MINNEAPOLIS — For several weeks, a small recording studio inside the Powderhorn Park Rec Center has produced a lot of music born of raw emotion.
"I can't believe it's been hundreds of years and we still can't breathe," said Sean Garrison, translating his handwritten notes into a large studio microphone.
During the recent recording session, Garrison, a local artist, talked through some painful feelings that continue to linger following the murder of George Floyd and the murder trial of Derek Chauvin.
"I don't want to die, but I just want to stop asking why?" Garrison said, while a quiet melody played in the background.
Paint is typically the way Garrison communicates his feelings to the world. He has a knack for transforming big emotions into big projects. Most recently, he helped transform the walls of a new community room inside the new North Minneapolis Cub Foods.
At the time, he spoke about his desire to use his art to help uplift the community he loves.
"That's our hope that some folks can see this and pick their head up," he said.
But ever since the day of the Chauvin verdict, Garrison admits that his mind keeps coming back to the roller coaster of emotions he felt that afternoon.
KARE11 followed him throughout that historic day, as he walked into the crowd outside the Hennepin County Government Center with a blank canvas.
At the time, prior to the reading of the verdict, he said he was ready for anything but prepared for the worst.
"We've been down this road before and we've always been let down," Garrison said.
Months later, he's still processing the surprise and joy that suddenly followed.
"I can remember precisely how I felt from the time I set up to the time I was done," Garrison said.
On that day, he captured each wave of emotion on his canvas in real time. His painting, which he would later name "Walking on Air" has now been turned into prints and the original will soon go up for auction.
But Garrison has spent the last few months working to tell a different kind of story about that historic afternoon.
"The energy, the emotions that I went through, what I felt from the people, how do I condense that into one hour?" he said.
On Friday, he will do exactly that on stage at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. His show, "Heaven or Hell: A Live Painting Experience" will explore each wave of emotion like chapters of a book. And the entire performance will come with a unique soundtrack.
Kent: "What is it about that time that brought you back there?"
Garrison: "Just the meaning of it. That feeling like, maybe there is a sliver of something here that we can build on. Peace and elation and jubilance and just relief. Justice has finally found its soul, but in order to keep believing it, you have to keep feeding it."
And this time, he's not doing it alone.
"He called and he said, 'Hey, you know, do you think the kids could put together a soundscape?'" said Tim Wilson, co-creator of Creative Arts Studios at Powderhorn Park. "We're teaching engineering, we're teaching songwriting, we're teaching how to take apart the studio and put it back together again."
All of those lessons turned out to be child's play compared to this latest assignment.
"An hour-long song is a lot," said Mickey Breeze, a professional producer and part-time instructor for Creative Arts Studio. "It's a lot harder to make than it is to envision."
Breeze and fellow instructor, Dom Milli, say the students helped make the project possible, and unique.
"Revisiting emotions is one thing," Breeze said. "But we want to create a new experience as well."
The students say the thought of such a massive production was intimidating, but exciting.
"I honestly didn't believe it," said 15-year-old Mateo Ellens. "Our experiences go into the music. I took my anger out in some parts. You can here me yelling."
"It's a source of pride for me," said Milo Bergen, who literally played through his emotions on guitar, which ended up being a major highlight during a difficult year. "For me, music has been kind of a means of escape."
That's exactly why Garrison appreciated the collaboration.
"The reason why we fight for justice, the reason why we fight for education, at the end and beginning of the day, it's about these young people," he said. "When they inject their energy into this, it's a beautiful thing because now they're taking ownership. It's like, you did this. This is part of you as well."
That feeling of ownership was one of many emotions shared and explored throughout the recording sessions.
"I want everyone to feel like how I felt, a roller coaster of emotions," Ellens said.
But he, and all the others, are still anxious to see how it ultimately moves the man with the brush.
"I'm excited to see what Sean does," Milli said. "What emotions it gives him when he does the painting. That's what I'm really excited for."
For Garrison, the goal is to help a wider community feel the joy, and the pain, of that day.
"I'm aiming for some tears as part of this," he said. "You know, quite often, people don't respond with as much fervor out of love, than they do out of hurt and pain. If we responded out of love, and felt that everybody deserved a fair shot as humans, then we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Kent Erdahl: "Are you still as hopeful as you were?"
Sean Garrison: "Oh definitely. That's what keeps me going. That's what keeps me waking up. If we don't have hope, why do we do what we do?"
Heaven or Hell: A Live Painting Experience will run from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13, at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis. Admission is free but attendance is limited, so please register online.