When Sally Young introduced Seitu Jones ’02 and Soyini Guyton for their keynote lecture to the Loeb 50th Reunion audience, she called them a living example of working in community, collaborating, and doing work that brings joy to oneself and others. Their devotion is for treasuring, nurturing, and stewarding the natural environment as well as the arts and culture environment.
Seitu’s mark is all over Minneapolis and St. Paul in the form of murals, sculpture, and street furniture, but also in a legacy of partnerships and teaching. For decades he ran a boat building operation for urban youth and launched the results on the Mississippi River. He was an artist in residence at the Minneapolis Department of Public Works and won the commission to create installations along the new light rail line, with poems written by Soyini. He mentors young artists, like Roger Cummings ‘09, who has become a collaborator. In this essay, adapted from the keynote address, Seitu will tell you himself about the Half Mile Long Table.