Hennepin County Libraries Three Library Public Art Projects Celebrated in 2025
Libraries are a powerful tool for communities, and the role of this critical civic infrastructure has been under attack. We’re proud of our history of projects in libraries and our long-term relationship with Hennepin County Libraries. Artist selection projects for three libraries—that began as early as 2022—each celebrated their new community-focused public art installations in 2025!
Hosmer Library In 2022, Hennepin County Library contracted Forecast to facilitate a creative community engagement activity and a call for an artist/artist team to design and create public artwork that represents the community. Artists practicing in all artistic media were invited to submit qualifications to be considered for this public art opportunity. In 2023, our team announced this open call for artists. Selected artist Olivia Levins Holden began artistic work on this mural with artist Juliette Perine Myers in April, 2024. The library held a celebratory event with the artists on February 8, 2025.
About the Art The design of “Seeding the Stars” was created based on ideas, priorities, and feedback from Central residents and library patrons.
The east pillar features a child reading. The child is seated on the earth. The Dakota words Mni Sota Makoce are woven through the indigenous soil. Each book and newspaper stacked beside the child honor important community institutions and movements core to the Central Neighborhood. As the child learns about their history, waves of energy radiate into the cosmos. The stars become neurons, representing learning, and the vast beauty of neurodiversity.
The west pillar features an elder gardening, surrounded by an ecosystem of native plants. She is planting seeds for future harvest and pollination. This pillar honors the long history of foraging, cultivating, community gardening, and diversity in the Central Neighborhood.
Sumner Library Hennepin County collaborated with Forecast to facilitate curation and commissioning for a permanent artwork at Sumner Library. With community input, selected artist Stacia Goodman designed tile and glass mosaic Garden of Goodness.
About the Art The design of “Garden of Goodness” was greatly inspired by the history of Sumner Library, its Gary N. Sudduth African American History and Culture Collection, and the Near North neighborhood. The design was refined by community engagement with Sumner’s staff and patrons. During the library’s grand reopening celebration in Fall 2024, attendees voted on two different designs and offered feedback.
The culmination of input is reflected in the final design that conveys how Sumner Library offers the endless seeds of possibility and the support to blossom. Hands open to sprout fluttering pages and a lively vine that spells out “Sumner.” The colors of the lettered books intentionally reflect the rich diversity of the Near North neighborhood. To honor the continuum of learning, the mosaic concludes with an infinity spiral and bursting purple bloom – a color that symbolizes royalty and imagination. On April 6, 2025, the community celebrated the installation.
Arvonne Fraser Library Beginning in 2024, Hennepin County Library collaborated with Forecast to facilitate the curation and commissioning process for two permanent artworks located at the north and south stairwells of Arvonne Fraser Library. A goal of the selection process was to select an artist or artists team that has demonstrated experience working in public art and community engagement. The selected artist, Kada Goalen carried out a public engagement process that informed the design and implementation of the final artwork, which was installed and celebrated in December 2025. These unique commissioned artworks celebrate, explore, and include the diverse histories and cultures of the community, and highlight the library as a shared space for enrichment and connection.
About the Art Inspired by the architecture and ceilings at Arvonne Fraser, Goalen created a series of boxes stacked to create one unique art piece on each stairwell wall. The inside of each box tells its own story based on historical and ecological aspects of the neighborhood, as well as imagery created through narratives shared by community members.
Images: courtesy Hennepin County Libraries