Museum of the Streets: Muralismo in St. Paul (episode 101)
If you’re in the West Side of St. Paul, there’s a chance a splash of color will catch your eye – one of the neighborhood’s many murals. Where did they all come from? Do they have a shared heritage? And who are the artists behind them?
For this first episode of Minnesota Unraveled, historian and host Dr. Chantel Rodríguez delves into the West Side’s rich history, and why Chicano art is at its heart. She talks with Ralph Brown, a longtime resident and co-founder of the West Side Community Organization. To gain more insight to the works of art themselves, she sits down with renowned Chicano artist, Jimmy Longoria.
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Transcripts
English Transcript PDF (150KB) Spanish Transcript PDF (152KB)
Guests
Ralph Brown
Ralph Brown co-founded West Side Community Organization, or WSCO, in the early 1970s. Since then, he has received numerous community honors, including being named West Sider of the Year for his instrumental role in saving Riverview Library.
Brown has also joined the Minnesota Historical Society as a fellow through the Gale Family Library Legacy Research Fellowship to dive deep into what it means to build democracy in an urban multicultural landscape. Through his many years of devoted service to the community, Brown has witnessed how the intersection of inhabitants and space shaped what the West Side looks like today.
“Hunger Has No Color,” painted in 1985 by John Acosta, Richard Schletty, and Armando Gutierrez at 344 South Robert Street, St. Paul. Restored in 2010 and again in 2024.
Jimmy Longoria
Jimmy Longoria’s signature painting style is recognized for its dazzling color and contrast. Longoria studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Pitzer College in Claremont, California.
Among many distinctions, he is the only Chicano artist to be awarded a Bush Foundation Fine Artist Fellowship, and the only Minnesotan to have a permanent display in Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art. His pieces hang in many esteemed locations, including that of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, along with schools, corporations, and private collections. When he’s not creating, Longoria spends his time with youth in his organization Mentoring Peace Through Art.
The latex-on-brick mural "La Llorona" by Jimmy Longoria. Photograph by Jimmy Longoria, September 16, 2004. Used with the artist's permission.
Primary Sources
The Mexican-American Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.
Rangel, Rachel. Interview with Rachel Rangel. West Side Community Organization.
Salceda, Ania. Interview with Linda Castillo de Zambrano. West Side Community Organization.
Vasquez, Anthony. Interview with Anthony Vasquez. West Side Community Organization.
Secondary Sources
Adame, Vicki. “Muralist’s Latest Work Honors People of Latin American, Caribbean Nations.” MPRNews, August 18, 2022.
Adame, Vicki. "Minn. Artist Has Deep Roots in Chicano Art Movement." MPRNews, September 13, 2022.
Gutierrez, Lizeth. "Muralismo in St. Paul." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. Accessed May 1, 2024.
Harris, Moira F. Museum of the Streets: Minnesota’s Contemporary Murals. Pogo Press,1987.
Latorre, Guisela. “Indigenism and Chicana/o Muralism: The Radicalization of an Aesthetic.” In Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California (University of Texas Press, 2008), 1–31.
McClure, Jane. “The Mexican-Americans and Their Roots in St. Paul’s Past.” Ramsey County History (Fall 1992): 4-12.
Nelson, Paul. "West Side Flats, St. Paul." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
Research in Action. "From the Flats to the Future: Understanding Displacement on Saint Paul's West Side." June 2024.
Rodríguez, Marc S. Rethinking the Chicano Movement. Taylor and Francis Group, 2015.
Roethke, Leigh. Latino Minnesota. Afton Historical Society Press, 2007.
Saldivar, Shirley. "Chicano Movement in Westside St. Paul." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
Valdés, Dionicio Nodín. Barrio Norteños: St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican Communities in the Twentieth Century. University of Texas Press, 2000.
Valdés, Dionicio Nodín. Mexicans in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2005.
Weber, Laura. "Jewish Roots of Neighborhood House, St. Paul." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
West Side Community. “WSCO Timeline.” West Side Community Organization.
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