In conjunction with a Meet Minneapolis initiative to beautify downtown, a new 25-foot mural on the 12th Street side of Orchestra Hall was unveiled Thursday.
The mural is a bumblebee.
Nancy Lindahl, current life director of the Minnesota Orchestra, explains why.
"To me, the bee signals on the exterior of the building the joy that is found within," says Lindahl. "The bee symbolizes positivity, cooperation, and resilience."
The artist is Rock Martinez, who also created the Prince mural on First Avenue.
"Bumblebees vibrate at a frequency of healing, and then I thought about the buzzing," Martinez adds. "And the buzzing equaled vibration, and the vibration equals music. And then I was like, what ties in the bumblebee? And then I thought of most famous orchestrated composition, 'The Flight of the Bumblebee.'"
The 25-foot mural is located on the 12th Street side of Orchestra Hall.
"When I thought about what to paint on the building, I thought I needed to create something that was healing and had resilience after the harsh winter that we experienced," Martinez explains. "And so, I thought something that's so playful like a bumblebee."
The giant bumblebee represents "the joy found within, symbolizing positivity, cooperation, and resilience"
The giant bumblebee represents "the joy found within, symbolizing positivity, cooperation, and resilience"
