The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Mosaic on a Stick hums with chatter from neighbors coming in to browse for supplies, gossip, sign up for classes, and admire new pieces on display. In the three years since mosaicist Lori Greene and her business partner Maria Ricke opened “The Stick” in Saint Paul’s Midway area, they’ve put down solid roots through neighborhood art collaborations—like the project that resulted in ten community-created, mosaic-embellished planters along Snelling Avenue. Greene’s personal work, which she creates in a studio behind The Stick, is steeped in imagery from her African and American Indian ancestry; her totems to femininity and motherhood, while beautiful, often betray an ambivalence and even fear of motherhood, too.

In her most peculiar, powerful work, babies and dolls appear as regal and even somewhat frightening figures.

Greene’s public work is no less intimate, focusing on the power of heritage and generational ties. Divination Systems, the series of large statues commissioned by the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, is particularly stunning. “They gave me a lot of freedom,” she said, “and I’d been dreaming of those pieces for years.” For Greene, art is no solitary affair, but rooted instead in personal relationships, neighborhoods, and family. “I’m not really even sure what all these pieces mean, to tell you the truth,” she shrugs. “But I can’t imagine not doing this work. It’s who I am.” —Susannah Schouweiler

This article originally appeared in issue 13.1 of access+ENGAGE. Subscribe to this free arts e-journal at mnartists.org/accessengage.