Community Corner

Hopkins Adds Downtown Mural to Fill Vacant Store Windows

The new mural will showcase they city's history and future.

The lone propane heater doesn't do much to warm up the old Best Liquor business space, but Christopher Bowman was nonetheless there, hard at work this past Tuesday, painting a series of panels.

Bowman can't wait for warmer climates. He's an elementary art teacher and an instructor at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. So he must finish the mural over the winter break. The task is a big one. The mural will be a wall-hogging piece up to nine panels wide, each about the size of a kitchen table.

This project began when a Hopkins marketing committee asked itself, "What can we do with the sad look of vacant store fronts?" says Hopkins Community Development Coordinator Tara Beard.

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Members decided that a mural was the best way to go. The project will showcase the city's past and look forward to its future. Depictions of old freight rail cars will give way to the light rail that Hopkins envisions for its future as a sepia tone transforms to a full-color palette.

Along the way, the mural will showcase key institutions like the Dow House, the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company (later called Minneapolis Moline) and the Raspberry Festival.

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"I'm more of a conceptual artist, so painting literally is liberating," Bowman says.

Bowman's style adds its own touch to the antique aura. He lets paint drippings and other rough touches remain to give off the impression of an aging photograph.

"It's not my nature to make everything polished and perfect and clean," he says.

Instead of being painted on the building, the mural will be on panels that will be set into the empty store windows. Not only was that cheaper, it allows the mural to be installed elsewhere once someone buys the vacant property. Installation will take place by Friday.

But first Bowman must finish the work. So he continues painting—starting early in the morning and continuing late into the night.


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