“Art can play a role in building the humane world we all envision.”
Marilyn Lindstrom has created and directed hundreds of works of art as painted murals, as tile/glass mosaics as well as works on canvas and paper. In 1973, she painted her first community mural with young people on a cultural center in the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis. In 1978, inspired by the Chicago community mural movement, Lindstrom founded Wall Painting Artists,(WPA) a mural painting artist collective that went on to work with neighborhoods painting many of Minneapolis’ first community murals.
Upon invitation in 1983, Marilyn Lindstrom and San Francisco muralist Miranda Bergman traveled to Nicaragua, following the revolution to create a mural on the Children’s Library in Managua’s largest park entitled “The Children are the Garden”.
In 1991 Marilyn founded a Minneapolis neighborhood youth mural program called Neighborhood Safe Art (NSA). She went on to direct a decade of youth-created murals growing out of the fundamental belief of respect for all cultures/peoples. These murals were created in the midst of serious gang violence in the heart of the Phillips neighborhood on the Southside of Minneapolis. The first project was a public art garden with murals, new trees, flowers, strawberries and seating where an empty lot full of garbage once stood. NSA went on to create many prominent youth- created murals in over a decade of Minneapolis summers.
Lindstrom was awarded the Leadership Initiatives Neighborhoods Program (LIN) fellowship of the St. Paul Companies in the year 2000 in part for her mural work in multi-cultural communities and in addition to allow her to research her own cultural heritage of ancient Northern Europe. Marilyn was invited to Kampala, Uganda to lead a mural making workshop with African community organizers through the International Adult Education movement.
In 2004, Lindstrom’s community mosaic work was awarded a Committee on Urban Environment (CUE Award) for “Hand-to Heart” series of outdoor mosaics at the Jeremiah Campus where single mothers live and go to school “improving their lives for the children’s future.” Artist Malichansouk Kouanchao assisted in all aspects of the process. The young mothers helped design the works, as well as learned to nip and tessellate tile to create the mosaics
.The Franklin Library sister mosaics; “World Language” by Marilyn Lindstrom and “Red Lake” by Robert DesJarlait are installed over the two fireplaces in the renovated Franklin Community Library. The Lindstrom/DesJarlait team was awarded this commission, creating smalti glass mosaics, with 15,000 pieces each for the oldest and deeply diverse community library in Minneapolis. In Lindstrom’s “World Language”, ancient symbols from the seven continents represent cultures of the world for World Language section of library. DesJarlait’s honors his heritage: the Red Lake Anishinabe people with his mosaic for the American Indian section.
In addition to Marilyn’s community public works of art, she worked for over a decade as a resident artist in schools through the Minnesota State Arts Board artist-in-education program. She lead countless mural and mosaic projects in elementary, middle, and high schools working in inner city, suburban, and rural communities. An example of an inner city mural is the Nawayee School outdoor mural created with sixteen youth and Lakota artist Francis Yellow, creating: ”Our Power Comes from Our People”.
Marilyn Lindstrom’s International community building continued after the mural in Nicaragua, the mural in Uganda, with an invitation from the U.S. Embassy’s cultural envoy program to create a mural in San Gregorio de Polanco, Uruguay. This mural, co-designed by Lakota artist Francis Yellow and made with local artists including Carlos Larregui and community became a part of a wonderful international collection of public art in San Gregorio de Polanco, Uruguay, South America.
Recently, Marilyn co-directed a mural with youth in partnership with The Link, an organization working with homeless youth to overcome the impacts of poverty and social injustice. The youth worked to create a dream statement, design and paint the mural on the Link’s main building near downtown Minneapolis. Another recent mural, created for the entry of Lydia Apartments-housing for formally, chronically homeless adults- residents created: “We Dream to Sustain Life” mural, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Lindstrom creates her own painted and mosaic works. Her deeply symbolic, painted canvas series of ancient European goddesses grew out of her research/renewal trip to Northern Europe. Along with her own works in mosaic, she teaches mosaic and painting classes in her studio.
Marilyn gives thanks to her ancestors for the paths they walked ahead, to the future generations including her son Odin Grina and grandson Mikaia Grina Grand as well as ALL OF LIFE , the plant people, the four-leggeds, the winged and all our relations. Gratitude to all the incredible collaborators: the youth, the elders, makers, mosaicists, singers, sewers, drummers, builders, musicians, dancers, writers, photographers, painters, poets, drawers, believers, and Dreamers of all sorts.