We came, we saw, we created!

After months and months of hard work by ArtsWork youth, COMPAS Teaching Artists Mica Lee Anders, Sharra Frank, Armando Gutièrrez, Katrina Knutson, assistant artist Asfia Rizwy and COMPAS’ Arts Innovation Director Betsy Mowry Voss, the Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary underpass mural is complete! As seen in the video above, COMPAS held a ribbon cutting ceremony last week to celebrate the accomplishment that took a widespread supportive community to complete. Through this project, more than 40 youth apprentices learned valuable job skills as they worked to build a brighter future for themselves and a better community for us all. This project was an innovative collaboration between nonprofits, government entities, and private businesses who came together to give youth the opportunity to learn, connect, and grow through the arts.

If you’re in the area please stop by and take a look at the brightly painted cityscape, search for all the hidden creatures, count the snowflake, leaf, apple and flower mosaics. Whatever way you view the mural, we hope you take pleasure in it because it was done for everyone to enjoy for years to come.

Mural location:

Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary

1200 Jackson Street in Saint Paul, MN 55117

Assistant Apprentices:

Bakari Abraham
Brian Bell
Jessica Bishop
Rut Evo
Ja'mariese Flowers Stamps
Lily Harris
Jeaun Hopkins
Day'vell Hopkins
Brittney Johnson
Cristina Lora
Jayvin Miller-Murphy
Melissa Moua
Omar Muhammad
Kayla Parson
Cavontee Reeves-Moss
Isaiah Sandquist
Tommy Shannon
Oasis Sherman
Venessa Walker
Shawavia Winters
Taelor Yang

Lead Apprentices:

Priana Ali
Bryna Bostic
Tou Chang
Jaz’i Farmer
Sharon Izuora
Emily Jacobwitch
Shilpa Kennedy
Cristina Lora
Adar Makhtal
Oo Meh
Solea Price
Artrail Prichard
Gisselle Quintanilla
Say Reh
LaTisha Rondo
Ariel Smith
Adam Thao
Angelica Tonge
Jessica Trinh
Trinity Vang
Marissa Wegner
Dominique Williams

This project would not have been possible without the support of the following people and organizations:

Amy Brendmoen - Saint Paul City Councilmember of Ward 5
District 3 Commissioner Janice Rettman, who spearheaded the Trout Brook project and brought together the North End neighborhood to help make this nature sanctuary a reality
Kathleen Anglo, Senior Landscape Architect, City of Saint Paul
The City of St Paul Cultural STAR Program
The Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation
The Sundance Family Foundation
The Mardag Foundation
The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation
The City of Saint Paul’s Right Track program
Face to Face,
Giving WoMN, which provided support to Face to Face which enabled them to connect their youth to this project
Kendall’s Ace Hardware
BNSF Railway
And individual contributors to COMPAS