Eagan

Eagan Showcases Art Throughout the Community

By Tanya Mozingo, CPRP, Recreation Manager, City of Eagan

The City of Eagan’s robust public art program features large installations, art benches, community art and art on loan. With an inventory of more than 30 artworks, visitors find something that delights all around town.

WOODHAVEN INSTALLATION

In Eagan, parks and recreation opportunities are for everyone! Our team is continually challenging ourselves to take the next step in creating spaces for everyone. And engagement, listening, and being creative are at the heart of how we do that. We know kids (and adults) learn through both play and creating. That’s why when we created Destination All-Play at Woodhaven Park, as an inclusive space allowing everyone, young and old, and all abilities, we encompassed art into the parks design process. Through engaging kids, families, and local artists, we incorporated beautiful art at Woodhaven Park that is calming, simple, and joyful, and is also sensitive to potentially triggering colors or designs. With this mural, which was designed and installed by a local GoodSpace Murals, and painted by children and adults in our community, we added an additional enhancement to this amazing park.

The most relaxing way to enjoy art in Eagan is to visit one of the four new art benches that are being installed in 2021. Since 2017, the City of Eagan has installed 20 art benches across the City, in parks and public spaces, that add to our community’s sense of place, while also creating ways to relax, observe, and connect. We’ve created a collaborative process for creating art benches, where we work with the local arts community to interview and commission local artists to create these functional art pieces for the benefit of our entire community. The art benches being installed in 2021 include a piece at Northview Park, which is the largest tennis complex in the City and the home courts of the Eagan High School tennis teams. We also installed an art bench at Henie Pond, which

The city’s website features an interactive map showcasing public art installations.

reflects the adjacent dock and fishing access unique to that park. A bench created for Patrick Eagan Park’s depicts a sense of Minnesota’s nature. The final bench will be installed later in 2021, at Sky Hill Park, is scaled and contoured to integrate with the existing landscape while its innovative and unique form makes new connections with nature’s diverse creatures imagined in the park’s overhead clouds. Eagan continues to invest in and grow our public art inventory throughout our community in our park system by adding functional art, large pieces, and rotating art on loan through the City’s HeART of Eagan program. More information about Eagan’s public art is available at cityofeagan.com/public-art.