Artists create public art for healing environments

Local artists are using their work as a tool for many victims, witnesses, and community members who may need healing following Operation Metro Surge. These artists include Ken Rivera, Lori Greene, and Laura Margo.

Ken Rivera knows first-hand how art can heal trauma. He works for the Transformation and Re-Entry through Education and Community (TREC) program at Minneapolis College. In his role as a navigator, he works with faculty and Department of Corrections staff to support and enroll students into the program. He is also a visual artist and educator, showcasing community-based art in many different art fairs such as the Uptown Art Fair in Southwest Minneapolis.

“I’ve been incarcerated,” Rivera said. “I’ve experienced that, and education and art were things that helped me channel a lot of my frustration with the justice system. I think my experiences and my art help students understand they can do this too, because it really connects with them.”

The role of an artist creating healing art is not to wait for these tragic events to happen, he said. They are always creating their own projects. Artists paint flowers every spring, leaves in the fall, and protest art during political events.

“When Metro Surge comes up, here’s our opportunity,” Rivera said. “This is the perfect time to vent some of this through art. I feel like having some of this artwork here is a safe space to talk about those things.”

‘We just need to invite people in’
Lori Greene has created a safe space across the river in St. Paul. Mosaic on a Stick is a small business dedicated to bringing art to the community through shared studio space, art classes, and community art. This Black/Indigenous/woman-owned mosaic art supply store and classroom is located in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood. Greene provides materials and classes to members of the community.

“I started this place almost 22 years ago, and the whole purpose was to create a space of healing,” Greene said. “My intention was to create a place that women in particular would come and make art, and they didn’t have to be artists. There were no rules, and that’s really what this place is. It’s a place of healing. People come for all sorts of reasons. Often, they share their reasons after they’ve been here for a while.”

She says street art is easier to relate to, as people don’t need to go somewhere to see it. It’s right there. “A lot of times people don’t know it’s art, which is fine. That doesn’t matter,” Greene said. “Art is just a word that often intimidates people. We don’t need to intimidate anybody. We just need to invite people in.”

Like Rivera, Greene became an artist to heal herself. Now, she can tell when members are processing pain by the way they work on their pieces. Art is a process, but mosaic is especially process heavy. While working on a mosaic, you don’t even have to look up.

These artists can talk and share things in a way that’s less vulnerable. Despite the fact that she has no official training in healing, these people tell her stories about themselves. She’s seen them crying, and attributes that to the security in creating art.

‘Interruption is important’
In the Greater Longfellow community in Minneapolis, the League of Longfellow Artists (LoLa) is an artist-run non-profit organization that supports and promotes local artists. They host an annual art crawl, winter showcase, and community events to display local art in studios, homes, and businesses. Artist Laura Margo leads classes, workshops, and has completed projects for businesses, non-profits, and residential clients.

“Public art is about causing people to stop and take notice,” Margo said. “That interruption is important. It’s about storytelling and meaning-making.” Public art creates a sense of proof that brings people together, she said. It can tell a story or represent a moment. Representation is crucial to prevent these stories and individual voices from getting lost.

“Healing for me is about collaboration,” Margo said. “It’s recognizing what the context is of what has happened, and what the current state of the world is. Art can play many different roles. There’s an aspect of healing that tells you you don’t want to just go back to normal. Art is imagining a better future. Why did this happen, and how can we avoid this in the future? You can’t create a future that hasn’t been imagined.”

‘Response was helpful to me
Ken Rivera was recently asked to create an art piece for Ash Wednesday for his church, Park Avenue United Methodist Church, just one block from where Renee Good was killed. He created a painting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, depicting immigrants walking with butterfly wings behind Park Avenue Church.

“I’ve never had a painting in a church, and everybody was really moved by the painting,” Rivera said. “The response was really helpful to me, and it really helped a lot of people just seeing a painting. I never knew I was gonna help them that much. I think the other part, too, is I could have been a stranger, but because people have seen me over the years there, they’re like, he helped us. It’s amazing.”

Taylor Schiltgen is a University of Minnesota student majoring in journalism in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.