The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened in 1992, and is the Largest Mall in the United States, the largest mall in the Western Hemisphere, and the twelfth largest shopping mall in the World. It is a travel destination for all ages, all seasons of the year.
Approximately 42 million people visit the mall annually, which is about eight times the population of the State of Minnesota. Gross area of the mall is in excess of 5,600,000 square feet, consisting of more than 500 shops on four levels. I was surprised to learn that during the Christmas Season, there are so many people in the mall that they have to run the air conditioning equipment to maintain a comfortable shopping environment.
Before the mall's construction, this was the site of Metropolitan Stadium where the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins played their home games. Located in the mall's theme park is a plaque at the former home plate location and a stadium seat at the exact spot where hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew hit a 520-foot home run on June 3, 1967.
In addition to shopping, the mall contains the largest indoor theme park in the United States, with rides and attractions for all ages. There is also an indoor eighteen-hole miniature golf course. Many tourist make a visit to the Mall a full-day experience.
The World's Largest Raspberry is located in Hopkins, Minnesota. Hopkins claims to be the "Raspberry Capital of the World" and unveiled the large raspberry at the 2017 annual Hopkins Raspberry Festival. The raspberry is 22-feet tall and weighs over 1,000 pounds.
Just down the street from the Raspberry was another art piece that I really liked
Located in a Minneapolis suburb is Mary Tyler Moore's TV house. Although most of the sitcom was filmed in a sound studio, occasionally this house's exterior was used as the place where she lived.
There was an unusual art piece in a nearby park.
Located in another Minneapolis suburb is an unusual sculpture that was made from a dead oak tree. The "pencil" is 20-feet tall, completely painted with lettering on its side, and an eraser for correcting errors.
Prince was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis and is remembered for his colorful appearance, vast vocal range, and unique musical style. There is an eight-story mural of Prince on the side of a building in the downtown area.
Although Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, there is also a large kaleidoscopic mural of him painted on a downtown building. The mural is 150-feet long and features Dylan at various stages in his life. The mural titled The Times They Are A-Changin was painted by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra.
I'm not sure what the other mural represents.
Not too far from the downtown area I found a T-Rex that accidently stepped on a car and next-door was a large hungry looking shark trying to find something to eat.
The 19-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is one of the largest urban sculpture gardens in the United States. There are over 40 permanent works of art and other temporary pieces that are moved in-and-out of the display. Walker Art Center is located directly across the street from the Garden and manages the Sculpture Garden in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
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| X, Liz Larner |
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| Salute to Painting, Roy Lichtenstein |
Spoonbridge and Cherry was the first sculpture commissioned for the Garden when it opened in 1988. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen collaborated on the art work, which is now one of their most celebrated pieces. A placard states: "The artists envisioned a gigantic utensil as a bridge over a pond. When considering Minnesota as a site, they compared the spoon's raised bowl to the prow of a Viking ship or a duck bobbing in a lake. Van Bruggen added the cherry, a personal symbol recalling happy moments in a childhood clouded by World War II." At more than 50-fee long, Spoonbridge and Cherry is the centerpiece of the sculpture garden and a familiar and iconic symbol for the Twin Cities. (When I first was the sculpture, I thought the cherry was a bomb with a lit fuse.)
Monika Sosnowska'a Untitled (gate) was inspired by a metal barricade she saw in postwar Poland.
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| Untitled, Jim Hodges |
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| Without Words, Judith Shea |
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| Reclining Mother and Child, Henry Moore |
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| Standing Figure: Knife Edge, Henry Moore |
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| Amaryllis, Tony Smith |
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| Five Plates |
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| Double Curve, Ellsworth Kelly |
Okciyapi (Help Each Other) is an art work by Angela Two Stars that "makes poetic connections between land, water, language, and people." It was inspired by the legacies of her grandfather. "Her work focuses on Indigenous language revitalization, a process she describes as a healing medicine that strengthens Dakota culture and identity." The rings are based on patterns of rippling water and symbolic relationships between individuals and communities.
Although Deborah Butterfield's Woodrow appears to be made of wood, it is actually metal. Butterfield first collected pieces of wood and assembled them into a horse, modeled after a horse on her Montana Ranch. She then, cast each piece of wood in bronze, and welded the pieces together to make the statue, and then painted the pieces to look like wood.
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| Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers, Barry Flanagan |
Black Vessel for a Saint by Theaster Gates stands 20-feet tall and is built with custom-made bricks that were made from leftover brick materials. Inside of the vessel is a statue of Saint Laurence, the patron saint of librarians and archivists. Gates said his sculpture was "designed specifically for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, as a secular sacred sanctuary - a place open to all for gathering and reflection."
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| X with Columns,, Sol LeWitt |
The large bell in the center of For Whom... by Kris Martin was originally cast for a church in Germany, but was scrapped when the bell failed to produce the proper tone. Martin obtained the bell and removed the clapper, which he said muted its voice. The bell is programed to sway back-and-forth on the hour "in its own silent rhythm."
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| Dawn Tree, Louise Nevelson |
Arikidea by Mark di Suvero is composed of large steel beams that are balanced so carefully that a slight touch will cause the elements to sway. There is a wooden swing suspended from the center that visitors can sit on and "interact with the sculpture."
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| Love, Robert Indiana |
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| Shodo Shima Stone Study, Isamu Noguchi |
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| Sagacious Head 6 and Sagacious Head 7 |
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| Pedestrian Bridge |
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| Walking Man, George Segal |
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| Level Head, Tony Cragg |
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| Room with Two Reclining Figures, Mark Manders |
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| Composition with Long Verticals |
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| Adam and Eve, Simone Fattal |
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| Bronze Woman IV, Thomas Schutte |
When the Sculpture Park opened in 1988, the north side of the Garden was a marshland that had been formed by glaciers about 10,000 years ago. Landscape architects worked with the Mississippi Watershed Management Organizations to convert the area into the Alene Grossman Memorial Arbor and Flower Garden.
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