New Dawn Sculpture by Heather Doyle

Join us in getting a major new sculpture installed in the Midtown Greenway!  

Make a tax-deductible donation* to help install New Dawn, a light-emitting sculpture by local artist Heather Doyle.

The 17-foot arching spray of stylized flowers invokes that moment when flowers have just spun open to greet the New Dawn.

Heather's sculpture signifies our community's resilience and hope for a New Dawn as we move forward to heal after several very difficult years, which included the Covid-19 pandemic, rising crime, violent upheaval after the murder of George Floyd, and painful awakening to racial injustice and inequity.  

The solar-powered sculpture will be located in East Phillips, a majority BIPOC neighborhood that has experienced continued racial health disparities due to toxic environmental pollution.  While one light-emitting sculpture cannot erase years of neglect, it can become a beacon of hope and help light a new way forward for this neighborhood and our community.

The sculpture will also help people find the Greenway entrance at 18th Avenue and bring more artistic beauty to the trail -- leading to even more people using it for green transportation. 

Our goal for this art project is to make people say "WOW!"  We hope you agree that Heather's sculpture will do just that!  Now, we need to raise the funds to make it happen. Will you join us by making a donation today?

About Heather

Heather Doyle has been inspired by fire as a creative and empowering tool since her first industrial arts class in high school. She has worked in industry as a welder, fabricator and product designer.  

She is a founder and now serves as Artistic director of a non-profit Arts organization called the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC) which is dedicated to art forms produced by heat, spark and flame.  She became a fire arts educator in 2006 through development of a sculptural welding and blacksmithing program at MCTC and continues her work as educator and mentor through CAFAC in sculptural welding, blacksmithing, enameling and public art.  

Heather served on the Minneapolis Arts Commission for four years and continues to contribute to the creative sector through educational partnerships, sculpture fabrications, selection panels for arts organizations and mentorship.

Funders

Heather is currently in the design phase, and will proceed with installation once the fundraising goal of $85,000 has been met.

Special thanks to the design phase funders:  Circulo de Amigos; East Phillips Improvement Coalition; Ingebretsen’s; the Southside Green Zone (a program of the City of Minneapolis), and individual donors.  

* Donations

Donations are tax-deductible and will be used to fund the installation of the sculpture once the fundraising goal has been met and the sculpture has obtained permits from the City and County.  We are working closely with government permitting agencies and anticipate we will be able to obtain the permits needed, but the process is ongoing.

In the event that this fundraising effort does not meet goal, or the sculpture is not approved by the City or County, donations will be used to support other Midtown Greenway Coalition art installations and art programming in the Greenway.  Donations in excess of the fundraising goal will also be used to support more arts programming by the Midtown Greenway Coalition.  

Stay updated on our fundraising efforts for the sculpture by visiting this page and following us on our Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/midtowngreenway

For questions about this project, please e-mail:  soren@midtowngreenway.org

Midtown Greenway Coalition

2834 10th Avenue S

Minneapolis, MN 55407

www.midtowngreenway.org