Today we’d like to introduce you to Esai.
Hi Esai, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started pursuing the arts at a young age, always drawing and painting. In my teen years I became enamored with murals and graffiti, on my 15th birthday my mom took me to Fifth Element (RIP) and got me my first bakers dozen of Ironlak cans and the rest was history. At 17 I dropped out of highschool to get my GED and pursue a degree in media arts and found graphic design and a further passion for lettters and composition. After the school closed on some shady business and not being an accredited school I quickly began the art hustle. This led me to my first big job at Maharaja’s which taught me the ins and outs of running a business in the pipe/art industry and led me to my first public art installation (technically done illegally I later found out) and I also began pursuing event throwing and DJing which I also am still very active in. Fast forward a few years of struggle and addiction I was still very actively producing art and independent artist showcases, but I was a mess and success was hit and miss due to a lot of my lack of planning or commitment and general sloppiness. Eventually I found myself and got out of my dark place (shoutout to Niani), found my groove, and my passion for the arts and creating community taking off yet again. I eventually found myself at Legacy Glassworks very part time and slowly working my way into the Gallery Manager and Creative Director/Events Coordinator in my now 8th year with the business. While here I began painting and volunteering in the Lyn Lake Street Art Series (LLSAS) and started taking notes from the peers I was working with as I was enthralled by their passion for supporting arts and artists on such a high level. Last year I was brought on as the Creative Director for the LLSAS and it was the first year we added a schedule of events including an opening show, skate jam and vintage market, and closing show. This year after months of planning, the other organizers had a falling out of sorts and I was given the options of no event going on or I take on the event independently at the end of May. I couldn’t let this event go with how much it means to the community, artists, and myself, so I began a new framework for the event, new mission, and new team under our new rebrand as just “The Street Art Series” which no longer confines us to one neighborhood. Roughly 8 weeks later we had a flying success of an event from 7/10/25-7/13/25 with over 70 artists painting over 20 walls across uptown. Now it’s time to continue in this new chapter and water these seeds I’ve been planting.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing good ever comes easy and nothing about this road has been smooth. Failed business ventures, losing friends, losing trust, losing money, being let down by your close people, being discouraged by my failures are just some of the things making the road a tough one.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m the Gallery Manager, Creative Director, and Events Coordinator for Legacy Glassworks in Minneapolis. I am also on the Marketing, Promo, and Creative Teams for Legacy Cannabis and The Legacy Cup. Our Minneapolis gallery is a 100% handblown glass art gallery specializing in American and Japanese glass art with an emphasis on local glass artists, we currently represent over 90 MN artists and over 135 artists internationally including Japan and Canada. I am in my 8th year with the business, they started in Duluth 14 years ago, 9 years ago in Minneapolis, and now 2 years in Woodbury. Here I’ve thrown gallery shows with the world’s premier borosilicate glass artists and an immense number of visual artists from across the country and beyond, as well as doing some gallery show work across the country with other notable galleries/curators like MINS Pipeshow (2 shows for Art Basel/Miami Art Week and 1 in Chicago with L.H. Selman Paperweight), and Glass2Grass for SCOPE Art Show). Aside from my day job I am also the Founder/Organizer of The Street Art Series, an independent visual artist/muralist/designer, art curator/collector, show promoter/organizer, and DJ for local hip hop acts Abstrakt Black, Wave Cheqq, and Y0ung Cub.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
You gotta risk it for the biscuit, and you’re not always gonna get that biscuit. That being said though calculated risks are a part of the game of life. Since a small child I’ve always been a cautious person and have not been much of a risk person, however I’ve found myself becoming more comfortable with taking risks as I’ve found my confidence in my bullish business approach and approach on life.
Contact Info:
- Website: NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON
- Instagram: @thestreetartseries @bsteezycurations @legacyglassworks @legacycannabismn @legacycupmn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestreetartseries
- Twitter: @streetartseries
