Allen Christian smiles as he talks to a visitor at the House of Balls in Minneapolis. Once visitors near the end of the gallery, he offers to take their pictures with his work. PHOTOS BY CLAUDIA STAUT / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
Two bowling balls carved years apart from each other are on display in the House of Balls. The pink ball (left) has been sitting around for years waiting to be finished, while the yellow ball was started a month ago. Christian said he wants to see how he’s changed over the years comes through in his art. PHOTO BY CLAUDIA STAUT / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
Visionary artist, art museum engages with community
Visionary artist, art museum engages with community
The owner of House of Balls uses his art with found objects to connect with his community and bring creativity to the world.
The owner of House of Balls uses his art with found objects to connect with his community and bring creativity to the world.
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Story and photos by Claudia Staut / The Hubbard School
Tucked away in the southwest corner of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood near the Blue Line stop is a colorful building surrounded by multiple art sculptures with landscaping that includes sinks, bowling balls and a decorated pick-up truck. Obviously, no ordinary place. This is the House of Balls, a visionary art gallery that's been owned by Allen Christian for 39 years.
Christian, 67, originally an electrician, picked up a bowling ball decades ago wondering what it would be like to carve designs into it. His career as an artist was launched. From there, House of Balls was born. He said that being an electrician was his vocation, while being an artist was his avocation that fills his life.
Christian doesn’t care about making money with his art. In fact, House of Balls gained traction with a minimal amount of advertising: An ad space in The Onion and press coverage from local to national news organizations, he said.
When Christian, who lives in White Bear Lake, stopped working in 2017 as an electrician, it allowed him to connect with more people in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. He said that he believes art is an outlet for the community to be able to speak and share their voices.
Today, he’s welding together a metal piece for a bus shelter on 6th Street that was designed with the help of kids in the community. Christian said they asked for a camel and palm trees, which are common sights in the countries they are from.
This is not his first experience working with the community. Christian regularly works with the West Bank Association on projects like security screens for windows, sculptures, bike racks for Palmer’s Bar, the Wienery, Hard Times Cafe and others. “It's great to kind of walk the neighborhood and see yourself,” Christian said.
House of Balls will operate as long as Christian is capable of running it. However, his dream is for John Michael Koehler Arts Center to take over the building and create a visionary art site.
But for now, when you visit, Christian has three rules: Sign the guestbook, you may touch the art and take pictures.
House of Balls opened in August 1986 inside the Berman Buckskin building in what is now known as the North Loop area of Minneapolis. Allen Christian moved the gallery to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in 2014 when he needed more space for his artwork. “I’d been looking for a place that had outdoor space because the two studios I had downtown were inside, so I couldn't expand beyond the ceiling. I wanted a space that I could change the scale of my work and breathe fresh air out in the sun and work out in the rain.”
Allen Christian cuts a metal rod in half for his latest project on Aug. 6, 2025. “I’m working on a commission for the school-bus shelter right down here on 6th [Street],” he said. This is not the first project Christian has done for the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. He has created bike racks, security screens and decorations for local businesses like Palmer’s Bar, Hard Times Cafe and others. Christian owns House of Balls in Minneapolis, an art gallery primarily full of all of his personal work.
A face made of brushes sits on the wall inside the House of Balls. A friend offered the gallery brushes that were designed by his father, who had recently died. Christian traveled to Chicago to choose the brushes for this piece.
Allen Christian created the vessel titled “Ship of Souls” which holds a sculpture created by Daniel Polnau, a friend who died. Polnau was a puppeteer who was influential in Christian’s life. “Now he resides up in the Viking ship, which was designed as a Halloween vessel for people who have passed.”
Christian says the piece — a doll’s head placed on top of a grinding brush cup connected to a broken pitchfork — was created because he was “just trying to figure out what to do with parts.” Although prices are not listed on the art, Christian sells some of his work. He said to “just ask” him if the art is for sale and the price, an unusual business model. Christian hopes to have a website with listings for his art. His site won’t have recurring products because “Everything I do is one of a kind.”
Christian bends a metal rod for his bus shelter piece into a semicircle to use as a cloud in his work. Before the pandemic, he occasionally mentored young people. “We had kids coming in, and we did plasma cutting and welding,” Christian said. “But I also tried to teach them that art is a voice for them.”
Nearly 40 years ago, Christian looked at a bowling ball and tried to carve it into art, which marked the beginning of House of Balls. The Brunswick Gold Crown ball is unique because it is the only ball sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress that has metal in it. “The gold flake on the surface of the core, as seen through the clear shell, makes it eerily sparkle in any light,” Christian said.
Christian welds a metal piece based on a design he created with collaborative inspiration from kids from the community.
Flattened beer bottle caps lay over a plastered cast of a head. Christian said he added the bottle caps to help bring color to the piece. Christian’s old studio was near a bar that he collected bottle caps from because he was intrigued by the different color palettes of them.
The back of a chair (left) is the start of a piece that will parody “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci. Christian plans to have President Donald Trump replace Jesus in the piece. He is still deciding who will replace the disciples in relation to their Bible personalities. The violin figure was a result of his continued playing with found materials.
Christian talks with Isabella Kiely, 20, of Minneapolis, and two of Kiely’s friends, Jackson Foster and Micah Hubbell. Kiely and her friends decided to visit the House of Balls out of curiosity. “The outside looked cool and the name is pretty funny. I was expecting a bunch of bouncy balls and stuff, but this is so much cooler,” Kiely said. “The amount of creativity it takes to make the majority of this stuff is really impressive.”
Christian uses the outdoor space at his gallery to work on and display larger-scale projects. He also hosts local outdoor band performances in the summer. He wants to create a performance space for the musicians and a connection to the community.
Christian stands next to two of his sculptures: “Music Makes the World Go Around” (left) and “A Woman.” Both were created mainly out of piano parts. “These are the fourth and fifth in a series of five at this point.” He said the first three are owned by the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Christian wants the John Michael Koehler Arts Center to take over the space and use it as an art site. Today, he plans to run House of Balls as long as he is capable.
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