This past Thursday, two of three new Hmong murals commissioned by the Museum of American Art (The M) were revealed at a block party. The block party between Jackson St. and Robert St. on 4th, hosted a humble crowd of people who could see the Jackson street parking ramp on one end of the block and on the other, the Pioneer Endicott building.

Between the two sites were various tables and stands, including drawing stations for children, bubbles, Chess, Mancala and 12welve Eyes Brewing which was open for the adults to grab a beer. There was also a Utopian Podium hosted by St. Paul Public Art where anyone could share answers to the Podium’s questions pertaining to art and the future of society. A live band, RealTree was also on site playing their music in support of art.

The collaborative mural on the parking ramp is a representation of not only the Hmong community in the United States but also globally. Collaborative Australian artist Vanghoua Anthony Vue, comments, “they’ve imbued their own symbolism and motifs with references to ‘what are issues and concerns within the Hmong American community’,” referring to the other four artists that collaborated on this project. Everyone’s piece on the ramp is created on top of a camouflage like background which represents the visibility and invisibility of the Hmong culture in the world.

The second piece which can be seen at the other end of the block on Robert St. is a temporary tape installment on the windows of the Historic Pioneer Endicott. This piece was produced solely by Vue.

Vue came to Minnesota in March to start a series of workshops to meet some of the local artists, including Xee Reiter, Christina Vang, Melissa Vang, Nicolazzi Xiong, and Shoua Yang, whom worked in collaboration on the parking ramp piece and the third piece which was revealed on Friday. He also came to see different sites that are significant to the Hmong community here.

He mentioned that he came to think of the pioneer Endicott as the Heart of St. Paul. On the windows Vue has placed an abstract labyrinth of tape which he says, “for me in a sense, all these routes were like veins through all the sights, and [they] always [came] back to this one central location, the pioneer Endicott.”

The third piece, which due to complications with the site, was revealed Friday at the Asian Economic Development Association on University Ave., was a collaboration project between all six of the artists mentioned above. Each artist painted a portrait of someone that is significant to them in the Hmong community on top of an abstract background. They wanted to portray people that are important in the Hmong story but that are otherwise unknown in the Hmong community.

Vue feels that the artists themselves have benefited from these projects and that the St. Paul and Hmong community will benefit as well. He hopes that this series of projects has contributed to more organizations opening their walls and working closely with artists “to re-energize certain parts of the city or just to beautify a location.”