Toolkit
Resources for making connections across sectors, or working creatively in public parks
01
Webinar Recording: Celebrating MNPAiR
Forecast Public Art
Reflect on MNPAiR with partners and artists who were part of the pilot, and discover more details about each residency and impacts of the work. With Jen Krava, Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, Hawona Sullivan Janzen, and Anne Jin Soo Preston (Forecast Public Art), Ellie Hohulin (Met Council), Lars Erdahl (MN DNR), Luisa Cichowski (Conservation Corp), Renee Mattson (GMRPTC), Kris Lencowski (Ramsey County), Sam Zimmerman (MNPAiR artist), Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns and Monica Rojas (MNPAiR artist team), and Lindsay Buck (MNPAiR artist), as well as a recording with viewpoints from other partners and artists.
03
MNPAiR Artist Video: Ifrah Mansour
Dakota County Parks
In a world trying to convince us we have less and are less, Ifrah invites you to seek refuge in nature and gather in joy, weaving, and beauty. Weaving Abundance, created by Ifrah Mansour, is a multi-site participatory public art project inviting all people into a creative journey of interconnectedness—with land, with species, and with one another. Through the meditative act of weaving, many hands come together to imagine abundance as enough-ness, belonging, and wholeness. Weaving Abundance explores the radical possibility of finding wholeness in what the world discards. Through this work, Mansour explores abundance in waste, in people, in ecology, and in our collective capacity to create beauty.
04
MNPAiR Artist Video: JG Everest
Wild River State Park
Multidisciplinary artist JG Everest composed and designed a series of site-specific sound + performance installations for various sites and trails around Wild River State Park. These “Sound Gardens” are outdoor spatial “symphonies,” composed in 3D, played back through dozens of small speakers, each playing a different part of the whole piece of music and hidden amongst the trees and tall grasses. Every step, every turn of the head, every bird song and shifting breeze results in a different mix and arrangement of the music. Watch this video to learn more about Everest's residency, which culminated with a four-weekend Festival Of Belonging that also included art-making workshops, yoga and Qi Gong classes, nature talks, and other interpretive programs.
05
MNPAiR Artist Video: Tamara Isfeld & John K. Sterner
Granite Falls Memorial Park and Douglas County Lake Brophy Park
As MNPAiR artists, Tamara Isfeld and John K Sterner led a series of free, all-ages-welcome community workshops at Memorial Park in Granite Falls and Douglas County Lake Brophy Park near Alexandria, offering participants hands-on experiences in mosaics, plein air painting, and ceramics. The artists conducted classes outside in the parks to fuel participant creativity in a natural environment. Mosaic class participants produced permanent murals in each park to leave a beautiful, lasting legacy of the MNPAiR experience.
06
MNPAiR Artist Video: Sam Zimmerman
Tettegouche State Park
Sam Zimmerman spent the year as a MNPAiR artist exploring and learning about the natural environment and inhabitants of Tettegouche State Park. His work celebrated the different relatives (bird, animal, fish and plant) he experienced during the residency.
The residency culminated in the design and creation of a Grandfather Teachings walkway, featuring his paintings paired with English and Ojibwemowin. This work about the seven Grandfather Teachings of the Ojibwe will be featured on seven weatherproof aluminum signs along a new walkway in the Nature Play area. These will be installed in spring of 2026.
Additionally, Sam’s residency included the exhibition “Mewadisaad inon odinawemaagana” – He Sits with Relatives. This new collection of work features various animal, bird, and fish relatives that Sam experienced over the ten months throughout his time in Tettegouche.
07
MNPAiR Artist Video: Cassandra Buck
Olmsted County Oxbow Park & Zollman Zoo, Rochester Cascade Lake Park, and Rochester Quarry Hill Nature Center
MNPAiR artist Cassandra Buck held workshops to bring together people of all ages to create their own art communicating their favorite aspects of the parks. Cassandra guided participants to create using paints, colored pencils, yarn, paper, canvas, photos and printmaking materials. She worked with local art shops, Griot Arts, and Rochester Art Center to provide free art kits for local residents who would like to participate, but could not attend. The resulting artworks made by community members informed Cassandra’s public art installations for all three parks, installed and unveiled from July–September of 2025. These include a series of collage signage at Oxbow Park, two murals at Cascade Lake Park, and at Quarry Hill, a cross-stitch installation as well as painted artwork, along with two community murals.
08
MNPAiR Artist Video: Lindsay Buck
Wright County Robert Ney Park, and Sherburne County Two Inlets at Bdé Heháka – Omashkooz Zaaga'igaans Regional Park
Both a landscape architect and an artist, Lindsay Buck was chosen to work with two regional parks on either side of the Mississippi River. Lindsay’s approach for the parks is a joint project tying the past to the future around culture and nature. She developed a mobile phone app that pairs with onsite signage to bring users a new perspective on the land from the combined perspectives of history, language, and botanical knowledge.
Lindsay worked with many community partners to create her project, including Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Upper Sioux Community, Lower Sioux Agency, Wright County Parks and Recreation & Parks Commission, and artist Arabella Howell (Pezihutazizi Oyate), who created the logo, navigation icons, and game graphics for the app.
Through the app, called heart+land, interpretive information integrates botanical knowledge to communicates the themes of History, Language, Respect, and Interconnection. The trail and app are free and open to the public for self-guided tours anytime.
09
MNPAiR Artist Video: Monica Rojas, Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns
Lake Bemidji State Park
While in residence, Monica and Nicole learned about and connected with the Bemidji community, park staff, and the natural world of the park. They planned and facilitated 30 events and workshops with 500 participants. These included documentary screenings with discussions, felted lantern making, painting with native plants, interactive carnivorous plant puppet performances, mending circles, and more.
Working in five local schools with a variety of grades, they designed patches, stickers, and temporary tattoos—available for free at the Ranger Station—based on the students’ love of the outdoors. They also developed Art Packs available for free check-out from the park Visitor Center, installed convertible benches along trails, and updated the Visitor Center to meet visitor needs by (among other projects) designing fabric to reupholster worn chairs, and curating a collection of nature books with the Friends of Lake Bemidji State Park.
11
Field Guide for Working with Artists
Capitol Region Watershed District (CRWD)
The Field Guide for Working with Artists outlines recommendations and existing models of working with artists to facilitate integrating art and artists into the work of CRWD. The guide covers a broad range of art approaches that include a residency model, short-term engagement, internships, commissions, and inclusion of artist on project teams. It is intended as a flexible, living document rather than a static list of prescriptive recommendations.
Photo by Caroline Yang. CRWD’s 20th Anniversary Celebration and Mississippi River of Iron Pour, September 21, 2018.
