For weeks now residents may have noticed a little more color than usual on the west wall of the Hastings Civic Arena. While the new mural, from artists Lili Lennox and Niko Alexander, has been up for some time, city officials held a ribbon cutting last week.
Members of the Hastings Arts and Culture Commission, city officials and both artists gathered to celebrate the new “opening” of the new mural.
While Lennox and Alexander share a studio space, this civic arena mural was the first collaboration between the two Twin Cities-based artists and ranks among the largest projects either has completed.
Lennox was selected in October 2024 because her initial design “did something unexpected for us,” said Steven Read, Vice Chair of the Arts and Culture Commission at a February Art and Commission meeting.
That initial design shifted over time, with the cards enlarged and changed to reflect more of Hastings’ hockey and figure skating history.
The final design features famous hockey players and figure skaters Erica McKenzie, Dean Talafous, Jeff Taffe, Amanda Truax, Derek Stepan, and Taylor Chorney, along with homages to the civic arena itself, Northland Hockey Sticks and the upcoming Hockey Day Minnesota.
“That they have been excited from the beginning is the best part about it,” said Lennox about working with the Arts and Culture Commission on the design and installation.
Early in the design, massive aluminum “cards” were selected because painting directly on the civic arena proved too difficult. Lennox and Alexander were able to paint the cards within their studio and have them installed upon completion.
This process was one of necessity. Not only is painting within a studio easier for artists and can be done year-round, when Lennox had her son, she was unable to travel for days if not weeks at a time for projects.
“I knew I wouldn’t really have the time or availability in my schedule to be on-site painting things, so I needed to figure out what was something that I could do that I could work in my studio on,” said Lennox.
Lennox has been painting murals for decades and has leveraged many state funds for public art to provide murals to towns across the state at little or no cost to those towns.
“I like to reach out to communities of under 3,000 because I grew up in a community like that,” said Lennox.
A huge part of this process is education and helping cities access public grants and funds for art.
“Getting through the first one is really important,” said Lennox.
From there, cities have the know-how to access similar funds for future art projects.
Here in Hastings, the mural arrives just weeks before Hockey Day Minnesota is set to take place in town, proudly displaying Hastings’ long connection with hockey before the event. Those massive cards from the mural will be featured at the event, with attendees able to take pictures within cutout frames that echo the look of the new mural.
Due to the quality of outdoor acrylic paint, the lifespan of the mural is expected to be measured in decades. Alongside that lifespan, and a design feature of using the cards, is that new cards can be added without changing the design.
“The fun part of planning out this design was […] we can add more,” said Alexander.
So remember, players and skaters, space exists for your likeness on the civic arena.