“Collection Point” Celebration & Art Supply

Randy Walker’s “Collection Point” at the site of the Eastside Storage & Maintenance Facility. Photos courtesy of Randy Walker.

The City’s new Eastside Maintenance Facility (EMF) in Northeast Minneapolis is also home to a new public artwork. To celebrate, the City is holding an art supply donation event.

“Collection Point” was recently completed at the southeast corner of the Eastside Maintenance Facility, 340 27th Avenue NE. Inspired by the many seen and unseen connective collections within Northeast, artist Randy Walker designed and assembled this towering piece using, among other things, concrete casts from the lids of City recycling receptacles. His sculpture stands alongside bicycle and pedestrian trails and is surrounded by a state-of-the art water treatment garden and native plants. Altogether, these elements make up a fantastic new linear green space that stretches over a block on University Avenue.

While the pandemic is preventing a traditional public unveiling of “Collection Point,” the theme of collections that influenced the piece is prompting a collecting of donated art supplies for local organizations. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, art supplies for Edison High School’s fine arts department and the ROHO Collective will be collected. The artist and Council Member Kevin Reich will be on hand to greet people as they drop off donations. Contactless drop off will be available. The first 50 participants who drop-off art supplies will receive a  reusable “I love Minneapolis Recycling” Chico Bag. Recyclo superhero activity and coloring books from Hennepin County for kids will also be available. Walker was selected in 2018 to create this public art through an open call process. With guidance from a steering committee of nearby residents, he engaged community members to learn about the past, present and future of the surrounding neighborhoods. He also met with Public Works staff to learn about the City’s recycling program. Donations of new and gently-used (like new) supplies purchased within the last five years are welcome on the south end of the campus of the East Side Storage and Maintenance Facility on 26th Avenue NE.  For more information about the event and a list of items being collected go to http://www2.minneapolismn.gov/dca/publicart-events.