Brigid Higgins, artist, Mohamed Jamac, student, Rehan Ali, student (both are sophomores), mentor and artist Witt Siasoco and artist Ellie Traxler-Menz stand in front of the mural. (Al Zdon)
Eastside Food Co-op’s Central Avenue building, already wrapped in murals, has two new artistic offerings thanks to a cooperative effort between artists and Edison High School students.
Noted Minneapolis artist Witt Siasoco, a Northeast resident, teamed up with Edison High School Teacher Billy Menz, other artists and a group at the school called the Green Team to create murals that honor the role of water in our lives.
“Witt did a great job engaging the kids,” said Menz, who also serves on the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board. “He helped them establish an environmental identity. They can say, ‘I am a water steward.’”
The mural shows the impact of water in our lives, emphasizing Northeast’s immigrant population.
Over 100 Edison students had a hand in the project, centered around the 30-student Green Team, an extracurricular group involved in environmental projects such as separating waste, planting trees and other activities. Students were also involved in a volunteer cleanup project along the Mississippi River.
Ellie Traxler-Menz, who as an Edison student in 2017 was a founder of the Green Team, was a volunteer artist for the project. “It’s great to see how the Green Team has grown,” Traxler-Menz said. “This is the first piece of artwork they’ve done, something that people can enjoy for a long time.”
During an informal dedication ceremony on June 11, Siasoco introduced some of the students and artists.
“I’ve been getting some questions about the mural. One of them is: ‘Wow, where are the white people?’” The mural depicts students and others, and all of them are from the newer residents of the neighborhood.
“I love to talk to them about it. Northeast was once almost all white, but the community has been changing for some time. The mural depicts the people who live here now in this immigrant neighborhood.”
The mural is located on the back side of the building along a busy alley. Two murals have been painted on separate walls connected by waves of color painted on the Co-op’s garage doors.
“It was really lovely to light up the alley,” Siasoco said. He said he enjoyed meeting the neighbors during the installation of the mural.
The mural spans two walls, both facing the alley to the east. (Al Zdon)
The theme — water flowing through our lives — was a cooperative venture from the students. “We all came up with this idea,” Siasoco said.
The mural was done on Polytab, a material that can be worked on indoors and then brought onsite and glued to the building. There’s already a good-sized gash in the artwork from a vehicle that didn’t quite navigate the turn in to the alley and struck the side of the building.
“It’s called public art, and that’s just what happens,” Siasoco said.
Menz said there had been a prior environmental group at Edison. It was recreated when he started teaching English as a Second Language classes at the school some years ago. “When Witt approached me and said he had a grant for the mural and he wanted to involve students, I said yes,” Menz said.
“We need to educate kids about the impact of water in our lives. It has an impact on the immigrant community. The environment is not a racial thing, it’s a humanity thing.”
Menz said, “Years from now those kids can look at that mural and say, ‘I helped do that.’”
Tucker Gerrick, the marketing manager for Eastside Food Co-op, said he had known Siasoco for many years, and he was one of the artists who did the massive mural on the north side of the building in 2022.
“He came to me with the idea, involving students, and I just said, ‘Cool.’ I was more than excited. He had a grant, so there was no cost to the Co-op,” Gerrick said.
Gerrick said he was especially impressed with how Siasoco brought the two murals together with colorful waves on the building’s garage doors. “Love flows from one side to the other. I thought the murals were both witty and clever.”
Traxler-Menz said the collaboration was a key to the project. “It’s a great piece of art that people can enjoy for years.”