Artabout in Minneapolis
City Route, 13 Miles
Overview
Artabout is a curated arts route exploring art museums, artist studios, and art events around Minneapolis. The route takes you on a scenic ride starting along the Mississippi River where you'll cross the renowned Stone Arch Bridge, see part of the University of Minnesota campus, ride through popular neighborhoods such as Uptown and Northeast, and experience parts of our lovely Midtown Greenway and Cedar Lake bike trail. Along the route, you'll explore a variety of arts stops ranging from renovated warehouse buildings converted into galleries and artist studios to an outdoor arts sculpture garden. I enjoy each of the highlighted stops for their uniqueness in the Minneapolis arts scene and I volunteer at a few of the organizations which is a fun opportunity to meet like-minded people and help support the arts community.
Logistics
Route Map
Bikes
- Nice Ride bike share stations noted in route map. $6 daily
- Minneapolis by Bike - $40 daily for hybrids, kids, trail-a-bikes and trailers
- Freewheels - $38+ daily for hybrid, road and tandem bikes and trailers
Train Stations
What to Bring?
Comfortable walking shoes, Helmet (for Red Stag discount)
Route Highlights
A. The Soap Factory 514 2nd St SE, Minneapolis | (612) 623-9176 | www.soapfactory.org
The Soap Factory has rotating exhibitions and is unique in that it supports emerging artists and welcomes ideas in arts exploration. It is in fact an old soap factory warehouse which gives it great character as well as interesting history. I volunteer there and it is always a place I recommend visitors check out.
B. Weisman Art Museum 333 E River Pkwy, Minneapolis | (612) 625-9494 | www1.umn.edu
Located on the University of Minnesota campus along the river, the stunning stainless steel architectural building of The Weisman Art Museum is a work of art itself. "The museum’s collection features early twentieth-century American artists, such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Marsden Hartley, as well as a diverse selection of ceramics and contemporary art." After browsing the great collections of art, I recommend stepping out to the patio to get a fabulous view of the river.
Free.
C. Katherine E. Nash Gallery 405 21st Ave S, Minneapolis | nash.umn.edu
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, also located on the University of Minnesota campus, is nestled inside the Regis Arts building itself. It has rotating exhibitions, often by local artists and students.
D. Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 3rd Ave S, Minneapolis | (612) 870-3000 | www.artsmia.org
"From Monet to Matisse, Asian to African, 40,000-year-old artifacts to world-famous masterpieces, the MIA links the past to the present and enables global conversations." If you are lucky enough to be in town on the third Thursday of a month, be sure to check out their Third Thursday night with live music and fun arts activities.
E. Walker Arts Center & Sculpture Garden 1750 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis | (612) 375-7600 | www.walkerart.org
This contemporary art museum is my favorite mainly because they do an excellent job selecting their artists, curating and linking relevant programming to engage the community.
F. Solar Arts Building 711 NE 15th Ave, Minneapolis | http://solarartsbuilding.com
The Solar Arts Building is filled with a dynamic variety of artist studios and gets its name from the solar panels on the roof. It's located above Indeed Brewery so be sure to enjoy a local tap beer afterward too.
G. Northrup King Building 1500 Jackson St NE, Minneapolis | (612) 363-5612 | www.northrupkingbuilding.com | http://nemaa.org/art-a-whirl
Located in Northeast Minneapolis, The Northrup King building is an old warehouse converted into artist studios. This building is most well known during the annual arts festival, Art-A-Whirl (usually over a weekend in May), which includes many studio artists buildings in the surrounding NE area. Be sure to ask about obtaining a wooden nickel if you plan to go to the Red Stag afterward to get a free drink!
H. Red Stag Supperclub, 509 1st Ave NE, Minneapolis | (612) 767-7766 | www.redstagsupperclub.com
After you drop off your nice ride, head over to Red Stag for some of the best dishes in town. Many nights they have local music and the owners are bicycling advocates so usually many community & group rides end here for great times to be had. They also offer $2 tallboys to bicyclists that bring in and show their helmet.
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