Rendered site plan of urban farm Prototype for poetry vs rhetoric (deep roots) planned for 2308/2310 Lyndale Ave, Hawthorne, Minneapolis. Image courtesy Aune Fernandez Landscape Architects.
Artist Jordan Weber partners with local youth-development organization Youth Farm to transform a vacant lot into a new public artwork in the form of an urban farm. Designed for use by the local residents, the farm will grow fresh produce and pollution-mitigating plants; vegetables, fruits, berries, and herbs will be available for free; and a community gathering table will create a space for reflection, meditation, and respite. Despite being beset by many challenges during COVID-19 and following the murder of George Floyd, the artist and community persisted in realizing this vital public space for use by the community.
Weber shares, “I have learned collaboratively with communities defined by geographic and economic disadvantage, and I work against this to help create healthy regional landscapes of resilience and sustainability through the arts, supporting social programs that operate within oppressive systems. My projects seek to collectively open up community landscapes in restricted environments.”
Celebrate the new community garden in North Minneapolis, Saturday, July 10. Enjoy music, poetry performances, and food as Jordan Weber’s public art project, Prototype for poetry vs rhetoric (deep roots), opens in the neighborhood. The vacant plot adjacent to the garden will also be activated with a pop-up farmer’s market featuring local vendors.
See the garden in its full form with blooming plants and veggies, check out Weber’s sculptural raingarden, and meet the many community partners that helped make this project happen, including the artist, Marcus Kar, and volunteers from Youth Farm.
Community Garden Opening-Day Celebration
Saturday, July 10, 11 am–3 pm
2310 Lyndale Ave N, Minneapolis
Please note that only street parking is available and parking is limited. The community garden is located close to Metro Transit bus lines: 5, 14, 22, and 30.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Artist Jordan Weber’s large-scale, socially engaged projects support the struggle of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) communities. His works establish healthy places to live and thrive, while supporting green environments, food access, and well-being with public programs. Through this process, the artist builds spaces for people to find respite, healing, and care.
Reflecting a deep collaboration with the local community, Weber’s Prototype for poetry vs rhetoric (deep roots) (2021) was developed during his two-year artist residency at the Walker and created in collaboration with Twin Cities organization Youth Farm. The work incorporates four pillars of community health commonly addressed by Weber in his practice: self-empowerment and determination; soil and air cleansing; spiritual reflection and meditation; and medicinal and food supply.
The new project features an urban farm growing fresh produce available to local residents, two rain gardens addressing the high pollution in North Minneapolis, and a public gathering space. The layout is based on the familiar form of a basketball court to visually invite young people into the garden. Hoop-like sculptures and obsidian boulders are also included among plantings of fruiting shrubs, pollinators, and native grasses.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Using utilitarian materials, Jordan Weber produces sculptural social objects and spaces that speak to ways in which racially oppressed peoples are restricted physically, geographically, and socially. Adapting to the architectural spaces they inhabit, his works attempt to create inclusive environments where visitors might test or practice forms of sustainable urbanism. These public works are often modified to specifically fit their environments—whether an arts center, private home, museum, or public space. “I always want to expose elements within the work that are relatable to people in my community,” says Weber. “I like to have these ‘openings’ within the work—those elements people can relate to—so they can feed into the psychology of the work.” The artist’s work has been exhibited at White Box, New York; the Union for Contemporary Art, Omaha; the Des Moines Art Center; the Soap Factory, Minneapolis; Smack Mellon, New York; Manifest:Justice and Gallery 38, Los Angeles; Charlotte Street Foundation and 50/50, Kansas City, Missouri; Open Engagement, Chicago; and Truth to Power, Philadelphia. Weber was also recently selected as a 2022 Loeb Fellow through Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and received the inaugural joint Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship.
ABOUT YOUTH FARM
Youth Farm is a nonprofit organization that utilizes food and farming as a catalyst for social change, community engagement, and leadership development. During the growing season, the organization offers programs that help educate and train young people across Minneapolis in gardens and greenhouses. They also teach leadership skills year-round with programming focused on planting, cultivating, and distributing the food they grow. The artwork is realized in collaboration with Marcus Kar, Youth Farm’s director of North Minneapolis programs. Lease of the site is held by Youth Farm, and following the Opening-Day Celebration, the farm will be turned over to Kar and Youth Farm for incorporation into their community capacity building programs.
Accessibility
Please note: most areas of the community farm are wheelchair accessible. There are uneven surfaces as well as areas between planting beds that are not accessible by wheelchair. For more information about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page