St. Paul artist commissioned for Northfield mural makes history

A St. Paul artist is making her mark and making history in Northfield.

Artist Lori Greene created a mural for the Northfield City Council Chambers.

The piece is called “The River Connects Us.” The mural shows different elements of Northfield, its river, trees, and people who aren’t always represented.

“I really wanted to talk about the people that are not seen,” Greene said. “There are people in wheelchairs. People of many different races, genders who aren’t specific, people are who sometimes are invisible.”

Greene is the first woman of color artist Northfield has commissioned in its more than 150-year history.

“It’s kind of sad considering what time period we’re living in,” Greene said. “I shouldn’t be the first at this point.”

The city’s liaison for Northfield’s Arts and Culture Commission, Natalie Draper, contacted Greene for the project.

“I hope she is the first of many, and I hope it sends a message that art is for everyone and it’s by everyone,” Draper said.

Greene hopes when people see her mural in the council chambers, they see themselves.

“I hope they are inspired,” Greene said. “I hope it’s interesting to them. If they look at it deeply, there’s a lot of layers. You can see multiple layers because we are all much deeper than we appear to be.”