Moorhead Power Plant Meeting Wrapup
On July 21, representatives of the Museum, representatives of the City of Moorhead, and interested citizens gathered along with artists Kevin Johnson and Rob Fischer to go over ideas for artistic improvements at the site of the Moorhead Power Plant which will be decommissioned next year. This project, still in its infancy, is part of the Museum’s Defiant Gardens initiative, which advocates for the creation of artistically-inspired green spaces in the FM community.
The evening began with a short introduction by Museum Director Colleen Sheehy. Johnson and Fischer gave a short presentation to introduce their work and to the audience. Both artists are native to Minnesota and both currently reside in Brooklyn, N.Y. They focus their work on spaces and use environmental sculpture, native grasses, and pieces that are inspired by natural phenomena in order to give a space greater significance. Johnson, for instance, has been an artist-in-residence for the health care industry and has created and installed healing gardens, outdoor areas that provide patients and family members respite from the more intimidating areas of a hospital. Fischer alters large found objects that are, as he puts it, “informed by history,” becoming new objects that evoke old forms.
Sheehy discusses the concept of a Defiant Garden while Johnson and Fischer look on.
Afterward, meeting moved the over to the power plant itself. Audience members were able to inspect the grounds and, ultimately, go inside for a peek. Here are some photos:
Johnson discusses the power plant site with a member of the Woodlawn neighborhood.
Outside the plant, with some interesting concrete features visible.
Inside the plant.
The plant currently houses a backup generator and is also used for storage.
For more photos, please visit our Flickr page.
The meeting then moved to a concrete slab outside the power plant. Moderated by Moorhead Public Service General Manager Bill Schwandt, roughly two dozen interested residents weighed ideas on the best purposes for the space outside the plant and ranged from the broad (creating a “sanctuary”) to the specific (creating a berry garden). Some in the group advocated for creating an element to the location that would bring in revenue (like a bistro or a community center), while others proposed improvements to the space that would simply make it a nice place to sit. The conversation was lively and all involved seemed excited to have input into this process.
The next phase of this project? Johnson and Fischer plan to revisit the area in October and will present a proposal to Moorhead officials to implement. We’ll keep you posted on any developments and, if you have any ideas for the site and were unable to attend the meeting, please leave comments.
