street smART: Sidewalk-Banana Conspiracy

Sidewalk-Banana Conspiracy

I wiped out here, over five years ago.

The city was a ghost town.  Above-the-knee snow drifts. It was just me moseying around, getting treated like a queen at abandoned restaurants, dropping cash, getting tipsy... and wiping out... on this exact spot. 

The sidewalks never forget. 

street smART: all agog about HOTTEA

Last month I celebrity-sited HOTTEA (Eric Rieger) while at the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art). He was taking down his recent installation. I spotted him on the 3rd floor of the newest MIA wing, up on a scissor lift playing with string. I nearly freaked out. Nearly. Wasn't sure it was him at first.  I'm not ashamed to admit I did that "OMG, omg, omg, is that who I think it is?!"routine.

He not only started up a conversation while at the top of the lift, but also came down to earth on the first floor to continue the conversation. I was a bit agog... and HOTTEA is deserving of agogness. He showed me pics and some audio from a recent outdoor installation at a tennis court in a semi-neglected Minneapolis neighborhood. Though the installation is gone, the neglected tennis court is now on the radar of people who might be willing and able to return it to a usable space for the community. Keep on eye on his Flickr feed for more of that work.

I've been too busy and too far removed from internet access to pass on my recent agogging of HOTTEA, but then while out & about I came across a hidden piece that made my day, and is about to make yours.



I don't care what you think about art, street artists, artists who make it, artists who don't make it, pop art, etc., etc., etc....  HOTTEA has made me stop and look and notice and think and SEE since 200?, has made my transition from country girl to urban rat so much more enjoyable... that I hope that just a smidgen of my agogness will rub off on you. Maybe it is as simple as the softness of string surrounded by metal and concrete... or maybe it is the tropical colors surrounded by the lacking-of color. Definitely something to do with the temporary bit of street art. Here, then gone.

Don't know. Don't care. Just stop and look and notice and think and SEE for a minute. That's enough.

HOTTEA Yarn-bombs the Lower East Side (includes daytime video of Eric at work in Minneapolis)

Eric Rieger.HOTTEA: Letting Go (MIA installation)

My teandoranges stalking profile of HOTTEA:

street smART: HOTTEA string theories
street smART: worth the wait

(thank you, Eric)

street smART: Yarn Bomb Minneapolis, please & thank you

For You... a collection of the mini yarn bombs of Minneapolis.  It's been the mildest winter I can remember of an entire life of Minnesota winters.  All those itchy fingered Minnesota knitters and crocheters had to take out their frustration on something... and I thank them for sharing the fruits of their labor.   My annual intentions to start and finish at least one knitting project totally bombed this winter... which I blame on the lack of cold and snow... and lack of stress.

Life is good.

Tree scrunchy by Team Graffitii6

crocheted cupcake

crocheted urban Granny square

telephone pole crocheted fish

street smART: worth the wait

One of the best parts of biking, walking and walking the bike (Beatrice), is getting up close and personal with Minneapolis' street art. For those who haven't or can't leisurely tour the good stuff... Bea & I have collected these for you...

THANK YOU, HOTTEA! 

 And a new street artist... CURSER ? ... helping beautify chain linked construction sites and parking lots.  :)

street smART: Which came first? PUM or the Egg?

My neighborhood has been bombed by PUM.  If you're notoriously clueless like me, maybe UrbanDictionary can come to your rescue. 

At first I was like, hmmm? Is that...?
And then I was like, duh! I have one of those! 

Kinda ballsy of PUM to plaster their work on federal property, dontcha think?

I wonder if PUM chose that tag, or if the tag chose PUM.  Just maybe, someone out there was blessed with the name Penelope Ursula Moon. 

Pure speculation - that's all we've got to work with... but you know what happens when you assume about PUM....

POLE ART: a cat in its natural habitat

Am I the only one who looks at a telephone pole and visualizes the forest it once stood in, the birds of the air that nested and rested in its branches, the whistle of wind between needles?

Nope - finally came across telephone pole art that acknowledges that trees are for climbing and cats know it.

street smART: I'm so bored, Minneapolis. Let's Riot!

Stuff to Stop the Boredom in Minneapolis Today. In decreasing levels of interest:

Favorite : RIOT!

Top : Twin Cities Zinefest - to remind myself that I still want/need to publish a zine

Top Half : New Belgium Tour de Fat - already wandered through and checked out boys in tu-tus with fabulous facial hair

Bottom Half : Basilica Block Party - as a musician, music and people standing around watching musicians bores me - and the hell if I would give my money in a round about way to any church remotely affiliated with catholicism

Bottom : Work My Corner

street smART: HOTTEA string theories

Finally, HOTTEA string tags a telephone pole which makes it easy to photograph. I've photographed his work for over a year, but the string on chain-link fences doesn't show up very well. I've been photographing telephone poles anyway - because I love the mass of nails and staples and left-over posters.

My sticker-artist friend and I like to speculate on what HOTTEA stands for.

My Theory: a round-about way to spell HAUGHTY

Her Theory: he goes by the nickname T - and tags as HOT T(EA) - because she's seen him doing his thing - and he is a hottie :)

General Theory: he doesn't give a fuck about how we interpret his tags.

street smART: winter Jail roses

Are the paper roses in a favorite street gallery the last roses of summer? I didn't notice them until after the first snow. Did I miss this collage in its prime?

They are far too hardy to represent the delicate European Christmas rose that inspired the pagan-christian legends of Madelon whose poverty-stricken tears transformed into roses for baby Jesus.

No - these are downtown Minneapolis killer Jail roses with lead in their veins.

I know of no other roses that would wait so patiently for me to notice them - from tapering summer to deep winter. It's about damned time I stopped and stuck my nose in them.

street smART: bombed by love

"THANK YOU!" to the artist who recently love-bombed my neighborhood.

A few months back, I created a meditation that used my own version of love-bombing. Now I have a daily reminder to revist that meditation.

Who Knew?: apparently the Air Force considered the use of a "love bomb" that would make enemy soldiers sexually attracted to one another. Though I doubt the artist had this in mind, yes, Minneapolis has one of the strongest GLBT communities in the nation. And we're Proud of it.

"Lysistrata." Is it still relevant?

And then the question: if love and sex were less repressed, would there be less war?

I don't know.

bomb away

"stay all day, if you want to"