love their neighborhoods.”
The community is invited to celebrate the mural at the dedication at 1-4 p.m. Nov. 11 at Hiawatha Collegiate High School at 3500 E. 28th St., within walking distance of the bridge.