Walks / Cars / Kids / Streets / Shows: North Loop Artist Jan Elftmann Connects Them All To Art
This Thursday’s Art Walk—five local galleries welcoming you from 5 to 8 PM—could be your easy intro to Jan’s decades of art advocacy, showmanship, whimsy, & singular creativity.
Jan’s been involved with Art Walks since they began in 2023.
Or maybe you’ve already gawked and grinned at the art cars—vehicles whose exteriors flaunt murals, car-covering collages, or even a few thousand corks—on parade down Washington Avenue. Jan has been the, uh, driving force behind Twin Cities art-car parades for 31 years.
Photo courtesy of Jan Elftmann.
Or maybe you and your family have long been happily wide-eyed at the Minnesota Science Museum’s generations of in-school programming on the art of making the moving parts of, say, pinball machines or battery-powered robots. As a STEM educator for 37 years, Jan brought art-of-science residencies to Minnesota schools state-wide.
Or maybe you’ve just discovered the six-story, block-long atrium galley of 801 Lofts, for which Jan has curated three shows a year for 23 years. The atrium is public-accessible on Gallery Openings—the next is part of the Thursday Art Walk from 5-8PM—as well as by contacting Jan at 612-747-2313 for a private viewing.
The view of Jan in the immense 801 Lofts atrium. Below, Jan and the works of artist Pete Driessen mounted at the atrium’s second level.
And maybe in 2027 you’ll be able to visit the first four street-art murals—art literally ON the street—calling attention to North Loop stormwater drains. This is a first-in-Minneapolis pilot project, and Jan is on the steering committee.
Here’s one of St Cloud’s storm drain murals, courtesy of Traumen Glasberg Designs.
Jan’s art is about making unlikely connections seem and feel as “Well, duh!” as they are unexpected. “I started out in painting, but soon realized that I really loved objects: the 3d stuff. And I really love putting them together in new ways.”
The ball-o-corks in the lead image is but a blip compared to Jan’s magnum opus: Corky.
Jan atop Corky in 2004. Two of its doors are living their best-ever lives on the wall of Jan’s loft.
Jan has been connecting people and objects and art her whole career. Minnesota is ever-more colorful and cool as a result.
— By Louis Raymond, NLNA Board Member & Culture Correspondent. Got an idea for a North Loop Culture post? Write Louis@Northloop.org.