This River, This Place: Musing above the Mississippi with Pillsbury A Mill’s quintessential artist, Aldo Moroni

Story and Photos by Susan Schaefer

Artist Aldo Moroni 

Minneapolis, MN, May 31, 2016 – If he were inclined, from this perch overlooking St. Anthony Falls “could Minneapolis’ artist Aldo Moroni literally look across the river to the Mill City side and peer into the windows of some of the well-heeled private collectors who own one or more of his sculpted towers, wall sconces or commissioned works?”

Ever respectful of his collectors’ privacy, he only acknowledges that this could be the case. He counts celebrities and CEO’s among his numerous collectors.

Just under a year ago, Moroni scored a primo spot on the St. Anthony Main side of the river in Pillsbury A Mill building, becoming a prototypical tenant this newly opened artist collective development. Ensconced in the cozy, light-filled two-bedroom unit he shares with his two sons, Moroni is one of A Mill’s most prominent, and perhaps prolific, working artist inhabitants.

Iconic Moroni towers perched on sill

The long awaited A-Mill Artist Lofts, designed for artists committed to a life in the arts, features a number of shared work and studio spaces for special projects or daily work for use. In Moroni’s case, he makes yeoman’s use of the ceramic studio, equipped with state of the art kilns.

Moroni in ceramic studio with kiln

On an overcast Saturday morning, as we share a stellar view, strong coffee and engaging conversation, Moroni readily rattles off facts about art theory, religious movements, and more. His curiosity and knowledge about topics that inhabit and inform art – history, religion, sociology, urbanism, geography, music, light, color – are vast, and his authentic interest is infectious.

The Chicagoan arrived in the Twin Cities to attend MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) in the early 1970s. His emergence on the formal art scene reads like a fable. Young Moroni was whisked from the halls of college to the halls of the renowned Walker Art Center in one fell swoop. None other than then-Walker Director, the late, great Martin Friedman, who saw the subtext Moroni already was providing in his work, navigated that magic carpet ride.

World in Progress

Known for recreating civilizations in small-scale sizes, he wanted his viewers to question how we live in cities; to engage in conversations about where and how our civilizations emerge; to explore the consequences and rewards of urban existence.

Moroni invited viewers to become Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians. His work termed early earth or action art, followed on the heels of Dadaism. Timing was in his favor.

Over his 40 plus years, his handiworks have shifted from massive to miniature and back. Audiences could peer down on occasionally vast landscapes, like his infamous Babylon project, a performance art piece of creative destruction, or more recently behold his tame replica of ‘old’ Dinkytown.

Many of his miniatures evoke Hieronymus Bosh-like narratives, filled with catawampus buildings and impossible configurations just recognizable enough to engage viewers in studies of urban design gone slightly awry. Others, with more authentic scale and form, like his new study of Georgetown where his daughter has been living as a student, simply evoke a whimsical sense the urban realm.

Artist with large-scale tower wall installation ready to be delivered to client

However, it would be incorrect to mistake his ‘interpretations’ as fairy tale. Moroni may take liberty with narrative, much like novelists he admires such as James Michener, Ken Follett and Dan Brown, but the underpinning of his work is solid scholarship mixed with his heartfelt desire to evoke critical questions about urban life. Moroni bristles with that Bauhaus analytical idealism that maintains: “Art asks, design offers solutions, and architects and engineers implement.”

Moroni believes that: Art asks, design offers solutions, architects and engineers implement.

Such a cerebral stance combined with sharp sculptural prowess accounts for Moroni’s exulted status as a Minnesota arts trifecta honoree: He’s earned the McKnight, Jerome and Bush Fellowships, and going for the grand slam, the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest Award. This is no small feat.

His vision and scope is epitomized in his opus, This River, This Place, a 6,000-pound epic stoneware wall sculpture commissioned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The work is a topographical map of the bank’s service area, the entire Ninth Federal Reserve District.

Exemplifying Moroni’s quest for historical detail and meaning, This River, This Place can be read on multiple levels – as a geographical map of the six district states and as cultural and historical microcosms. “Major geographical features such as Lake Superior, Isle Royale, the Rocky Mountains, Lake Oahe, the national forests of northwestern Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula, the Mississippi and Missouri rivers can be easily identified by the naked eye from any vantage point in the Federal Reserve Bank's lobby.”

Yet, on closer observation viewed with binoculars, telescope or a zoom lens, Moroni’s “various cultural icons and historical images of the Great Plains states. Paul Bunyon's statue in Bemidji, MN, a herd of buffalo (including a sacred white buffalo) in North Dakota, motorcyclists gathered in Sturgis, S.D., the State Capitol at Bismarck (tallest building in North Dakota), the Wounded Knee Monument in South Dakota, an overflowing Red River in Grand Forks—and much, much more,” have been incorporated in his archetypal style.

Originally commissioned in 1996, the 33.5’ x 12.5’ piece, composed of 270 brick-shaped tiles, made of Minnesota white stoneware, fired and glazed, and covering 396 square feet of reinforced wall space took Moroni four months of research and six months to execute working with a team of seven artists.

Such collaboration is also a hallmark of Moroni’s ethic. Known as an activist, he embraces numerous life long relationships, mentors and guides others in their art and projects, and serves indefatigably in the service of social justice, environmentalism and inclusion. Moroni is a wildly beloved and respected local legend.

In fact, this coming Monday, June 6, 2016, from 6 – 9PM at the Solar Arts Building in Northeast, he will be one of the prominent panelist selected to discuss, “Creative Sustainability: What’s it Mean for the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District and Northeast Minneapolis,” alongside City Council members, Kevin Reich and Jacob Frey, Myron Orfield from the University of Minnesota, Kelley Lindquist of Artspace, among others. Moroni’s platform regards exploring expanding the boundaries of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District and creating a citywide arts center.

Moroni creates from a place of passion so deep and true that he captivates those lucky enough to enter his sphere with his fascination for how, why and where civilizations rise and fall and what role arts plays in this thrust of history. A three-dimensional mythmaker, Moroni’s worlds bring thoughtful examination about urban progress and sustainability.

Susan Schaefer can be reached at susan@millcitymedia.org.