Day 3

 After turning in group-drafted plans of one of the many courtyards of Minneapolis, we began Day 3 with an introduction to Heidi Hohmann, associate professor of Landscape Architecture and St. Paul native. She first led us on a brisk walk to view St. Anthony Falls from the pedestrian bridge. St. Anthony Falls are the only major waterfalls on the Mississippi River. We learned how the bridge, which now has walking paths and bikes lanes, was originally for the railroad.

Gorgeous river view from St. Anthony Main

At Nicollet Island, we encountered our first (and last) drawing task of the day: full-page, 3-minute sketches of the colorful houses in the area. Rapid drawing is difficult for those used to careful, measured drawing on a good day, but the added challenge of a light rain falling made this even more ...interesting. Due to rainfall throughout the day, we were not able to do as much sketching as we had hoped.

"The raindrops really give it something, right?"

We explored many other neighborhoods, and compared the street layouts and amenities. Heidi taught us about the historical background of in terms of aesthetics, density, and street layout. Julie showed us examples of some of the challenges and solutions to street-tree planting. 

Heidi lecturing about the Warehouse District.

Morgan admiring Platteville Limestone,  an element of older buildings.

After lunch, we walked to Mill Ruins Park to paint watercolor postcards of the stone-arch bridge. We began with quick drawing to learn to edit our compositions and define the larger, more important shapes of our views. 

Mill City Museum

Layout of Watercolor Postcards

2- and 4-minute quick layout sketches for watercolors 

Hannah's completed watercolor postcard

We took a quick detour inside the Guthrie Theater, and looked out upon the Mississippi River and Gold Medal Park from the large, colored-glass windows. We finished our day walking the winding path up the hill of Gold Medal Park. 

View of Gold Medal Park from the yellow windows of the Guthrie Theater