The podcast this week is a conversation with Amanda Lovelee, a public artist and urban designer who is currently working as an artists-in-residence for the City of Saint Paul. Amanda has a fascinating resumé of public art projects that promote engagement and use urban space in a variety of interesting ways. Her latest project is a temporary two-year park installation in downtown Saint Paul in a vacant lot that once housed a luggage store. We sat down on a circle of paving stones in the middle of what will be the new park, called Flower Field.

Volunteers and workers were literally moving the dirt around and working on flower beds as we talked, so forgive the ambient noise. But Amanda and I had great conversation about her public art career, the role of art in public space, the potential of downtown Saint Paul, and what it’s like for an artist to work in a city public works department.

The link to the audio is here.

Flower Field under construction.