The North Loop Green Murals
The North Loop Green is a new multi-use space in the North Loop Neighborhood of Minneapolis. This space is part of the City’s larger revitalization plan to create a “green space” that invites neighbors and visitors to enjoy music, exercise, a place for pets, food/drinks, and an overall gathering place that helps to bring joy and wonder.
A total of 11 painted murals anchor the 75,000 square foot space.
Dimensions:
• Grand Staircase: 105’x30’
• Yellow Pillars: 27’x20’, 18’x20’, 27’x20’
• Blue Pillars: 18’x20, 18’x20, 18’x20’
• Red Pillars: 29’x20’, 29’x20’
• Green Pillars: 20’x20’, 20’x20’
The concept for the designs of the mural came from 3 directions.
1. In the North Loop Green there is a grab and go bar/restaurant named The Basset Hound. The name playfully comes from the fact that the North Loop Green sits atop Bassett Creek. Yes, parts of the creek literally flow underneath Minneapolis. The mural depicts Basset hound dogs as an homage to the restaurant's name and logo.
2. The abstract blocky background on each mural is derived from Minneapolis’s street grid system. The North Loop's name comes from the route that the historic street cars in Minneapolis would take through the city for commuters who worked in the Warehouse District also known as the North Loop.
3. The North Loop Green's space is a large square (approx. 75,000 sq. ft). Each corner of the square has a series of pillars that hold up the highway that travels across the space. Each set of pillars is painted with a family of colors as a form of way-finding and also denotes the type of activity that generally happens in that area.
The green pillars highlight dogs! Not only because dogs are awesome, but because there is also a dog park that sits directly next to these pillars.
The blue pillars represent music. There is a stage where artists can play that's located near them. Fun facts: The microphone is inspired from the same one that the Andrew Sisters performed with. The guitar is a Fender Telecaster, same as the one Prince played in Purple Rain. And the flag is the Minnesota State Flag that was created in 2024.
The yellow pillars specify the area directly next to the Basset Hound restaurant. The branded colors include yellow, making this spot very bright, vibrant, and easy to spot. Fun fact: The baseballs are represented because Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins is only a grand staircase walk away.
The red pillars feature the outdoors and fun activities to do with your friends. Next to these bold pillars is a bocce ball court.
This project was massive. My good friend, muralist, and studio mate, Lili Lennox helped curate a team of 8 artists to help out to take the North Loop Green from A to Z. She helped to project manage all of the artists' schedules to make sure that work was getting done on schedule, on time, precision, and quality, and she helped paint too. Lili, you're the best!
The project utilized an immense scaffold structure for the grand staircase and 3 scissors lifts to safely complete. The team even painted 8 concrete benches and a retaining wall that flanked the outside of the NLG.
