https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C97kMKwZ2-g Dutch kinetic sculpture artist Theo Jansen's wind-powered strandbeests are the inspiration for my next LEGO project. From 1990 onwards, he has taken these strand (Dutch for beach) creatures through twelve periods of evolution. Inspired, I want to build thematically similar creatures using LEGO. But where to begin with this geometric challenge? A simple Web search led me to a … Read more

While exploring Downtown with a friend, peered through a window of Ryan Construction, spotted this wooden model of Downtown. The receptionist happily waved us through the lobby and summoned the model builder for an enthusiastic conversation. Hennepin Avenue Bridge is front left; the model includes our home (just off-camera). Categories: Downtown Minneapolis Read more

The mist that had lingered for days finally cleared this morning. With a squint, I could see seven Mississippi bridges from our home. Categories: Our Neighborhood Read more

On our Sunday morning walk, Downtown was lost in a mist that had set in for the day. The Hennepin Avenue Bridge was barely visible from this vantage point on the Plymouth Avenue Bridge. Categories: Minneapolis Read more

Posted Unwinding the Mystery of Strandbeests. Dutch kinetic sculpture artist Theo Jansen's wind-powered strandbeests are the inspiration for my next LEGO project. Categories: Arts, LEGO Read more

Walked down the alley behind the former Pillsbury A Mill. Completed in 1881, it was once the largest flour mill in the world. The reinforcements visible on the right were added to address the vibrations from the milling machines, which threatened to shake the structure apart. Today, the building has been transformed into a community of residential artists’ lofts. Categories: Arts, Our Neighborhood Read more

Walking along, I came across a former inauthentic Japanese structure and restaurant, now reskinned and reinvented as a drag cabaret and 24-hour diner. The metamorphosis sparked a question in my mind as I continued my walk: what would my drag name be? Categories: Adaptive Reuse, Downtown Minneapolis Read more

At the Walker Art Center today: "Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s," artists who pushed boundaries under communism. The threats faced by our current system share unsettling parallels, whether it's the targeting of sexual minorities, the suppression of inconvenient historical truths, “alternative facts,” or attempts to control access to information. Categories: Arts, Injustice Read more