Rochester artists draw the community to their chalk murals

Sep. 28—ROCHESTER — Omnya Mohamed enjoys painting at community spots in Rochester. Her creations brighten windows at Griot Arts MN, Bombon and Barbershop and Social Services.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, Mohamed joined 13 artists chalking murals in parks and at schools and businesses throughout the city during the annual Chalk the Block event. People followed the newly chalked sidewalks on a scavenger hunt, walking route and We Bike Rochester route. René Halasy, event organizer and executive director of RNeighbors, the Rochester Neighborhood Resource Center, said the community mural sites allowed people to build relationships and support local businesses.

While following the event's Maya Angelou theme quote, "Nothing can dim the light which shines from within," Mohamed focused on how she sees light: bright, colorful and rainbows. Her art shows a sun and a girl with "light energy in her" that is shared through colorful strokes. Mohamed said working with chalk was challenging, especially to blend the colors.

A few community members in Friendship Park encouraged her design and worked to add their own masterpieces in chalk.

"I love to paint shoes and bags and like random things. Or honestly whatever finds me, lately I've been doing a lot of window painting," Mohamed said.

Mohamed said she's been drawn to art throughout her life, from her mom's henna skills to her brother's anime drawings and joining an art class for a high school crush. She set out to create drawings better than her brother while they watched anime such as Inuyasha, Naruto and Dragon Ball Z in Arabic.

"Art's always been in my life so I'll have the most random stories as (to) why I stopped and got back and stopped," Mohamed said.

At the John Marshall High School site, where the JM Identity Mural is also being installed, community members shared their excitement of seeing the chalk murals and visiting different places in Rochester. Halasy said people connecting with the artists while they're creating art is a special experience. Whether sharing chalk, talking about her art, drawing with kids or waving to people, artist Thea Fisher gladly invited people onto her mural near Cascade Creek Trail.

"I think public art is magic because it gets people out of their normal comfort zone, like those people if I had passed them on the street we wouldn't have talked to each other but we had this whole conversation because we were talking about the art and talking about the event," Halasy said about her conversations at the mural sites, including John Marshall. "Instead of passing each other on the sidewalk or driving by each other in cars, it ... creates an atmosphere that you can build relationships off of."

While creating with chalk at her first community event, Fisher said art doesn't need to be perfect. Instead, she's learned how to accept the imperfections of life and have stress relief through art.

She said "(art is) an important way to communicate and like record what happens around us in an enjoyable way."

One of the inspirations for her chalk mural, Hmong story cloths, reflect Hmong women's escape to Thailand after the Vietnam War as well as depict folktales and farm life, according to the Library of Congress.

Fisher added water, hills, community members and a prescribed burn to show a Southeast Minnesota scene of land stewardship.

"I work with a group that does prescribed burns and I wanted to depict it because there's so much knowledge and care and dedication with land stewardship and the people that work on it. It's a community event, it's community building and there's just so much like heart in it," Fisher said.

After hosting the Chalk the Block event at one site in 2023, Halasy said seeing community members interact throughout the city "brings me such joy to know that what our mission was is working."

"In a world after COVID, creating community connections over very minute things is something that I've realized is very important," Fisher said. "I'm really appreciating just very small conversations and connections being made because hopefully, people feel a little bit less isolated, hopefully it brightens someone's day and it doesn't have to be intense."