In Partnership with Gail Katz James, I created this unique public art installation that captures the vibrancy and diversity of families residing along Wheelock Parkway, intricately crafted in enamel on durable steel panels. The artwork portrays three distinct families – Hispanic, Asian, and African American – who have embraced this neighborhood as their home, celebrating their diverse heritage and shared experiences. Each painting vividly illustrates the families within the comforting embrace of their homes, engaged in the joyful tradition of sharing a meal specific to their cultural background. The richness of colors and details in the enamel work highlights the warmth and intimacy of these moments, conveying a sense of belonging and community. 

Within 20 hours after George Floyd was murdered. I worked with our artist team, Roho Collective, to support the community by developing a mural that encouraged people to express themselves through writing, drawing, and responding to the frustrations, anger, sorrow, and other emotions they were feeling during this time. The work engaged the community to support Creative Response as COVID ramped up loneliness and isolation, which was paramount in our spaces. The murder of George Floyd was a time of awakening for so many municipalities, and how we see one another.

African American History Center supported the Call for Public Artist to design a letter in their BLACK LIVES MATTER street mural.
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) created a mural in front of the museum on Plymouth Avenue.

A "Black Lives Matter" mural has been painted on the roadway on Plymouth Avenue between Penn and Newton Avenues. The mural was temporary.

The City of Robbinsdale partnered with Forecast Public Art works to push forward an RFP for a pop up public art work. I partnered with Gail Katz James and designed a outdoor dome.

Communitree Dome is a celebration of Robbinsdale’s strongest asset: its people! This sculptural installation will include a tree trunk and limbs covered with colorful, illuminated plasticore houses, with portraits of Robbinsdale leaders and residents on one side. On one end of the dome, there will be a boy with binoculars, focused on the tree and houses at the other end. He will be waterproof, made of wire mesh, covered with Fabric Mâché.  Gestural and somewhat abstract, he will direct the gaze of the viewers towards the excitement and activity of the tree and clustered houses. 

Chris intends to paint 6-8 portraits, possibly more, depending on the response and time available, on Yupo, a synthetic paper, which he will adhere to one side of some of the houses. 

He has reached out to identify appropriate leaders and members of the public in the Robbinsdale community and school district for the subjects of the portraits. These may include school administrators, teachers and/or students.

Gail will create a PVC framework for the tree, cover it with sculptural surfaces, and make the armature for the boy. Chris and Gail will work together to create colorful, fun surfaces on the houses and the boy, as well as install the piece together.

Materials will include Plasticore board, Gorilla Tape, self-adhesive vinyl, battery-powered led lights, PVC pipe, wire mesh, fabric, PVA glue, paint on Yupo, polyurethane etc.

Worked with Crayon Kelly to design mini chalk murals for the uptown area to address bias.

The enamel sculpture welcomes visitors in both north and south vestibules of the library is a collaboration between artists Ta-Coumba Aiken and Christopheraaron Deanes. The installation is composed of enamel tiles that are coated and fired, drawn and painted upon with glass paint, and then fired again to create layers and textures. This layering process reflects the many voices and stories that the artists heard from community members. The dynamic mosaic invites viewing from multiple angles and perspectives as light catches it at different angles throughout the day, illuminating new details and figures. One recurring motif is the river. As it swirls and transforms, it reflects changing narratives and the cultural wave of the community. Historical:

The Webber-Camden Neighborhood is in the center of the Camden Community in North Minneapolis. The neighborhood area's boundaries are: South: Dowling Avenue North North: The CP Railroad Tracks (approx. 46th) East: The Mississippi River West: Penn Avenue North - to Morgan at 4400 North Webber-Camden is home to Webber Park and the Webber Library which is in the Park, Webber Parkway and the Victory Memorial Parkway. Webber-Camden has two community corridors, 42nd Avenue North and 44th Avenue North, and the Lyndale commercial corridor beginning at 4000 North that includes the Sculpture Garden and the fully renovated Camden Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. The neighborhood was just known as "Camden" until 1995, when the city added "Webber" to the name. Webber Park and Webber Parkway are located in the neighborhood. This neighborhood was historically built to shelter the middle-class workers of the Mississippi River and the families that worked around these spaces. The river will be represented in the work as well as the vast diversity and cultures that exist in these neighborhoods. The wealth of stories in these communities will be harvested to produce an uplifting and sustainable work of art. It is exciting to have the opportunity to create public art that reflects and resonates with the spirit of the library and its relationship to the community.

Big Book is a colorful large-scale metal sculpture portraying a child’s book or journal. Located on the grounds of Nellie Stone Johnson Community School and the newly constructed 26th Avenue North Bikeway, the sculpture engages Nellie Stone Johnson students, bicyclists and community members through a visual and written story that builds on North Minneapolis’ deep roots of story gathering and folklore, inspires the community to read and sparks conversations about bullying.

After receiving input from the community, parents, teachers and students. The artist, Christopheraaron Deanes, decided to address the need to increase reading capacity in the community. As a result, he reached out to a fifth-grade classroom at Nellie Stone Johnson and a Bully Prevention Coordinator at Minneapolis Public Schools. Together they worked with students for several months. Deanes led students through creative exercises to develop the characters and narrative for Big Book, which was informed bytheir personal stories about bullying.

In 1996, nationally recognized artist John Biggers painted his “Celebration of Life” mural on a sound wall of Olson Memorial Highway in one of the city’s predominantly Black areas. The locality had once thrived with businesses, homes and shops, only to be crippled when Highway 55 — one of the first urban freeways — was built through the heart of the neighborhood in the 1930s. Known for creating works influenced by African myths and symbols, Biggers painted the 160-foot mural to be seen from I-94 like a way-finding sign for Near North, better known as North Minneapolis.

It wasn’t long afterward that the city of Minneapolis decided to build Heritage Park, an affordable housing project along Olson Memorial Highway, right where Biggers’ mural stood. It was demolished in 2000, and two years later, the iconic artist passed away.

The pain and anger of the community ran deep. “The mural’s destruction underscored the need to preserve and celebrate such cultural landmarks,” says artist and Juxtaposition Arts’ Chief Cultural Producer Roger Cummings, who was one of the apprentices on the project. “It made Biggers’ legacy an essential reminder of the significance of art in a community’s identity and unity.”

In 2010, a small group met with City Public Art director Mary Altman to talk about the idea of creating a memorial that honored not only Biggers’ work but his dedication to “planting seeds” — developing young Black artists’ careers, like Ta-coumba Aiken, who worked on the original mural. The John Biggers Seed Project was born. Heather Doyleand Victoria Lauing with the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center jumped on board and discussed building a new kiln (one of the largest in the country) to create large-scale artwork in enameled steel and training other creatives to help in the process. Artists began working with more than 60 volunteers every week to prep and coat the steel in order to have it ready to install on the Olson Memorial Highway bridge.

Christopher Aaron Deanes led all fabrication, firing, scheduling, color mixing, and drying of the enamel panels.