Minnesota historical figures step out of the shadows and into the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Wherever you go, there goes your shadow.

That intersection of light and life served as inspiration for "Shadows at the Crossroads," a series of seven artworks commissioned by the Walker Art Center for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and unveiled in a public ceremony Thursday.

These flat sculptures, scattered along the pathways weaving through the garden, represent various figures who made a mark on Minnesota history. They were created by two Twin Cities artists who are longtime collaborators, Ta-coumba T. Aiken and Seitu Jones.

"The Walker has opened up and embraced this idea of being able to stand in the shadows of these folks who came before and recognize their accomplishments," Jones said after a mini-tour for about 30 people who braved a light evening rain to view the new works.

Aiken said he sees a "living spirit" in the figures, which were traced from the real-life shadows of contemporary Minnesotans.

"We created these not to stick up like a lot of statues or sculptures do," Aiken said. "We wanted people to pass by these on their journeys."

This series builds on their 1992 project, "Shadows of Spirit," a series of seven flat bronze silhouettes embedded in the sidewalk along Nicollet Mall that represent a variety of Minnesota historical figures.

The shadows drifted into the Walker's purview in 2016 during the mall's redesign, when all the public artwork had to be removed.

According to Aiken, Olga Viso, who was the museum's director at the time, was concerned that the works might not be returned to the mall, so she asked city officials if they could be temporarily shown in the Sculpture Garden. She decided that the Walker should commission its own series.

"We are thrilled to have it in the garden because it helps to have a tangible connection with downtown Minneapolis," said Walker senior visual art curator Siri Engberg.

The new shadows are the first permanent sculptures added to the Sculpture Garden since the protests in 2017 that delayed the garden's reopening and led to the removal of "Scaffold," a work based in part on the gallows used to hang 38 Dakota men in Mankato in 1862.

Four of the sculptures are bronze, like the earlier ones on Nicollet Mall. Two others are etched into concrete, and one is only visible when it rains. Five are etched with bits of poetry by Rosemary Soyini Vinelle Guyton.

The bronze figures, which each have poetry text that's less than a quarter-inch in height, represent Eliza Winston, a black slave from Mississippi who was freed in 1860 while accompanying her owners on vacation in Minnesota; Harriet Robinson Scott, the wife of slave Dred Scott, who sued for his freedom and lost; and Dakota chief Mahpiya Wicasta (Cloud Man).

The fourth bronze is simply of a child at a parade ground, which Aiken refers to as "another unsung hero of ours. … We are not [sufficiently] acknowledging the young people today."

The artists actually enlisted Twin Cities youth for this project, in collaboration with the Walker's Teen Arts Council, a program that Jones helped launch in the 1990s.

The teens traced the shadows of more than 40 community members, then helped choose which ones would become sculptures.

Minneapolis artist Siah Armajani, a mentor to both Jones and Aiken who designed the iconic bridge that connects the Sculpture Garden to Loring Park, is one of the two etched sculptures. The other is a child, representing one of the Teen Arts Council members.

And the mysterious rain-activated shadow and text? That depicts Kirk Washington Jr., a north Minneapolis artist and community activist who died in a 2016 car crash, and his poem.

At the mini-tour Thursday evening, visitors followed Jones to view Washington's shadow. Eighteen feet long, it's the biggest of the works, and the one farthest from the museum.

"We got it as close to the North Side as we could," said Jones.

For now, these shadows are just in Minneapolis, but Aiken thinks they could become a global thing: "Olga [Viso] said that these should be all over the world."

Aiken is considering asking people to take pictures of their shadows and then e-mail them to him. It is part of his broader vision as an artist and a healer.

"With shadows, there are hundreds of thousands of those every time we walk through the light," he said.

612-673-4437 • @AliciaEler