Butterflies and Tall Bikes: West Bank Stories of Community, Creativity, and Change

Join artist and author Jamie Schumacher on a tour of one of Minneapolis's most unique neighborhoods: The West Bank.

In her second book, Butterflies and Tall Bikes, Schumacher combines personal narrative, compelling interviews, and neighborhood history in vignette-style chapters that paint a picture of the West Bank/Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and her time with the West Bank Business Association. Detailed, mandala-like illustrations by artist Corina Sagun weave through the text. A new West Bank map by Minneapolis artist Kevin Cannon draws the reader further in to the neighborhood's streets and treasures.

The interviews highlight West Bank friends and Cedar-Riverside residents, past and present, as they reflect on the community's changing landscape. Their stories affirm an essential truth about community: it's the people that make a place.

Jamie Schumacher is an artist and author living in Bloomington, Minnesota working at the intersection of art, culture, and community development.

The former executive director of the West Bank Business Association, she currently serves as a Creative Placemaking commissioner with the City of Bloomington and as a Creative Placemaking Program Officer at LISC Twin Cities.

Her work has been featured by Pollen, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Minnesota Women's Press, among other publications. Her first book, It's Never Going to Work, was released in 2018.