This weekend’s St. Paul Art Crawl dedicated to muralist murdered in Lowertown
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As the St. Paul Art Crawl gets underway, the Lowertown artist community is banding together to remember one of their own.
Carrie Kwok was shot and killed last week while working on a cooperative mural for the art crawl outside the Lowertown Artist Lofts. St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry called it “one of the most cold-blooded things [he’d] ever seen in [his] life.” The suspect in her murder is also dead after being shot and killed by police in Belle Plaine.
This year, organizers have dedicated the event, which dates back to the ‘70s, to Kwok and her mothering spirit.
Mariusz Kujawski, recently appointed executive director of the St. Paul Art Collective, told MPR News the mural was completed on Wednesday by Kwok’s artist neighbors.
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“There’s beautiful flowers around it, he said. ”It’s just [an] amazing space for people to gather and talk.”
Kujawski, a Poland native, and his wife Emma Fitzsimmons moved to Lowertown from New York City in 2020. Fitzsimmons’ parents lived in Lowertown around the time of the art crawl’s founding. Though he’s previously served on the board, Kujawski has led the collective for roughly six weeks. While he’s putting on the collective’s biggest programming event in mourning, Kujawski said the art crawl couldn’t have come at a better time.
“To be able to celebrate Carrie, celebrate the multi-generational artists in St Paul, I think, a great time for also me to be able to go and see some art,” he said. “Art can connect us, heal us and allow us to express our deepest emotion. So we’ll be coming together to celebrate not only the art that she created but also the vibrant contribution each of you make to our collective artistic journey.”
As far as safety this year, the collective continues to listen to law enforcement — but what really makes Kujawski feel safe is the community coming together for events like the crawl. He hopes for more such gatherings.
St. Paul Police Public Information Officer Sgt. Mike Ernster said the department recognized that folks are “feeling uneasy after the tragic week they experienced. They are increasing their police presence during the crawl.
“We typically do this every year, but we understand the greater importance this year,” Ernster added.
The family-friendly art crawl spans 10 out of 17 art districts in the city and features the work of hundreds of local creators across galleries, artist lofts and other shared spaces. Music features prominently this year.
As people navigate the showcase, Kujawski says not to be hesitant about approaching the artists.
“We love talking about our work.”