Event:
Join us in the celebration of the soon to be installed Theatre District Mural on Saturday, May 27 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. The mural created in 2019 by artist Erik Pearson with help from over 200 Lanesboro community members will be installed the week of May 22nd. Come see the mural in person and celebrate the installation with the artists himself and project partners: Lanesboro Arts, Commonweal Theatre, and O’Koren Law Office.
By bringing public art to underutilized spaces, Saint Paul artist Erik Pearson believes communities can become more welcoming and accessible places for everyone. As the lead artist of the Theatre District Mural painted in 2019, Erik led the collaborative community creation of the painted mural to be installed on the south side of the building at 204 Parkway Ave N in downtown Lanesboro (O’Koren Law Office). Through the partnership of Lanesboro Arts and Commonweal Theatre this mural aims to enhance the pedestrian experience by activating and strengthening the connection between Coffee Street and Beacon Street and highlighting the history of the performing arts in Lanesboro.
History:
Lanesboro Arts and Commonweal Theatre collaborated on a community mural celebrating the performing arts in Lanesboro in 2019. Lanesboro is a unique community that is home to two active theatres on its main street. This mural highlights of both theatres but also takes a glance back into Lanesboro’s rich history of the people who support the arts in town and help it thrive. The location of the mural will be on the south side of the O’Koren Law Office, which is a prominent downtown wall adjacent to both theatres.
Ideas for the design of the mural were brainstormed by community members of all ages in May of 2019. The mural was designed to engage volunteers in the brainstorming and creation process. Lanesboro Arts and Commonweal Theatre commissioned artist Erik Pearson to take the community’s ideas created during the May 2019 meeting to make a cohesive design for the “Theatre District” mural. The two Lanesboro arts groups received approval of Pearson’s community-informed mural design from the Lanesboro Heritage Preservation Commission and the Lanesboro Planning and Zoning Commission in 2019. However, plans to install the mural in 2020 were put on hold due to weather getting too cold for installation and then the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Lanesboro Arts secured re-approval from the Commissions to install this mural in the spring of 2023.
In October of 2019, the Lanesboro community was invited to participate and collectively paint the design on parachute cloth (a canvas like material) that will now be adhered (similar to wallpaper) to the building. Painting directly on historic brick can create erosion so this process prevents damage to the building itself and the mural’s longevity will be preserved longer on parachute cloth. Artist Erik Pearson has extensive experience designing large and small-scale exterior murals and engaging participants in a collaborative creation processes. The paint for this project was supported by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s “Paint the Town” grant program. Lanesboro Arts and Commonweal Theatre’s goals for the mural are to encourage walkability to the north side of Parkway Avenue, create a sense of community pride and build collaborative efforts to beautify the community.
Design:
Community stakeholders drew pictures of ideas for the mural, as well as wrote key aspects that they wanted represented in the design. Common themes were that people wanted the history of Lanesboro represented honoring nature, agriculture, townspeople, cultural and generational diversity, and more. Participants voiced opinions for the design to be bright, welcoming, inspiring, and colorful. The design Erik Pearson created includes fictional and real people from Lanesboro based off historical research and historical photos.
In the design the two far left characters are on a stage. The six people to the right of them are in the audience. Then the two people on the far right are on the balcony. On the stage the fairy in the top left represents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which was Commonweal’s first play performed in 1989 and she’s holding the actual window of the building like a lantern. The lantern represents the “ghost light” left on when the theatres are not in use. The fairy is wearing a dress with an agricultural pattern. The next character down represents a musician, St. Mane Theatre hosts both professional and community-based musical performers.
In the audience, the character with the broom represents Robert Greer, one of the first businessmen and Lanesboro’s first mayor. The woman above Mr. Greer represents one of the switchboard phone operators in town, and the phone line travels to each character ending on stage plugged into the guitar. The other characters represent average community members throughout time, including a farmer, a casually dressed male, a historically dressed woman, and a young child. There are some fun details such as marquee lights in the background, a Commonweal Theatre logo on a program, and a ticket stub in a shirt pocket with details of a Lanesboro Community Theatre and Over the Back Fence ticket.
There’s a physical break of a telephone pole, then the next small section depicting the balcony contains the piano accompanist of the Elite Theatre (St. Mane). The venue in the early 1900’s showcased silent films. Behind the accompanist is the writer, the person behind the scenes writing the scripts and the music. On the typed out piece of paper there is a tribute to the date Lanesboro was founded.
Space:
In 2018, Commonweal Theatre Company and the Lanesboro Public School‘s art department collaborated on the formation and public display of student-created comedy and tragedy masks with a temporary banner that symbolize theatre and acting. Visually integrating the theatre company into Lanesboro is an ongoing aspiration for Commonweal. “We have our marquee, but the fact of the matter is that it does not actually say ‘theatre’ it just says ‘Commonweal,” explained Adrienne Sweeney, external relations director. “We were thinking of how and where we could put a giant sign that says ‘theatre;’ while talking with Tom Manion (the former business and building owner at 204 Parkway Ave N.), he said he would be happy to let us use the side of his building.”
Collaborating with Lanesboro Arts and Joe O’Koren (current business and building owner at 204 Parkway Ave N.), Commonweal’s vision for a more permanent visual description of the theatre district will become a reality. Lanesboro Arts has a history of Arts Campus initiatives. This project will be the eighth community-engaged, public art project in Lanesboro, following the 2001/2011 Bronze Medallion Tour, 2005 Commonweal Construction Wall Mural, 2014 Lanesboro Library Mural, 2014 Haiku Poetry Parking Lot, 2017 “Colors of Bluff Country” Mural on the back of the St. Mane, the 2017 mosaic mural on the side of Pedal Pushers Café, and 2021 mural in Parkway Place.
Artist:
In 2001, as the first Artist in Residence at Lanesboro Arts, Erik Pearson taught a community drawing class, gave art presentations in the Lanesboro Schools and worked on a series of paintings. Shortly thereafter her quit his job to pursue art full-time and has never regretted it. Today, Pearson finds himself a part of a thriving arts collective, which he fosters within his own St. Anthony Midway neighborhood in Saint Paul. “The work I am doing in my neighborhood is a direct inspiration from the collaborative work I did as a Lanesboro Artist in Residence,” Pearson says.
Pearson was invited back to Lanesboro in 2005 to create a 56-foot-long, 12-foot-high mural — his first — on a safety wall surrounding the construction area of the Commonweal Theatre. For the design and content, community members were asked what art means to them and where they find art in their life. Pearson then created an outline of the mural and community members painted the colors, allowing residents to bring their ideas and vision to life. The design process was for seven design panels that worked independently as well as one cohesive unit. For a time, those seven mural panels were installed on the walls of the former Intermission Restaurant in Lanesboro.
Pearson believes public art is more accessible to all classes and types of people –including those who perhaps wouldn’t go to a gallery. Pearson shares his excitement, “When art is everywhere, it changes the meaning and feeling of the downtown area and makes people explore more.”
