Lowertown First Fridays, a monthly art crawl that allowed the public an intimate look at St. Paul’s premier arts community, like a smaller version of the massive, bi-annual St. Paul Art Crawl but keeping the focus on the artists who actual live/work in Lowertown, is discontinuing.
From the Lff website:
“Lowertown First Fridays (LFF) was an association of galleries, venues, and artists who open their studios (or have a gallery arrangement) on the first Fridays of each month. It [was] located in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the Lowertown neighborhood. This event was free and open to the public.”
Citing “…too much work for too few people with limited results for the artists participating,” the event is sadly going the way of the (beautifully sculpted and painted) dinosaur.
But it speaks, or is just the latest closure to speak, to a larger shift in Lowertown culture. While the neighborhood is enjoying a veritable boom from an economic standpoint, and there is certainly much to be celebrated, the landscape that existed already is slowly disappearing.
The most prominent change came in 2016, when the JAX Building, one of the very first studios in Lowertown and a hub for some of the neighborhood’s most prolific and accomplished artists, was purchased by a New York firm looking to convert into market rate housing. Tenants were vacated; the community disbanded. And, in a cruel and ironic twist, the building has sat empty since then; the way it sat before the artists began moving in so many decades ago.
This is not the end, however, and to think of it as such would be to miss the point; would miss the artists still working, the art still available and on display, and the unique brand of culture still to be found in St. Paul’s warehouse district. The LFF organizers, and the members of the Northern Warehouse, have another monthly event planned and coming soon to showcase the talent and ingenuity of its artists. Stay tuned and in the know about that by signing up for the newsletter here.
And visit these shops. showcases, and galleries to support the work of local artists, makers, and creators:
AZ Gallery
Northern Warehouse
308 Prince Street
Black Dog Cafe
Northern Warehouse
308 Prince Street (on the corner)
The Show Art Gallery Lowertown
346 N. Sibley Street
Underground Artists
Basement of the Northern Warehouse
308 Prince Street
To enjoy, to support, and at the very least, experience one the more colorful, dynamic pieces of the St. Paul landscape.
And read more here: Opinion: Changes in Lowertown
