Minnesota Rocks! International Stone Carving Symposium

In a valiant effort to create public art for St. Paul that doesn’t involve globe-headed cartoon characters, a group of stone carvers from Minnesota and around the world have gathered to unleash shapes and figures from blocks of our state’s finest quarried stone. A geologist’s bouquet of granite, limestone, sandstone, and gneiss will fall away to reveal visions from fourteen artists—six from hereabouts and eight from countries as far flung as Japan, Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Finland. They are all working in public, under the open skies, for six weeks, only having chosen the stone they would work with once they arrived on the site in St. Paul. Call it performance art for the very, very patient—and for those ready to duck when the occasional errant chip of rock becomes airborne. The artists will draw on inspiration from specific locations in St. Paul and its suburbs, where their finished works will be installed. Kellogg Blvd. and Summit Ave., St. Paul; 651-290-0921; www.minnesotarocks.org