Semilla Arts Program making Roosevelt High School beautiful, one garbage can at a time

by Tesha M. Christensen

Semilla Arts Program is making Roosevelt High School beautiful, one garbage can at a time.

The group held its first mosaics workshop at the May Art Crawl, which was fittingly titled “Art Crawl III: Mosaics.”

The teddy bear mosaic produced at that event was later installed on the garbage can at the corner of 28th Ave. and 40th St.

On each Wednesday in September, Semilla hosted additional mosaic workshops. The goal was to mosaic more garbage cans and the handicapped ramp.

“We’d love to work more in Longfellow/Nokomis,” said Patrick Cabello Hansel, co-founder of Semilla. “Our funding is from year-to-year, as is the planning for future projects, but it would be nice to extend our reach.”

PLANTING SEEDS

Semilla (which means “seed” in Spanish) Arts Program is a project of the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 2742 15th Ave. S. in Phillips neighborhood. It was founded by church pastors Patrick and Luisa Cabello Hansel.

“This whole project grew out of our belief that God is active in our community, and that we are co-creators with God in transforming our community,” explained Patrick. “All our community programs are open to anyone, so both church members and those who are not participate.”

Their daughter Talia will be a sophomore at Roosevelt High School this year. Last year, Patrick and Luisa connected with Roosevelt’s art coordinator Candida Gonzalez, and held their first workshop. They hope to continue working at the high school throughout this school year, although the amount they do depends on funding.

USING ARTS TO BUILD STRONGER COMMUNITIES

Luisa is a native of Chile, and lived in Mexico for 15 years, where she developed her artistic powers. She is a watercolorist in addition to running the mosaic program.  Patrick is a published poet and fiction writer, and has sought to bring poetry to communities where they have worked. Last year, they published the first edition of a new literary magazine The Phoenix of Phillips. 

When Luisa and Patrick came to Minneapolis 10 years ago, they heard over and over from people in the Phillips neighborhood (where the church is) that they wanted to see a more beautiful, healthier and stronger neighborhood. 

“We had used arts as a strategy of community transformation in inner-city neighborhoods where we served in Philadelphia and the Bronx, so it was a natural extension to begin a similar program here,” explained Patrick.

The Semilla Arts Program of St. Paul’s has a special emphasis on reaching those who don’t often receive quality arts instruction, including immigrant and homeless families, seniors, and people with disabilities. 

St. Paul’s was founded 127 years ago by Swedish immigrants. The majority of members today are Latino immigrants.

In the last 10 years, Patrick and Luisa have taught over 2,000 people in over 30 sites -- in mosaics, murals, photography, creative writing, drama and other art forms.  They host the annual “A Taste of Phillips” Art Festival, and two years ago, they began the Phillips Avenue of the Arts with Heart of the Beast and other neighborhood partners.

ART WITH NOT FOR

 “A big part of our philosophy is that we do community art with people, rather than for them,” explained Patrick. 

For example, they are working with block clubs and community gardens to do mosaic signs and mosaics on the city concrete garbage cans. Again this summer, they partnered with the Multiple Sclerosis Achievement Center to create art with people who have MS. Trained youth “Arts Pollinators” partnered with the clients of the center to create a beautiful mosaic mural.

 Patrick remarked, “Part of our push this year is to encourage people to be ‘pollinators’-- arts pollinators, pollinators of faith and justice, and in Phillips, we are also working with the community organization to plant literal pollinator-attracting gardens in boulevards.”

For more information, email phcreate@aol.com or call 612-296-2231.

This story appeared in the September 2015 Messenger.