Eyes on us! Seeing and hearing about Chroma Zone
Thanks to the Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival in September, our corner of St. Paul is getting a lot of attention. See highlights in the short video by Line Break Media, now based in the Creative Enterprise Zone, starting with the riveting gaze by muralist Biafra, Inc.
Press coverage of Chroma Zone included KSTP's Twin Cities Live, Minnevangelist, and lots more.
Our eyes are on the future
On the eve of the fest, we were honored to win a $200,000 Knight Foundation grant to help fund the festival for 2019, 2020, and 2021. Produced this year by the nonprofit CEZ with partners Forecast Public Art and Burlesque of North America, Chroma Zone has already raised our profile. As more murals are added in future years, they'll further delineate the district, showing the world the caliber of creativity found here.
For community input, the CEZ hosted an open gathering Nov. 7, 2019 to meet artists and think ahead. Muralist Eric J. Garcia shared a signature technique: blending a building's functionality into his murals (here, he shows an example in Chicago). His newest, "Frontier Justice," does that too: see it at EZ Recycling, 875 North Prior. Eric is both artist and teacher, often leading teen crews. Working widely in the US and Mexico, he's seen how murals can build bridges, even where language and literacy levels might tend to divide people.
Muralist Eric J. Garcia is both artist and teacher, often leading teen crews.
Muralist Eric J. Garcia is both artist and teacher, often leading teen crews.
Christina Vang and Oskar Ly spoke for the ArtCrop trio, which also included Teeko Yang. They told some backstory about the plant motifs in their "Ask Why" mural at 806 Carleton. And, as Christina pointed out, "Art and agriculture have always sustained Hmong culture"— that's what gave rise to CEZ-based ArtCrop, which promotes Hmong-Minnesotan farmers in creative ways.
Christina Vang gave some backstory about the plant motifs in ArtCrop’s "Ask Why" mural at 806 Carleton.
Christina Vang gave some backstory about the plant motifs in ArtCrop’s "Ask Why" mural at 806 Carleton.
Volunteers fueled Chroma Zone, and we heard from two of them. After joining the wall-prep crew before the fest, Heather Nygard assisted Cey Adams with his "Love" mural at Hampden Park Co-op. Amelia Nielsen helped Claudia Valentino and Daniela Bianchini with the challenges of the sunburst mural on Wycliff Street: a huge wall, limited time, and dicey weather.
Add your ideas for future Chroma Zone festivals: email us.