Minneapolis artist creates dream space; provides free community access to art materials

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — After years of battling addiction, artist Willard Malebear has created a place he always wanted — an art center providing free community access to art materials — and a place to use them.

“Being in a space like this just is like being a kid in a Lego factory,” Malebear said. “Just knowing the potential of creations here.”

Malebear is the indigenous owner of Unified Theory Collective, an art center located at 1415 W. 35th Street in Minneapolis. The collective includes businesses and organizations working together to make creative materials, and spaces available at no cost to individuals and families.

“It’s hard for people, especially if they’re like first time artists as an adult to just step into a space and just make a mess and let it all go. We want that to happen here,” Malebear said. “We want people to come in and feel the freedom and comfort like it’s their backyard…just come in and make stuff.”

For Malebear, art has long been part of his own story.

“For the longest time, I feel like all I did when I was a kid was make art and play with toys,” he said.

His connection to creativity endured life’s twists and turns. As he battled childhood trauma, alcoholism, addiction and time behind bars as an adult, a bootcamp program changed his life.

“When I was incarcerated, my father had a stroke and my mom’s health took a pretty big dive. I remember thinking ‘you know, I would be absolutely devastated if my parents passed away while I’m incarcerated.’ Creativity was always like a major part in my foundation in recovery,” he said.

He completed the bootcamp program and saw both of his parents before they died. He keeps a picture of his mother on the wall of Iktomi Tattoo, a shop he owns.

“I think like having her see me experience the other side of life definitely brought her a lot of joy, brought me a lot of joy, still brings me a lot of joy,” Malebear said. “I think about my mom everyday.”

In some ways, opening Unified Theory Collective has been healing.

“When I think of where I was five or 10 years ago, struggling, criminal, addict, and then I see myself here in a space like this, it’s come a long ways,” he said. “I still carry around a lot of shame and a lot of guilt from my criminal activities…the most good that I can do is to be a positive element in my community and to give back. I try to use my past as a tool to show people that we can change.”

The Minneapolis artist Tatanka Lyons recently discovered Unified Theory Collective.

“Sometimes I leave with five paintings. Sometimes I leave with three,” Lyons said. “The ability to come here and work, just it’s my therapy in a sense.”

Lyons said the cost of art materials can add up. He said Unified Theory Collective has saved him hundreds of dollars out of pocket on art supplies like canvases, brushes, pens and paint.

“I say at ease, just, I can breath,” Lyons said. “It gives me a sense of relief, a sense of just excitement…My mind is always on the go, but when I’m here I’m just frozen in time. I can just not worry about nothing out there…not worry about the next thing.”

Artist Olivia Smith uses the space to create too.

“Seeing who rolls through here and what kind of art they make and what their drive to create is is very fun,” Smith said. “I think this place is going to be really impactful on my life.”

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