Looking to the future, our girl is growing up

The Minneapolis College of Art is adjacent to the famous MIA

We walked 5.5 miles exploring around the Minneapolis Institute of Art yesterday. 

The idea was to familiarize with the art enclave set in south Minneapolis between I-35 and Eat Street. A certain high school junior thinks the Minneapolis College of Art and Design may be a good choice for future education. 

 So Grandpa and Emily headed out on the Southwest Transit system to explore possibilities. There’s express service from our location, and we got free passes for trying it out, from the nice lady behind the glass at the sparkling new station here. 

 It’s a short walk from the new Lake Street 35W station. A breakfast of chilaques then on to the tour. Our guide, Forrest, ably explained the 3-story complex, a creative warren of studios, works spaces, classrooms, and huge work rooms for whatever physical artistic task desired, from welding to animation to printing arts. 

Stan was impressed by the “hell-box”, a traditional sorting device for returning used type to proper bins. An ancient craft, basic to the understanding of how print technology has evolved. Green screens, animation, sound production, band saws, photo studios, cafeteria, much more that Forrest crammed into the hour long tour. 

Green screen studio

Then a stop at student housing, a far cry from dorm life of the 70s. These home like apartments, adjacent to the school, house the 800 students accepted to this place. 

 Tour over, we walked to the adjacent Minneapolis Institute of Art, adjacent to the Children’s Theatre, and had a bite. A look at a few galleries there, and we were back on the road, hiking 5 blocks to our free ride home in air-conditioned comfort through rush hour traffic.  

Student housing

What will the future bring? We don’t know, but it has many possibilities.