Client: Hennepin County Public Library

Location: Brooklyn Park, MN, United States

Completion date: 2016

Artwork budget: $40,000

Project Team

Industry Resource

Greg Mueller

Metal Services, Blooming Prairie, MN

Artist

Greg Mueller

Mueller Studio

Public Art Agent

Forecast Public Art, St. Paul, MN

Overview

The vessel, a symbol of passage and exploration, represents the Library Mission. By transporting one from the world we know to a world of discovery, a vessel fosters unfolding and flowering – to “nourish minds, transform lives and build community.” I choose to represent spirit of the library with a vessel, a tool to pioneer inventive thinking.

Brooklyn Park’s historical roots is a geography inhabited by the native Ojibway. This tool of exploration was its signature birch bark canoe. I implemented aspects of their watercraft into the design for a functioning bike rack sculpture.

Goals

Public sculpture should work. It has a job to do. My intention is to synchronize a thoughtful design with the symbolism of a curious, library-going public.

Process

Metal Services Welding and Fabrication, Blooming Prairie, MN; Forecast Public Art, St Paul, MN; HGA Architects, Minneapolis, MN; Murphy Rigging, Minneapolis, MN