Main Street Mural

In 2024, the Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association and the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhoods Association were awarded a $15K grant from the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board (SAFHB) to create a design for a public art installation on the large retaining wall on Main Street SE, just west of the Third Avenue bridge. Working with All My Relations Arts, the organizations held a number of community engagement meetings throughout 2024 to create a mural that will align with the SAFHB’s priority of developing an appropriate and meaningful presence for the Dakota and other Indigenous peoples in the Heritage Zone.

A mural interpreting the presence of the Dakota people aligns with Heritage Board priorities and goals and would enrich our neighborhoods.

The project connects to Action Steps from The Power of the Falls: Renewing the Vision for St. Anthony Falls Heritage Zone 2009 update of the SAFHZ Interpretive Plan as follows:

  • Adds an interpretive feature consistent with the new plan.

  • Establishes new relationships with Dakota artists.

  • Builds and broadens the audience with a visually striking interpretation of the Dakota presence in this area that will attract visitors and help build awareness of the Heritage Zone.

The project also directly responds to Major Recommendations from Our Changing Relationship to the Power of the Falls: An Interpretive Vision for the East Bank by:

  • Honoring this as a Dakota place and a place for learning

  • Developing Main Street as an experience connector

Portions of the Final Design

Full Design

About the Artists

Thomasina (“Tomie”) Top Bear is a self-taught Santee Dakota & Oglala Lakota muralist, she has been a member of the international all detail crew Few & Far Women since 2015. She helped found City Mischief Murals, an all BIPOC art collective in the Twin Cities. Tomie has worked on many murals around Minneapolis, including recent work on the River Memories mural at the railroad/Greenway Bridge over 36th Ave South.

Moira (pronounced “Miri”) Villiard is a multidisciplinary artist with a mixed Indigenous and settler heritage who uses art to uplift underrepresented narratives, explore the nuance of society’s historical community intersections, and promote community healing spaces. The outputs of her work include murals, community spaces and programming, exhibits, installations, animated light projections, film, and digital design. Her work has been featured in numerous shows in Duluth and around Minnesota, including her solo show, “Rights of the Child” at Zeitgeist, and group shows “Beyond Borders” at MacRostie Arts Center and “We the People” at the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Moira is a recipient of a 2023 McKnight Foundation Community-Engaged Practice fellowship, and is a 2024-2026 Bush Fellow.

Next Steps

Phase One is now complete, and EBNP is now seeking support for Phase Two of the project: working with the artists to install the mural. The project has an estimated budget of $145,530 ($35 per square foot).