Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center: an amenity worth of the neighborhood
Artist and SPARC user, Rodney Dixon is working with stone and steel for a garden art project through the Craftsperson Commission Connection.
For those interested in exploring the world of fire arts, the Center hosts classes and workshops, including youth summer camps. Scholarships for classes are available for low-income and BIPOC artists and learners.
Earlier this fall, PPNA toured the Fire Arts Center with staff Jess Bergman Tank, Victoria Lauing, and Heather Doyle (left to right), who filled us in on what they’re up to.
Nestled in the heart of Powderhorn is the hidden gem of the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC). This community studio and gallery space focuses on art forms produced by heat, spark or flame, including blacksmithing, metal casting, welding, glass, jewelry, neon, and porcelain enamel. The Fire Arts Center offers an array of programs in arts education, artist support, and public art, which together provide a platform for social impact and community-driven resources.
Strike while the iron is hot
The mainstay of the Fire Arts Center is its cavernous studio space, which hosts classes, individual practicing artists, and large projects. Community members can pay to rent studio space, or volunteer as “Stokers” and manage the space in return for studio time. Stokers are often first in line for commission opportunities, which the Fire Arts Center facilitates through the Craftsperson Commission Connection. (If you’ve got a custom art project or something you’d like repaired, commission an artist here!) Artists can also consign their work in the gallery space at the front of the building. Proceeds are split, 70% to the artist and 30% to the Fire Arts Center’s scholarship fund.
Across its programs, the Fire Arts Center prioritizes creating access for emerging and BIPOC artists. The Center is often approached about public art opportunities, which involves designing or fabricating large sculptural pieces, outdoor seating or amenities, and more. In these projects, the organization seeks to center social and environmental justice and create access for artists who haven’t traditionally been selected for public art opportunities. “We want to change who is represented in public art,” says Executive Director Victoria Lauing.
The Parking Yard expansion
After nearly five years of fundraising, the Fire Arts Center is embarking on a renovation of what they’re calling “The Parking Yard.” Immediately outside the facility, the Parking Yard is currently a gravel lot that sports some parking stalls, piles of program materials, and an ugly chain link fence. The project will take place in multiple phases, Artistic Director Heather Doyle explains. First on the list? A new Foundry Shed. This 500-square foot structure will provide storage for materials and foundry equipment and an outdoor, covered workspace. This will allow the Center to expand their metal casting programming to include iron and make more artist amenities available to the casting community.
A later phase of the project will focus on stormwater conveyance, meant to address the flooding that regularly affects the lot. Get ready for “the most beautiful gutter you’ve ever seen,” Executive Director Victoria Lauing says. In addition to several parking spaces, the Parking Yard will have a rain garden, parking for bikes, and outdoor seating - and no more ugly chain link fence.
Funding for the project comes from a variety of sources. For close to five years, Fire Arts Center staff raised money from individual donors and community members. Support also comes from ArtSpace, the national nonprofit that owns the Fire Art Center’s building; Best Buy Foundation; Principal Foundation; Affinity Plus Foundation; Hennepin County; and most recently, from $150,000 in Main Street grants administered by the Minneapolis Foundation. When it comes to a big project like the Parking Yard, “moving slowly isn’t bad,” says Resource Coordinator Jess Bergman Tank.
To learn more about the Fire Art Center’s work and plans for the new space, sign up for emails here.
“We want to change who is represented in public art.”
WHO
Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center
WHERE
WHY
To provide opportunities and space for emerging and BIPOC studio artists, large works and classes.
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