The Wake

As I drove into North Minneapolis I saw four people standing on each corner of the ramps to Highway 52, holding signs on a 100-degree afternoon that read, “Homeless. Please help.” Four blocks down is the intersection of Emerson Avenue and West Broadway, a throughway where cars sit impatiently at lights and pedestrians walk by broken-down buildings. The intersection hinges three Minneapolis neighborhoods: Jordan, Hawthorne and Near-North. The vast majority of their population is minorities, with somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of families that fall below the poverty line—a rate more than double Minneapolis’ average.

Amid the decay and desolation stands Juxtaposition Arts. The 11-year-old nonprofit group moved into the neighborhood two years ago, and now makes it part of their mission to allow the people who live and walk along West Broadway to express themselves through public art. “It reflects the people that live here,” says DeAnna Cummings, Juxtaposition’s executive director. The kid-created, intergalactic “Got Milk” mural on the Kemps building has become an integral part of the neighborhood.

An ongoing project, Remix, began three years ago after receiving funding for a research assistant from the University of Minnesota. Satoko Muratake, a graduate student of landscape architecture, pushed Juxtaposition’s staff into thinking of new ways to invest in the urban and natural environment around them. Since then, the U has lent credibility and resources to the program: students study concept design and research neighborhood history and precedents passed in cities around the country. Now, two classes of 20 students in the U’s Design Institute devote an entire semester to planning achievable projects for North Minneapolis.

Children in K-12th grade partnered with James Garrett of Form Plus Urban Land Acquisition (4RM+ULA) and Ryan Rademacher of the Walsh Bishop design firm to create a visually appealing entrance to West Broadway. The plan—to create a life-sized chessboard, mosaic, and flora—will be completed this August. Juxtaposition also plans to release a documentary film titled Speak Your Mind, featuring interviews with people waiting for the bus along the street. By asking people to describe what they want to see in their community, citizens are receiving a rare chance to participate in civic engagement.

Youth that grow up learning about art and the neighborhood from Juxtaposition have a chance to teach their peers as they age. “We don’t just teach kids how to make art, but we also teach them how to make a living making art,” Cummings says. For example, Juxtaposition makes it a point to hire former students to wield their creative skills on artwork the organization is commissioned to produce.

Today, bright banners of kids’ artwork adorn lampposts between Dupont and Freemont Avenues. The broken down buildings in the neighborhood now have colorful pieces of public art. Other spaces, which were once empty shells, begin to fill with nonprofit organizations like The Cookie Cart: Cookies for a Cause. Instead of city planners drawing grand plans to re-develop North Minneapolis through investment in big-box business, Juxtaposition wants the community to express themselves through art and make it a place worth living. “It’s the inside-out approach,” Cummings says.

For more information about Juxtaposition Arts, visit or call (612) 588-1148.