The Big Bottle Cap
As a Minneapolis artist it's almost a requirement that one draws this iconic sign. I tried to do a different take on it, playing around with my "usual unusual" perspective and taking liberties with scale and composition within the framing of the bridge. Hope you like it :)
On a riverfront full of iconic signs, this is surely the most popular; the Grain Belt Beer bottle cap sign. It's been mentioned in popular song and has several social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook, and adorns everything from T-shirts, ball caps, tote bags, coasters and even pillows.
50 feet wide and built in 1941, it originally sat atop the Merigold ballroom about 13 blocks away on the west end of downtown Minneapolis before being moved to it's current location on the riverfront alongside the heavily trafficked Hennepin Avenue bridge in 1950. Its a real survivor considering it has withstood decades of Minnesota winters, the bankruptcy and sale (twice) of its namesake company and even periods where the beer itself was not being produced and the sign went dark. The sign has been restored and relit three separate times, the last time replacing its incandescent bulbs with neon in 2017.
I see it almost every day during my morning walk across the bridge, and now I've drawn it.
On a riverfront full of iconic signs, this is surely the most popular; the Grain Belt Beer bottle cap sign. It's been mentioned in popular song and has several social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook, and adorns everything from T-shirts, ball caps, tote bags, coasters and even pillows.
50 feet wide and built in 1941, it originally sat atop the Merigold ballroom about 13 blocks away on the west end of downtown Minneapolis before being moved to it's current location on the riverfront alongside the heavily trafficked Hennepin Avenue bridge in 1950. Its a real survivor considering it has withstood decades of Minnesota winters, the bankruptcy and sale (twice) of its namesake company and even periods where the beer itself was not being produced and the sign went dark. The sign has been restored and relit three separate times, the last time replacing its incandescent bulbs with neon in 2017.
I see it almost every day during my morning walk across the bridge, and now I've drawn it.