Siah Armajani’s iconic Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge connecting the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Loring Park is one of my favorite Twin Cities sites. I love bridge design itself, along with John Ashbery’s poem which lines the bridge and gives reason to pause. I also love being on the bridge and experiencing the confluence of the city skyline, three historic churches, two parks, the modern Walker Art Center and the 17 lanes of busy traffic which the bridge spans. I can think of no other single location which so well captures the essence of the art, architecture and living vitality of the city of Minneapolis.
Walker Art Center is currently featuring a retrospective of Armanjani’s work which is headed for the Met Breuer museum in NYC when it leaves here. I knew he has lived in the Twin Cities a long time but wasn’t aware of his work beyond my favorite bridge. I have learned that he also designed two of my favorite Minneapolis skyways… ones which I have photographed in the past not knowing who designed them. Both were collaborations with the famed architect Cesar Pelli, who designed the buildings the skyways connected.
The first Armanjani Minneapolis skyway is the one that crosses Marquette Avenue between Wells Fargo Center and Six Quebec, between 6th and 7th Streets. It opened in 1988, the same year the Whitney bridge opened. It doesn’t take long to realize this skyway isn’t like the others… there is a section bordered with colored glass in blue and pink… and bathed in yellow light, topped by a pyramid-shaped roof. It is a magical place to pause, as on the Whitney bridge… and I love that the yellow and blue colors carry over from the Whitney Bridge.
His second skyway opened in 1989 over Nicollet Mall, connecting City Center and Gaviidae Common between 6th and 7th Streets. This one blends in more, with with silver steel reflecting the lighting on Nicollet… no yellow this time, but I love how the blue again carries over.
You can find three more of his outdoor works in the Twin Cities metro area, which also include poetry or quotes as the Whitney Bridge includes a poem written by John Ashbery for the structure…
- The Humphrey Garden
- A contemplative space at UMN’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs
- Contains benches with quotes from Hubert H. Humphrey, including “Only a strong society dares to question its purpose.”
- Gazebo for Four Anarchists (included on page 6 of linked “A Blueprint for Humanity”)
- At Minneapolis Loring Park
- Political theme with a structure reminiscent of a prison cell
- It invites visitors to sit, but once inside, the sense of hospitality shifts
- Contains text from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” poem: meditations on home, life and death
- Wayzata Post Office Pocket Park
- Commissioned by Judy and Lucy Dayton for a vacant lot across the street from the post office
- Include Wallace Stevens poem, “Anecdote of the Jar“
The Walker exhibition gives much more insight into Armajani’s life and work. I found it fascinating how much of his work incorporates text, starting with the work above which is a compilation of his letters home while he was a student at Macalester College in St. Paul shortly after arriving in this country…
love the Farsi text filling his city drawings, coat, and even bridge drawing below…
I loved discovering his drawings, but of course he is known for his constructions and the exhibition covers those as well.
Go, see Siah Armajani: Follow This Line now through December 30 at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Listen to his talk with curator Victoria Sung.
If you miss it here, you can also see it at The Met Breuer, New York | February 20, 2018–June 2, 2019.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com – 612-419-0560
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