When is a wall more than just a wall? When it’s ART! Ackerberg has a long history of supporting the arts by incorporating sculpture, murals, paintings, and other art forms into projects at our properties. New developments are seen as opportunities to introduce art into the public realm.
1300 Lagoon
1400 Van Buren
MoZaic East lobby
By The Ackerberg Group & The Bainey Group, Inc.(2015)
Calhoun Square
MoZaic East -bicycle / locker room
The HUB
Lake Calhoun Center
Five Points
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION:The whole time I was thinking and working on this project, my goal was always to create a sculpture that would serve as a distinctive marker. My thought was that by marking the spot by virtue of the sculpture it would also serve to create a space where people could meet or feel compelled to visit.
I discovered the hardest part of the project was trying to control the things that I could not control and to anticipate problems that I had not thought of. I definitely know now what I did not know then.
MoZaic Art Park
This one of a kind mural is created by stitching together fragments from three different Hushcha paintings.
By Leon Huscha (2014)
Calhoun Square
Created by award winning artist Shane Anderson. Dream Big evokes inspiration, motivation and encourages you to reach for the stars.
By Shane Anderson (2015)
Calhoun Square
These columns are some of the few remaining remnants of the First Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Built in 1915 at Marquette Avenue and 5th Street downtown, the structure has undergone numerous substantial renovations. One such renovation, in 1972, removed the building’s original stonework. The stonework was assumed to be lost, but was rediscovered by The Ackerberg Group with assistance from Bruce Stilman in a stone yard in Delano, MN.
Cass Gilbert, one of Minnesota’s most prominent architects, designed the original building. Gilbert is known for designing such prominent structures as the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, The Woolworth Building in New York, and the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., as well as several other prominent buildings.
MoZaic Art Park
The fish sculpture graces the east entrance to MoZaic East.
MoZaic East
MoZaic East -fitness room
Lake Calhoun Center
Artist’s Inspiration: The ricocheting energy of people, paths, creativity and commerce in the Uptown community.
Traditionally, the heart shape is an icon for romantic love. But a heart also symbolizes the essence of life itself the flow of creative energy that animates our lives. This interactive mosaic sculpture is a heartfelt homage in site and sound to the creative life force within us all.
Externally, the sculpture is a mosaic of more than 20,000 hand-placed tiles made of 98% recycled glass, and mirror pathways that encourage viewers to see themselves in the artwork. Internally, the sculpture houses an interactive new media art system that consist of an electrocardiogram sensor (ECG), audio synthesizer, and low and high frequency speakers. When a viewer places a pair of hands on the stainless steel hand sensors, the heart plays back that viewer’s personal heartbeat in real time. (Note: cold weather may interrupt this feature).
The artists would like to thank Stu Ackerberg for his tremendous support of the arts and awesome collaborators in Minneapolis and Berlin.
MoZaic Art Park
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: Oceanic Fireworms and Happy Numbers
Hermodice carunculata an artistic response to an architectural problem. The piece had to fit within a prescribed geometry, work as a bench, and be sufficiently durable for a highly utilized urban space.
Our approach was to research natural forms that were organic in shape, defensible, and inherently robust. The design parameters led us to study the forms of snakes and segmented worms as well as the Fibonacci series and contemporary numerology.
Ultimately, we based our design on the mashup of ‘Happy Numbers’ and the marine ‘Fireworm’. The piece is a three dimensional overlap of these concepts that guides the visitor through the park and promotes reflection of the other art pieces.
MoZaic Art Park
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: This is a technique I’ve been fascinated with since I saw a graffiti artist do a version of this with a picket fence in a Brooklyn subway. The graffiti artist painted on a wall behind the picket fence and the fence acted as a mask to animate the balloon figures. Fascinating! That was in the early ‘90s. I needed to know how to do it. So I studied and tested and figured it out. This is my version of the “picket fence,” only in a glass; a little more refined, but inspired by a graffiti artist in a dingy Brooklyn subway.
MoZaic Art Park
Cedar Lake Parkway
Lumen on Lagoon (rooftop)
Lyn-Lake Building
Miller Textile Building
Richard creates mysterious contemporary collages and assemblages. His materials include foraged wood and metals with other found objects. These raw and crude materials are stained, painted, torched and treated with chemicals to create a new history.
“Monday Is Ended” was created for MoZaic East in 2018. The composition represents the chaos and organization of the first day of the new workweek.
MoZaic East lobby, near the elevators
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: Timeless personifications of place and entity, the Colossus Project sculptures can be imagined as the contemporary relics of our own civilization not yet past. A celebration of the creative universality of humanity, the artworks are also a cautionary reflection on the nature of contemporary human society, and the many ecological uncertainties we are shepherding into our own collective future.
MoZaic Art Park
Acrylic on Poly Tab
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: A celebration of artistic expression through an exploration of different art genres: visual, digital, music, literature, dance, theater, and the disruption/manipulation of textile patterns.
MoZaic West, Parking Lobby & Floors 2-7
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: The interaction of organic forms of nature with the built environment, and the balance between form and void.
I dedicate this work to my parents and sister, who inspired me to embrace the arts, and my family Kristin, Owen, and Lilly for their loving support.
MoZaic West, east exterior
MoZaic East lobby
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: Every morning is my inspiration. The metamorphosis of this piece started with a small sketch which was given to a collector as a gift. I felt the composition was strong enough to recreate into a painting on paper and now it has again transformed into a beautiful wall. Quite a journey.
MoZaic West, lobby
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: As a student of ancient mysteries, I have visited temples throughout the world and scrutinized ancient texts, only to discover that there is one common denominator that brings all people together and ultimately peace of mind: “God created man in His image and likeness…And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was good.” This one thought of goodness reveals that man cannot be unlike That which created him or anyone else, and embraces unification toward the One rather than points of separation imposed by man to subdivide from the One.
With this premise as my starting point, combined with The Ackerberg Group’s vision that MoZaic be a community gathering place where everyone is welcome, I began selecting sacred symbols of various belief systems that depict Atonement and man’s journey back to Oneness. Great thought was given not only to the directional implication of each symbol in combination with the others, but the overall shape of the piece, which represents the obelisks and pyramids in Egypt. I then joined forces with my brilliant friend and artist Mykal Aubry to blend these images into more abstract forms “for those who have eyes to see.” The intention was that the piece would open one’s heart mind to spark curiosity and conversation, and create a feeling of familiarity as we each walk toward the One.
I would like to thank God for the Divine Breath of Life that inspired Toward the One, Stuart Ackerberg for believing in me and supporting this artistic expression, co-designer Mykal Aubry for his creative excellence and vision, my teacher for her commitment to God and revealing the mysteries written on the walls of Egypt and temples throughout the universe, my family, my husband Todd James for his unconditional support and sharing my quest to walk the journey of the initiate, and fellow philosopher Steven Thomas Grimshaw for his friendship, intelligence and willingness to challenge my thinking.
MoZaic Art Park
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: This piece is inspired by the different cultures, symbols and ways that Humans honor and feel devotion in their hearts, dating back thousands of years, for the One Source of all Life. It is also inspired by the future vision of our planet Earth and the Human Family, evolving to new heights and depths of awareness, compassion and authentic empowerment, individually and collectively. For me, the Obelisk represents the unique Individual and the collective One that is made up by the many.
I would like to acknowledge Rhonda Blatti for her brilliant direction and assistance with the design process. It was an honor and pleasure to work with her.
MoZaic Art Park
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: This piece is from a series of sculpture that I call “Balls”. In each of these works, I’ve taken a variety of everyday objects as subjects and, using the materials that are natural to that specific thing, re-presented that thing as a sphere. I chose this form because it’s basic and
I didn’t have to design it. I wanted to limit my “artistic” intervention to this simple transformation without having to impose any subjective choices or matters of style. By representing these subjects as spheres, I want the viewer to reconsider the role of the artist as well as the true nature of things. In other words, to see something for what it is not: a ball.
The Trolley Ball is fashioned after the historic Streetcar #1300 that was built in 1908 by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, a public transportation system that provided rail service to the community between 1880 and 1954.
MoZaic Art Park
Inspired by the Ágitagueda art festival, where hundreds of umbrellas are hung over promenades in the streets of Águeda, a municipality in Portugal.
By Shea, Inc. (2014)
Calhoun Square
Uptown Borealis is composed of 600 hand blown glass globes encrusted with 500 pounds of crushed iridized glass chips. Each globe contains 10 full-color micro-LEDs. Each of the 6,000 LEDs contain a unique address and are run by a single computer program to create a wide array of visual moving effects. With appreciation to the entire Dangerous Lighting team for their tireless efforts in bringing this one-of-a-kind LED/ glass installation to life; Dan Mather – Kao Thao – Jim Hunkins – Peter Vanni – Patrick McLain – Kim Buell – Emily Hooper – Dave Horn.
By Dan Mather, Goldenflow Studios (2015)
Calhoun Square
MoZaic East lobby
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: Love on the Wind. The Sculptures that I love to make and that define me as an artist, are those of women, torn open and illusive, expressing a range of strong, uplifting emotions. My inspiration does not strike like lighting, rather it reveals itself to me as the sculpted form takes shape in my hands.
Venus in Ventus began with the intent of depicting the emotion of joy, but in the end, became the messenger of love, taking flight on the winds. “Venus” after the Roman goddess of love and beauty; “In Ventus” meaning “on the wind”. Love on the wind is what our world needs and what my sculptures express.
I would like to thank Bruce Stillman for his help installing the pieces and constant support, Stu Ackerberg for giving me such beautiful pillars to work with, Casting Creations for all their guidance and hard work, and to my sons Matthew and Daniel for their enduring and tolerant love.
MoZaic Art Park
This mural is a vision of Paul’s perception of the female thought process – cognitive and non-cognitive. Learning to explore and explore to learn. The two murals – men’s and women’s restrooms – are the last of a series of similar works. The rest were done on canvas.
Hip-po-cam-pus
Noun
MoZaic East, women's restroom
This mural is a vision of Paul’s perception of the male thought process – cognitive and non-cognitive. Learning to explore and explore to learn. The two murals – men’s and women’s restrooms – are the last of a series of similar works. The rest were done on canvas.
Hip-po-cam-pus
Noun
MoZaic East, men's restroom
ARTIST’S INSPIRATION: Creating a water feature where the dominant design characteristic is the sound.
The manipulation of water can be challenging as flow, velocities, textures, and environment all influence the water formation. In this feature, the linear curved manifold was a challenge to fabricate and to maintain required tolerances. Hydraulically, the delivery of water in the manifold needed to be baffled so that the directional velocity would not affect the appearance of the sheet waterfall.
MoZaic Art Park
Community bulletin board created by mosaic artist and imaginative upcycler, Stacia Goodman. Ceramic tile, cork, salvaged mirror, bike reflectors, bottle caps, store letters and one goofy pin. Can you find it?
By Stacia Goodman (2015)
Calhoun Square
Lake Calhoun Center (rooftop)
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.