Paint it back: Mural reborn in Minneapolis after erasure

Artists Gustavo Lira and Xilam Balam are intimately familiar with a large wall off Central Avenue in northeast Minneapolis.

On an October afternoon, they stand on a ladder and a lift, 10 feet up, painting the wall with ruby red coffee berries, and a farmer’s cupped hands filled with them, representing the business within, a Yemeni coffee shop called Qawah House.

Dwarfing the artists is a Western Tanager the size of an elephant, the songbird’s head and breast gleaming in red, orange and yellow brushstrokes as it rests on the leafy branch of a coffee plant.

“It feels like we've been here already, but I'm glad to be back painting it again, so it feels good,” Balam says, laughing.

“The reaction of the people in this neighborhood driving through, you know, it's been really positive,” Lira s