Innovative Water Inspired, Community Created Public Art Installation Set to Premiere in Little Falls Thursday

(KNSI) — A public art installation will be unveiled in Little Falls on Thursday afternoon, but it almost didn’t happen.

Shirley and Sharon Nordrum are close-knit sisters who work together to create art, tell stories, and advocate for those who don’t have a voice. They were chosen for the art project after the group behind it, the Environmental Initiative’s Source Water Protection Collaborative, whittled down the large list of finalists.

The two got to work at the start of 2023 and were developing the project with city officials when Shirley passed away.

The Collaborative’s partnership manager, Britta Dornfeld, said the project was paused for a month to allow Sharon to grieve the loss of her sister. She eventually came back to the group and said she couldn’t continue.

The group came together to decide what to do next and reached out to another finalist, Su Legatt, to see if she was still interested. Legatt got started on the project in June. Grant funding for it runs out at the end of this month.

Legatt came up with the idea to not only have the project centered around water and protecting the resource but also use paper to do illustrations to tell the story. The installment is known as Creating With and for Water.

The idea was two-pronged.

Little Falls historically was a paper milling town, and so people went to workshops and either made paper or used paper that was made to do illustrations and storytelling and engage people to think differently about water. The Mississippi River cuts the town in two, and groundwater is also the main source of drinking water in Little Falls. It is currently classified as vulnerable by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Participants created individual art elements that were combined into collective broadside prints by Legatt. Those broadsides and posters will be on exhibition Thursday night and available afterward.

Dornfeld says it could not have been done without the Little Falls community’s help and funding sources from the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment, the Minnesota Department of Health, the Board of Water and Soil Resources and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. “It was definitely a group effort,” she explained. “The support that we’ve received from the city and from local businesses has really been instrumental.”

The unveiling is Thursday, December 7th, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Great River Arts, 122 1st Street SE in Little Falls.

___