Below is the article "Edward R. Bazinet", written for the Walker Art Center Capital Campaign - Walker Expansion Update, August 2005
The Walker Art Center now has two main entrances on Hennepin Avenue and Vineland Place. Visitors entering from Vineland are welcomed by the Bazinet Garden Lobby, a 4,800-square-foot space named in recognition of a generous capital campaign contribution from Edward R Bazinet, the founder of Department 56, headquartered in Eden Prairie. Since 1976, Department 56 has become known as a premier provider of giftware, collectibles, and holiday décor. In 1992, he established the Edward R. Bazinet Foundation, which provides select grants to organizations throughout Minnesota in the areas of education, arts and culture, the environment, and the health and well-being of children and families.
Bazinet’s interest in the environment is evident when he talks about the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which attracts some 500,000 annual visitors: “It’s a wonderful public space that really helps to define the city.” He’s always loved it, and his generous contributions over the years have enabled the Walker to purchase important works such as Jenny Holzer's Selections from The Living Series, which consists of 28 white granite benches emblazoned with the artist’s thought-provoking aphorisms. Appropriately, the Bazinet Garden Lobby is the main entry and exit point of visitors heading into the Walker from the Garden and vice versa. It also serves as the meeting place for school and tour groups arriving for orientation sessions, and a gathering space for visitors attending film screenings and public programs in the 350-seat Cinema. Currently the site for a multimedia installation by Dan Graham as well as a refectory-style table outfitted with laptops offering access to the Walker’s Web site and online programs, the Bazinet Garden Lobby will soon feature an extensive display on the history of the Walker’s pioneering programs in the visual, performing, and media arts.
“I knew I wanted to help support the arts in the Twin Cities in a significant way,” says Bazinet about his early relationship with the Walker. “I thought about what the Walker was doing, the importance of this major arts organization, and it seemed like the thing to do. So, when I first walked up to the main desk in the lobby and said, ‘I’d like to make a contribution,’ I think I took them by surprise.” Modest in any discussion of his gifts, Bazinet jokes: “[Director] Kathy Halbreich has called me Santa Claus—but I think that’s because of the beard.”
“Ed is a dream patron: he asks for little except the pleasure of others in return for his enormous generosity,” says Halbreich. “His sister and confidante, Maureen Beck, is also a special friend of the Walker, and I always have the sense that being able to do good things for the community brings them great joy. While Ed has been a generous and anonymous donor for many years, he had to be convinced that his contribution to the capital campaign should be publicly acknowledged by the naming of the beautiful new lobby space at the Walker’s entrance on Vineland Place. Because of his own love for all things visual and his own creative talents, he is always willing to take the risks necessary to allow an artist (or architect) to try something new and make something daring. His immediate delight in the design of the expansion gave me a lot of faith that we were headed in the right direction.”
Bazinet’s interest in the environment is evident when he talks about the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which attracts some 500,000 annual visitors: “It’s a wonderful public space that really helps to define the city.” He’s always loved it, and his generous contributions over the years have enabled the Walker to purchase important works such as Jenny Holzer's Selections from The Living Series, which consists of 28 white granite benches emblazoned with the artist’s thought-provoking aphorisms. Appropriately, the Bazinet Garden Lobby is the main entry and exit point of visitors heading into the Walker from the Garden and vice versa. It also serves as the meeting place for school and tour groups arriving for orientation sessions, and a gathering space for visitors attending film screenings and public programs in the 350-seat Cinema. Currently the site for a multimedia installation by Dan Graham as well as a refectory-style table outfitted with laptops offering access to the Walker’s Web site and online programs, the Bazinet Garden Lobby will soon feature an extensive display on the history of the Walker’s pioneering programs in the visual, performing, and media arts.
“I knew I wanted to help support the arts in the Twin Cities in a significant way,” says Bazinet about his early relationship with the Walker. “I thought about what the Walker was doing, the importance of this major arts organization, and it seemed like the thing to do. So, when I first walked up to the main desk in the lobby and said, ‘I’d like to make a contribution,’ I think I took them by surprise.” Modest in any discussion of his gifts, Bazinet jokes: “[Director] Kathy Halbreich has called me Santa Claus—but I think that’s because of the beard.”
“Ed is a dream patron: he asks for little except the pleasure of others in return for his enormous generosity,” says Halbreich. “His sister and confidante, Maureen Beck, is also a special friend of the Walker, and I always have the sense that being able to do good things for the community brings them great joy. While Ed has been a generous and anonymous donor for many years, he had to be convinced that his contribution to the capital campaign should be publicly acknowledged by the naming of the beautiful new lobby space at the Walker’s entrance on Vineland Place. Because of his own love for all things visual and his own creative talents, he is always willing to take the risks necessary to allow an artist (or architect) to try something new and make something daring. His immediate delight in the design of the expansion gave me a lot of faith that we were headed in the right direction.”
