Six individuals honored at biennial Vision Awards

On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 29, roughly 200 people gathered in the auditorium of the Hollywood Theater, 2815 Johnson St. NE, for a night in celebration of Northeast Minneapolis’ arts scene.

The biennial Vision Awards are produced by the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.

According to the Arts District’s website, the “Vision Award is in recognition of outstanding work and dedication to the arts community by individuals. The Vision Awards aim to recognize and elevate visionary thinkers, activists, and individuals of action who strive for the greater good of the arts and the broader community ideals.”

In the nomination criteria for the awards, the Arts District’s website says, in part, that they look for people who have “worked tirelessly for their passion and ideas pertaining to the arts,” whose work “shows insight into unique ways of looking at the world,” whose ideas “inspire others to look outside themselves for answers or inspiration” and whose efforts “have had a profound impact on the arts community.”

Six people — late State Senator Kari Dziedzic; Marko Fields, ceramicist and entrepreneur; Nicholas Harper, artist and gallery owner; Jonathan Query, architect; Peyton Scott Russell, graffiti artist; and Dyani White Hawk, multidisciplinary artist — were presented with Vision Awards.

Dziedzic’s sister, Kelly Dziedzic, spoke on behalf of her sister, who died in December 2024.

Kelly Dziedzic said her sister “would be thrilled to be here, at the Hollywood Theater.

“This emanates what the arts in Northeast Minneapolis mean,” she continued. “It was near and dear to Kari’s heart.” Kari “appropriated funds for the older buildings in Northeast,” allowing “those buildings to stay in the artists’ community, where they live and work. We used to take advantage of going and seeing all the great art. Kari always made it a point to buy local, and to buy from her local artists.

“She was so good at connecting and being on the level with everybody, and that’s what made her so approachable.” Dziedzic said her sister “saw the vision for Northeast
before Northeast was cool.”

Marko Fields, owner of Mojo Coffee Gallery, 2205 California St. NE, was up next. “In 1991, I took a ceramics class and it changed my life, and I’m really grateful for that,” he said. Fields, who taught college art courses for 21 years, tried to convince his students that “art is essential. It’s something I feel I’m blessed to have been able to dedicate my life to.”

In addition to being a coffee shop, Mojo Coffee hosts artwork from over 50 artists. “I didn’t want Mojo Coffee Gallery to be Marko’s venue of self-aggrandizement,” he said.

“The California Building is the only place I wanted to go with a coffee shop,” he added. “You can get through it in about four or five hours” during Art-A-Whirl^®.

“When Josh and Jennifer (the Arts District board) called me about this, I didn’t know what to say, but it humbled me… It’s a great privilege to be here.”

Nicholas Harper, owner of Rogue Buddha Gallery, 357 13th Ave. NE, accepted his award next. According to the Arts District’s website, Harper has featured “over 200 shows and 250 performances/recitals by musicians, writers, actors, and dancers.”

Harper said that opening the Gallery led to a “crash course” in the District’s history. At that time, “it was shifting and changing really rapidly.

“A neighborhood or a community is much like a child,” he said. “It needs adults in the room; It needs supervision; it needs vision; it needs somebody to give guidance and protection. That’s something that makes Northeast special. (Back then), there were adults in the room.

“While it’s an honor to get this award, what makes it really special is to get it from people who have stepped up to the plate and done the work.”

Jonathan Query walked up to the dais next. He owns the Q.arma Building, 1224 Quincy St. NE, a studio building open to working artists. The Arts District’s website says the building has had “around 200-225 artist tenants since 2003,” the year Query purchased the building.

“The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District — this is our garden,” he said. “For every artist and dreamer, every poet, potter, dancer and storyteller, every culture bearer and weaver … For everyone who has the courage to look at what is and ask, ‘What if?’ This is your garden. This is your collective vision, and it’s bigger and brighter than the world is round. I, for one, find that quite magical.”

Peyton Scott Russell, a graffiti artist and “proud Northsider” who works out of the Casket Arts Factory Building, 1720 Madison St. NE, said he “became a Northeaster in about 2013.”

In the ‘80s, “Northeast was a different place,” he said. Nowadays, “occupying a space as a career artist in Northeast is a little surreal… I felt like I found a spot in Northeast to be open and creative.”

Russell is the founder of SPRAYFiNGER^®, an organization that Russell’s website says “is dedicated to graffiti arts education.”

“Graffiti art —  the reason I’m standing up here — is an incredibly controversial and complex subject,” he said. Growing up, “painting was always about creation. It was never about destruction, or vandalism, or trespassing, or those negative connotations. My intent was about creation and positivity and expressing something that I had to say.”

Dyani White Hawk, a Sičáŋǧu Lakota multidisciplinary artist, was the evening’s final recipient. “I’m a visual artist based proudly in the Twin Cities,” she said. “Art has always been a part of who I am, from the time when I was old enough to make things until today. I feel so blessed to be able to live a life that allows me to continue to pursue, and to talk towards, the things that fulfill my soul the most.”

White Hawk said choosing to “live and work in Minneapolis is really important to me.

“People ask me, ‘You’re based in Minneapolis. Why?’ It’s really easy for me to be able to say, ‘You haven’t been there? You should visit. It’s amazing.’”