By Kyle Smelter

You know of the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Weisman Art Museum, but these aren’t the only places where you can find high-quality art throughout the city. Works by talented artists can be found decorating the exteriors of many of the buildings within the city; you just have to know where to look.

Image by jpellgen/flickr

Paying homage to the late icon, Bloomington-based artist Rock “Cyfi” Martinez painted the rocker in his color of choice with an accompanying dove and famous symbol onto the corner of 26th Street and Hennepin Avenue (the same building where you find Sencha Tea Bar).

Image by Femke Niehof/flickr

Further adding to the music theme in the city is the wall of notes on what used to be Schmitt Music’s downtown headquarters near the corner of 10th Street and Marquette Avenue. The five-story score is from a piece by Maurice Ravel titled “Gaspard de la Nuit,” and it was chosen for its visual appeal.

Image by Kristen Montag, courtesy of Meet Minneapolis

The next mural packs some serious star power (see what we did there?). Covering the walls of the famous First Avenue & 7th St Entry are the names of some of the hottest artists in the music industry such as Eminem, Metallica, Pearl Jam and more who have graced the venue’s stage since it opened its doors in 1970.

Now this is a Minneapolis mural if I have ever seen one. Iconic skyline? Check. Grain Belt sign? Check. Trees? Check. Cyclists? Check and check. It is so many pieces of the Minneapolis puzzle all in one expertly crafted piece of art. Find it on one of the walls of Behind Bars Bicycle Shop located next to Dangerous Man Brewing Co.

Image by Courtney Celley/flickr

A Minnesota claim-to-legendary-music-fame, American singer, songwriter, musician, painter and writer—if it’s creative, he’s done it—Bob Dylan was born in Duluth and raised in the northern Minnesota city of Hibbing. The massive, kaleidoscopic, 160-foot-wide, five-story-tall building on the corner of Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis was done by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra and his team of five (three other Brazilian artists and two Minnesotans). Two portraits of Dylan in his younger years alongside an older and weathered version now look over the city and an infusion of color and Twin Cities culture to the horizon.