Inaugural mural by Minneapolis-based artist Leslie Barlow
We’re excited to share that McKnight is launching a new rotating mural series on the exterior of our Minneapolis headquarters—and that Minneapolis-based artist Leslie Barlow has been selected to create the inaugural mural.
The series will transform McKnight’s south-facing exterior wall, spanning nearly 60 feet wide, into a highly visible public canvas for Minnesota artists and culture bearers. A new large-scale mural will be featured approximately every three years, creating space for multiple voices and artistic visions over time. For this first commission, McKnight opened the opportunity exclusively to current and former McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellows.
Leslie Barlow was selected through a collaborative process developed with Forecast Public Art and brings a practice deeply rooted in community, care, and lived experience. Her work draws from art as a space of refuge, survival, and possibility—extending personal stories into shared visual language shaped by culture, place, and connection. Leslie is also a two-time McKnight Visual Artist Fellow (2019, 2025).
This fellows-only commission reflects McKnight’s more than 40-year commitment to supporting artists and culture bearers across Minnesota. Since 1982, the Foundation has supported more than 1,145 Artist and Culture Bearer Fellows, helping build one of the most vibrant and diverse arts ecosystems in the country.
Installation of the mural will begin soon, and we’re looking forward to sharing more as the work comes to life on the building. In the weeks ahead, we’ll offer glimpses of the installation process and a full reveal once the mural is complete.
