Last updated on June 10th, 2026
If you are looking for the most creative art in Minnesota, I suggest you head to the House of Balls in Minneapolis. This surreal workspace and gallery belong to sculptor Allen Christian. Both an artist and master recycler, he turns the broken and leftover bits of the modern world into imaginative works of art that may be silly, scary, beautiful, or grotesque. Or sometimes all at once. But they are never boring.
The House of Balls is wonderfully chaotic.
Everyone, from art aficionados to wide-eyed children to the most jaded adult who’s seen it all, will find something that captures their imagination at the House of Balls.
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What to expect at the House of Balls
Expect the unexpected. While things don’t change fast, you can never know exactly what to expect at the House of Balls. Christian is a working artist. He keeps creating work. That means what’s in and around the gallery changes over time. What doesn’t change is the general vibe. It’s a bit like walking into a larger-than-life video game set in a carnival funhouse with a hint of both a traditional art gallery and a long-forgotten junkyard.
It’s unlikely you’ve never seen anything else quite like it.
Which should be obvious well before you step into the gallery itself, as the parking and surrounding “gardens” are filled with art of all types and sizes.
One of the larger pieces displayed along the parking area when I visited.
It’s a little challenging to tear yourself away from all the interesting things scattered about. But, of course, you need to go inside for the full experience.
(It can also be a little challenging to find the entrance, which is located along the left side of the building as you come from the parking area.)
Once you find it, the entrance is well marked.
The interior is divided into several rooms: The front half has a small entry, a lounge area, and a large gallery. All of which are filled with art.
One of my favorite creations is back by the lounge refrigerator.
The other half of the gallery, where most of the workshop seems to be, is hidden behind a well-concealed entryway.
Two sides of a door.
It took me a stupid-long time to figure out where the door was. Eventually I asked where it was. When I opened it, I was surprised to discover an old darkroom light trap doorway with a more obvious door. A door that includes a nod to filmmaker Les Blank on the other side.
Maybe even more so than in the first rooms in the gallery, most of the art in this area is more or less human in form. Some pieces even move and speak.
Just a peek at what you might find on the other side of that hidden portal!
A workshop of sorts is tucked into a corner in the back, with works in progress (including a bowling ball sculpture) scattered about.
At the other end of this space, found object humanoid figures and other sculptures fill the gallery. Light of all sorts, from various sources (including from some of the sculptures), casts odd colors while other sculptures move and/or make odd sounds.
You’re never really alone at the House of Balls!
Even on a cloudy day, light also streams in through a wall of windows that I suspect are actually a glass panel garage door like you used to see at gas station garages from the 1950s and ’60s. And, beyond, there is still more art.
The back door takes you into another yard filled with art.
As inside, there is art everywhere.
The face hanging from the tree is a bell. When you whack it with the mallet hanging by it on the tree, it makes the most wonderful deep ring. If I had a place to hang this, it would have come home with me.
How the House of Balls came to be
The House of Balls got its start decades ago. It’s been in this, its third location, for over 10 years now after a long period in a small storefront in the Minneapolis Warehouse District.
Although Christian has long worked in a wide variety of materials, for many years his focus was carving faces and figures out of the many no longer valued bowling balls that could be found everywhere at the time. Thus, the name House of Balls.
You’ll still find a few carved bowling balls around the gallery, but today’s art is more likely to be made from a wide manner of salvaged objects that have been disassembled, cut, and reshaped into figures both sweet and rather frightening. Much of his work today involves plasma cutting to turn cast-off metals into works of art, each with its own personality.
The House of Balls is home to many faces.
An electrician by training, it’s not surprising that many of his creations move, speak (or otherwise emit sounds), and light up.
It’s as if he’s brought out a life force from deep within these discarded bits and pieces and made them live again in a new form.
Allen Christian with one of his creations.
But the House of Balls isn’t just about his own art. Christian wants people to see that they can do something creative too. And visitors will find inspiration all around them.
You can read more about the House of Balls’ backstory in this 2016 piece from the Thrillist.
Plan your visit to the House of Balls
The House of Balls is usually open from noon-4, Monday-Saturday. But call ahead before you go, as things come up.
Getting to the House of Balls
The House of Balls is located in Minneapolis near the end of a dead-end street tucked between the light rail that runs along the Cedar Riverside neighborhood and the twisting mass of the I94/I35W interchange. Which, oddly enough, makes it difficult to reach by car. There’s only one way in and one way out. Google Maps will get you there, but you’ll probably question it before arriving. On the other hand, getting out of the site is perfectly straightforward.
It’s easier to get there via light rail, as the Cedar Riverside Station is, literally, right behind the property. Of course, you’ll need to walk down to the street and around to actually get to the gallery.
There’s also a bike trail that runs along the Hiawatha Light Rail, and you can easily get to the House of Balls from there as well.
The House of Balls is free
You won’t be charged an entry fee, but there is a donation box so you can help keep the gallery running and the art coming.
Selfies are encouraged
If you’re looking for unusual selfies, the House of Balls is the place to be. Not only are selfies allowed, they are actively encouraged. You’ll find a few places designed for posing, but the entire gallery is pretty much selfie heaven.
And if you want something beyond a selfie, Christian is usually more than willing to help out directly. Actually, he’ll often suggest where to pose and then offer to take your photos for you. After all, where better to pose for portraits than amid all these wildly creative beings!
Posing with friends, both human and not, at the House of Balls.
Spend a few art-filled days in Minneapolis
Even if you don’t live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, the entire Twin Cities metro makes a great short get-away at any time of year. There’s always something to do. And, if you love art, you’ll find a wide variety of options. There is truly something artsy for everyone.
But there’s a lot more than art. You’ll find wonderful parks, a wide range of cultural events, historic sites, and more!
Explore the art scene in and around Minneapolis
The House of Balls is just one of many art museums and galleries in Minneapolis and the surrounding area.
Below I’ve listed places I think every art lover should check out at some point. But there are many, many art galleries, studios, and several history or cultural museums that feature art as well.
Most of the sites listed here are true museums, where the work on the wall isn’t for sale. The exception is All My Relations, which usually functions as an art gallery where pieces are for sale, but curates and exhibits like an art museum.
If you want to see more, there are many, many galleries and studios where you can see and purchase work.
The Walker Art Center
Although you can find contemporary art in all the museums listed here, the Walker Art Center is all contemporary art all the time.
If you’ve followed me a while you’ve probably figured out that I’m not a huge fan of a lot of contemporary art. But I’ve seen some truly wonderful exhibits at the Walker, including the recent Dyani White Hawk show and the Pacita Abad exhibit from a couple of years ago. And I still think about an installation by an Asian artist years and years and years ago that somehow transformed a largely empty room into a magical space.
At the Dyani White Hawk exhibit.
👉 See more art museums in and near Minneapolis . . .
Even if you don’t actually go inside the Walker, you should at least walk through the sculpture garden. It’s been re-done recently, but the most famous feature, Coosje van Bruggen’s Spoon Bridge and Cherry, hasn’t gone anywhere.
Winter at the Spoon Bridge and Cherry sculpture.
The best way to get there is to walk from downtown. That way you get to cross a bridge by local Iranian-American artist Siah Armajani. Don’t forget to read the text by John Ashbery as you cross. (This is actually my favorite piece of work in the sculpture garden now that Frank Gehry’s shimmering Standing Fish was no longer housed in the garden’s glass pavilion.
Not up to walking? There’s also easy bus access and paid parking in the museum’s garage. If you are really lucky, you might snag paid street parking right outside the museum, but free parking in the neighborhood behind the museum is almost impossible to find.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA)
If you ask generally about Minnesota’s main art museum, pretty much everyone will assume you are talking about MIA, the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
This is the general interest art museum that covers everything from antiquity to today in all media. Its collection holds more than 100,000 pieces that go back 5,000 years. But that doesn’t mean the collections are low quality. MIA’s holdings include an abundance of masterworks, and its Asian collection is particularly strong.
Along with exhibits in the permanent galleries, MIA almost always has a few special exhibits of some sort. While these include small exhibits, they also include blockbuster shows that include seldom-seen pieces from the collection or masterworks on loan from other institutions. Those exhibits have covered everything from ancient Cambodian and Chinese bronzes, Egyptian artifacts, Native American art, masterworks from the Uffizi, traditional Japanese textiles, German masterworks from 1910-1945, and much, much more.
The American Swedish Institute (ASI)
Although it started out largely as a historical house and cultural center, over the years the American Swedish Institute has expanded its exhibition space. While some of ASI’s collection of Swedish and Swedish-American art and artifacts are always on display, these days there’s almost always a special exhibit that combines work by internationally regarded artists from Scandinavia with smaller exhibits of related work by local and regional artists. Exhibits have included painting, glass, photography, weaving, haute couture fashion, paper cutting, and much more. The main gallery exhibitions tend to feature artists who are well-known in Scandinavia, but are generally new to American audiences.
ASI is located just south of downtown. Unlike most museums and galleries in Minneapolis, they have a large, free parking lot. There’s also a bus stop a couple of blocks away.
All My Relations Arts
All My Relations isn’t very far from the ASI, and the two actually collaborated on an impressive exhibit of work by artists from Arctic regions.
MYGRATION by Stina Folkebrandt and Tomas Colbengstsson at All My Relations Arts in Minneapolis in 2024.
The gallery is a project of the Native American Community Development Institute and generally focuses on the work of Native American artists.
This is one of my favorite small exhibit spaces, with really wonderful exhibits like Re-Riding History.
The Museum of Russian Art (TMORA)
Located in a historic Spanish Revival church, The Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) is a great museum in a mostly wonderful space.
The museum draws a national audience, but few people from Minnesota seem to know about it. That’s too bad because its collections and exhibits provide a fascinating look at the art of the Slavic world, which goes beyond Russians to include Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, and more. Exhibits include everything from traditional fine art to Neolithic gold from Ukraine, lacquer boxes, Russian Empire porcelain and Easter eggs, Slavic fairy tales, banned Soviet art (the museum founder’s specialty), Soviet toys, sacred Russian art, Slavic nesting dolls, Ukrainian political cartoons, and so much more. And it also does great Christmas/New Year holiday exhibits.
Not the usual Russian nesting dolls!
The Cafesjian Art Trust (CAT)
Despite being both small and a newcomer to the metro area art scene, the CAT is every bit an equal to the best of the area’s museums. While best known for its glass collection, it also has interesting collections in other media. And the museum has begun expanding its offerings by offering a few traveling exhibits.
Unlike the other institutions on this list, you’ll have to head out to the suburban community of Shoreview. It’s about a 20-30 minute drive from either downtown Minneapolis or Saint Paul.
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