Rondo Community Library
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Listen to a poem:
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The Artists:
Aki Shibata Gita Ghei Melvin Giles Songs to accompany art:
Grover Washington — Mr. Magic (for when you need to get the creativity flowing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbsbqkgzxWM Kirk Franklin — Smile (for when you need to move forward) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8SPwT3nQZ8 John Lennon and the practice Ono band ---- imagine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgkThdzX-8 | ||
The Rondo library is the busiest library in St. Paul and has the most children. Aki Shibata, Gita Ghei, and Melvin Giles wanted to reflect and incorporate this into the mural they facilitated.
To do this, they involved the community through various workshops, meetings, and events. They planted seeds together, asked for votes on design elements, and got lots of help painting. By the time the mural was finished, over 1200 people contributed. “The community owns the art piece with us, because it was made by the community,” says Shibata.
The artists focused on the ideas of peace, love, and light — their main descriptors for the community the library serves. Giles, who has been working to promote peace in the community for over a decade through his peace poles and peace bubbles, wanted to use the space as a way to restore and reclaim the spirit of Rondo. The process “birthed something within me as an artist that I was not claiming,” he says.
Gile’s bubbles inspired the design of the mural. With input from the community, various shapes, symbols, and images were painted into each bubble. The mural also includes various languages, and patterns inspired by traditional fabrics from many of the communities in Frogtown and Rondo. “That’s why it’s so colorful,” says Ghei, “It has the variety of humanity that’s in that library.”
These images and patterns allow anyone passing the mural to see a part of themselves reflected in it. It also allows them to see new things. “People are going to start asking questions and start conversations,” says Shibata.
Shibata, Ghei, and Giles emphasize the importance of the relationships they built in this process. Making the mural took over a year, and the work continues — they hope the mural will continue to grow with bubbles inside the library, and a history walk.
To do this, they involved the community through various workshops, meetings, and events. They planted seeds together, asked for votes on design elements, and got lots of help painting. By the time the mural was finished, over 1200 people contributed. “The community owns the art piece with us, because it was made by the community,” says Shibata.
The artists focused on the ideas of peace, love, and light — their main descriptors for the community the library serves. Giles, who has been working to promote peace in the community for over a decade through his peace poles and peace bubbles, wanted to use the space as a way to restore and reclaim the spirit of Rondo. The process “birthed something within me as an artist that I was not claiming,” he says.
Gile’s bubbles inspired the design of the mural. With input from the community, various shapes, symbols, and images were painted into each bubble. The mural also includes various languages, and patterns inspired by traditional fabrics from many of the communities in Frogtown and Rondo. “That’s why it’s so colorful,” says Ghei, “It has the variety of humanity that’s in that library.”
These images and patterns allow anyone passing the mural to see a part of themselves reflected in it. It also allows them to see new things. “People are going to start asking questions and start conversations,” says Shibata.
Shibata, Ghei, and Giles emphasize the importance of the relationships they built in this process. Making the mural took over a year, and the work continues — they hope the mural will continue to grow with bubbles inside the library, and a history walk.