Artistry runs wild in marathon posters

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Among the most vivid segments of the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is where it runs along the northeast portion of Lake Harriet. Bunched runners, close crowds, peaked leaves and just the right light results in a riot of color that can make it seem like you’re running through a kaleidoscope.

Such vibrancy is also the vibe evoked in a marathon poster by Ben Johnson, one of 16 artists whose work is featured by race organizer Twin Cities In Motion to tout ”The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America.“ Johnson’s poster, inspired, he said, by pop artist Peter Max, is both “bold” and “psychedelic” — what “running in a marathon feels like.”

Especially what this Minneapolis to St. Paul race feels like, including local landmarks along the route that are subtly seen in Johnson’s work, like the Sculpture Garden’s iconic “Spoonbridge and Cherry” and “Hahn/Cock” (commonly called the blue rooster), along with other Minnesota totems, like a boat with the new state flag as a sail as well as the winged runner holding the official state flower, a lady’s slipper.

Color splashes through Taylor Tinkham’s poster, too, including an image of giant runner’s legs striding the Mississippi, a river that divides Minneapolis and St. Paul geographically but that socially is just one of the many unifying components of a strongly cultivated running culture. Tinkham’s poster and the other 15 works were displayed at an event called “26.2: A Marathon Poster Show” at the Summit Brewery on Wednesday. The limited-edition posters can also be seen at the Health and Fitness Expo at the St. Paul RiverCentre this weekend, with half of the proceeds going to the nonprofit mission of Twin Cities in Motion (which organizes the many marathon-weekend events as well as races all year) and half going to the artists themselves.

Along with the leafy hues, blues and other colors in Tinkham’s poster reflect the river and the sunrise. “This time of year, especially when the leaves are changing, it’s just gorgeous,” said Tinkham, who like many of the artists is a runner herself.

“It’s that pursuit of ‘it’s all about the journey’ — I think that’s a shared thing between runners and artists,” said Leah Meilander, whose poster overlays green block letters with the words “RUN MPLS STP 26.2″ over hand-drawn sketches of Twin Cities landmarks. “The finish line is great, but everything that you experience along the way is very meaningful, too.” For many artists, she added, running “is very meditative and it helps us to get outside and take in more inspiration for our art.”

To Tinkham, the artistic-athletic link is clear: “the zone — it gets you in the same zone,” she said, crediting endorphins that give her “the same mental effect as when I’m sitting down drawing and I look up and all of a sudden it’s been two hours — it’s that same feeling of being totally focused and totally in that place. And running does that, and art does that, and they’re both really good for you mentally.”

And socially, in some cases, including with artist Lora Hlavsa, who found that “throughout the pandemic, sitting and staring at my computer all the time, was just taking a toll on my body and my mind. And so I got really into running.”

More recently, Hlavsa, who is of Filipino and Czech descent, joined “a running group for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] folks,” she said, “which has been really fabulous, because I always thought of myself as a person who likes to run in solitude, right?”

Her running buddies influenced her multi-paneled poster, she said. “I was actually really inspired by the folks that I know in my BIPOC running group,” she said. “Just trying to show that there are so many ways and so many people that might complete 26.2 miles and they don’t all look the same. They might not be the same ethnicity. They might not be the same body type. They’re training just as hard, and when you run 26.2 miles, you’re doing way more than most people, so that can be celebrated — absolutely.”

Hlavsa and others also celebrated their inclusion in the inaugural poster show. “It’s incredible that they created this opportunity for artists to participate,” said Hlavsa. “As freelance artists,” said Tinkham, “we need this type of event.”

The celebration is mutual, said Dean Orton, president of Twin Cities in Motion. “We are so blessed,” he said, with “so many amazing artists in Minnesota.” Whether “you run it, walk it, participate, cheer in it, the event has changed people’s lives.” Race organizers wanted the artists to “put their creative talents to capture it on canvas. And what does that look like? It’s just fascinating.”

And to some degree, the posters and especially the event they represent counters the news narrative that’s characterized the region recently.

“The image it projects is more of the true-to-life image of the Twin Cities,” said Meilander. Minneapolis and St. Paul (or MPLS and STP, in her poster’s parlance) are big cities and “there’s always going to be some level of activity that goes on that is not as savory. But at the same time, when you’re around the people who live their lives day to day here and like doing things outside and things together, the socializing — I think that needs to be a more accurate representation of Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

The Twin Cities, said Hlavsa, “has been talked a lot about this election cycle, and there are a lot of ideas out there about what Minneapolis looks like.” The marathon route is “gorgeous; you see all of the beautiful aspects of the Twin Cities.” And “it’s a really good opportunity for people to see that the Twin Cities may not be what they’re showing on TV right now, but a really beautiful city that’s still got great folks who love their city and love to be outside.”

Indeed, it’s more than the natural and man-made entities that make the race the most beautiful urban marathon in America. It’s also the people, who are an art form in and of themselves.