Because Leah asked

Bemidji is a city with a rich history of supporting the arts. From the Sculpture Walk to local summer theatre, our little town in Northern Minnesota actively participates in promoting, funding, and taking pride in the arts and cultural community. My favorite (other than Paul & Babe) is Niimi, a Native American PowWow dancer.

Construction of the Bemidji Regional Event Center is partially funded by a $20-million bonding bill from the State of Minnesota. As a part of that bill, 1% ($200,000) must be dedicated to public art for the facility. Before I arrived on the scene, a committee of local leaders and the art community was formed to determine how best to utilize this funding. The two projects that were included in the project were a terrazzo flooring for the Arena hallways which depicts life in Northern Minnesota and a hanging art piece for the main Arena lobby.

It is hard to make out the detail from this photo, but this is the floor pattern for the arena concourse. Lakes, rivers, and streams are represented on the lower portion... earthy fall colors and leaves dominate the middle portion, and it transitions into the landscape of trees eventually ending on the upper right with rich reds, pinks, and violets of a setting sun over the horizon. Laid into the terrazzo as it is poured will be brass accents in the shapes of the various fish, wildlife and birds that inhabit the region. Below you can see sample tiles of the blues, browns, yellows and reds that will be used in the project.

The other Public Art project is a hanging art piece for the Arena lobby, which you can see from the artist's rendering below:

This would be the view as you enter the Arena doors. As you remember (or may not remember), Bemidji is derived from an Ojibwe term, Bemidjigamaag, meaning "lake with cross waters." The cross waters are well represented in these two sets of waves. Each set will consist of three waves which will be 24 feet long and be suspended at a height of about 16 feet above the floor. The material used to form the waves will be translucent but have some space age properties that allow it to reflect and refract light. As you can see, the colors will be those of the water, but will gradually transition as both the down-lighting and natural ambient light change or the viewer alters their viewpoint. If it does what the artist says it will do it's going to be really cool. If there is any of the dedicated public art money left after these two projects, a hanging art piece for the Convention Center lobby is being considered.

There will be other opportunities for local artists to temporarily display their artwork within both the Convention Center and Arena sides of the building. That's it.... another slice of life from a small town in Northern Minnesota.