A walk before the crawl
As St. Paul prepares for its annual art crawl, one Hamline student scours the neighborhood in search of year-round artistic venues, opportunites and creations.
Amelia Vnuk
Issue date: 9/30/08 Section: Local
Living next to Snelling Avenue, with its trash and bland buildings, can sometimes make even the most inspired Hamline student forget what art looks like.
Luckily, there are a few spots in the neighborhood where students can go and create, or at least enjoy, their daily dose of art.
One venue to view community-created art is the Bean Factory, a neighborhood coffeeshop located at the intersection of Thomas and Hamline Avenues.
Bean Factory manager and Hamline alumni Arie Kroeger understands how a little art goes a long way. He said that when the store first opened it had fluorescent lights that were "strange, white and disgusting," and the walls were white and dull.
The lights were quickly replaced and remodeling the rest of the shop followed.
It was also at that time when the owners decided to revitalize the space and "commit to art." The first step was to cover one of the walls with a brightly crafted mural pictured left. They continued by inviting artists to display their work on the unpainted walls. The displays change monthly and the aim of the project is to find the most places "to put up local art that people see everyday."
The Bean Factory's next step in the art project is creating a mural on the blank white wall along the side of their shop since it is so visible to the community. The mural is due to go up next year. Once a theme and artist are agreed upon, neighbors and friends will be invited to help paint it.
In the meantime, another place to stretch your artistic abilities is Artscraps, located at 1459 St. Claire Ave.
At ArtScraps, businesses donate "garbage" which is then turned into art supplies for children to use in frequent workshops.
"ArtScraps is more than just a store," said administrative assistant Cindy Smith.
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