House of Balls — Attraction in Minneapolis

This place is wonderful! The art is exceptionally cool, and meaningful in a way that makes you take a second look. Additionally, I have tourettes, and adhd/autism, and museums have always been pretty stressful for those reasons. Either employees eye me suspiciously, or I will feel compelled to touch something, and keeping that instinct in check (which I do, to be clear) is stressful. But when we came in, we were told that we could touch anything. It was incredibly liberating to be able to enjoy the art and tic/stim on it as much as I needed to. I haven't felt more at ease in an art-based environment, or left a public place feeling so happy. Thank you for creating a place like this. I didn't know I needed it until I went. Will definitely come again, and heartily recommend it to my friends and...

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...

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...