House of Balls

Loved this place!!!!! You should go! Amazing pieces. Cool artist. Great experience. Have allready recommended to others.

The artist was there and he was very friendly! Super cool place to visit. No entry fee but don’t forget to donate some $ at the entry door. I don’t want to post too many pics because
You really should go see it yourself!

A great studio filled with lots of interesting pieces of art which are mostly constructed of metal. According to the owner, (I believe his name is Allen) most of the materials used are donated or found. There was a wide variety of materials used like bowling balls, clocks, lights, animal bones, nuts, bolts, gas tanks and more. He seems to do a lot of welding, soldering, plasma cutting, braising, and epoxy. There is no fee to enter (as of the time we went), but there is a small donation box you can contribute to at the front door. If you have questions he seems more than happy to talk about his work.

I first saw Allen Christian's work at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. I was intrigued his art and dropped a pin on Google maps so if I were ever in Minneapolis, I would make a visit to his House of Balls.
Later a cross country bicycle ride took me through Minneapolis and I convinced my host to join me on a visit.
Maybe it was the Nordic connection between Minnesota and Norway, but I responded similarly to my visit to The Vigeland Park in Oslo. Here was a single creative's unique lifetime artistic output in one place that was also created by the artist.
One visit is not enough, but be sure to make at least one.

Part curio case, part art gallery, the creativity on display here is quite amazing. My friend and I were very impressed with the entire house. It was an absolutely magical experience. We highly recommend that people check it out. Very friendly host. It was a really exciting to see how the materials were repurposed.