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Melissa Olson

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Constructed of western red cedar, the mural is monumental in size — 17 feet high and 95 feet wide. The mural was installed on the south face of the Minneapolis American Indian Center almost 50 years ago. The center has been under construction since last winter. 

Constructed of western red cedar, the mural is monumental in size — seventeen feet high and 95 feet wide. The mural was installed on the south face of the Minneapolis American Indian Center almost fifty years ago. The center has been under construction since last winter. 

'Unapologetically Indigenous' mural preserved for future generations

Live, down to earth, unscripted interviews that aim to connect, inform and entertain. Real people share real stories with Cathy Wurzer. It’s journalism that doesn’t take itself too seriously and puts people first.

Minnesota Now - George Morrison mural in Minneapolis preserved for future generations

CATHY WURZER: There is a large wooden mural by the late artist George Morrison. It's been restored as part of the ongoing renovation of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, which is along East Franklin Avenue in the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis. Morrison's vision for the center is still felt 50 years on. Melissa Olson is here to tell us more. Hey, Melissa. 

MELISSA OLSON: Hi Cathy. 

CATHY WURZER: George Morrison just was a fantastic artist. He's known for these huge beautiful abstract works using found wood and his paintings are just so colorful and gorgeous. Tell me more about this specific piece at the Indian Center. 

MELISSA OLSON: Yeah. I want to sketch a picture for you and for listeners. This mural is made of beautiful, red cedar planks. It's monumental in size 17 feet high and 95 feet wide. And until just recently, it formed part of the south face of the center. Morrison informally named the piece, Turning the Feather Around-- A Mural for the Indian. It has these beautiful chevron V-shapes. And it's been sort of ever present along Franklin Avenue in the neighborhood where it lives on the south face of the Indian Center. 

But it also feels like we're just getting to know this work for the first time because the mural was set back from the street quite a bit, sort of recessed. And part of what I find so interesting is that as the piece is restored and even as it's moved to the east face of the building, George Morrison's vision for the center, his vision as an artist is now being integrated into the redesign of the building. 

Sam Olbekson is an architect and is the chair of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. He's part of the team working on the renovation of the center. He says the design, the redesign of the Center is physically much closer to the street and much more open. Here's Olbekson describing how redesign has changed the building. 

SAM OLBEKSON: In front, there was an outdoor space that didn't get used much. It was an amphitheater that really just was not used and we capitalized on that space by bringing a lot of the functions, especially the public functions to the ground floor that face Franklin Avenue. 

MELISSA OLSON: So the mural, which used to be right above that amphitheater has a new home on the building. Morrison worked with the architects-- George Morrison, 50 years ago, worked with architects who designed the building. And though the mural has been moved, Morrison's philosophy around art making is part of the reimagining of the center. Olbekson talks about how Morrison felt strongly that his work should be accessible to the public and append notions about what it meant for a cultural center for Native people in an Urban center. 

SAM OLBEKSON: I think so. If you look at his work, there's an entire evolution of his design and thought process, and how he pushed the limits of what Native American art was. He didn't rely on the stereotypical clichés of what some artists have done in the past, but he wanted to push art in his own direction. And this was one of the pieces that is part of that continuum. 

And so you can see in it relationships between his thought process on many different types of compositions and proportions. And again, it's not only about what the actual piece is, but how does it impact and set the stage and backdrop for our community? 

CATHY WURZER: See, Melissa, how did you find out about this restoration project? How did it come together? 

MELISSA OLSON: The work was restored by conservators at the Midwest Arts Conservation Center, or MAC as they call it. I visited with chief conservator Megan Emery in the lower lab beneath the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

MEGAN EMERY: Many, many years ago, a conservator who actually no longer works at MAC, and has retired in the area, had done a proposal for them and done some analysis and nothing was ever done at that time. I think that was probably in the early 2000s. And so they had some basic idea about its condition and what might need to happen from that point. 

CATHY WURZER: Gosh, Melissa, I can't tell you how many times I've gone by that mural because I grew up in that area and it's gorgeous, but it's been weatherbeaten. What kind of condition is it in? 

MELISSA OLSON: So everyone I talked to says the work was really in need of cleaning. There was a lot of dirt, mold, and grime that needed to be cleaned up. Megan Emery describes how she and her team, along with another team of conservators from Montana, approached restoring the mural. 

MEGAN EMERY: And we decided that we were going to have to start the project by doing full documentation with photographs of the mural to basically map out exactly how it looked and how everything was laid out. And then what we did was when it was time to start the project, we physically removed every single board and we followed this map. And that is when we needed a team of people. 

MELISSA OLSON: So conservators took down the mural piece by piece about a year ago, all 700 boards. They brought them into the Indian Center's gym, laid them out on the floor. Those pieces were cleaned, numbered, and they carefully packed them up and sent them to Missoula, Montana, where specialists, again, cleaned them and created a system to reinstall the mural. 

And MAC employed several artists to work on the project. Josie Hoffman is an Anishinaabe multi-media artist whose family is from Grand Portage, and she was tasked by MAC to work on the restoration. 

JOSIE HOFFMAN: There wasn't a ton of problems. And actually when we were taking it down, it actually came down like really easily. It was also the documentation of-- because there's about over 700 cedar boards, so it was also about documenting and making sure that we have these all in the right place. 

CATHY WURZER: OK. So it was moved from its former place in the front of the building, so where is it now? 

MELISSA OLSON: So the mural has been reinstalled on the east face of the building. If you check out some of the photos we have up, you'll notice that the new location is covering another mural that was on the side of the building. But don't worry, that mural-- those murals are being covered-- those murals that are being covered up were photographed and are being reinstalled in the center's gym as it undergoes renovation. 

And now that the mural is installed facing east, it has a different relationship to the elements and to the weather. This is chief conservator Megan Emery describing the mural in its new location on the east side of the building. 

MEGAN EMERY: So one thing I will tell you is that the sunlight, it's spectacular. You see more of the three dimensionality of those boards and of the color than you did down below. I mean, I was very familiar with the mural before we started working on this project just from having seen it and knowing the area, but I never really sat and looked at it closely. I remember thinking, wow, what the color and the beauty and just the variations in the way the grain direction runs and how it plays. 

But seeing it in the sunshine and seeing it in the changing light of the day versus in that shaded area where it had the overhang really does change it. I have to say I'm an art conservator, and my first and foremost thing is that I'm always worried about preservation-- and sun is not always our friend. So we know as art conservators that the mural is going to continue to change, and it's going to change as it's exposed to the weather. It has been up since 1974 and it's in remarkable condition. And I look forward to seeing how it changes and how it plays and how it continues to age. 

MELISSA OLSON: People should know the mural is up, but it's not ready for visitors. The building is still a construction site. Everyone will have a chance to visit the newly renovated Minneapolis American Indian Center this coming spring. 

CATHY WURZER: Oh, good. All right. Thanks, Melissa. 

MELISSA OLSON: You're welcome, Cathy. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

CATHY WURZER: Melissa Olson here on MPR News. 

Images from the installation of the Mural

'Unapologetically Indigenous' mural preserved for future generations

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