[caption id="attachment_748" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The New Mural"][/caption]

It’s hard to miss the new mural façade covering the front of the Hub Bicycle Co-op on Minnehaha and Lake Street in Minneapolis.  But while the mural looks like it belongs there, the staff of the Hub have been through quite an ordeal to get it up.  We sat down with Chris Huff, Hub Employee, and self-described Muralista to learn more about the mural and what the Hub is cooking up for this summer and fall.

MBL: Where did the idea for the mural come from?

Chris: The Mosaic across the street on the side of the Resource Center for the Americas has definitely been an inspiration for the Mural, especially in comparison to the cinder block gulag look of our own building.  What really got the ball rolling on the mural was the Minneapolis Great Streets Facade Grant Program that was being administered by Seward Redesign.

MBL: Was it difficult to get the necessary permits and permission to hang the mural?

Chris:. Seward Redesign has been amazing at shepherding us through this process of working with all the bureaucracy that went along with the mural. We definitely have to give huge props to Megan Sheridan at Seward Redesign, give her a raise. Megan got that our process takes time and was very flexible working with us. Also my own Co-owner Erika Tindall handled the paper work end of this project in her usual masterful way.



[caption id="attachment_741" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Mural Planning"][/caption]

MBL: Who were the artist(s) who actually did the work?  Is there any place that we can see more examples of their work?

Chris: Studio 253 Finishes>

Luther Lyon Hill IV designed the mural and painted all of the figures.  He was educated in illustration at MCAD and has produced many posters for band and events as well as illustrating several comic book projects.  During the day Luther can be found painting such places as Peace Coffee.

Ben Bayne owns and operates a small specialty paint company in town called Studio 253 Finishes.  He was in charge of facilitating as well as many of the production aspects of the mural, which was produced in his studio in theCalifornia Building on Northeast Minneapolis.  His other work can be seen at such places as Cafe Maude, Zeno, and Epic nightclub.

Barry Newman was also a great help in-painting many of the panels.

His work can be seen all over the country, most recently at a group show at Cult status gallery.

John Arlo Guthrie is a photographer by trade. He helped paint the quilt and was instrumental in documenting the piece in process and completion.



[caption id="attachment_763" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Mural Installation"][/caption]

MBL: Along with the big bike on top of the building, this really makes your shop unique from the outside, any plans for more artwork or installations inside?

Chris: The Mural has been kind of a huge project for the Co-op and we are also opening a new store/bike education commuter center in conjunction with the U of M and the Minneapolis Bike Ambassadors, so nothing more on the horizon right now.

MBL: The scenes depicted obviously go along with the Co-op ethos, what was the inspiration for what made it onto the mural and what didn't?

Chris: Some of the inspirations for the mural are, Diego Rivera, Depression era WPA arts projects, resisting the everything about socialism is bad frenzy, the local long reaching Worker Co-op history, Batman comics. Individually the panels are loosely about the history of Co-ops in Minnesota, The Grange Societies that grew into the Agricultural Co-ops, Co-op coffee shops, milling co-ops, co-op bakeries, construction co-ops, industrial co-ops, and quilting, art, music, as a cooperative ventures. At one point we talked about referencing specific workers at specific co-op businesses as models for the figures in the mural, but we were concerned about who might feel left out.

Some of the things that didn't make it are, Cat heads for all the figures to avoid the discussion of the races of the figures, The guitar at one point had "This machine kills fascists" in homage to Woody Guthrie, blue geese, quilts, poems, a collage of images warped and blurred by speed of Minneapolis cycling culture. A griffin riding a chariot with Pharaohnic wings being pulled by skeletons riding invisible bikes into an apocalyptic sunset.

There are no bikes in the Mural because a mural in Minneapolis on a business cannot contain images of products the business sells because that would be signage, so no bikes.



[caption id="attachment_740" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mural Installation"][/caption]

MBL: How long did it take, to complete this project (from planning to full installation)?

Chris: Having a Worker Coop of 35 people decide on what artistic style and theme a mural is going have by consensus is slightly crazy. My first email that mentions the mural project was on Nov. 7 2009, and 186 emails have followed. The final product is amazingly close to my original vision of a 1930’s era WPA style worker mural, but it was a long way around to get there. Most of my fellow Hubsters didn't like the idea of using the 80 year old WPA socialist mural style at first. Originally the decision was to do something abstract.   The bids we received from artists in the abstract realm we're pretty divisive to the group and we really didn't find much we could all agree on. Eventually everyone got tired and the mural fell by the wayside. Then Luther Lyons (one of the mural artists) was painting the Facade for Minnehaha Liquors which was also funded by the Minneapolis Great Streets Facade Grant, and we started talking about the Mural. Luther works with mutual friend Ben Bayne who owns Studio 253 Finishes.  Ben Bayne took on the project. I had also had talked to Ben about the project months earlier and described my vision for it. I gave Ben the lengthy email thread we had amongst Hubsters at that point about the mural project, and he and Luther came up with the design which came full circle to my original idea.

• Nov. 7th 2009 first discussion of the mural.
  
• July 7th 2010  first meeting with Studio 253
  
• Oct. 8th work begins at Studio 253
  
• Dec. 24th painted panels are delivered to the Hub.
  
• April 22nd all panels installed.

Still need to install signage banners, flashing, and mailbox.

MBL: What were the biggest challenges to get the work completed?

Chris: The Winter of 2010-2011 kicked our butts. The last day of work in the snow it was 10 below.  Also prior to this year we used to try to figure out what to do in the winter time at the shop, but now so many people ride bikes year round we we're actually kinda busy all winter.



[caption id="attachment_742" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Exterior"][/caption]

MBL: What do you think helps to make the Twin Cities bike scene unique?

Chris: The shop scene in Minneapolis is more collaborative than competitive. I think that this is fostered by the fact theMinneapolis bike scene is so diverse and that really every segment but "Freeride" is healthy and growing. There is a sense of happy velvet revolution going on, a sense that of course eventually every able person will give up the isolation and misery of their numb automotive existence, and become an enlightened cyclist. Yeah that sounds crazy, but what is currently happening in cycling in Minneapolis seemed impossible most of my life as a cyclist. I'm oldish, I've ridden most of my miles alone in my 26 years of bicycle obsession, and dreamed the far fetched dream of living on a street where more bikes went by than cars, which is now the case in some places in south Minneapolis including the street I live on.

MBL: How is the planning coming for the University of Minnesota commuter center on Oak?

Chris: The University Bike Center is on track to open before the fall term starts at the U of M. We are going to be doing bike repair, classes, basic bike commuter retail. There will also be a new RFID system that allows riders to verify that they are riding their bike, potentially saving them on health premiums and other incentive systems. Members will have 24 hour key card access to lockers, showers, and secure bike storage. We are very excited to work with the U of M and the Minneapolis Bike Ambassadors to grow the number of cyclists by teaching classes and keeping people and their bikes healthy.

Special Thanks from Chris:

We have had help from many people on this project, and if you have space I’d like to give a shout out of gratitude to them. First to our Artists Luther Lyons, and Ben Bayne who put more effort into making our mural more fantastic than any of us expected, including the artists themselves. Again, Megan Sheridan from Seward Redesign was great to work with, give here a raise. My co-workers at the Hub rock! Especially founder and most recently ex-Hubster Sean-o- Nelson, the steely backbone that kept it on track when things got wobbly. Erika Tindall, clone her over and over and we’d solve all the worlds problems quickly.  Troy Piper for running the meetings for all the choices we didn’t use. Tim Bekke, energy. David Meyer and Will Makin for standing on the roof when it was 10 below. Jody Chandler, Toast LaCroix, Tom Stroth. Ashley Satorious for questioning our hidden motives. Shenandoah Sundance, of Sundance Seemless Gutters for use of the equipment. Gregory Huonder, for being his brilliant easy going self. All the people I stupidly left out.

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Man I want my personal RFID. I feel so left out. You have to be able to get health insurance BEFORE you can save on premiums.

Great to see some real art on the outside, finally. That bike has always looked like a piece of shit stuck on top of the building as a prank... super ghetto.

Someone needs to airbrush that onto a bakfiets.

I was wondering about the mural! Thanks for the investigative reporting.