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