By Maya Betti

On the walls of various commercial buildings in south St. Anthony Park and the Midway districts, vibrant murals have steadily emerged since 2019, transforming the industrial area into its own canvas.

These colorful works of art are the result of the annual Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival, the first and largest mural festival in Minnesota. A collaboration between Forecast Public Art, Burlesque of North America and the Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ), the festival aims to support artists and the lasting beauty of the cityscape.

By the end of the summer, the CEZ will be home to more than 60 outdoor murals.

This year’s festival will feature seven new murals, with an artist’s panel at Urban Growler Brewing on Sept. 19, a community mural project at the Baker Court Office Building on Sept. 20 and mural tours and living painting at Dual Citizen Brewings’ Blocktoberfest on Sept. 20.

As well, the festival’s first community mural project with Owns The Battle, a Lakhota cultural brand, is scheduled at the Baker Court building from Sept. 17 to 21.

For details on event dates and mural locations, visit the official website: www.chromazone.net

The Chroma Zone 2024 muralists vary as much as their pieces do, with three local, two national and one international artist participating. Before 2024, of the 55 murals in the CEZ, 89% were by local artists, 7% by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) artists, and 57% by women.

“We want people to see themselves here and to feel more welcome, and that’s really by putting priority on women, BIPOC and queer artists,” said CEZ Executive Director Angela Casselton. “We are really emphasizing that all narratives are welcome.”

And, for many artists, that’s a much-appreciated opportunity.

“For different artists to just have a wall to express their different perspectives and identities and the way that they experience the world is just so important,” said Juliette Perine Myers, who is a queer Chinese-American based out of Minneapolis. Myers’ mural, titled “The Horrors Persist But So Do I,” takes inspiration from Chinese mythology.

She noted that in virtually every career field, people of color are often not granted the same access or opportunities. So, when organizations are able to directly confront that and create a more accessible path, they push back against these discriminatory systems.

For muralist Danielle SeeWalker, who is Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, this form of representation is crucial.

“Growing up, I never saw public art or murals or any kind of artwork that really represented my culture,” SeeWalker said.

Now, she is happy to leave her mark for the Native community through her art. “My own community, when they see it on the wall, they’ll reach out to me like ‘Oh my gosh, this mural, like I love it. It’s so cool,’” SeeWalker said.

Xilam Balam, a St. Paul artist who based most of his artwork on Mayan and Mexica culture, found an interesting way to combine his heritage with Minnesota’s. In his mural, a young girl receiving corn honors the significance of maize in Mexica tradition, while the vibrant purple background pays tribute to Prince’s iconic legacy.

Undoubtedly, preserving the unique and distinctive identity of each artist is a large part of Chroma Zone. Yet, there is also an element of community, especially artistic community, that creates such a special experience.

“For us, it’s very much about this community and serving the creative people and businesses of this community, and to use this festival’s own launching point for a lot of these new and emerging artists,” Casselton said.

Several of the artists this year were connected with CEZ from their relationships with past participants.

Michael Roy, also known as Birdcap, was introduced to the Chroma Zone Festival by his friend Sydney James, who participated the previous year. His mural, titled “Flowers for the Friends Who Picked Me Up,” is meant to reflect this friendship.

“I wanted to do a piece that kind of celebrated friendship and that be sort of the topic (because) I was in St Paul because of Sydney,” Roy said. 

Maya Betti, a journalism student at St. Olaf College, is a summer intern for the Bugle.