Creative Placemaking

Following the Creative Placemaking Commission’s approval of the Bloomington Citywide Creative Placemaking Plan at its March regular meeting, the plan was presented to City Council, and was approved unanimously! The Plan and Appendices are available under the Documents Tab below. Thank you to community members, arts organization leaders, Creative Placemaking Commissioners, Advisory Committee, artists, and City staff whose voices helped shape the plan to make Bloomington a more vibrant place!

The comprehensive Bloomington Citywide Creative Placemaking Plan aligns with the City’s strategic plan goals and builds off the previous South Loop Creative Placemaking Plan. Expanding creative placemaking citywide was identified by the community as a strategic initiative in the “Bloomington. Tomorrow. Together. Strategic Plan” to advance the strategic outcome of “A Connected, Welcoming Community.”

To learn more about the engagement process to develop the Bloomington Citywide Creative Placemaking Plan, visit the Let's Talk Bloomington page: https://letstalk.bloomingtonmn.gov/cp-plan

Creative placemaking is where art plays an intentional, integrated role in place-based community planning and development. Creating placemaking honors the existing assets, history and character of a place. Community engagement is a vital part of the process.

Until 2023, Bloomington's creative placemaking efforts were mostly focused in the South Loop District, including:

Public art
Events
Performances, workshops and capacity-building efforts for local artists
Temporary art and pop-ups
An artful community garden

Creative Placemaking in the South Loop goals include:

Urbanism: Ensure urban design excellence in transforming the built environment.
Animation: Animate public spaces and strengthen the social and cultural fabric.
Involvement: Involve and empower people who inhabit and care about the South Loop.
Identity: Elevate and project South Loop's identity.
Leadership: Build capacity to sustain leadership and champions.
Investment: Attract new development and foster the creative sector.

Recent Projects and Events

BIG Mural

The 2025 renovation of the Bloomington Ice Garden (BIG) presented an opportunity to enhance the space through the creation of a mural in the vestibule. The mural serves as a vibrant focal point, celebrating the rich history and strong sense of community associated with the arena and its users. Through this mural, we aimed not only to beautify the vestibule but also to foster connections among community members and celebrate the enduring spirit of BIG.

About Adam Turman/Adam Turman Artwork Co.

Adam Turman is an artist based in Golden Valley, MN. His 2 decades of experience in mural and public art creation includes murals at the National Sports Center in Blaine and a large-scale piece inside the Minnesota Twins’ Target Field.

Draft design concept rendering by Adam Turman.

Old Cedar Avenue Bridge Mural & Garden

Mural design concept details, by Sandy Spieler and Tara Perron

Creative Placemaking is partnering with local artist Sandy Spieler and Dakota cultural educator Tara Perron, to create a stunning four-sided mural and install a living Indigenous Garden at the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge trailhead shelter.

The mural will reflect themes of home, kinship, water, and healing, drawing on Dakota culture and local voices. Nearby, the garden will feature native plants and showcase traditional seed-saving practices—connecting land, culture, and community.

The mural and garden are part of Bloomington’s newly approved Citywide Creative Placemaking Plan to infuse public spaces across the city with beauty, identity, and community connection. Inspired by its surroundings, the project seeks to bridge cultures, time, and place through shared stories and living art. Thank you to Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge for their support.

Installation will take place throughout summer of 2025.

South Loop Community Garden and Artful Landscaping

South Loop Community Garden, artful banners by Sheila Novak and Erin Genia

Previously, we hosted an on-site engagement event, participated in community meetings and met with stakeholders to gather feedback about how to develop this vacant lot located at 2255 E Old Shakopee Rd, next to the new Fire Station #3. The most popular ideas included native landscaping, a community garden, and seating. After gathering feedback about draft designs, the site design included these components and was under construction in 2023. Artful banners were created through a cyanotype process, by Sheila Novak and Dakota artist Erin Genia. They collected different elements from the natural world such as plants, and incorporated the traditional Dakota symbol Anpa O Wičahnpi, which is the morning star symbol, to awaken wonder, and to reflect this place as Dakota homelands.

Learn more about the cyanotype banners by artists Sheila Novak and Erin Genia.

Plots opened in spring 2024, with parking reserved in the Hometown Church lot. Learn more about the City's Community Garden plots.

Hometown Poetry

The goal of Hometown Poetry is to celebrate art and literature and integrate it into our communities, highlight the talent of Bloomington writers, and bring a sense of surprise, delight, and contemplation to pedestrians. Sidewalk stamps and creative sign installations will display the poems of Bloomington residents. Learn more and view a map of installed projects.

South Loop WE mural

WE Mural, curated and produced by Ua Si Creative

The WE Mural was curated and produced by Ua Si Creative. Artists: Andrés Guzmán and Xee Reiter, City Mischief featuring Thomasina Topbear and Tom Jay, Marlena Myles, Martzia Thometz, Reggie LeFlore, and Ua Si Creative.

Ua Si Creative coordinated the artistic team members who completed a series of murals located on two walls surrounding an Xcel Energy substation facing American Boulevard and 30th Avenue South. Installation took place throughout August and September, 2021, with a Sunset Block Party to celebrate the completion. Learn more about the WE Mural here.

View ‘A first look at South Loop’s WE Mural’ and the ‘WE Mural Sunset Block Party’, by the City of Bloomington.

Thank you to the following partners for their support: Forecast Public Art, McGough, Metro Transit and Xcel Energy.

The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch, by artist Donald Lipski will help create a more distinctive sense of place and identity, while providing an opportunity to surprise and delight those who live, work, and visit South Loop. The design was inspired by the 250+ migratory birds that pass through the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The theme of flight and migration was also an element when considering the diverse population of South Loop and the nearby international airport. The sculpture is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Killebrew Drive and Old Shakopee Road, near Refuge trail heads, and next to a trail connection. The community was previously invited to vote on which local songbird should be represented, and American Goldfinch was the clear winner. This project was installed in December, 2021.

Creative Spark

Bloomington Ribbon, by Kao Lee Thao. Photo credit: Kao Lee Thao

In the Creative Spark program, we invite artists and others to propose and implement creative ideas within the South Loop. Stakeholder panels have reviewed and selected projects that enhance and activate South Loop and engage residents, workers, and visitors in creative ways that could be temporary, experiential, semi-permanent, or permanent.

2021 selected proposals were sculptures all installed in the Bloomington Central Station Park area:

"Kalopsia" bench, by Daniela Bianchini
"Blooming Ribbon," by Kao Lee Thao
"Street Seat," by Greg Mueller
"The Hand Sculpture" by Safa Sarvestani and Shirin Ghoraishi
- Hand Sculpture Information & Artist Bios

2019 selected proposals:

"An Owl's Perspective," a temporary 3D sculpture in the shape of a great horned owl, to be installed at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors helped construct this sculpture during the Urban Birding Festival. Artist: Gail Katz-James.
Summer Music Concert featuring Hailey James and The Tuxedo Band, at Bloomington Central Station Park. Coordinated by Reflections Condominiums social committee.
Free standing temporary "pop up" murals, located at Bloomington Central Station Park. Artist: Rock Martinez.
Bloomington Cultural Festival, at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. Coordinated by Together Bloomington.

Please download the free Otocast App to access our South Loop Audio Tour and view project images and information.

ARTBOXES

A utility box decorated with a bird flying over a fiery backgound.

ARTBOXES consist of wrapped utility boxes in designs by local artists. Some also include sculptural elements. These creative, exciting, and appealing objects of art create a free outdoor gallery and enhance the district’s character and vitality.

As many other communities have discovered, transforming utility boxes into vehicles for artistic expression has produced several benefits: reducing graffiti, beautifying neighborhoods, improving walkability, and creating elements of surprise and delight.

Completed ARTBOX projects are by the following artists:

Patrick Liu
Ray Klempka
Taylor Lund
Leon Currie
Rock CYFI Martinez
Ron Brown
Keren Kroul
Daniel Natural, Ocean Blue Tattoo
Teresa M. Cox
Erik Sletten
Jesse Golfis
Mandel Cameron
Olivia Novotny
José Rebollo
Robyn Brower
John C. Gerber
Shakuntala Maheshwari
Luis Fitch
Leah Yellowbird

Please download the free Otocast App to access our South Loop Audio Tour and view locations, images and information for all Artboxes.

Old Cedar Bridge augmented reality tour

Bloomington and Artistry worked with artists Nancy Musinguzi and Adam Davis-McGee/AxS GRNTD on a virtual Augmented Reality (AR) Tour of the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge over Long Meadow Lake (9898 Old Cedar Ave S, Bloomington).

Within the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge, visitors will be able to unlock exclusive AR experiences available for immediate use in Snapchat. This AR Tour is an informative and entertaining experience inspired by the legacy and surroundings of the bridge. Some of the themes include historical information and dates, selfie wings highlighting local birds and butterflies, and flags representing the diversity of Bloomington. The project was installed in November of 2019.

Learn more in this interview with Adam Davis-McGee.

Wright's Lake Park community mural

The City of Bloomington commissioned a mural on the retaining wall that runs alongside State Highway 77/Cedar Avenue and faces Old Cedar Avenue and Wright’s Lake Park. This mural is part of the City’s neighborhood emphasis program in this area, and the City and our partner Artistry’s creative placemaking efforts. We worked with GoodSpace Murals to produce the Seasons of Becoming mural, due to their artistic expertise, extensive experience, community engagement process, and bilingual staff.

Three design visioning sessions in 2017 and 2018 inspired the design, a design presentation collected feedback, and seven painting parties took place in May and June 2019 throughout Bloomington, where the community helped paint on canvas sheets later adhered to the wall. Students from Valley View Middle School participated throughout the process, including a photo shoot where they served as models for the mural, and a ribbon cutting celebration in October 2018 to commemorate the completion of the mural.

View videos of the process and celebration.

Convergence sculpture

James Brenner designed and installed Convergence, a sculpture in the roundabout at the intersection of Lindau Lane and 28th Avenue near Mall of America. Brenner also designed the landscape surrounding the sculpture, which was unveiled August 20, 2015. Convergence is a landmark in a developing corridor that intersects pedestrian, automotive, and light rail traffic. The LED lighting illuminates the sculpture at night, and represents the three primary stakeholders of South Loop - residents, workers, and visitors.

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