Audio Art by the homeless (story audio) Photos Artist Brad Parsons Beth Parkhill Holiday festivities at the Mall of America View full slideshow (8 images) Resources Homeless Awareness Art Show Tools E-mail this page Print this page Sponsor

Artist Sindibad O'Dell creates both pen drawings and colorful paintings that depict Asian settings. (MPR Photo/Marianne Combs)

For many, the holiday season is not a time for parties, shopping, and family reunions. It's a time spent like any other -- looking for a job and a place to sleep. A new exhibit at the Mall of America is attempting to raise awareness of the plight of artists who are currently or have been recently homeless.

Bloomington, Minn. — On a Saturday in December you can pretty much guarantee a big crowd at the Mall of America. A band cheers on the shoppers with some holiday favorites, and thousands of people move about from one store to the next.

Up on the fourth floor, things are much quieter. Music and chatter float up from below, but the traffic is light. The fourth floor is home to the movie theater and to an art gallery.

The gallery is filled with all sorts of art -- photographs, pastels, paintings, portraits, abstracts, and landscapes. The one thing each of these pieces of art has in common is that they were created by people who have experienced homelessness.

Beth Parkhill is the executive director of Outsider Art Center, which organized the show. She says 30 people submitted their work, and 10 were chosen to exhibit. She says she wanted these artists to be treated as professionals.

"So this is about quality of the artwork, not just making a statement," says Parkhill.

The Mall of America offered this 5,000-sq. ft. space to Outsider Art Center for free. Parkhill says she leapt at the chance to do some "stigma-busting" at the most popular destination in the state. She says most people have some vague idea of homelessness, but they rarely see beyond the idea to focus on the individuals.

"The joy of working with art is that you see into a person that you might not otherwise see when you're just walking down the street," says Parkhill. "When people come in, their minds are changed. Instead of having one image of homelessness, they can see that we have grandmothers, young veterans, and all different types of people."

Parkhill says by being at the Mall of America, the exhibit is drawing in visitors who would never otherwise visit a gallery or express interest in homelessness. She has volunteers working at a kiosk on the third floor, alerting people to stop by the gallery. Passers-by have already bought one-third of the pieces on display in the show, a great sale for any exhibit.

Brad Parsons is a healthy-looking 36-year-old with styled hair, dressed in a turtleneck and slacks. He moved to Minnesota in July, but when his plans didn't pan out, he was forced to check into a shelter.

"I left Kansas with a full time job to come here," says Parsons. "You never know what life is going to bring you, so you have to go with it and hope that people can overlook that it's homelessness. A lot of people think of us as out in the street, but a lot of us are everyday people."

Parsons says he's always dabbled in drawing. Now he's thinking about going back to school and developing his artistic talents further. But in the short term he's looking to get a job and a place to live. Parsons says if there's anything he's learned, it's that homelessness can happen to anyone.

That lesson is not lost on Miranda Ehrlich. Ehrlich, 12, came to the mall from Wayzata with her dad and younger brother to find her a bathing suit. They came across the art exhibit while waiting for their lunch reservations. Ehrlich says she's impressed.

"It's excellent, it's really good, and it's got passion," says Ehrlich. "It just makes me think about ... people out there that have talents but they can't do anything because they're homeless, so we should help them."

Ehrlich says she thinks it's a great idea to put work by homeless artists in the Mall of America.

"So many people come here and they're all Christmas shopping and it's the joy of the holiday spirit," says Ehrlich. "But then you have to remember that there are people out there who don't have a home. And you've got to remember that they're not having a good Christmas."

Director Beth Parkhill says that's another point of the exhibit -- to get people thinking beyond the immediate shopping craze of the holidays.

To encourage more people to make a detour up to the fourth floor, next Saturday the Homeless Awareness Gallery is hosting a Kids Art Day where kids can make their own art -- art they can take home.