Our Central Ground
Final Gathering of the Central Ave Cultural District Series
Our Central Ground is the closing moment in a process that began with a simple idea: what would it look like to build a cultural district that truly reflects the artists who live and create here?
We started with a small group of artists and held workshops focused on branding, storytelling, and creative entrepreneurship. These weren’t just technical sessions. They were a space to talk about what it means to grow a creative practice with clarity, intention, and support. Artists worked on defining their visual identity and voice, but they also shared honestly about the realities of trying to make and sustain art within this district.
From there, we opened the door wider. The cultural gatherings brought in more voices: neighbors, organizers, small business owners, and other artists. Together, we asked questions about the district as it exists now and what we hope it can become. We talked about the difference between space and place, the barriers artists face when trying to access resources or be visible, and what role the city plays in shaping this landscape.
We asked things like:
What makes this place worth showing up for?
What needs to change so more people can stay, grow, and create here?
How do we hold space for each other while pushing for something better?
Our Central Ground is a way to bring it all together. It’s a moment to reflect on what we’ve built, recognize what’s possible when we gather with purpose, and imagine how we carry this work forward. The hope is that the connections, ideas, and questions we’ve shared don’t end here. They live on in the people, practices, and places that continue to shape Central Avenue.
This work was produced by Mango Day in collaboration with Tangible Collective, with funding from the City of Minneapolis Department of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Special shout out to creative director Nia Ross.
Kemunto Ndege
Kemunto is a multimedia artist based in Minneapolis with focuses on digital design and collage work. She runs and operates her own design studio @Kemunto.Dsgn where she helps build vibrant worlds for her community and businesses. Her main focus is to tell stories that help initiate the interaction between present self and inner-child play/harmony.
Shae Maze
Shae is an interdisciplinary Artist and Chef focused on creating biologically inspired sculptures and multi-sensory experiences. His practice aims to deconstruct, analyze, capture, and honor the complexity of life and its movements through abstract representation. Through this work he has the opportunity to combat an ever-producing society of existential distractions and consumerist driven quick thrills by slowing down and appreciating the world’s details.
Tshab Her
Tshab Her is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on embroidery and textile currently residing in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago as a second generation Hmong American woman raised by refugees fleeing the “secret war” in Laos. Within the context of immigration, displacement, war, religion, and womanhood, Tshab’s work grapples with the tension of belonging in search for personal agency, cultural autonomy, and communal sensibilities. She uses paaj ntaub, a traditional Hmong textile art, as a tool for storytelling by confronting intergenerational trauma and identity as a modern Hmong woman navigating patriarchy and American hegemony. As an extension of her art practice and love for personal style and self expression, Tshab creates handmade fabric and beaded earrings under “It’s Pronounced Cha.” These earrings are made with secondhand materials with a mission to celebrate and embody joy through color and textures inspired by traditional Hmong clothing.
Addis Alemu
Addis Alemu is a ceramic artist and studio technician based in South Minneapolis. Their relationship with clay began at MCTC, where a single class sparked a deep and lasting connection to the medium. Since then, ceramics has become a grounding, meditative practice—one that allows Addis to explore form, line, color, and texture with curiosity and intention.
Through their work, Addis channels thoughts, feelings, and lived experiences into clay, using it as a tool for self-expression and personal reflection. Their pieces often feature flowing textures, distinct line work, and organic forms that reflect an evolving journey of identity, emotion, and exploration.
As a Black Queer ceramicist, Addis brings care and consciousness into all aspects of their practice—especially when it comes to community. Beyond their own studio practice, they have facilitated a range of ceramics workshops and classes, sharing clay as a medium for connection, creativity, and collective healing. For Addis, the act of making is not only personal—it’s communal. They believe in the transformative power of creativity to foster understanding, joy, and belonging.
Silent Fox
Silentfox is a Minnesota-based visual artist, graphic designer, and muralist whose practice spans multiple media, including watercolor, acrylic, digital illustration, and photography. A graduate of Augsburg University with a BA in studio arts and graphic design, they have established themselves as a versatile creator under the banner of Silentfox.Studio. Their work has been recognized through MSAB grants in both 2021 and 2022, supporting their community-focused artistic practice. As a lead director and creative curator of 13.4 Collective and member of Creatives After Curfew, Their artistic philosophy, reflected in their chosen name, emphasizes the power of reflection and meaningful exploration in contemporary art-making.
Natasha Malmberg
Natasha Malmberg is an interdisciplinary artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She creates one-of-a-kind textile designs using a traditional Japanese marbling technique called Suminagashi. Natasha revitalizes this ancestral craft by turning these unique, hand-marbled fabrics into handmade apparel for all.
