The TABLE
The Team of Advisors Bringing Lived Experience
The Mural Project
The TABLE
The Team of Advisors Bringing Lived Experience
The Mural Project
The TABLE is Creating a Mural!!
The TABLE, a team of individuals with lived experience of homelessness who provide input on programs and policies and promote community integration, is creating a mural in downtown Rochester, Minnesota!
The mural project brings together a variety of individuals and organizations:
- a professional artist duo (Alejandro and Shelby Castanon)
- a key artist from Rochester’s unhoused community
- Rochester Art Center
- City of Rochester
- Zumbro Valley Medical Society (ZVMS) Street Medicine
- The TABLE
We’re working together to beautify downtown Rochester and communicate a sense of belonging to all our community members.
The mural will be completed at the end of August. We’ll hold a ribbon-cutting in October, after the city completes maintenance on the bridge beams.
Join us on August 2: Mingle with the Mural
We invite you to this Sunday’s Mingle with the Mural event for the community to view and learn about The TABLE mural project.
The mural will be completed at the end of August. Come see the progress so far!
Watch the Mural Unfold!
Creating the Mural Doodle Grid
On July 11, nearly 50 volunteers from the community joined us at the mural site to create a doodle grid for the muralists to overlay the design.
Thank you, Midwest Access, for promoting the mural project and joining us for the doodle-grid making. Watch the segment here
[Thank you to the Rochester Art Center and The Landing for contributing to the photos.]
We're Grateful for Your Support
GRANTS
- City of Rochester Building Community grant
- Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation Paint the Town grant
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
- Think Bank
- Costco
- Target
IN-KIND DONATIONS
- Hirshfield’s Paints
Note: ZVMS Foundation serves as the fund administrator for The TABLE and mural project
TABLE Members Talk about the Mural Project
On June 2, three members of The TABLE — Collin, Laurissa, and Red — visited KTTC’s Midwest Access to talk about The TABLE and the mural project.
Thanks for having us!
Location of the Mural
The intricate portion of the mural will be located under a Center Street bridge. A portion of the walls leading up to and away from the bridge will serve as an extension of the mural to attract viewers and further represent experiences of homelessness.
Inspiration for the Mural
The mural takes as inspiration a Norman Rockwell painting entitled Land of Enchantment, in which a boy and girl lie on their stomachs, reading books while surrounded by characters from famous fables and fairy tales.
An artist from our unhoused community, who deeply appreciates Rockwell, proposed an adaptation for our mural, entitled “Land of Encampment.” In the foreground, several individuals sit around a campfire. The background consists of memories of their pasts, experiences from their current homelessness, and visions for their future. These scenes communicate the multiple dimensions within our unhoused community members, whose situations are often stereotyped as static.
The TABLE's Elements
Within the mural are elements of meaning for each unique member of The TABLE, from sunflowers to daisies to constellations to a cherished pet. The inclusion of these elements is a sign that they and their lives matter.
Additional Information on the Design
For our unhoused community members, every night and every day are significant markers of time in the process of finding shelter and food. As such, the north wing of the mural, leading to the underpass, will be painted as night, while the south wing emerges as day, representing journeys through darkness to light, resilience and new beginnings.
Meet the Muralists
We’re excited to be working with professional muralists Alejandro and Shelby Castanon.
Alejandro and Shelby moved from Texas to Minnesota in May 2025 and now live in Albert Lea.
We met with them several times over Zoom and knew they were the right people to transform our vision into a mural for our whole community to enjoy. We can’t wait to meet them in person and get started on executing the mural!
Learn more about their work here and see the impressive murals they’ve done.
